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Christmas revels

I've been very light on the blogging as we come up to Christmas. There has just been so much to do, you know how it is. Anyhow, here's a little glimpse into how we are celebrating. We've hung up some lights. These are a string of the "Old Fashioned" ones, left over from my childhood probably. I just love the colours of them. So soft and warm. 

And we've celebrated advent with the help of the lego company. (and a good friend and kind cousin who helped get us our this treat) I know, I know. I have long had dreams of the hand crafted, heirloom quality advent calendar I would make for my kids, but somehow I never get around to it. And then L.D. go wind of these (both Lego AND Starwars!) and there seems to be no turning back.

We got some really nice snow earlier this month. Its all a distant memory today (because it is Christmas Eve Day and it is RAINING! What is this, England? Get yer climate straight Canada! Most of the time I could care less about your snow, bloody inconvenient and whatnot. However there are two days here when I'm ok with great gobs of picturesque snow. Can you guess which ones? Seriously, you had ONE JOB Canadian Climate!)

That snow was very much enjoyed while it lasted. 

"Hooray for snow!" (say the people who don't have to shovel it)

We also did a little easy kid crafting. These are the cheater gingerbread houses that you make with graham crackers and candy. 

The LOVE making these. Basically its an excuse to get candy, but there is a bit of creativity going on. 

Though they are ready to tear them apart as soon as they are given the go ahead. 

And see how generous my six year old is? Once all the candy has been picked off he just can't wait to share it with me.

We finally got around to some real baking. 

And made a batch of gingerbread. (side note: When I posted this picture to facebook my cousin commented that she loved how "real" it looked. You know, with all the other crap on the table. And this is a good measurement of how busy I am. I don't exactly "stage" photos for this blog. I am not that ambitious. But if I can't take the two minutes it would require the push the markers and lego to the other end of the table so I can have a "clear' background, as I normally would, then you KNOW I'm busy! I had fifteen minutes between getting these cookies iced and heading out the door to work, so clutter schmutter, at least I managed a picture!)

I learned this icing technique from a good old Martha Stewart video. Not at all as hard as it looks and it yeilds very pleasing results to both the eye and the mouth. 

A little less fussy are these guys. All they require is a fancy cookie cutter from Williams Sonoma. I'm telling you, money was never better spent around here. They'd rather have these plain guys than the ones with the icing! I don't think they are available from Williams Sonoma anymore, but I think you can still buy them on Amazon. 

They go over very well. No matter what cookie flavour you use. 

"Delicious I will be. Eat me you will." 

And when the weather is cold enough, we have a fire. It will be a very mild Christmas, so probably just one on Christmas Eve, to make it feel gezelige. That sort of like "cozy" for those reading who are not of Dutch heritage.

Merry Christmas to you all, and happy holidaying in whatever way you celebrate. 

pageantry

The Little Dude's school Christmas concert was tonight. I just have to say, these sort of kid's programs are so… interesting. I really appreciate all the effort that goes into them, and the intention to celebrate the holidays, and encourage performance skills and talents in the kids that don't have much of an opportunity to present themselves during the rest of the school year. And the feeling of community is lovely.
Also, even though it is unbearably cliche, I'm a sucker for a little kid in an angel costume. 

And there was a big audience. Which was not surprising. The reason that there was a packed house tonight, was because each and every person in the audience is there to see someone they love. They are there to watch their child (or grandchild). So the actual experience of the performance is kind of beside the point. No one ever leaves a child's Christmas pageant going "Well, that was a very low calibre performance. I don't think we'll go next year." Of course you'll go next year! You're kid is in it! 

Anyhow, my point is that my son is not a performer. There are kids who know all the words, who sing their little hearts out, who glow at the audience's applause, be it thunderous or polite. But not my son. My kid is there because... because he is. Don't get me wrong, he was excited about going. Excited about wearing a white shirt and a belt (for a couple of minutes at least), excited to be up past his bed time. Excited to see his friends. He looked expectantly for me in the rows of parents and smiled and waved discretely when he spotted me. But after that point, he is not so into it. 

He sings. A bit. When he remembers the words, or when he is not busy being distracted by something else. He does the actions that go along with the words when he remembers to, but he is usually one beat behind. He smiles when he looks up and sees me smiling at him. But then he spends the rest of the time undoing all the buttons on his shirt and then doing them up again. Then he finds something interesting on the ground. Then he notices how itchy his knees are. Both of them. Now just the left one. Then both of them again. He looks at the ceiling. He examines his pom-pom boutonniere. And so on. 

