The [15] Posts of Christmas: Happy Birthday Jesus!

Yay post #15.  This is my last post before Christmas.  I won't be blogging again until after the new year. 

This post is, in my opinion, the most important one:  Jesus' birthday. 

After all that is why we celebrate Christmas. 

Many years ago now, I made a connection between Jesus' birth and his death.  I discovered at that point that the gifts, the first gifts of Christmas, besides Jesus himself of course, foreshadow Jesus's death. 

Jesus was sent to earth to die, in order to save us.  I often wonder if growing up Jesus knew this all along, or if his mission was revealed to him just before he started his ministry.  Could you imagine? 

Anyways, I apologize in advance, because I would really like to write this post with more support behind it.  (I will make it a mission of mine to re-write this post in the new year). 

The wisemen's gifts:  Gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

Frankincense and Myrrh were used in incense, in ceremonies and also in burials.  As the latter, these two gifts foreshadow the destined end for Jesus. 

Gold:  Gold really seems like an odd gift for a baby born to a carpenter and his wife and in a stable of all places.  But Jesus was more than that.  And the wisemen knew.  They knew he was the promised King.  Gold is a fitting gift for a young king.  Not to mention, Jesus' kingdom, Heaven, is where the streets are paved with gold. 

So the prophets foretold His coming.  And the Wisemen give us hints about how he would leave this world. 

It was all part of the plan:  God's plan. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday Jesus!

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Christmas Eve traditions in our home

We have been married for 8 years now and over that time, have established some traditions for Christmas Eve with our family.

Candlelight service:

We attend a Christmas Eve Candlelight service every year.  There is no better way to spend the evening before Christmas, and with wonderful people, celebrating the most important day:  Jesus' birthday. 

We even dress nicely and Lily gets to wear her Christmas dress.

Picture in front of the tree:

What better opportunity.  We're already dressed nicely.  (For Hubby that is probably nice jeans). 

Drive around to see lights:

Following the candlelight service we always drive around to view local Christmas lights and take pictures. 

Christmas Eve package:

Lu gets to open one gift.  It is always jammies and a box with instructions about an evening activity.  We then make hot cocoa and popcorn and sit down to watch a Christmas movie together as a family.

Presents come out Christmas Eve so that in the morning we are ready to open them.

What are you doing Christmas Eve?

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Christmas cooking

Oh the food!  The glorious food!

This past Saturday I cooked Christmas dinner for my side of the family.  We do a fairly traditional feast with the roasted beast and all the fixings. 

We also enjoyed some Christmas baking. 

In our home, there are some traditions around the foods that we eat at Christmas. 

Our menu on Saturday included:

- turkey
- stuffing
- whipped potatoes
- mashed carrots and rutabaga

Don't plan on trying to lose weight if you want to eat my Christmas cooking.  My secret:  butter!  And lots of it! 

Everyone seems to have their own take on stuffing.  Ours is probably similar to most, but we add dried cranberries and apples to ours.  I also like to add some rubbed sage in addition to the ground sage.  (and lots of butter).

My turkey, gets rubbed down in butter before going into the oven also.  Then sprinkled with salt, pepper, parsley and rubbed sage.

One Christmas we were watching a Jamie Oliver special where he added star anise to his stock to make the "perfect gravy".  We roast the turkey in the pan with rough chopped onions, celery, carrots (usually garlic too, but I forgot this year) and a couple of star anise.  It truly does make the gravy yummy!

Christmas baking is another area where certain things must be made.  These include gingerbread cookies, shortbreads and brownies.  My hubby's favourite is rum truffles. 

But most importantly is the Christmas pudding.  I plan to make mine tomorrow.  Hopefully I don't run out of time.  This is a tradition that we have continued from my hubby's side of the family.  This year, I'll be making myself some non-rum sauce as it wouldn't be good for the baby or for Lu! 

Enjoy your feasts this year.  Remember, there's always the new year for dieting!  :)

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Music

My favourite!  Of course it would be, as I am a musician! 

This year, I haven't been playing though.  :(  It is very sad. 

Christmas tends to be the busiest season for musicians. 

I was fortunate to be able to attend my neice's Christmas concert this week.  It was nice to be able to hear some band music again.  (Much more fun to play it though ;))

So what do you have at Christmas time. 

