Advent Activities Continue

Making pretty good progress this year.

1. Make wreath with boxwood branches--nope, bought one for a good cause.
2. Put up Christmas tree--Done.  And it looks lovely.
3. Church cookie cafe--Done.  Our favorites are hazelnut shortbread, cherry cookies, jam thumbprints.
4. Put up lawn decorations--Done.  There is a new Snowy Owl figure for this year.  And they look great in the snow.
5. Send Christmas cards--Done.  Today.  And since I've only gotten a few, I know I'm not the only one talking my time.
6. Holiday horse picture photo shoot for Sis--Done.  Oh, how cute the pictures are!
7. See new Star Wars--yes.  I'll comment later.
8. Attend holiday strings concert at school--Done.  Saw the first concert at the other school on Thursday (they needed extra cello and violin players); will see the concert at their school tonight.
9. Participate in Girl Scout holiday service field trip--Yep, made cards with and sang to the seniors.
10. Go to office holiday party--Done.  The food, oh, the food.  
11. Celebrate my birthday--yes. With pizza, Tex-Mex chocolate cake, and HP1.
12. Read A Christmas Carol--we'll be listening to the audiobook on our drive to MA.
13. Watch Little Women.
14. Attend Bud's Piano recital--Done.  He played "Midwinter Memories," very nice.
15. OSV Candlelight tour--soon.
16. Deliver gifts to vet, etc.--have it ready, haven't delivered yet.
17. Keep looking for Snowy Owls--DONE!  We've seen two.  Best. Year. Ever.
18. Go to church vespers service.
19. Have holiday game night--we opened a present early, Mysterium, a cross between Clue and Dixit.
20. Celebrate Solstice
21. Put up Christmas Lego Village on table--Done.  There are a lot of horses and penguins in it this year.
22. Make gingerbread houses--this might be after Christmas.  I really want to try it.
23. Bake Christmas cookies--yes, I made chocolate-chip snowballs and almond fantasy bars; Sis made chocolate crinkles, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal lace, and saltine toffee.
24. Choose a family charity for Advent of Gratitude--local food bank.

Advent Activity: Emmet Otter!!!

An annual tradition for me for decades now, we watched Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas with the children tonight.  I love those adorable puppets.  I love the singable songs.  I love the story, from the recently-deceased author Russell  Hoban's book of that name, which a recent article (which has some video clips) described as O. Henry meets Little House on the Prairie (see also an NPR story here).  And so we watched it together, all curled up in bed, this evening.  Best. Christmas. Show. Ever.

Advent Activity: Almost Done

It's always at this point in December that our Advent Activities become less formal and more a part of our preparations for the holiday.  The kids forget to check the socks; I forget to fill them with a slip of paper revealing the days' activity.  In truth, we do more than one.  For instance, on Wednesday, the evening that we honored Hanukkah, we also hand-delivered Christmas cards to our neighbors (each accompanied by an enthusiastic "Merry Christmas!" from Sis) and then the kids wrote Christmas cards to people they wanted to give them to (separate from my list).  Yesterday we talked about Solstice in the morning and then had a dinner playdate with a friend after kung fu (Driver and her daughter).  I called it a Solstice Supper because the food--pizza--we were eating was round!  Yep, a stretch.  But it was still a cheerful, celebratory activity on a dull day. And today's activity?  I don't know yet.  Except beloved Babysitter is home for college and will be coming to see them tonight.  There will be gifts and maybe cookies, if we bake them before she gets here.  But since no one thought about Advent socks this morning, I didn't either.  But obviously we're still counting down til Christmas!

Advent Activity: The Weekend

The weekend was full of activities, Christmas related and not.  On Saturday, as I posted here, I worked on Christmas cards.  But I didn't mention what Mama and the kids were up to:  they were doing Christmas in the city with Ma, Gong, and Goo, the annual pilgrimage to the Rockefeller Tree, Teuscher chocolates, FAO Schwartz, the creche at St. Patrick's Cathedral, the windows at Saks, and everything else that makes the city wonderful this time of year.  Then they went for Korean barbecue in Flushing and home to their grandparents to play and decorate their live tree.  They got home late, but I was not here.  I went to our playgroup's holiday Christmas party (formerly the cookie swap, and it will be a swap again next year!) which also doubled as a surprise 40th birthday party for one of our number.  We ate, talked, ate, laughed, ate, shared, and then ate some more!  Yummy Mexican dips, stuffed mushrooms, iced sugar cookies, birthday cake, Christmas punch (pineapple, cranberry, gingerale maybe, sherbet, and some almond extract), and, my favorite, Mommy Goose's spinach bites (I thought I had the recipe--I don't--but she said she'd give it to me).  I managed to stay for almost three hours, mostly on the couch, enjoying talking to all my friends, or even just listening.

