That Holiday Feel

I am working on thinking about the Christmas cards. I did buy the voucher thingie from Costco that you use to print your photo cards...I did take a photo that I think might work (after some editing) and I even bought stamps....the truth is though....I haven't even looked at my address list since last year when I didn't get my cards out. Ha!

Its a new year. We are flying for Christmas....first time ever. Time to try to get all the way back to Michigan where all the grandparents are waiting in expectant, glee. In order to pull this off I need to not only stock up on sleep (Hello, 3AM wake-up on Christmas Eve for our flight!) but I also need to mail all our gifts ahead of us since four little boys, one daddy and all our suitcases is all that one mama can possible wrangle in an airport. Of course, Santa will take care of his part which is a relief....isn't it nice to not have to manage someone!?! But most of the giving is on the head of the mama. I love giving gifts and I now have four weeks to plot it all out....okay, three. I need a week just to pack and prep for the travel. Three rows of days to make it happen. Whew....

Time for the making to start. Time for coupons and buying sprees and clever ideas about how to maximize our best ideas for all involved. Have ideas about how you are going to make Christmas a little more do-able and sane at your house this year? I am making bow-ties for the boys instead of new outfits, I bought my dress already and I try to give just three or four gifts per kid....although, A who is the fun-time man around the house always tries to edge me upward. I am determined to find a few "experience" gifts this year too. Stuff that isn't "stuff" and will satisfy a fun-time Daddy and a minimalist mama who wants peace for Christmas herself.

Christmas 2012

We spent much of Christmas 2012 wiping noses, dosing out painkiller and getting up in the night with stuffy toddlers; real reality for sure. We also had some moments of pretty idyllic beauty, and it is all about perspective, isn't it? Big warm mugs of mint tea, boisterous carol singing in the car, our record-best gingerbread cookies ever, homemade pomanders, snowflake cutting that drifted the table full one night before bed, and a 3 AM wake-up of enormous excitement on Christmas morning.

I am busy processing everything I've learned and missed learning in 2012 and gearing up for exciting new clean slate living in January! Hooray for The New Year!!!!

A very merry Christmas to all of you (yesterday was only the first day of 12!) out there in the world. I hope your pain this year was your teacher, your joy was deep and your hope springs eternal! Much love from all of us here at Chez Armstrong!

A Touchable Creche

Am spending today being festive. The online invitation service I used ate the Thanksgiving invitations instead of giving them out so we had an unexpectedly quiet and personal celebration here together. It was very peaceful and it was a very grown-up feeling to be serving a golden turkey to a table crowded with happy faces that I am mother to.

Today though, the house is warming up to the smell of the live fir we brought home. We've got a new spot for it this year, a little fresh thinking and furniture rearranging turned up a cozy new center of the room spot for it...directly across from the fireplace, nuzzled up the couch so we can read storybooks in the glow.

Yesterday the great decoration endeavor began. All the pumpkins went to the kitchen to be roasted, all the bittersweet went out the compost pile and the bronze ribbon was folded carefully and tucked into the "Autumn" shelf in our basement storeroom. There is a small congregation of red and green Rubbermaid tubs in the living room now and we've hauled all manner of glittering things out and tucked them here and there.

This year I set up our ceramic look-but-don't-touch creche on the top of our dining room bookcase to keep it farther from tempted fingers but in full view of everyone who wanted to look. Then we got the glue gun out, rooted through the toys and the fabric scraps and made a new, kid-friendly wooden creche for the old spot on the top of the cupboard in our entry hall. The boys had so much fun helping me make tiny little shepherd's staffs and special magi costumes and we used up a whole bunch of the sticks they love to stash making our little version of a stable.

 The whole kit and caboodle is basically a bunch of wooden peg dolls that we decorated and a cardboard box. We draped a gauzy curtain across the painting hanging behind it, dangled white twinkle lights inside and topped the whole thing with an extra tree-topper star we had sitting in the depths of one of the tubs. The boys were already up there playing several times, imagining angel songs and names for all the unknown characters. We added the wooden two farm animals Big Grandpa cut out of plywood one time when we were visiting up north and there's a little brown basket for a manger, waiting for the Christ Child. We're talking about what we'll make him out of on Christmas Eve. I may have a new tradition on my hands!

 

Less is More, It Just Is.

Tonight A and I are going out for the night, just the two of us, our last date night alone before the zaniness of family travel and other celebratory activities hit us full in the chest. I'm not sure if that's what's doing it or if is intention to focus on what matters in the middle of this holiday season, or even just new thinking about the coming excitement of New Year's Resolutions and the clean slate that is a crispy new January.

Suddenly I'm thinking about all the new toys and sweets and "stuff" we'll be bringing home for our little ones and I'm feeling the unstoppable urge to purge. Time to go wildly through our goods and take boat loads of things to Goodwill! Time to create empty, clean spaces! Time to set things in order in our house so that we return from Michigan to a calming space instead of insanity!

