Thursday, December 30, 2010

and just like that...

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It sure wasn't looking all that wintery around here.

And then the very next day...





So much snow it's a bit astonishing!

Requires contemplation..

Probably tastes good?


Meant to be played in..

Making us all very happy!



I do hope everyone has been enjoying a wonderful holiday season. Thanks so much for all the sweet birthday wishes and emails! I will be catching up with belated Christmas post soon.

And now we're off into the New Year! Wishing you all a very happy one!!!


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Monday, December 20, 2010

Advent, Mary, Solstice, Snow, Rain??

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First it snowed. And snowed and snowed. And then it rained. Craziness. Pouring pouring rain. Our seasons seem to be a bit confused this year. It sure is plenty cold though, so really it may as well snow, tomorrow is the first day of winter after all...


I have been quite busy with gift making, though it is likely I have spent way too much time on this advent calendar. I have already asked the family to please realize that the calendar is a big part of their Christmas present this year. I think they are pleased.

Mary brought big smiles when the girls saw her Sunday morning.

(Sorry, poor pictures, I didn't even get a chance to take these photos until past dark tonight, but still wanted to share..)

Our little angel even found a nice spot to hover above everyone, guiding all with her shining star of course.


There is still lots of sewing to do, a bit of knitting, Jason has a woodworking project going on, and the girls have been busy little elves. I guess I will have to fill you in on all the handmade holiday gifts after Christmas.

Tomorrow we will celebrate Winter Solstice and start our holiday baking by making Snowdrop Cookies. We plan to do much more baking on Christmas Eve day, finally putting this vintage cookie press we have to good use. Fun! And the day before Christmas Eve is my birthday. Quite eventful around here! (For us at least...)


Wishing you all wonderful happy beautiful cozy holiday celebrations with your families!
Blessings and love to all!!!


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Monday, December 13, 2010

Advent Sunday and St. Lucia

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We sure have been enjoying our simple advent days.

This Sunday the animals gathered around our spiral. I did actually make one needle felted sheep, but it was barely finished late the night before and I decided it was probably best to stick with my plan of making the animals next year. So for now we added as many of our wooden animals as we could fit and I really like the look of it, quite festive!

Much of our Sunday was occupied by St. Lucia preparations. Chloe made the Lucia buns all by herself. I should have taken a picture of them, so pretty with their nice "S" shape.

A sweet moment while Chloe was trying on her Lucia gown.

And the beautiful Lucia child who greeted us this morning. Thankfully not quite as early as last year...

We made the St. Lucia crown last year. This year I thought I might make Chessa a little star crown or wand, so she could be a Star Child accompanying Lucia. But Chloe really wanted the morning to be a surprise for everyone so she convinced Chessa to stay in bed with us while she made tea and set the table with the buns. (She cleaned the kitchen counters too, she knows that is always the first morning chore...) I guess I didn't really have the time to make a star crown anyhow, definitely next year though.

I would love to hear about any of the holiday festivities happening in your home these days??


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Friday, December 10, 2010

this moment ~ christmas past

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~ Inspired by the lovely Amanda Soule

2004 ~ Our last Christmas with Grandpa George

He liked trains. And other neat old stuff.

We miss him.

Wishing you a wonderful weekend with your loved ones!


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Monday, December 6, 2010

Advent and St. Nicholas

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This past week I worked on the trees that would be added to our Advent calendar. I loved creating each one of these, I made a forest!

And our angel happily journeys along the starry path.

For this week I should be working on some little animals. But... I need to be making actual Christmas gifts too, so I am thinking we may have to add a few wooden animals for this Sunday and next year I can make some little wool sheep and a donkey. Of course Mary cannot wait, I better get started on her soon!

So we had our nice quiet Advent Sunday. This week we baked gingersnaps, a beginning to our holiday cookie baking. And the girls left some out for St. Nicholas, even though they know his horse would probably have preferred a carrot.

We have read St. Nicholas stories for the past few years but we never did much to actually celebrate the day, the girls never left out their shoes and we never did any gifts on this day. This year though the girls really wanted to leave out their shoes to see if St. Nicholas might pay a visit.

I wasn't sure what kind of ideas Chloe had in her head about this. At ten years old was she really going to just suddenly believe that St. Nicholas made an appearance? We actually thought it would be obvious that he did not.

We got a couple oranges from the store and tiny pieces of sesame candy for St. Nicholas to leave in their shoes. But we also had a bigger surprise...My mom got the girls new boots for Christmas, but we decided since it is already so cold and snowy that it would be nice for them to have them sooner. It seemed like a perfect St. Nicholas gift.

So the girls left out their old shoes and found new boots in the morning! We were not trying to trick them into thinking St. Nicholas left the boots, we told them that Grandma was St. Nicholas' helper. They accepted that, and did not even question who left the orange and the candy. Those were obviously from St. Nicholas. He ate his cookies too.

I love how simply and joyfully our children accepted this bit of magic into their day!


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Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Yarn Along ~ Favorite Winter Waldorf Books

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We have now brought out some of our winter books, here are a few of our favorites...

Winter is a most beautiful picture book. Christmas Stories Together has many very sweet stories that we will be reading all month long.

Oh that little Tomten, wandering about in dark winter night, watching over the sleeping farm.

Wonderful Elsa Beskow. I was happy to discover that our nearby library has Peter and Lotta's Christmas, we have never read that one before, I will surprise the girls with it soon.

Yes, most of my reading lately has been children's books.

Because if I am actually sitting I am much more likely to be knitting than reading. Now on to Chloe's legwarmers, the pink ones are finished for Chessa. I am happy to be knitting something that will keep the girls nice and warm.

Because it has been so very cold. Snowy and beautiful, but temperatures have even gone below zero, and 30'ish is probably an average high. Sigh...

Thank goodness December is full of so much holiday magic and happiness!

Happy beautiful winter season to all!


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