a close and perfect sledding hill was to be had at Cornwall Church. It was great, pull up, park and you are at the top of the hill. The bottom of the hill being flat - a wet land without a pond. If there is a pond it was so far away that there was no danger of the kids getting that far. The name of the game was pelting the sledder with snowballs. Those on high ground had the advantage and parents were always under attack. No holds barred. When we had arrived the girls said too steep. I took the smallest down first with me and then there wasn't a problem. In fact I had to beg a child to go on a sled with me. They all wanted to go by themselves armed with snowballs. Job has been on a snowboard kick and kept trying to go down standing on the sled using bungee cords to strap his boots in. Crash and burn was his motto. My camera died from the cold. It really doesn't like the extreme temperatures. Once back home it would cooperate for me again. We were the last ones to leave the sledding hill, dark, wet and not the least tired out we headed home for lasagna and a wild evening laughing, and running amuck. I love the family days of really not having a schedule. I love having John home when I get back from exercising. I love taking a break from school and spending time with the kids, like taking them sledding. This is passing too quick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYTJ9v2vsaE&feature=channel
This is such a hilarious video. The kids watched it I think 4 or 5 times. John even started crying. Enjoy.
This is such a hilarious video. The kids watched it I think 4 or 5 times. John even started crying. Enjoy.
Lets just say this is a white Christmas here! We are loving it so much. Christmas Eve it snowed nice and pretty during the day. Job rigged up a snowboard and used a little "hill" the neighbor made from shoveling snow and boarded down it. Lona sledded down the hill. Her hands looked frozen. Why doesn't she have gloves on? Job and Lona tried to bribe us to let them open presents early. They did 70 burpees. Burpees are squatting down, push your feet out behind you and do a push-up then return to the squat position before standing up and jumping. John and I just sat there watching in unbelief. They got to open one present, but they still had to wait until Christmas Eve. I am looking so forward to my photography class. Maybe I'll be able to get better photos than this. The only photo that turned out Christmas Eve. So sad.
Our church cancelled Christmas Eve Service so we went to the church next door. It was fun to walk over in the snow. They had a wonderful program. They sang Christmas songs and then had this great talk about the life of Jesus. They had all the kids come to the front and handed out cards for the kids to read. They they had a cradle set up on one side of the front and a cross on the other. The kids moved around with the pastor. Then a man dressed in costume of Jesus came out and he wandered through the sanctuary with the kids following him. He ended at the cross and leaving the stage through a door. Then he returned and then "disappeared". Since this was more spontaneous on the kids part our kids went up on stage too. Both Isaac and Job read from their cards. There were times that the kids had to respond and I wanted to sink through the floor. Isaac is such a ham! Afterwards we all stood around the room and they lit the candles while singing. I really enjoyed it. We came home and opened our one present.
Christmas morning we woke up and headed down stairs. While John made a pot of coffee the kids opened their stockings. Isaac has it in his head that he needs to help with the stocking stuffers. So this year at the Awana store, the kids bought stocking stuffers for everyone. This is a bonus for us. Job's comment was after opening stocking stuffers, "I just got everything I wanted for Christmas." Gloves, gum, a webkin and a Lego person. Then the kids played a couple of songs on the piano while we sang, We Three Kings, O Come Emanuel, and Away in the Manger. Piano lessons are definitely paying off. Of course, they can't yet play at church but it was better than our a cappella that we usually do. We read from the Bible and then prayed. Finally we opened our presents. The house looked like a disaster - all day.
Our neighbors across the street took me out cross country skiing at the church next door. I only lost my balance 4 maybe 5 times. I've skied once since moving here, but boy do my heels have blisters. LOL. Our other neighbors had a cancellation and so asked us to come for Christmas dinner. We went over around 2:30 and came home at 8:30. We had so much fun laughing and talking and eating. Needless to say we did not have our lasagna yesterday. We'll have it today before I start dieting again.
The kids spent a good twenty minutes picking up: boots, gloves, scarfs, empty boxes, dirty and clean dishes. My home feels peaceful again. John has assigned them 30 minutes of chess homework today. Go figure. John is off at the stores. He received an airplane yesterday and within 5 secs of it being in the air he proceed to rip the tail off. Bummer.
