It's was Christmas Tree Hunt Day on Monday.

We went for a little hike--or ride depending on how tall you were.

That's an "Are you coming?" look if I've ever seen one.

Aren't the Birch Trees pretty?  We briefly considered going with a birch this year.

There was a little crash on the way down a hill

This is a classic family shot:  Mowg is pontificating/supervising/explaining what's going on, Dad is doing all the work, Tiny is headed off on some adventure of her own and I am behind the camera.

The tree is down!

"My Tree?"

The boys were both working so hard they had to take off their coats:  like father like son.

It looks like she's building a Snowman doesn't it?  She's not, she's taking its head off.  She'll put it back, but she's going to take it off again as soon as she can. 

Mowg is explaining to Tiny that she can't take the head off again at the moment because he needs to hold our felt carrot nose on it for right now.

"I hit you noman"  Which is being interpreted:  "I hit you with a snowman."  Which is (being futher interpreted) "I hit you with a snowball."  She's only a little pleased with herself.  She did it while I was pointing the camera the other way.

"Mom, Go Wee!"  or in other words slide.  That looks a little more slanted than it was.  Since it was nearly level. 

 My little babe in the woods hurrying to go home as a storm is coming

--he's looking up at the snow coming down.

And here is my very first needle felted vegetable, a lovely carrot.  This is actually for my nephew to go with a sock stick horse I made him.  You have to have something to feed your horse after all!

The sainted man gathering up branches so I can have them to make a wreath.  He's really only beginning his Sainthood.  In a minute I'll show where he truly earned it.

An attempt to haul both tree and kids on the same sled.

It wasn't long before we capsized so Dad took the tree and carried it out to the car.

Neither one of us was sure how we let ourselves walk so far down the trail.  The snowstorm increased as we were heading back (we started out in sunshine) and you see the strangest things in the middle of storms.  Things like tree's with legs.

Now that's sainthood.

Or maybe it was when he came back and finished pulling the kids.  He saved us truly.  I'm not in any form of "good" shape.  I had to stop several times to catch my breath.  I mean I was breathing so hard I was afraid my lungs were about to turn themselves inside out.  It was fun to have Mowg in particular call out to me to stop and come look every so often.  I always thought he was going to tell me that some branches or kids had fallen out of the sled, but it was always some interesting thing that he saw:  a stump, a trail groomer, a sign, some trees.  I never would have seen those things if he hadn't stopped me.  Tiny was "hold on tight" to the bag containing the camera.  They both toughed it through the sideways blowing snow just as we reached the car.  They were cold.  Dad and I were not.  At all.  There were quite a few more hills on the way back.  Whew!  We did make it though.

Here's a picture of Tiny courtesy Mowg:

And Mowg with a statue of an elk in the background.

It was grand to be out walking through the woods all together.  There just is nothing quite like it.  We need to do that kind of thing more often. 

It's my baby brother's birthday today.  Although he's not around to tell in person, I hope he knows that I'm glad he was born.  I'm glad he's my brother.  I have a box with a few things to help me remember a little bit of who he was while he was here.  I'm very grateful to the friend who gave it to me at that time of sudden loss.  I don't look at them often, but today I did.  Among them is this tiny post-it note (bright yellow with red ink still attached to the back sheet of a pad) that says, "The soul would have no rainbows if the eyes had no tears."   That gives me peace, stillness.  I am glad.  I'm grateful for the good parts of life:  His triumphs, his kindness and goodness.  I'm also in a less willing way grateful for the hard parts of his life, his failures, his meanness and baseness.  It is hard for me even at this distance to put the puzzle of it all together, but I know this:  I love him. I'm glad he was born.  Happy Birthday Little Brother (who really was quite big as I think about it).

So I think Friday will be book day this week.  Here's a few favorite Christmas Books for you.  I have a few million favorites, but I'll try and pare them back:



First:  Christmas in Noisy Village by Astrid Lingren

I love the images in this book of a Swedish Christmas in a small village.  There's some heritage leanings here.  Part of why I really like this book is that the children have messy hair.  It's more in tune with what goes on at my house.  A fun book that makes Mom feel good.  What can be wrong with that?










Next:  Who's That Knocking on Christmas Eve? by Jan Brett


Incidentally Jan Brett is pretty fabulous for a lot of Christmas books:  The Night Before Christmas, The Gingerbread Baby, The trouble with Troll--ok not all Christmas books, but snowy and fun.  If you haven't seen a Jan Brett book stop and take a look next time you're at a bookstore.  They're fabulous.  She's a nice lady too--we got to meet her for Mowg's birthday this year.  She also has an amazing website with free coloring pages, projects and a whole page of "art lesson" videos.  http://www.janbrett.com/ 

"Who's Knocking..." is a fun story of a girl and her father who have trouble with trolls ruining their Christmas Eve.  A boy and his bear come along and help straighten things out.  It's great fun and beautiful into the bargain.  Very Scandanavian, the boy is heading to Oslo.