Carolling - What better way to spread Christmas cheer, than going door to door and singing about Jesus' birth or the happiness of the Season?  I have yet to see carollers at my door.  I'd love to have some knock on my door and sing!  I would love to be part of the singing too.  I might just have to do this! 

Concerts - I wanted to attend the concerts around the area, but haven't been able to get out yet.  I did go to my neice's band concert and quite enjoyed that.  I was very sad that the orchestra here does not do a Christmas concert.  What is with that?

Pageants - We got to see our little Lu in the Christmas pageant at church.  It was great!  I love seeing my little girl up there.  There are so many cute Christmas pageants going on.  Check out your local churches. 

Then there are the recordings.  We've been listening to these since after Remembrance Day.  CBC music has a live radio station online that plays all kinds of Christmas music.  Even Lu sings along.  It's tradition for us to listen to the Kenny and Dolly Christmas album while decorating the tree, and also while opening our gifts.  This tradition came from my hubby's late aunt.  She loved Kenny and Dolly and they would always listen to that album as a family.  We have decided to carry on this tradition with our little family.  (I love traditions!)

I'm sorry there wasn't really much more point to this post.  I love music and it's difficult to focus when I think about it! 

I will leave with some of my favourites and why:

- Oh Holy Night - My favourite Sacred song.  I love the lyrical lines, and it's a challenge to perform due to the range.  Not really a fan of Martina McBride's version as she only repeats the first verse over again, and there are multiple verses.  Charlotte Church had a beautiful version of this one!

- What child is this? (Greensleeves) - There is just something about it, maybe it's the compound timing.  I love it!

- Jingle bells (in previous years it was known as Jingle Balls in our house :)) This made the list because of little Lu.  It is Santa's favourite song after all!

- Santa Baby and Baby it's Cold Outside - Ok, so I have a thing for the songs that are a little on the naughty list...helps that they tend to be more on the jazzy side too. 

- Mary Did you Know?  Great song, great lyrics.

- The Hallelujah song by Clovertone - find it on Youtube!  It's great!

- Mary's Boy Child - new on this list this year.  Lu loves it, so I love it!

Oh I'm sure I could just go on and on! 

Enjoy some good Christmas music today! 

The [15] Posts of Christmas: The hustle and bustle

Yesterday I went shopping with my mom and daughter.  I wasn't going for Christmas presents, but instead for groceries.  If I was thinking of Christmas shopping I would have stayed home!

I finished my Christmas shopping last week.  I had hoped to have it all finished before December even arrived, but unfortunately that didn't happen.  (I did end up buying one more thing for Lu...it was the thing I really wanted to get for her, but when I searched online appeared to only be available in the US...but I found it!  So she will be getting spoiled this year!)

When I went shopping last week the stores and malls were nuts.  Yesterday was no exception.  There were people everywhere!  And you get all the kinds too!  The stressed out ones who complain about the long waits in line ups.  The super cheerful ones that just love the hustle and bustle.

If I was to label myself one yesterday, I was probably more of a grumpy shopper because I just so wanted to be home again! 

But I'm not going to bore you with a post about grumpy and stressed out Christmas shoppers.  Instead I'm going to share about a couple of the cheerful ones! 

Last week, despite the long line ups and crazy number of people in the stores, there were two men that really stood out for me. 

The first was a man in Home Depot.  He wore a Santa hat, had his own white beard, and was dressed the part in a nice red sweater vest.  I tapped Lu's shoulder when I saw him and directed her attention to him.  She smiled and uttered ever so quietly "Hi Santa". He was so kind.  He replied with hello and then got down to talk to her.  (The tricky part about Santa after Sinterklaas day is that most of Santa's special helpers - because, let's face it, we all know the store ones aren't the real thing.  This is Santa's busiest time of the year!, the trickiest part is when those store Santa's ask, "And what would you like for Christmas")  The Home Depot Santa did the regular Santa thing and asked Lu what she wanted for Christmas.  She responded that he already came and gave her glass slippers and she thanked him.  This wonderful man then wished Lu a Merry Christmas and gave her a candy cane from her pocket. 

She was literally all smiles!