Sunday's Advent Activity was actually completely unexpected:  a new train set!  Gommie and Pop sent us a battery-operated (perfect for the cats with no wires), holiday train set to go under the tree.  The kids were thrilled as Mama set it up and got it started!)  It fits perfectly under the tree and is fun and festive.  The kids enjoy watching it go around in circles, especially if the cat is standing there getting agitated.  The only downside is that it sings!  Oh, the music.  Bud loves the music and wants it on all the time.   Mama is going to find the speaker and cover it, at least to dampen the sound.  Still, it's fun.  Thanks, Gommie and Pop!  It was a great surprise and addition to the season.

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Mommy Goose's Spinach Bites

2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed

4 eggs

1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese

1 large onion, finely chopped

2 c. Pepperidge Farm Herb Seasoned Stuffing mix

1/2 t. garlic powder

1/2 t. dried thyme

1/4 t. black pepper

10 T melted butter (1 stick + 2 T)

Squeeze water out of spinach through a colander until just about dry. Beat the eggs in a bowl, then dump rest of ingredients in and mix. Cover bowl and refrigerate for an hour.

Heat oven to 350. Shape mixture into 1-inch balls and bake on lightly greased cookie sheet until browned and cripsy, 30-35 minutes.

YUM!

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Christmas Punch

1 (48-ounce) bottle cranberry juice drink
1 (48-ounce) can pineapple juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons almond extract
1 (2-liter) bottle ginger ale, chilled

1. Stir together first 4 ingredients until sugar dissolves. Cover and chill 8 hours.
2. Stir in ginger ale just before serving.

Makes 6 1/2 quarts.

Advent Activity: Chalkboard Decorations

By Sis, Young Babysitter, and Sis again (Bud did the decorations on the tree and an igloo with penguins that were too hard to photograph):

Advent Activity: Reindeer Droppings

Lambeth sent me this recipe a few years ago and, this year, we're going to try them:

A recipe for Christmas, the kiddos may be able to help. 

2 cups of sugar
1/2  cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup cocoa (powder)
2 cups quick oats amd 1 cup of desicctaed coconut 

US or UK cups will do, or even Lapland. 

Boil the sugar, milk, butter and cocoa together.  Remove from the heat and 
add in the oats and coconut.  When cool enough to handle let the kids mix 
together to form a homogeneous mass.    Then , with a table spoon, let them 
make their own 'sweets' with the mixture on some wax paper.  Let it set.    
To add texture put some chocolate raisins into a few. 


The name for this delicacy, chocolate reindeer droppings. 

Go wild, put it on your blog with acknowledgement to The Childrens Society 
of England. 

Advent Activity: Right Now

Partying with Mama, the kids, and  Santa....

Advent Activity: The Countdown Continues

Slowly, the Christmas cards we receive are replacing the Advent Activity stockings we've removed as we're more than halfway to Christmas!

Advent Activity: Santa Lucia Day

Yesterday we learned a little about Santa Lucia Day, or Saint Lucy's Day, a holiday observed mainly in Scandinavian countries on December 13.  Traditionally, the eldest girl in the family dresses in a white gown dons a wreath of greenery and lit white candles and serves her family coffee and Saint Lucy buns in the morning.  Some towns also have processions.  Bud was very hung up on the fact that it was the eldest girl, sensing, I think, that he was excluded (though,  now I understand boys are more involved in the rituals).  Sis was curious about the candles, which gruesomely refer to the failed attempt to burn Saint Lucy.  And so, when we got home from NYC with our bottle of Kinder Punsch non-alcoholic Gluwhein (similar to the Glögg we knew from living in Andersonville, the Swedish and lesbian neighborhood where we lived in Chicago), we made a toast to the holiday season.

