One Cup Butter, Half Cup Milk, Dash of Vanilla, and Powdered Sugar

This year, as I have in years past, I did a gingerbread party.  There were a few differences.  We have new neighbors that we invited over for the evening.  Our children are significantly older and enjoy the process much more.  There wasn't as much mess as in years past.  Yes, the baking took a week.  I totally enjoyed every minute of it.  Baking is honestly something that, if I had the time, I would bake daily.  If there were enough hours in the day and if my family would eat my baked goods that quickly.  But, I'm a mom with other demands on my time, and as a family we don't eat many sweets.  Baking gingerbread is wonderful.  The whole house smells delightful.  As if it is readying for a festive night too.  Then comes the construction.  Our wonderful neighbor, Cassie, came and supplied the second needed set of hands.  Up went 12 houses in about 2 hours.  We worked fast.  Sticky frosting, delicious smelling sheets of gingerbread, and foil wrapped cardboard squares.  In not very long, there was a town where before there was just a pile of flat squares of gingerbread.  Lovely. 

Then there was the anticipation.  The opening of all the different candies.  Mixing up multiple batches of icing.  Giving each decorator a bag of icing.  And then the fun began!  Pass the M&M's please.  Oh it was lovely.  All those kids around our table, each having an idea of how to decorate their house.  Each one turning out beautiful.  Yes, there was the spilled frosting, wrappers on the floor, and sugar high kids.  But it was so nice to share our little tradition.  The grins and giggles were worth all the cleaning and baking and building.  Worth every second.

Shadows on the Wall

The past several years have been markedly different than the first Christmas that Handsome and I were together.  That first Christmas we had a lovely tree that smelled like a Christmas tree should.  Crisp and sharp and fresh and pine.  Naturally there were the other not-so-fun things about having a real tree: pine needle pick up, constantly watering, and the tree disposal after Christmas.  That is one of my favorite smells of winter.  The pine.  It is so sharp and fresh.  The smell seems to be in contrast with the deadness of winter.  When I think of winter, it is of sleeping trees, hard brown earth, snow and ice.  Pine just seems to break into that preconceived mould and let it be known that winter is beautiful and clean and fresh too.  This year, for the first time in many, we have a real tree.  Real as in it smells like pine.  It used to be alive.  Now I have pine needles to sweep and a tree to water every day.  I love it.  The whole house has that lovely smell of fresh and clean outdoors.  None of the mud or other unpleasant odors, just the freshness of a breeze as it wafts through the boughs of fir trees. 

The children loved having a "real" tree to decorate.  The giggles and grins, laughter and love. 

And when it was all done.  We stood back to see the final result.  Beautiful.  Breathtaking.  Wow.  Mr O and Peaches stood in awe when the lights went out and the tree shone on its own.  Bringing the tree into the house seemed to bring with it the spirit of kindness, helpfulness, and generosity.  Those two kids have been angels since we put it up (of course I'm probably saying this too soon).  All in all: totally worth it.  Every needle.  Every jar of water.  The pain of recycling it later.  Worth it.  Because for a little while we will have something beautiful, delightful, and lovely in our living room.  And also, I won't have to smell the dog for as long as we have the tree.

Noteworthy

Yesterday evening was a lovely time for our little family.  Mr O got a chance to participate in the Christmas program.  Oh my word!  So many cute kids!  The fun thing about this little concert is that all the little girls dress up in cute frilly dresses that I'm sure they only get to wear once or twice.  The little boys all look dapper in nice shirts and shiny shoes.  Then there was Mr O. 

His shirt of choice was bright blue.  With clown fish on it.  In his defence, it was button up, so technically it is a "dress shirt."  But, clown fish? 

And then there was tinsel.  It was Red, and shiny, and it swung from side to side.  Mr O couldn't resist.

On top of that our boy didn't really want to be there for the entire length of the concert, which was only 30 min.  So during the last couple songs he began drifting farther and farther towards the edge of the steps.  Just waiting for that last song to be done. 

All said and done Mr O did very well.  He sang most of the songs (singing is not something he enjoys at all), did wonderfully exuberant hand motions where they were used, and totally enjoyed himself.  That grin said it all.

That One. Yup, That One

Today is the beginning of the holiday for me.  Today is when the house starts to take on the Christmas feel. 

Today. 

I start baking gingerbread today.

Gooshy Socks

There are honestly very few things that I want out of life.  Firstly I want my wonderful husband to be able to retire early.  I want our two delightful kiddos to have happy and fulfilling childhoods.  And for me, I'd settle for warm toes.  You may think that it is a simple thing, but it isn't.  For me, warm toes is a rarity.  Especially once with weather cools off in the Fall.  It's nothing big, not really, but for someone with bad circulation, it is big.  Warm toes.  Fun fact: did you know that 80% of your body heat escapes from your head and feet.  True.  Which is why it is so important to have good boots and a warm hat on in the cold weather.  No I'm not asking for foot warmers for Christmas or anything like that, and I don't want to move to a warmer climate either.  It would just be nice to have warm toes. 

Silver and Gold

There are so many days in our lives that just seem to be downers.  Those days that are just dumpy.  When everything about life is hard.  No one does what they are supposed to.  Your inbox is full.  The kids are going crazy.  The dishes have been sitting for three days.  Laundry has piled up so high that no one has clean socks.  Driving to work you forget that one document that you needed.  Walking in 5 minutes late to a meeting that you are presenting at.  You know: those days.  This little post is just to remind you that despite what is going wrong, despite how you feel, there is sunshine.  The sun is just behind the clouds, it will come back out.  There is always, always a silver lining.  No one is perfect, and no one is expecting you to be.  Just be you.  Put your chin up and face the sun.  Get that vitamin D.  The sun is there.  The silver lining will turn to gold, and then the sun is there!

Seasoning

Just recently our little family made the trek across the snow covered mountains to a town.  A town that has grown in size since Handsome and I moved away so many years ago.  A town that holds many memories for both of us.  A town that still holds most of my extended family.  So we went.  Trekking with the trusty truck over the pass.  It was beautiful!  Glittering snow, huge icicles dangling from rocks, trees hugging to them their blanket of snow.  Lovely.  As we drew closer to our destination the excitement level inside the truck went up and up and up.  I'm not sure if is was in reaction to the people that we were going to get to see or that we were almost there and could get out of the truck.   But either way, the kids were bouncing off the windows by the time we arrived.  There was snow to play in, lots of food to eat, games to play, activities to do, and lots and lots of extended family to visit with.  Oh it was so good to see all of those people with whom we don't have very much face to face contact.  Getting the chance to actually visit with cousins and aunts and uncles and grandparents was fantastic.  I would love to see these people more often.  But we live over here.  It is nice to visit though, catch up on the news, and see everyone again.