The second was a man in Walmart.  Walmart is the best place to look if you are searching for the various breeds of Christmas shoppers.  They are all there!  This man was great!  He didn't say anything to us.  He was just waiting for his companion to finish shopping.  But what made him great were the sleighbells that he had on his jacket.  Every time this man would take a step, he would jingle.  And it seems like something so little, but when things are busy and time consuming like Christmas shopping in December is, those little jingle bells are enough to remind you about the happy things of Christmas. 

Now, to make Christmas shopping this late in the game bearable and fun, you could google search for one of those lists, you know the ones I'm talking about.  The ones where you make funny noises under a clothing rack or whatever.  Or you too, could attach some sleigh bells to your jacket.  Or better yet, carry candy canes in your pocket.  Whatever you do, I hope that you will approach the rest of your Christmas shopping with positivity and a wonderful giving spirit!  Trust me, it makes the whole experience much more enjoyable for those around you!

The [15] Posts of Christmas: The Santa Claus Parade

On Sunday we attended the Santa Claus Parade.  I have fond memories of these as a child and even teenager.  I remember while in high school, our band would play on a float.  Since high school the highlight of any parade for me was the bands, marching or on a float. 

In Alberta, we didn't have a Santa Claus Parade.  I am not sure why.  They are so much fun!

Lu loved the parade.  Luckily it wasn't super cold and she was nicely bundled.  We drank hot chocolate while we waited for it to start and she even stopped to make some snow angels in one of the neighbour's driveways!

There were many floats and displays and all were showing Christmas spirit.  Lily was loving the candy canes and also wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! 

If you don't attend Santa Claus Parades, I would highly recommend.  We didn't go to see Santa following as Santa comes to Lu earlier than most kids, but kids were welcome on Santa's knee following the parade. 

Christmas is a wonderful time!

The [15] Posts of Christmas: A Christmas tradition - the yearly ornament

If you've read my previous post about Christmas trees, you would have noted that this year we've had some casualties. 

When my hubby and I were dating we started buying Christmas ornaments.  Then when  you get married, of course you get the "First Christmas Together" ornaments.  We thought that it was kinda silly to only celebrate that first Christmas together.  Afterall, with so many people giving up on marriage (it's hard work, don't let anyone tell you differently!), every year is one that you should celebrate and cherish! 

We decided that we would add a new ornament every year.  The second year ornament was a pair of bears riding in a sleigh.  I even wrote the year and "Second Christmas Together" on it in permanent marker.  (yup, I'm classy like that!  Probably would have fixed the 2007 glass ball with duct tape too if I could have!). 

Sadly, our third Christmas ornament was our casualty in the Christmas Tree Fall of 2013.  That year we lived in Fort Simpson, so it was a glass ball with caribou on it and "2007 Fort Simpson, NT" written on it, in permanent marker. 

2008 was the year we bought our first home in Alberta. 

2009 is a glass stork, carrying a baby bundle saying "expectant parents".  This one also broke in the fall.  I was able to repair it using crazy glue.  All parents should invest in a supply of this.  Keep it out of the reach of children.  It truly is amazing stuff and we've used so much of it to repair toys and now ornaments too!

2010 was "baby's first Christmas" :)

2011 was...nothing special happened in 2011 apparently, as I can't remember what our significant ornament was. 

2012 was our last Christmas in Alberta.  We bought a boy sitting on a tractor.  It also was broken and repaired following the fall.

2013 is a pewter ornament with a century home on it. 

Do you have any traditions as a family that you've created since you were married?  I'd love to hear about them!

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Oh Christmas Tree!

Wow things are getting busy around here and the Christmas happenings haven't even begun yet! 

The Christmas tree.  My hubby and I have so many fond memories of Christmas trees.  The go right back to when we were still dating. 

That memory includes two great roomates and us, our search for the perfect tree, just before closing.  How we started to get discouraged when the first store didn't have one.  We tried to be creative, and possibly plot not so legal options (Home Depot had some nice ones in the parking lot).  Then finally getting to the White Rose store 5 minutes before it closed to get that tree, wrapping it in a shower curtain, strapping it to the roof of the hubby's cavalier and then driving back into downtown Ottawa on the 417!  Oh what fun!