I am remembering that the things children like best are the simple ones....the ones that don't cost much or anything at all. Cookie cutters, shiny pebbles, string, the wrapping paper...you know. Am off to sort the playroom, to vacuum all the corners and to take bags of stuff, stuff, stuff to the trunk of our van for a thrift shop drop-off.

Less is more. It just is.

Holiday Madness Kept Sane

Still festivizing our way along over here. I am doing quite well with my list of To Do items. Managing to be productive and yet pragmatic. Checking things off the list both because they don't matter after all and because I am accomplishing. Am feeling fairly balanced and clear-minded.

Thank you to our rector and his wife for their wise talk about holiday preparation and the importance of this sort of thinking! I do love stepping into something with the right mindset, even if it is sort of by accident. Last year I was pretty stressed out about the holidays and vowed that I would start shopping in July and take our Christmas card photo in October...etc. I didn't do any of that (not that it is a bad plan) but I still feel okay. I do think that planning ahead is good and that it helps...it also helps to plan to be happy and to have a willing-to-let-go attitude about certain things.

Today we made sugar cookies, I finished addressing most all of the Christmas cards and I started compiling the packing list I'll need to wrap my mind around sometime next week. Anyone have any genius tips for holiday travel as a family? We will be driving 14 hours and then some to Michigan with all the Christmas gifts and what-not....am open to any and all suggestions!

Next on my agenda is beginning the wrapping, gift inventory to be sure I've got everything and a little more elving work with the boys. Buzz, buzz, buzz!!!!

There is no end to the bustle....unless you're a toddler and then you just make spots for bustle-ending and crash as-needed. :)

Poetry Friday: Cookie Season Verse

Happy Poetry Friday everybody! It's been an age since I celebrated, eh? I have been feeling poem-dry and a little intimidated, plus Friday has a way of casting me deep into "who cares anymore!" mode. Heh heh. Ah the weekend, consumer of my motivation.

I am starting to think about New Years Resolutions and all the they entail, the idea of kicking your own butt back into shape and getting back on all the horses that bucked you recently. So, yeah...I'm back poets and poetry lovers. Poetry Friday must not be ditched. I have to be strong and keep at it. Sometimes I will just write crap. This is life. But keeping on and still writing is the the key to ever turning out good stuff. In the next couple of weeks I hope to compile and number all the poetry I've written this year as a result of this project and if that's not motivation, I don't know what is! Hooray for having output!

I am neck-deep in cookie baking right now, dough and flour from floor to ceiling, I swear it! So, it is time to do some cookie poetry. I bake a lot of cookies during the holidays. It is one of the strange projects I have invented for myself which admittedly creates a lot of work but also gives me a huge amount of satisfaction. A thinks I'm insane. I might be insane but I do bake anyway. :) I bake about 20 different varieties every year and every November I sit down and analyze the list from last year and cross out cookies that were just "meh" instead of amazing and add back anything from previous years that is getting a lot of fond remembering and then I go trolling for new recipes to add. This year I decided to make baklava, something I've made and enjoyed before but never at Christmas.... and then a poem came with it.

Baklava in Advent

I  wrote "baklava" down on the cookie list
It sounded strange but delicious to me,
Sandwiched between the gingerbread men
And sugar cookies iced with sprinkles.
I brush butter, sprinkle spiced nuts and
Gently coax the butterfly wing dough
Into softly fluted layers, rich with scent.
I preheat the oven and remember visiting
The sun-baked land of the Christmas Child.
I remember the heavy pressing heat in Galilee,
Arid country shattered and dusty like pastry.
There was a fervent squawking of hawkers
Selling whatnots in the streets of Jerusalem,
Over-laced with honey and spices drifting up
From the tented market stalls below our hotel.
I slide the finished pan into the waves of heat
Squinting to see through the invisible billows.
And upstairs, amid the squawking of my children
I address a Christmas card to my cousin in Israel
And wonder to myself, how much postage
It will require to send our family photo to that
Exotic port, home of honey and warmed spices,
Birth place of my baklava and my God.


Please do realize that I am in no way asserting that Israel is the birthplace of baklava, just that The Middle East is. I am no sort of expert on the origin of foods and this particular one is a source of great contention among peoples of various Cradle of Civilization nations.

Have a poem you want to share, either one you wrote or one you admire that another author created? You can go share too but posting a link in the comments of today's host for Poetry Friday: Robyn Hood. Happy weekend everyone!

Turkey Day Mental Simmer

Just a busy Monday mish-mash of all the things in my mind today. Basically all I'm thinking about at this point is Thanksgiving Day planning, my mind is buzzing with ideas and lists and possibilities.

My hopeful little invitation ended up being way more inviting than I ever dreamed...we won't have just our little nuclear family trying pathetically to down a turkey dinner. People are turning out in droves. Counting ourselves and the boys we will have between 25-30 people, give or take. I'm totally psyched!

