kirstencan

Merry Christmas Eve!

Oh, I had great ideas for this post.  I was going to have Princess play a Christmas song on the piano and post a video of her.  I have thrifted vintage ornaments to show you.  I'm sure there's more...

We are doing a little cleaning this morning, so we can spend the afternoon baking and playing games together.  We're expecting a lot of snow, so we'll be getting the White Christmas Princess has been 'dreaming of'. ;)

Anyway, have a great holiday.  I hope you all have time to spend with family and friends.  I hope you sing carols, drink hot chocolate, and eat pie and candy canes.

All the best to you, my friends!

Merry Christmas
xo
kirsten

Slowly...

Well, this week has been a blur.  Of fever, mostly.  Turns out I have strep throat (and so does Thomas) and my fever/chills thing has pretty much kicked my butt all week.

Poor Aaron had already planned to take the week off to start vacation, and has had to run around taking care of kids, picking up Thomas from school, taking him to the doctor, cooking me yummy stuff (blueberry muffins, calzone and Vietnamese beef soup...), and occasionally coming upstairs to click the mouse button for me when I was in bed and couldn't move.  I am seriously spoiled.

I've been watching lots of dvd's on the computer, sweating, taking tylenol and antibiotics.  Not much else.

So some things on my list had to get scrapped.  Teacher's gifts will be made after Christmas, and a couple of things I took out of my shop instead of making new ones.  Actually, that's a pretty sweet option.  I may end up buying my last couple of gifts instead of making them - if I can make it to the store tomorrow, anyway.  I think I can, I think I can...

I think I am finally on the mend, though - thank you SO much for your get well comments and commiserations!  There were a few times I was able to sit up and go online - but emailing/commenting still seemed exhausting.  Silly, huh?  It's nice to not be quarantined in my room anymore, and able to snuggle my kiddos!

The photos here are from our gingerbread making session this weekend - pre-sickness.  Our philosophy is not about making a gorgeous house, it's all about fitting as much candy on the house as we possibly can.  And we did pretty good.  The whole process went much smoother than last year!

NO!

fever.

chills.

me.
(please not the kids, please not the kids!)

lots of gilmore girls dvd's.

i do NOT have time for this.

28 Elf Hats? Check.

I was in charge of making new hats for the tomtenisse (kids ages 3-9) in the Lucia Program this weekend.

Luckily they were super fast to make.

(Aaron says that these pictures look like it was a very bad snowstorm and all the gnomes got buried).

The children all wore combinations of red, black, and grey.  The hats worked great. Here's Princess (with the black sash) having fun with a friend while we were waiting to go on stage.

I also made some big felt/cardboard Pepparkakor for the bakers to hold up.  Not my best work, but they looked great from the audience.

I volunteered to be one of the parents on stage, since it was Thomas' first year in the program.  He did great!  Here he is above, during a rehearsal, doing all the hand motions.  Being on stage meant, of course, that I had to sing and do all the dances, including one where you jump like a frog.

And yes,there are photos - but no, you won't be seeing them. :)

And here's a photo of the Lucia procession.  We have quite a big group and it is very beautiful.  The Lucias in the middle are the girls who are turning 18.  There's usually between 2 and 4 of them. It's really beautiful to watch them all walking down the aisles singing, with their candles.

Decked Out

The evergreen in front of my house is all dressed up for the holidays.

Stars and icicles. Can't ask much more of a tree, right?

Happy St. Lucia's Day!

Princess and I decided to make some Lucia and Tomtenisse dolls.

I'd already been looking for a cute way to make a bunch of tomtar (Swedish gnomes) to have around the house - and of course Alicia's Lucia's inspired the peg people idea.  I love her floral dresses, but decided to be more traditional and just use plain white.

Princess and I painted them. She helped me cut the pipe cleaners and hats, but I handled the glue gun (and did a mighty sloppy job of it, too).

It's always fun to do projects together! 

A pair of dolls was given to Princess' piano teacher, who is Swedish, and also the accompanist for the Lucia program we're involved in (show's on Saturday).  Two more might be given away to someone else, but that still leaves a slew of them to have about.