Other memories include our first two Christmas trees after we got married.  Those were both selected out of the bush at my hubby's family camp.  The first year, the tree was beautiful!  Nice and full, only one flat side.  This wasn't a problem.  That side got shoved into our tiny living room and wasn't decorated.  Nevermind the tree took up about half of the living room!  It was still quite beautiful when we decorated it.  The second year, before moving up north and buying our trees, we had the perfect example of the Charlie Brown tree.  In its natural habitat, it looked beautiful!  Then when we got it home, it was slightly sparse.  It was so crooked we had to tie it to the wall to make it stand.  Then we had to decorate it in such a way that you wouldn't notice the lack of branches, or at least try!

I could continue with the history of the Christmas tree and why we keep this symbol as part of our traditions.  That would involve a google search, then cross referencing, then reporting. Anyone can do that if you just open up a Google window (I still prefer Google as a search engine). 

I will instead talk about our newest Christmas tree memory from this year. 

We bought a beautiful Century home.  It's like the ones you would see in the Hallmark Christmas movies, all warm and full of family.  We have a beautiful "bay" window in the front.  Perfect location for the tree!  We also have 10 ft ceilings.  My hubby wanted a BIG tree.  One that would fit the space in the windows.  One that would touch the ceiling.  He wanted this tree to be the nicest we've ever had as this Christmas is our first back home, and our first to celebrate with family again. 

So we went to Canadian tire and bought a big tree.  It was gorgeous.  The needles were perfect.  It was shaped beautifully.  It looked like a dream. 

We shipped our heavy duty tree stand with us from Alberta.  It is one that has a thing to screw onto the bottom to help keep the tree centred in the stand, then tighten with screws.  We got the tree into the stand and set up.  Then we left it overnight to "fall" and planned to decorate it the next night. 

We set the tree up on Sunday and decorated it Monday night.  It was fun decorating with our 3 year old.  Kenny and Dolly serenaded us while Lu helped us find the perfect location for everything.  She wanted to put the angel on top, so her and Daddy did that.  (Needed a ladder, so I didn't watch).  When all was done, Lu found the hidden pickle and the 3 mice. It was a fun family memory to be cherished!

Tuesday, she was overtired.  I was getting short with her.  Too many late nights in a row and too much excitement.  So I put her to bed for a rest.  (She stopped naps when she would stay up until 11:00 pm every night because she wasn't tired...)  I went upstairs to talk with her and while in her room (right above the living room) we heard a big slithering sound and then a "smash". 

We ran downstairs to find the tree, once beautiful, lying across the floor.  The dog was blamed.  Poor thing.  She didn't do it.  She didn't even react to the falling of the tree.  With my 6 month pregnant body I pushed the tree up against the bay window, then we cleaned up the glass on the floor and wanted to cry while doing it.  Stupid tree!

Since we've tethered the tree to the walls.  The screws in the stand got bent in the collision to the floor.  All of the water (and of course this had to happen right after I gave the tree 4 litres of water), and broken glass was cleaned up and the broken ornaments were repaired. 

I was frustrated with the tree, so we waited until the following Sunday to re-decorate the tree.  Now it is looking beautiful and we have a new family memory to cherish about a Christmas tree. 

Next year, we're getting an artificial tree.

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Deck the Halls!

Decorating!  My little Lu has been excited to decorate for Christmas ever since Halloween was over.  She woke up on November 1st and said "Mommy, it's decorating day!".  Sadly, I had to disappoint her by telling her it wasn't for another month. 

She loves putting things up to decorate. 

This year, being our first Christmas in our century home, I too was quite excited about decorating.  I will have two Christmas posts on decorating.  Mainly because our tree, well...you'll learn all about our tree soon!

This year we decided to go simple and elegant.  This is kind of a reoccuring theme for us.  Our wedding was the same.  We had flowers and little details, but simple, yet elegant.  (I wouldn't have changed a thing about that day!)

Back to the topic.  "DECKING THE HALLS". 

I think pictures speak a 1000 words, so here are a few.

 

 

It is cleaning day today, so I'll take some more pictures once the house is all cleaned up and everything (everytoy) is in place!  





The [15] Posts of Christmas: Sinterklaas Feast and Traditionally Dutch Cuisine

Last week, proved to be a lazier week for me.  I am sorry that this post is actually a week late! 