The food season starts October 31 and ends January 1 when resolutions and all diets began. This is no exception for us. There can be no dieting during these months for fear of insulting friends. You definitely can not go to some one's house and say "No thank you, I'm on a diet." Food is such a tricky thing. It seems to binds us together and enhance relationships. I guess because when we eat with friends we take time to talk, laugh, may be even cry. It can trigger memories. When reading the Little House books there is a chapter about Christmas. They received an orange in their stockings. What are your holiday foods?
John said that they always had nuts around to crack so he bought a LARGE bag of nuts and now I have nut shells all over the counters and floors, sometimes on the back of the dog too. My Grandmother always had nuts too. So I don't mind too much, it kind ties us to the past. My Grandmother in France would place a bowl of walnuts that she had gathered on the table after dinner and we would have dessert of fruit and nuts. Clementine oranges are a favorite in our house too. they are small, packed with juice and sweetness, easy to peel. Then there is the baking. My mother would always make cookies and fudge.
I have the cookie thing down but not the fudge, not yet at least.
This year I tried a couple of new cookie recipes thanks to Thepioneerwoman.com. She had a recipe for Cinnamon rolls, very good - must give away: 5 pans of Cinnamon rolls is too many to keep at home, Candy Cane Chocolate Cookies (best eaten when totally cooled) and a cookie dough and candy recipe.
We also made wreaths from green rice krispies and red hots. That is pure sugar with a crunch.
And then Marie, my good friend, posted about Gingerbread houses and chocolate covered pretzels. We had to try both of those. Then there are the sugary drinks, hot cocoa and hot spiced cider, with many variations for both.
Now for Christmas dinner. Every one does this differently. I think that most people cook a turkey or ham for dinner, but I had read about a family that had lasagna for Christmas dinner and decided that since Thanksgiving has turkey and Easter has rabbit oh I mean ham, Christmas would be lasagna. So I have to love Costco for their lasagna. It is already made, very good and all I have to do is pop it in the oven. A salad and maybe a roll or bread sticks and your good to go. Clean up is a breeze, throw the pan away. What do you do?
John, the kids, and I try to help out each year with a food drive and Christmas presents. There is an organization that raises money throughout the year in order to help families in need during Christmas. These families aren't necessarily unemployed. They may have had a child in the hospital for over a year or had been in an accident. There are a variety of circumstances for which they are receiving Christmas Cheer. We don't really know why on our end of helping. What we do is help wrap presents that are purchased. On Wednesday we had abbreviated school and went to work wrapping presents. Lona helped by attaching name tags on presents and putting them in a pile. The boys collected presents from other wrappers and sorted them according to family number. We worked for 7 hours. The kids took about a 15 minute break in all that time. They were exhausted. The very next day we showed up at the same place but this time to help sort food items into boxes and then place the presents with the food boxes. This is an amazing out reach. All this stuff is delivered then on Friday. I like the fact that this teaches our children to work hard for no other benefit than to help people who will never know how much work it was. While doing the wrapping Lona and I had an interesting discussion about Santa Claus. We have always told our children from the beginning that there is no Santa. It is a person dressed up and pretending. We've read a book about Saint Nicolas and how the legend evolved. Lona stated that if Santa Claus was real and really lived forever and at the North Pole then Jesus couldn't exist. That is probably the best reason for us to not promote Santa. If I promoted Santa then would the existence of Jesus become in question too? Did I just lie about Santa so does that mean I lied about Jesus? This was something I wanted to avoid. Lona pretty much summed up the problem between Santa and Jesus. For us Christmas is about Christ.
Why do children stare out windows? What is outside that fascinates them. What do they wait for? This looking is not for the school bus, mail jeep, the UPS or even FedEx. It is not for friends, siblings, or parents. It is because of the garbage truck. Yes, we are fascinated with the garbage truck. It passes our house every Tuesday. It first goes up the street opposite us and works its way around the neighborhood and then passes our house. It has a robotic arm that picks up the garbage can and dumps it into the back of the truck and finally places the can back onto the street. This "stop the school work and watch until you can't see it anymore" is a common occurrence. In the summer if they hear the garbage truck and they are still in bed, they fly downstairs to watch. I am grateful to have the garbage truck come by every Tuesday, but I don't eagerly wait and watch. The garbage gets smelly and I know that it will go away. I am not all that fascinated by how it ends up in the back of the garbage truck or over to the dump, but my kids are. Makes me think that maybe I should just take more time to wonder and not take everyday things for granted.