Last night we solidfied the menu:

Roast Turkey
Honey Baked Spiral Glazed Ham
Giblet gravy
Fruit and Cheese Plate
Garlic mashed potatoes [1/2 batch made w/ olive oil and half with butter for the vegans in attendance]
Rolls or bread
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potatoes
Stuffing
Wild Rice with Wild Mushrooms
Curried Squash Soup
Green Beans w/ Olive Oil, Garlic and Toasted Almonds
Roasted Cauliflower
Cold Lentil, Persimmon, Pomegranate Salad

[Dessert]
Pumpkin Pie
Apple Pie
Poached Pears
Assorted Chocolate Truffles
Flourless Chocolate Torte
Whipped Cream

I realize this looks like proof of my certifiable insanity but I swear to you, most of these items can be made ahead, A is taking several of them and teaming with me to cook, I am delegating some dishes to guests and most importantly...even if it's crazy...I really want to be doing this and I'm excited to make it happen!

Now that the menu is all set, I'm collecting my recipes, making the big grocery list, drawing up a cooking schedule for the week beforehand and musing on other happy "Thanksgivingy" things.

Witness:

• A Thankful Paper Chain which could be a really fun activity to keep dinner guests occupied while the meal is being finished.
• Pretty decoration ideas from Better Homes and Gardens.
• The ever inspiring Martha. I especially like the leaf decorated glass jars with candles in them. I am imagining using any old recyclable glass jars we have in our bin. I think the boys would like helping make these.
• These ARGH! beautiful, beautiful harvesty floral arrangments by my floral designing idol Saipua.
• A very charming vintage card cover that makes me very happy. I may print it off just to prop in my kitchen window while I bake. Do you think I could pull off a little starched cap like that?
• This beautiful junk chair frame...turned autumn scene frame. Wish a stunning Queen Anne frame like that would get tossed in my neighborhood.
• Baby dormice, who are both British and alarmingly cute and autumnal...plus, they live in a pumpkin! What's not to love.
• Acorns so achingly beautiful that I want to go out and collect bucketfuls.

Related articles

• How Much Turkey Per Person? Use This Rule of Thumb (thekitchn.com)
• A Good Appetite: A Seven-Day Plan for Thanksgiving - A Good Appetite (dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com)
• 14 Great Examples of Thanksgiving Food Art (neatorama.com)
• What Are the Best Appetizers for Thanksgiving Day? Good Questions (thekitchn.com)
• Thanksgiving Menu Ideas (blogreader44.wordpress.com)

Halloweens of Yore

Halloween was beautiful. I was worried all the snow we got right before the holiday would make for frigid trick-or-treating but it turned out to be a balmy night with just the right amount of nose nipping chill in the air.

Our yard, the day before Halloween

I think, all things considered that it was actually warmer than last year on Halloween. The boys all chose their own costumes, second year of the big boys actually having opinions of their own about what they wanted to be. Kind of fun to see what they think would be fun. My big qualm was that Ru chose "an Indian" and then wanted a boy and arrow and a feather headband and the whole nine yards. It wasn't terribly p.c. but I let him do it. He meant no disrespect so I decided if he's inspired by pretending a tribal identity, I'd let him live his little boy dream for the night. He felt really cool.

I was a zebra, for extra holiday spirit, A was a cowboy although I don't have a good picture.

I did very little this year for the holiday. No homemade costumes, no fancy food...no impressive decorating.We attended a party some friends of ours threw which was zero work for us, A bought the trick-or-treat candy for the visitors we had and I only bought one costume, for Dee...who was the most adorable frog ever. Nib re-used a doggy costume from previous years and the Indian costume was a friend's hand-me-down gift which happened to be Ru's secret yen anyhow.

We had a "special" snack of popcorn before door-to-door trekking to try to make sure that the kids actually had something vaguely nutritious before all the candy...and the boys thought I was really cool or making them a big bowl of popcorn. Sometimes simple is the way to go.

We had some friends from the suburbs join us as we left the house and we then we walked the kids until they were dragging their wheels pretty slowly. We stopped at the neighbors who always have a smoke machine, the famous neighbor who used to play in a major rock band, the neighbor with the yippy little dogs and the neighbors who always hand out full-sized candy bars...a whole covey of fabulous characters. Then we crashed back at the house and handed out the rest of our candy reserves to the last of the trick-or-treaters and the boys went to sleep with sugar glazed grins, and they were asleep as soon as they hit their pillows.

Related articles

• One Casualty of Northeaster - 'Trick or Treat!' - NYTimes.com (policyabcs.wordpress.com)
• Halloween I miss you (3limes.wordpress.com)
• Celebrity Kids Get in the Halloween Spirit - See Their Costumes! (popsugar.com)
• The Economics of Trick or Treating : A Halloween Analogy (spinelessliberal.wordpress.com)
• The Decline of Halloween (highlatencylife.com)
• HAPPY HALLOWEEN! (and SNOW) (addtova.com)
• Trick or Treating in The Snow! (socyberty.com)