Once Sinterklaas comes (December 5th), the Dutch would celebrate his birthday and arrival with a feast.  This is the Sinterklaas Feast.  This year we had ours on the 6th.  We started this family tradition the year before our Lu was born. 

Christmas dinner is quite the feast in itself, so we opt to have our Sinterklaas feast as a potluck. 

While living in Alberta we would invite our friends, most of which are not Dutch.  (This year we invited our family...those who are Dutch).  We always suggest that our guests try to make something "Dutch" for the feast.

One of our good friends in Alberta, loved having these culturally themed dinners.  (She even had a potluck at her house one year where everyone brought something made with bacon.  It was yummy! And fun to learn about new foods and recipes.)

From Merriam-Webster online the defition of "tradition" is "a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, etc., for a long time" (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tradition).  Thus making "traditional" slightly subjective to what your family has been doing for many years. 

These are some of the traditional foods that we, as a family, made this year for our Sinterklaas feast, with links to recipes online, where available. 

- Bourrecole:  Yummy mashed potatoes with kale and bacon (grease included, can also use sausage), served with salt and vinegar
- speculaas cookies:http://dutchfood.about.com/od/breadspastriescookies/r/Spicedcookies.htm spice cookies, baked until crispy.
- koek:  Spice loaf, served with or without butter.
-olie bollen: traditionally a new year's doughnut, much like the dutchie, dipped in icing sugar.
- Anything with almond flavouring.  I made almond squares...yummy and light. 
- Dutch meatball soup.  Meatballs and veggies, oh my!

The links weren't working well.  You can find many examples of Dutch dish recipes at the following website:

http://dutchfood.about.com/od/aboutdutchcooking/u/TraditionalDutchFood.htm

Let me know what you have tried.

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Sinterklaas Day

Before we started to have children we decided that we still wanted to celebrate Santa, because let's face it, it's super fun!  We didn't want Santa to take away from what Christmas is really about though. 

I don't remember exactly how it all worked while I was a kid.  My mom said that I figured out the "truth" pretty early.  That being said, I still received gifts from Santa for many years.  My hubby's family worked very much the same. 

Growing up, we never opened our presents on Christmas Day.  It was usually the day before or the day after.  Christmas we'd always go to church and sometimes have our big dinner. 

Anyways, we tried to find a way to still celebrate Santa's gift giving spirit, while also following family traditions set in the past. 

Our solution was to celebrate Sinterklaas Day.

I am pure bred Dutch, first generation Canadian.  (I say that with pride as I am very proud of my Dutch heritage, wooden head and all!, although technically I am Friesian...it's very interesting when you tell a Dutch person from the Hollands that...apparently we were a force to be reckoned with.  No worries here though, I'm a pretty peaceful person, but I do have a temper = typical Friesian!)

Anyways in the Netherlands, as well as other european countries around the Netherlands (Germany and Ukraine to name two that I am aware of), children celebrate Santa on Sinterklaas Day. 

When we decided to celebrate Sinterklaas Day, we did the research.  What is it really?  Who was Sinterklaas? 

Well Sinterklaas is just Santa Claus translated.  But the story behind the Saint Nicholas truly is inspiring.  In summary, from our internet research, he was considered a saint.  Saint Nicholas was a Spanish priest that ran a church in the Netherlands for some time.  While there he was saddened by the story of some women who couldn't afford their dowry to marry.  (imagine that eh? A time where women had to pay the hubby to marry them...not sure I'd like that...St. Nick would probably be visiting me too!).

In response to how he felt, he dropped money in little baggies down the chimneys of those women after the night fires had burned out. 

(Can you see anything similar to our rosy cheeked, white bearded, red suit and black boot wearing, round belly jiggling jolly elf?)

This dowry money was a gift.  An annonymous gift from a very kind hearted, non-magical, man. 

Unlike, the North American version, Sinterklaas rides into town on his horse, and instead of elves, he has a helper named swate pieter.  Also, similarily, but in contrast to, Sinterklaas throws fruit and treats: candy, cookies, into homes and sometimes leaves small gifts in the wooden shoes of good girls and boys. 