I am taking an exercise class in the mornings from 5:30 to 6:30 everyday. We learn how to punch. I know how to jab, cross, hook, upper cut. I know what and how to do a roundhouse kick, side kick, front kick, and back kick. Occasionally I bring one of the kids. They workout with me and punch the bags. My whole point to this exercise thing is so that we can do this
and I can still take all three down. I have to keep up my strength because with three against one and them getting stronger and older I don't know how long I can keep the advantage. Now the rule is no tickling or else I'd be toast!
It was 8:15 am Saturday and we were bundled up for the weather. Long underwear, socks, coat, hat, scarf, mittens, race number, jingle bells, and antlers. We parked our car, piled out and walked to the starting line. We had been training for this race. Last weekend we ran almost/maybe 4 miles. We had our race t-shirts in the car. We had our bottle of Gatorade with us, Isaac's blood sugar meter, our bag of jelly beans and it was time.
Why would anyone want to run at 8:30 am at 35 degrees while it was blowing and gusting? The kids were desperately trying to figure this out. So was John and I. We thought of our nice warm beds and cups of coffee that were waiting for us at home. But no. We had trained for this, we were going to do this. The beginning of the race was great. There were so many people and dogs. It was fun to see everyone dressed up.
We were doing good until about 1 1/2 miles into it. The kids decided that this wasn't fun and we still had 2 1/2 miles to go. We stopped at every mile to check Isaac's blood sugar, give him some Gatorade and jelly beans. The red ones are happy beans, the blue ones are speed beans, the orange ones are attitude beans and so on. That spurred us on for a little more. By the time we hit mile 3 Job and Lona were done. Job said his toe hurt and Lona was getting chapped cheeks from the wind. But press on we did.
I had them pose as we passed mile markers. After three miles I think that we were bringing up the end of the runners. The choice was 2 mile walk or 4 mile run and we had choosen the run. They kept running. Isaac and John took off and ran the last mile about 2 minutes faster than Job, Lona or me. I have to say that I appreciate the volunteers that stood out and pointed the way for us. It was cold work for them. I was along just to carry the discarded clothing as the kids became hot.
We neared the finish line, I was carrying Santa hats, antlers, scarfs and mittens. Lona didn't think that she could go any farther but I saw the finish line and the timer and drug her and Job across the finish line. I had asked them what they wanted to do as soon as we finished just to give them a goal. Lona was up to going to Starbucks for $1 hot cocoa but Job just wanted to go home and play Lego. Isaac and John crossed at 56:08 and Job, Lona and I were 58:20. What will it be like next year? Not bad for three little kids: 10, 8, and 6. I am so very proud of them. Now for that hot cocoa and Legos. I am all about staying home and warm now.
We were doing good until about 1 1/2 miles into it. The kids decided that this wasn't fun and we still had 2 1/2 miles to go. We stopped at every mile to check Isaac's blood sugar, give him some Gatorade and jelly beans. The red ones are happy beans, the blue ones are speed beans, the orange ones are attitude beans and so on. That spurred us on for a little more. By the time we hit mile 3 Job and Lona were done. Job said his toe hurt and Lona was getting chapped cheeks from the wind. But press on we did.
I had them pose as we passed mile markers. After three miles I think that we were bringing up the end of the runners. The choice was 2 mile walk or 4 mile run and we had choosen the run. They kept running. Isaac and John took off and ran the last mile about 2 minutes faster than Job, Lona or me. I have to say that I appreciate the volunteers that stood out and pointed the way for us. It was cold work for them. I was along just to carry the discarded clothing as the kids became hot.
