Christmas Jammies & The Christmas Stocking...

Christmas traditions are extra special. We have enjoyed many different little traditions in our family since our kids were little ones. And even though our son is grown and living on his own and our girl is still home...She may be a teenager, but she still loves the traditions. She looks forward to the special Christmas Jammie's she gets every year and The Stocking she gets to open when she wakes up Christmas Eve Morning. I love it too. I make or find the special jammie's that will be worn throughout the year before getting the new ones next Christmas. I usually give them their jammie's the night before Christmas Eve, so they can wear them to bed and when they wake...They have them on while opening up The Christmas Stocking

The Stocking is filled with particular items every year. It consists of:

Something to Read, something to eat, something to play with and something you need. I place The Stocking in their bedroom while they sleep. And when they wake on Christmas Eve...(even if no one else is awake or with them) They can open The Stocking and enjoy their goodies. It's a nice way to have a quiet morning, make breakfast while they are reading the book they have wanted so badly. The treat tides them over while they wait for Christmas Eve breakfast. The thing to play with can be a little toy or game or puzzle. That will also keep them amused for the morning. The something they need. I add in something like socks, or bubble bath...Just something they can use throughout the year.

This is a tradition I will hang onto for as long as I can. I am sending my son a stocking of his own via snail mail..Because your never too old to enjoy some Christmas fun! This year I let Freckles have her jammie's early...But...She will have to wait on The Stocking just a couple more days. 

Mischief & Mayhem

He's Back!!!!!

And this time he brought Double & Trouble along with him. It was a stormy day yesterday into the night with flash flood warnings. We were buttoned down and snuggled in for the night under our down comforters, enjoying a nice slumber when behold I was awoken at 4 AM this morning with a bunch of ruckus in the dining room. There they were with their snickering and unamusing laughter, riding my farm tractor and some reindeer. And just when I thought I have seen it all....There behind them was poor Ole' Kris Kringle being pulled behind their caravan of mischief and mayhem.

Yep, there they were. All three little elves being extra naughty. I found out later why they did such a devious stunt to dear Ole' St. Nick....Turns out those little degenerates were visited by said victim....Santa Claus was delivering a bag of coal to these boys. Rightfully so...But, they were not going to have any of it! They tied poor Father Christmas to the bag of coal and drug him around the house. I couldn't believe my eyes! 

I sneaked in a couple pictures of the culprits before they scurried away leaving the old guy lying there on my table in disbelief. I gave Santa some cocoa before he headed off in bewilderment...I really hope he will be alright after what these mischievous hoodlums did. I thought one was trouble enough, but now it appears we have three on our hands this year. Last year our little visitor didn't do such nasty things...I just don't know what happened to him. Perhaps he is being influenced by Double &Trouble...Please keep us in prayer...There is still a little over a week to go before Christmas then they will be gone for the year. I hope they won't do too much damage. 

What they did here this morning was just awfully unpleasant.

Happy Pancake Day

Today is National Pancake Day. In many religious/Christian cultures this day is known as Shrove Tuesday. The day preceding Ash Wednesday or the first day of Lent and celebrated by many countries by eating pancakes. I thought we would celebrate along and make some pancakes for breakfast. My Freckled girl is also under the weather so, I thought it might just bring a smile to her face. I think it did.

I have many memories of pancakes. I grew up on them. My dad would make them every weekend. The best part was when bananas were added into the mix...or blueberries yum! When I would visit my Gramma and Grampa they would take me to a restaurant just to eat pancakes every morning and if they weren't taking me out to eat them, Gramma would be making them in Swedish pancake form. To this day I am a lover of the pancake. yes, i know they are carb filled fatty foods... But sometimes it's okay to indulge a little.  

I do love the idea of a pancake tradition being shared by other Christians

 in different countries on this one day each year. I'm on board.

 Have a Happy Pancake Day.

Happy Easter

This Easter is quite different to us from the many years we have celebrated in past years. This is the first year our little family is apart from one another. With our son now living in Washington, my hubby, flew up to Washington for some pulpit filling (preaching for other churches) and temporary work. Not only will he be away for Easter, he will also miss our anniversary which is just a few days away...He will return just in time for my birthday in April. It's just me and Freckles this year... My other family members don't attend church, so it will just be the two of us for the day. I made sure that my daughter still got to enjoy a few of our favorite traditions and tried to give her a sense of comfort since we are not in our own home....
One was giving her an Easter Basket of course.

 

 

A few treats and a couple fun surprises gave her smiles. We colored Easter eggs...This year we did it a bit different...instead of dunking our eggs in dye, we poured vinegar on each egg then dropped a few drops of color on each egg inside a colander, we swirled it around until each egg was covered, then placed it on a paper towel until dry...This gave our eggs the deepest most vibrant colors. It was so messy...we used rubber gloves to do it...If we hadn't, our hand would have been dyed for days.

 I also made a special little morning treat, which we
 will have in the morning before church.
I found this fun recipe on a blog called
The Italian Dish...Italian Easter Bread
It will pair nicely with a nice cup of tea...and there is a little egg involved
 in this delightful sweet bread. Yum.
We will be missing our guy's something terrible...
Yet, I thank God I have my sweet girl to spend it with.
I pray you and yours will have a blessed Easter Sunday with your loved ones...
As you reflect on what Christ has done for you...