Santa comes to deliver Lu's gift on December 5th.  She then gets to open that on December 6th.  This allows us to dedicate the rest of the month to family fun and gatherings and to prepare ourselves to celebrate Jesus' birthday.  We still do gifts on Christmas day from each other to each other, but Santa graciously has taken a step back to remember the real reason we have this holiday. 

Mondays actual post will be about the Sinterklaas feast and some "traditional" Dutch Dishes. (this post will have to be written tomorrow though, as my Lu is up and wants to play with Mommy!)

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Buddy the elf

This year we bought an elf on the shelf.  We took it out November 30, for our week of pre-Santa spying. 

We followed the instructions and sat down with Lu to read the book.  Then she named it.  "Elf" the movie, is on Netflix right now and Lu likes watching it.  So naturally, as Buddy is the only elf our little 3 year old knows our elf on the shelf is also named Buddy.

Lu loved looking for this little guy every day.  I will admit, his hiding places weren't the most elaborate like you might see on Pinterest.  Our girl still loved looking for him daily and got so excited when she saw him. 

Buddy also served as a messenger and delivered her Christmas letter to Santa all the way to the North Pole, and a reply all the way back.  No wonder he rested on my piano lamp the next day.  He was back to his shenanigans the next day though:  hanging from the dining room chandelier. 

Here are a couple of photos. 

Lu wanted to find him again yesterday, but as Santa comes on December 5th in our home, Buddy had to return to the North Pole to prepare for Christmas Eve with Santa. ;)

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Winter Driving

I'm sorry I'm behind in my 15 posts of Christmas.  I am going to try to catch up today.  So they'll probably be shorter. 

In Alberta, you're pretty much guaranteed that once the snow starts to fall, it's there to stay.  Not so much here in Ontario. 

We got our first snowfall around November 23.  Actually we had our first snowfall back in October but it didn't even last the day.  By the end of November I was welcoming the snow, as it was getting closer to December.  Welcoming the snow, not so much the driving. 

The problem with roads in Winter here, is that the temperature doesn't always stay below freezing.  Yes this does mean that the snow often times melts (as it almost did completely this week when the temperatures rose to 10 degrees), but it also means that there is a potential for freezing rain. 

Those two words should be added to a list of swear words.  Freezing rain is the worst!  I can handle snow, but when everything is covered in ice, that is a different story.

And what do you know, the same day they call for freezing rain, I have to drive to the "city" for an ultrasound.  Fun eh? 

Anyways, long story short, the freezing rain didn't come until over night, so luckily I didn't have to drive in it.  The following day the temperature rose and most of the snow melted. 

Now today we're supposed to get 5 cm of snow, and it appears that traffic is moving slower than usual in front of my house. 

Drive safely on those roads people!  It is now Winter (even if the calendar doesn't agree).  Slow down and get rid of those distractions so that you can get to all of your Christmas destinations safely this year!

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Christmas Mice

Lu wasn't interested in making our ornament yesterday.  She was more interested in playing with some stickers that I found. 

Thus, I was having a hard time deciding on what to write about.  Then the sneaky little, scratch that, FAT mouse waddled across my kitchen floor and inspired my post. 

No I am not going to write about rodents.  I'm not going to write about old houses and cracks.  I'm going to write about Christmas mice. 

What are Christmas mice you ask?  Well for me, it's a family tradition.

Sometime while I was a child, my parents bought me three Christmas mice.  They were in a set.  One holds a present, one a candy cane and the third plays a violin.  Since that first Christmas hanging these cute little critters on my tree has become a tradition.  As are most of our Christmas ornaments. 

Strangely, I don't seem to have a photo of my Christmas mice.  I was certain I would, but I can't find it.  I will have to update this post with the photos later, once our tree is up.  (Yes we're unlike most around here and don't put up the tree until about mid month). 

When my hubby and I celebrated our first Christmas together, not yet married, we decided that we would get a new ornament every year to add to the tree.  This is another tradition for us. 

Do you have any family traditions around your tree?  Is there a special ornament that you must hang on your tree every year?

Tell me about it.

The [15] Posts of Christmas: Counting down to Advent

For the next 3 weeks I am going to try to blog daily with a Christmas blog.  Most will be about Christmas decorations that I make with my 3 year old girl.  We are attempting to make one Christmas decoration for our tree every day until Christmas!