The Baker's Dozen by Heather Forest



This is a colonial legend about how the baker's dozen of 13 came about.  It's also about overcoming greed.  A baker is successful and then starts to skimp on ingredients and after an encounter with an old woman on Christmas Eve his success evaporates.  Ultimately he changes his ways and gives 13 in his dozen.  The illustrations are very interesting to look at for little ones.  Mowg told me this was his favorite Christmas story.








The Christ Child as Told by Matthew and Luke illustrated by Maud and Miska Petersham





I saved this one for last as it is my absolute favorite.  It was published in 1931. I don't think there is a better book about the Christ Child.  It starts with the prophecy's in Isaiah (just one page) and ends with "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." The "chapters" (remember this is a children's book and it does have a good balance of illustrations and text) are:  Prophecy, The Babe, The Shepherds, In the Temple (Simeon),  The Wise men, The Flight into Egypt, and The Child (teaching in the temple).   This book uses the King James version of the Bible for its text.  "Using only the verses that give the outline of the story" [from the back flap]    The illustrations were based on the illustrators visit the Holy Land so it has a feel of authenticity to me.  I can't say enough good about it.  The illustrations are simple, but not rustic.  There is a combination of colored and black and white illustrations.  It is out of print and I've never seen as many copies as are currently available on Amazon.   I also should confess that this book is what I used as a 5 year old to lead my siblings in a re-enactment of the Christmas Story.  So there is a bit of the nostalgia in it for me, but I really feel it is a beautiful book. 

Another story I love is  The Littlest Angel, but I don't like the illustrations of the one currently in print.  That may be a nostalgia thing too, but I just don't like them.  I don't think they invoke the child-likeness of the tale.  That's it for this week.  I'll try and share a few more with you next week.  What about you?  Do you have any favorite Christmas Stories?

Have you ever made "Snow Candy" with maple syrup?

I've wanted to do this since I was a child after I first read The Little House in the Big Woods.

At last I've tried it!

The recipe we used:   1 cup of maple syrup and 1/4 cup butter.  Cook over medium heat until it reaches the soft ball stage.  Then you drizzle it on fresh snow. 

We've are at a place where stories are constantly being told.  Thus open mouthed pictures.

Note the beeswax candles in the background.  We made them the other day from sheets of beeswax.  So much fun!

See Fresh Snow

 The First Attempt

The best part of the process for both kids was eating the snow.

"Mmmm!"

"O"

The truly historic recipe has only the maple syrup (the real from-the-tree stuff).  The butter makes it Carmel.  It was amazing.  I ate most of it over 2 days, myself.  Everyone else had a taste and that's all they wanted.

A concert on the stage:  Wahoo!

Playin' the Snow



"Yook Mom, I a penguin"

"Yook I a penguin." [Yes, she said it twice.  It's that time of life.]

"I'm an elephant seal"

"Go!  Get ready set."

I've never seen or at least noticed fresh snow piled up with individual snowflakes.

It was phenomenal to me.  Here's my attempt to capture those individual flakes.

Kind of makes me feel better about being a flake. :)

We got out and played in the backyard on Monday.  Most of this week will be pictures from that day

Here's the Crew:

Mowg, complete with lime green boots and Mom's Neoprene socks.

Tiny, with warm snowpants and cute hats

And the ever-stylish (NOT!) Mom with chest waders, Teva's and a camo coat.

(Hey they fit and I was dry!)

 Peek-a-boo

 This is one angle in our new backyard.

On the backyard "stage" a snow fight ensues

Another example of my impeccable fashion sense. :)

Da Girls

"Tiny Can I wreck your snowman?" Mowg

She nods her head.  She's laughing at his stomping through it and over to her.

Apparently it's very funny.

Snow buried bikes and fresh deep snow.



Happy Thanksgiving!

Did you have a good one?

I have finally gotten things worked out for the time being.  I needed some more photo storage and I've solved that problem for the moment.  (Have you ever made a Blurb book?  http://www.blurb.com/  It is the coolest!   I'll gush more about that another day.)  We're settling into our new place and it's starting to feel like home.  We have much to be thankful for as it was bitterly cold and we were toasty and warm.

We got snow for Thanksgiving

 Thanksgiving Morning I was working on a sewing project and my dearest had to work.  The kids had to be in the same room with me and needed something to do besides sit on my lap and fight over who was going to help me sew.  So I let Tiny take a pin for a minute.  She'd take it over to a pillow I'd just made her Dad and stick it in and then Mowg would bring it to me and we'd start over.  Well it wasn't long before she took exception to this plan.  So I just gave them the whole box of pins with strict instructions not to lose any in the bed.  As a result they made our Thanksgiving Porcupine!  Happy Mom.  Happy Kids.  Incidentally isn't that a cool pillow?  It's a neck pillow.  They're easy to make and help your neck relax.  If you want to make your own check out this link:  http://sew4home.com/projects/pillows-cushions/464-last-minute-gift-pillows-relaxing-neck-pillow  They're fast and easy once you get over the initial "I can't do this" angst.  That's how it was for me.

Snow got serious for us and we were very thankful not be traveling.  School got cancelled 2 days in a row.  That doesn't happen here, ever.  It was crazy.  We snuggled in only going out for dinner.  (Thank you!)  It was wonderful.  I hope your thanksgiving was delicious and your heart full with all the things you have to be thankful for.