Happy New Year 2013

     
Here's to a wonderful
 NEW YEAR
ahead.

Christmas Was Had...

We had a long first week at Gramma's House...settling in after our hectic move....My mom had to go to the emergency room as my Gramma was just getting out, so we have been taking care of two people that are practically out of commission. This Christmas came so fast and it flew by just as quickly as it came. It really is quite a blur. We tried to fit in some baking...with cookies &
 fudge and cheesecake mini's..
 
We also made our famous Latvian Perogies with Gramma...She makes it all from scratch...and puts it all together without a recipe. Trust me this year, I watched carefully so I know everything she does with her secret dough...It's embedded now... This has been a traditional food in our family for as long as I can remember. They are so yummy.
 
Freckles and I did a couple little crafty things as well. We played with wool. She made this adorable little Hedgie with a red bow on her head. Crafting with wool is quite addictive.
 I made her a little owl and a snowman...not pictured.

Maestro and Freckles were a great help to their Great Gramma for Christmas dinner. They were in the kitchen for hours preparing the feast. Thank you to my kids for having such a sweet servants heart...We couldn't have had the feast without them and that is the truth.
 
The day after Christmas was a dreary dark day...We are hanging low, trying to unwind from all the stuff going on right now. I am surely praying for a better year ahead.

I leave you with my favorite picture of the day...My sweet Freckles
Have a happy week ahead as you prepare for the coming New Year festivities.
XOXO

Happy St. Lucia's Day

   

Birthday Girl...

 
Every birthday my kids get to choose their birthday breakfast. Freckles chose Birthday Belgian Waffles this morning. I presented her with a birthday crown which I made especially for her. We filled her waffle with 12 candles and whipped cream on top, sang " Happy Birthday " to her. The day will be filled with whatever she wants to do. A movie and dinner at Red Robin...Another tradition we have made for birthdays.

 
Happy Birthday sweet girl.
Have a Happy Day.

Happy St. Lucia's Day & A St. Lucy Ornament Tutorial

Happy St. Lucy's Day.
We celebrated by baking and making a craft. It was a fun filled day inside as it is dark and gloomy out today. This tradition has become quite special to us...something that Freckles and I really look forward doing for her daddy and brother. Sadly today our guys had to do finals today so they missed most of the day. We will still have some fun later tonight and play some games, eat our cookies and St. Lucia cake.
  
We made Swedish Peparkakor Cookies
 and decorated them with white icing...so fun, simple and yummy.

The past several years we have made
 St. Lucia Buns...
But, this year we decided to try our hand at making a
St. Lucia Crown Cake.

It was very good. it takes time to make but worth it...
 It is quite tasty with a cup of hot tea. We will definitely do the crown cake again.
 
The candles were aglow, our little St. Lucia served the cake...It was really delightful. Then later today we made St. Lucy ornaments. They are so cute...I thought I would share with you how we made them.
 So here you go, a tutorial.

Ingredients:
White yarn, red yarn, a piece of green yarn, wooden bead for head,
yellow paint, skin color paint, pink paint for cheeks, black permanent fine tip pen,brown or red pen for lips,glue, and hot glue, sturdy cardboard pieces.
****
1. I cut out a couple cardboard pieces to use for wrapping the yarn around. Cut one cardboard piece 3 1/2 X 4 for the body skirting and one 2 1/2 X 4 for the arms. Take the cardboard piece for the body and wrap the yarn around the board 25 times. set aside. Do the same for the arms except going around 15 times. Take two 3 inch pieces of white yarn and tie  and knot off each side of the arms to create the hands.
See picture # 1 and # 2
2. Now take the wrapped body piece off the cardboard carefully and insert the arm piece right through at the top. See picture #3. Tie and knot off the top section securing
 the body and arms together as shown in that picture.
3. Now cut two 6 inch red lengths of yarn and tie it right around the waist tying it into a bow in the back. Cut strings to desired length. Now cut the bottom of the skirt straight across so there is no longer a loop at the bottom. In picture # 4, this creates your skirt.
   
Now it's time to paint your head.Picture #5... Draw with a pencil lightly how you wish your hair to be. Paint the hair yellow, let dry. Paint the face section in skin tone color, let dry. Paint on pink cheeks, let dry. Using a permanent fine tip black pen make dots for your eyes. draw a small u shape nose. Draw lips with a brown or red pen or you don't need to have lips or simply make a happy face. This is really up to you how you wish her face to look. We even dotted some freckles in her cheeks with a brown pen.
 
Now in picture #6 glue on a piece of green yarn around the head making it a crown...Let dry. Hot glue the head to the middle of the arms on top. We then cut a 6 inch piece of thick thread and tied it to the back of her dress through the yarn strings, cut to desired length, tying it off so we can hang it on our tree.

She was hung on the tree in all her light and glory...She is simply sweet.

We ended our afternoon with a big cup of hot cocoa topped with marshmallows a big candy cane and a delish cookie. We got our fill of sugar for the day, that is for sure.
It was a fun filled day which memories were made.
Wishing you a Happy St. Lucy's Day.