Daddy wants a huge tree.  A short tree would look silly in our house as we have 10 foot ceilings.  He's said that he would like the angel to touch the ceiling.  Hmm...this means we need more decorations for the tree.  Our girl loves crafts!  So, what better idea than making a craft that can hang on the tree. 

Today we are going to paint a plaster ornament.

Today's post won't be about ornaments so much as it is about trees and Advent. 

We like to reserve Christmas day for the celebration of Jesus's birthday.  This is getting more challenging as our girl gets older.  When she was really young we were able to avoid Santa almost completely.  Now she is so fascinated by the big guy in red that this year she actually asked for something.  Something pretty specific too! 

Our Santa day is celebrated on December 5-7 with the celebration of Sinterklaas day.  (More to come on that this Friday). 

The rest of the month is spent gearing up for Christmas.

In our 8 years of marriage and almost 4 years of parenthood, we've developed our own Christmas traditions.  Again, I will write more on those traditions later this month. 

When it came time to celebrate Lu's first Christmas we discussed what we would do for Advent.  I personnally like the idea of counting down to Jesus' birthday.  What I didn't particularly like was feeding a child sugar filled, nutrition-lacking candy or chocolate everyday in order to countdown.  So that meant those chocolate advent calendars were out.

So what could we do that didn't involve more sugar?  (Trust me Lu gets a fair share of sugar, too much...although we limit the amount, it still happens.  After all she is 50% Dutch!)

We looked online for ideas.  There are many different suggestions on Pinterest.  Some are very cute.  We happened to be in a dollar store (which really wasn't a dollar store...) and found an advent pocket chart.  The chart had a star that could be moved from pocket to pocket in order to countdown. 

 Lovely isn't it? I particularly love the image. What better picture for Jesus' birthday countdown than an image of his actual birthday!

We decided that we would add a bit to the pocket chart.  While in a Liquidation World, we found a small pack of 21 ornaments.  Small enough to fit inside the pockets.  We picked up 3 more.  Then we found a small artificial tree on clearance.  The tree that we originally bought was extremely marked down due to the lights not working on it.  Easy fix.  New lights and it was good to go. 

Everyday leading up to Christmas, Lily gets to put a new ornament on her tree.  On the 24th the star goes on, lighting the way to the baby in the manger.  She then moves the star to the new empty pocket.  She loves doing this and we love that it doesn't involve more sugar. 

 

How do you countdown to Christmas with your family?

I'd love to hear about it in the comments section! 

Merry Christmas!

Preserving Summer

We moved in the middle of the summer.  We didn't get a chance to plant a garden this year.  Not that I would have had time as it was with preparing for the move, but it would have been nice to put in a garden again.  My mother shared her garden with us this year and we also took part in a CSA share for the fall from the local Rainbow Heritage Gardens. 

This fall share presented us with weekly, and later bi-weekly orders of fresh veggies, right into the end of November.  It was amazing.  I'll admit, we weren't the best at using all of the vegetables right away, but once our freezer arrived that started to change. 

I can can things.  I know how.  But I'm not a fan of the extra salt required to preserve the veggies, so I usually choose to blanche and freeze.  I have done some pickling of the beets that we received (and also the 10 lb bag I bought.  We also love to just cook up or roast our beets and eat them like that - yum!)

I was talking to someone about how I was putting my kale in the freezer.  They were shocked that you could freeze kale.  So that is what I will continue to post about today. 

Now my family and I were cool before it was cool!  (I always say this! Either that or we're just really nerdy...ha ha).  My hubby and I watched Dr. Who, long before it was discovered by most of North America as a wonderful form of entertainment.  We've also been eating kale, long before kale was a "superfood".  It has to do with being Dutch.  When we lived in the NWT, I had my hubby order it in especially for me at the store.  Many people didn't know what it was.  Then when we moved to Alberta, we could only find it at Sobey's.  Now it's everywhere.  In small baby kale form for salads, fresh stems...you name it! 

Kale is one of those veggies that gets better after the frost.  Roots are the same.  They get sweeter if you wait to harvest them until you've had at least one frost.  The frost helps with removing bugs and stuff from the kale and also helps make it tastier!  Yum! 

Preserving kale is simple!  Probably the most simple of all veggies.  All you need to do is wash and freeze.  No blanching required!