But the show goes on and the hour gets later. As you can see, the novelty of standing and singing has worn off for most of the grade one and two boys. But they got through it. And so did we. And we'll all do it again next year, and marvel at how they've grown. And who knows, one of these years  he might be into it. Or not. Either way, I'll always be there to watch it. 

short, fat and gaudy

We are decorating our Christmas tree this afternoon. As an event, it is the most bizarre blend of idyllic memory making time, and a total crazy mess. (these are the sweet ornaments that the nice ladies at Sunday School helped the boys make. Personalized with pictures and everything! Way to go Sunday School ladies, you are officially on top of your game.)

On the one hand James is sitting beside the tree, strumming a ukelele and singing along with Christmas carols and looking like an adorable hipster cherub.
On the other hand they are eating too many candy canes and I know I will pay for that later. The boys are doing most of the decorating and you cannot imagine a more miss-mashed schmozzle of what I think can be classified objectively as a fairly ugly tree. Basically its short and fat and gaudy. (This is how an unsuprevised three-year-old decoartes a Christmas tree)

But then Kees looks up at it and breathlessly declares it the most beautiful tree anyone has ever seen and how can I do anything but melt?
And we are eating the traditional and healthy Christmas-tree-decorating-meal of Ye Olde Nacho Chips with Cheese and Salsa. And I have already stepped on and broken an ornament (a plastic one thank heavens) and also I believe I have broken my toe (not on the ornament, but on the edge of the washing machine when I was trying to find the ornaments in the basement). Like for real. I broke my toe AGAIN! And it made me scream and swear and cry, which is not what one is going for on a "Let's celebrate the memory of the birth of Christ" sort of day. So you know, that sums up our afternoon here. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.
But at least we got the tree decorated. 

a mom's Christmas list

Every family has their own Holiday traditions and whatnot, but in general, if the advertisers are to be believed, for most people that will involve gifts. We do give gifts in our family, but to keep it from being full on insane, we draw names among the adults and give one gift to one person. Its a good system. We make it one substantial gift (since you are only getting one) and we do it secret Santa style, so you don't know who you are getting it from until they hand it to you. Which is fun too. But that means that my Mom is sort of the organizational hub. She is in charge of the name drawing and we all have to give her our Christmas lists, which she then sends out to all of us in a group e-mail so we can all access them without giving anything away. So she's been nudging me for mine. I'm a little behind. Because really, its hard to say what I want. This is one of the ways that being an adult sucks. A quick walk through our local toy store provide my 6 year old with an easy dozen things he wants and are well within the budget of a grown-up to buy. But for me... Its not so easy. I want a lot of things. But most of them are things that money cannot buy (or at least, not our sixty-dollar budget limit). Anyhow, I finally sat down to write my wish list. I thought I'd share it with you here. So you can have a laugh, and also so that you can help me out with some of these. You know, if you are magic. 

My Christmas List

- A big stack of books and enough time to read them.

 

- A big stack of fabric and enough time to sew something with it.

 

- New clothes from a store where I don’t work.

 

- A movie and dinner date with my husband. (Once a week, every week, for the rest of our lives.)

 

- A weekend alone. I don’t care where. ALONE!

 

- A piece of Beautiful, Meaningful, Unique jewelry. I know that’s vague, but really, do I have to think of everything myself? And nothing with the kid’s names on it because that’s too obvious.

 

- A heated driveway so we don’t have to shovel any snow this winter.

 

- For the dinner fairy to be real.

 

- Ditto for the laundry fairy.

 

- Anti-wrinkle cream that actually works; none of this “reduces the signs of ageing” bullshit. I want something that straight up makes the wrinkles disappear. And don’t even go and tell me that the wrinkles are “beautiful” and “I’ve earned them” etc. Maybe someday I’ll buy that (like when I’m 80) but not yet.

 

-And while we're dreaming, a "sleep pill".

 

- Thai Yoga Massage (this one is actually doable).

 

- I was going to say Jamie Oliver’s new Comfort Food cookbook, but I got it out of the library already, so instead I would like Jamie Oliver to come to my house and cook me dinner. But first he needs to send a cleaning crew.

 

-Summer. I’ll settle for Spring though, in a pinch. 

 

There it is then. I can't wait for Christmas Morning....