And she plays with them ALL the time!  She has them put on shows and processions.  We need some 'everyday' peg people, too.

And next year, some Star Boys.  For sure.

God Jul!

More about St. Lucia's day here and here.  And last year's post here.

More Decorations

I cut up my Tord garland from last year (Thanks for the idea, Estea!) to make new candleholders for the mantel.

Princess made a pomander.  It smells heavenly.

Paper snowflakes are cut and hanging in the windows.  We do this every year.

And since four-sided snowflakes are a pet peeve of mine (six, people, six!) here's how to fold paper the right way to make a snowflake.

And our first batch of Christmas cookies are... gone.  They were delicious, though.

Excuse me while I wipe the powdered sugar off my chin.

We Wish You a Nerdy Christmas

Every year my dad gets a Star Trek desk calendar - the kind that has a different picture for every day.  Somehow, last year my mom ordered two, and I got one (yes, I like some Star Trek  - and it was a fun thing for my dad and I to watch together (mostly the Next Generation - not so much the newer stuff)).

ANYHOO... I saved my calendar and cut it up to make him ornaments.  Nerdy Star Trek Christmas Ornaments.

Because nothing says Christmas like Mister Spock.

But, see, it is Christmasy - in the photos above gang is singing Jingle Bells and goofing of at the officer's Christmas party.  That Kirk is one funny guy, I tell ya!

Here's Captain Picard getting serious during his dramatic reading of 'A Christmas Carol' (so sorry about your forehead, Captain!).  And I think Geordi and Data are getting ready to sing 'O Holy Night'.  I've never heard it sung as a duet, but it could be good.

I don't know what Uhura's doing - but I think this one's my favorite!

I made a dozen of these, and gave them to my dad on a little tree for his office.   I'm pretty sure my mom wouldn't let him put these on her tree.

(Okay, NOW you can laugh!)

And as long as the Mod Podge is out... might as well make a handful like last year, right?  I was happy with this smaller size of circle.  I was hoping to get some sets of these up on etsy this week, but it's not going to happen.  I think these will just be given away or something.  Maybe if I start in January I'll get some done for the shop next year?

Advent

So many amazing handmade advent calendars out in blogland this year!  Not so much here, but we're still having fun. 

The kids made paper countdown chains last week.  But they don't want to take off any links because they like them.

I was thinking it was a good, concrete way to show them how long until Christmas.  I was trying to explain to Monkey that when all the links are gone, Santa will come - but he said "And I want to show Santa my chain."  Oh.  Well, I guess we could leave it up...

My mom brought the kids this cute sticker advent calendar when she went to Ohio recently.  She got it at a local bookstore in Columbus.

I really like it - very cute (it has reusable stickers) - it's sturdy and I like that it hangs by a ribbon.  We keep it in the upstairs hall so we remember to put a sticker up after brushing teeth at night.

Yeah, I've always wanted to make a cute pocket advent calendar - but part of what was holding me back was all the treats or junky trinkets - and now we'd have to put 3 in each one for sure.  And with Thomas' dietary restrictions the candy choices are very limited.  So maybe next year?   When/if that finally happens I think I'll mix activities in with the treats - I like the idea of some of both.  All activities (or all candy) would probably stress me out! :)

What are you doing to mark the advent?

Any Questions?

Hi, guys.  I'm just flipping through the news programs this morning and seeing lots of discussions about 'Mormonism'. One of the potential candidates for the U.S. presidency is a Mormon, so apparently it's a hot topic.  Maybe also because earlier this year there was a documentary on PBS about it, too. 

So I just wanted to throw out there that I'm a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or Mormon), and if you have any questions about the church I'd be happy to try and answer them, or you can check out this website.  I just wanted to mention that because I think that news programs, with their quick two-minute segments, don't always do the best job of answering questions, you know?

So in case you thought you didn't know any 'Mormons' now you do. :)

Have a great day!

xo
kirsten