Here are more detailed instructions:

1.  Pull leaves off of stalks.  The stalks are very bony when the kale is matured.  Peel leaves off and discard stalks/stems. 

My little helper!

 

2.  Soak in a sink of cool salted water. I used both kosher and coarse salt.  You can sprinkle the salt on top, but I dissolved it in warmer water first.  The salt helps to clean and remove any remaining bugs and dirt.  Leave to soak for an hour or two.  (Go do something else and forget all about it for a while.  Play memory with your 3 year old maybe?)

3.  Rinse with cool water at least 2 times to remove the extra salt. 

4.  Stuff in freezer bags.  Try to lay flat. 

5.  Put in freezer.  I always label and date my bags so that I know what it is. 

 

That's it!  Easy peasy!

We like to make the Dutch dish "Bourrecole" with the kale.  (It is originally Spanish from my research).  This dish is made by boiling the kale and peeled potatoes.  I have made it with the peel still on the potato, it is your choice.  Have equal amounts, or possibly more kale, when peeling your potatoes.  Boil until done.  Meanwhile, cut bacon or sausage into small pieces.  Fry.  When potatoes and kale are done, mash them up together.  Add meat with drippings to the mashed potatoes and kale.  Mix well.  Serve with vinegar and salt and pepper.  YUMMY! 

Next on the list is trying to preserve the carrots, turnips and squash!

Dryer Balls

I stopped using fabric softeners and dryer sheets long before ever cloth diapering.  It was when a student at the school did his science fair project on how flammable these products were.  I figured that putting something on my clothing that was that flammable then in a hot dryer, probably wasn't the best idea.  So we bought some norwex dryer balls at the local farmer's market and used those.  They were amazing!

Then in my genius, I decided that we should just leave them in our home in Alberta, because we could get new ones. (That and my Norwex toilet brush). 

When we moved into our new home my sister in law was having a Norwex party.  I was pumped!  Now was my chance to get these two items that I so loved...only now we had one income, and apparently prices with Norwex had gone up.  So I could no longer afford to buy my toilet brush and cleaner (as it was $60) and abandoned the idea of getting the dryer balls as well. 

What was a girl to do?  Why, shop at Walmart.  Isn't that what we all do when we're on a budget?  (Although I much prefer Giant Tiger...always loved that store).  We bought a pair of dryer balls at Walmart.  For almost 3 months, I used these balls every time I did a load of laundry. This seems to be about a load a night.  They seemed to be working until the one split in half...now it's a fun playdoh toy. 

Shortly after the second one split in half. 

For the last week I've been drying without the use of a dryer ball.  UNTIL NOW!

Tah Dah! 

 

Aren't they pretty?  Ok, perhaps pretty isn't the best term, but here's hoping they are very useful! 

 

My hubby and I sat and watched TV while we wrapped strands of 100% wool into a tight ball.  We found the instructions on Pinterest.  These are not my creation.  Wool dryer balls have actually been around for quite some time.  I remember seeing them while I was cloth diapering my first and I started almost 4 years ago now. 

 

The wool cost us just under $12 for two skeins, including the crazy Ontario HST.  My husband bought it for me at the local V&S.  (Surprisingly, when we looked at Walmart, they had none...)  It took us about an hour to roll them into balls, while we watched some good old "Murdoch Mysteries".  (That's multitasking for you!)

 

The instructions found at handy b's, told us to wash the balls inside of a sock in a hot wash and then dry in a hot dryer a few times.  Our washer unfortunately doesn't have a hot cycle option, so we boiled them on the stove.  The balls felted, so here's hoping it'll all work out.

 

Tonight, during off peak hours, we will try them out with a load of wash.  Here's hoping they stay together.   

 

Next adventure...homemade cleaning products...but that's for another day!

 

Have a great day and thanks for reading!

 

New lifestyle

What better adventure than to leave your job and stay home to raise your child?  I will admit that sometimes I am overtaken by the fear of us not making it work, then I remind myself that it will!  I keep praying and I have to keep believing that God will provide us with what we need! 

So now I begin to establish my life as a "domestic engineer" and "manager of household affairs".  Here I will reflect on this journey and how my life is changing, and becoming better because of it!