We neared the finish line, I was carrying Santa hats, antlers, scarfs and mittens. Lona didn't think that she could go any farther but I saw the finish line and the timer and drug her and Job across the finish line. I had asked them what they wanted to do as soon as we finished just to give them a goal. Lona was up to going to Starbucks for $1 hot cocoa but Job just wanted to go home and play Lego. Isaac and John crossed at 56:08 and Job, Lona and I were 58:20. What will it be like next year? Not bad for three little kids: 10, 8, and 6. I am so very proud of them. Now for that hot cocoa and Legos. I am all about staying home and warm now.
There are a few things that we place in our house every year. Of course our box tree, but the tree has ornaments that must be on our tree. There are other things that we always have out. Then there are activity traditions. First our tree.
These little men came from John' s brother when he lived in Germany. The detail for each little person is amazing.
I have no idea where this ornament came from but I just love how it has an old fashion bulb look to it. If I could find more I'd snatch them up!
Every year the boy scouts come by and sell fresh wreaths. They take orders in November and are here by the beginning of December. I didn't have any boy scouts this year and so bought my wreath from Costco. I love supporting organizations that do most of the work themselves.
I love having lit candles around at Christmas or most of the rest of winter too. Something elegant and warm about candles.
I really like the look of real garland but can't see using it in the house. So we place more fake stuff up. I think that I need to get holders like at weddings to hold the garland and poinsettias at the correct spot on the railing.
One of our favorite things is for the whole family to stand under the "kissing ball" and give a big group hug. The boys aren't for kissing so we kiss the tops of their heads. They do get really excited when I take the "kissing ball" out of the box though.
The angel came from a friend's mother. She made one for each person who came to her daughter's baby shower. It looks so elegant. I'd love to make a whole tree of just these beautiful angels
These leaves are made from window screen. Find a nice shape leaf. Place it on the screen and trace with a permanent marker. Cut out. Spray paint the leaf gold and then use glitter fabric paint and draw in the lines. We did over 100 one year for our church's women's meeting.
And of course we have the traditional break-one-every-year glass bulbs.
Now for some of our other decorations around the house.
This is a Christmas moose that my mother made for us. It holds all of the Christmas letters and photos that we receive each year. After a little while I take the Christmas photos and place them in this album that I made. Cut some tag board or cardboard a little bigger than the largest photo card. Cut a sheet of paper 1 1/2" larger than the tag board. Then glue using "Zip Dry Paper Glue" (the best for not bubbling) the decorative paper over top, folding over the edges to the back. Next cut another piece of paper 1/2" smaller than the tag board and glue onto the back. Make 2 for each book (front cover and back cover). Punch holes in the covers. I used my crop-a-dile. I made sure that I wasn't punching too wide or deep so that the photo cards would fit inside. Then embellish to your hearts content. I have two books. One very fat and one very skinny to
deal with both sizes of cards. I have these books sitting on our coffee table in the living room. I then alphabetize by family's last name and place their photo next to the previous years' photo. It is wild to see how much families change in the course of a year.
I buy poinsettia's every year. By the time Christmas is over the kids have broken most of the leaves off and they are dry. This year hopefully I'll do better watering them.
Every year the boy scouts come by and sell fresh wreaths. They take orders in November and are here by the beginning of December. I didn't have any boy scouts this year and so bought my wreath from Costco. I love supporting organizations that do most of the work themselves.
I love having lit candles around at Christmas or most of the rest of winter too. Something elegant and warm about candles.
These little houses have candles behind them. The only snow I'll get around here on Christmas.
I really like the look of real garland but can't see using it in the house. So we place more fake stuff up. I think that I need to get holders like at weddings to hold the garland and poinsettias at the correct spot on the railing.
One of our favorite things is for the whole family to stand under the "kissing ball" and give a big group hug. The boys aren't for kissing so we kiss the tops of their heads. They do get really excited when I take the "kissing ball" out of the box though.
John and I received this very unique gift. It is a box of Frankincense and Myrrh's. The Frankincense is the white and the Myrrh is the dark reddish brown. If placed on something hot such as a stove and burnt if gives off a smell. I prefer scented candles myself. I like this because it gives a picture of what Jesus's parents received from the wise men.
Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without our music. I by another disc every year to add to our repertoire. I love having the music on, a clean house and cookies in the oven. Unfortunately this happens only once a Christmas, kind of like a blue moon. The kid's rooms are for another post.
What does Christmas look like at your home?