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Virgin Glögg
a recipe from the Swedish Museum's Jamarkand in Chicago

Glögg spices (cinnamon, raisins, almonds, cardamom)

2-12 oz. cans frozen cranberry juice concentrate

12 oz. can frozen purple grape juice concentrate

12 oz. can frozen apple juice concentrate

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Thaw and mix juice concentrates together with vinegar and keep refrigerated.

Simmer 1 package glogg spices in 1 cup water in tightly covered pot for one hour. Add boiled spices and water to glogg liquid. Bring to a simmer and turn off heat. Let cool and leave in room temperature for one day. Strain and pour back into bottles. Save the drunken raisins to serve with the glogg.

Heat with water in a 2:1 ratio and serve

Advent Activity: I'm a Super Dude

As befits my love of stretching out celebrations, we've been celebrating my birthday for days now, especially if you include parties last Thursday and Friday, cookie baking and ballet on Saturday, and then yesterday and today!  Yesterday, the kids decorated the house with lots of "Phineas and Ferb" decorations and even gave me a button to wear proclaiming me "Super Dude."  Yep, I'm a cool mom.  Then we had an elaborate tea with ham and cheese sandwiches, curried egg salad sandwiches, and several little cakes from the bakery.  Mmmm, chocolate truffle and also gingersnap with cream cheese frosting and a fruit tart!  We hung out making our new Lego holiday village, part of my birthday present.  Actually, the kids worked on the Legos while I perused my new books Harry Potter: From Page to Screen and Homesick Texan, the cookbook.

Today, I had a special birthday lunch at school with the kiddos, which was an extra treat for me because I hadn't been to school in a long while.  We all sat together at those long cafeteria tables--I brought a cheese sandwich and chips from the deli, Mama got chicken nuggets in the lunch line with Sis.  I had brought them both cookies to eat with their lunches.  School lunch sure has changed--they eat off styrofoam trays that get thrown away (oh, the waste!), but not by them--they raise their hands and the lunch ladies toss their trash and give them a coloring page or word search to complete while they wait for lunch to be over.  And then, if they are still hungry at the end of lunch, they can rush up when their class is called for a snack to eat then and there--chips or ice cream!!  I guess I can see not wanting your entire first grade getting up, but it seemed a bit much considering they could easily bus their own stuff, and the need for a coloring sheet to fill the time (maybe they should try talking to one another!  Or gasp, shorten lunch and add it to recess!!!!!) and the extra snack is ridiculous (though Sis's tray with 6 tater tots and 6 nuggets and a chocolate milk was hardly a meal; she opted out of fruit . . . and they let her!  That'll keep us from letting them have school lunch more than a couple of times a month as is our current custom).  Still, it was great fun for me and I hope for them; having Gommie to lunch was very special to me when I was in elementary school.

I fielded calls from England (Hi Lambeth!  Thanks for calling!), Austin (Hi Aunt Banana, sorry I missed you!), Houston (Gommie and Pop together), and, the biggest surprise of all from Dallas from my close friend from high school!  She's still practicing law and still has the thickest East Texas accent I ever hear.  I hadn't talked to her in three years (she says congrats on the baby, Aunt Banana!) so we had a good time catching up.  Also, thanks to everyone who emailed (Hi cousin S and Mrs. S!) and who helped me celebrate last week.

Later this afternoon,we had fondue with bread and apples for after-school snack.  So tasty!  And then they did Legos again, while I napped on the couch.  Finally, we ended my birthday extravaganza with pizza and ice cream and called it quits.  What a great way to celebrate!  I do just love having birthdays.

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UPDATE:  I totally forgot some of the most touching highlights:

• The first present I got was actually a "How Much I Love You & I Love You Because" book made by Sis and Bud.
• Sis had made me two great cards all on her own, with the sweetest sentiments--that I'm the best mom (remember, Mama is a "mama") and she loves me with all her heart.
• Neighbor Boy came back to wish me happy birthday when I told him the kids couldn't play because we were doing birthday things.
• Miss K's daughter brought fudge crinkles and Lindt candies as a birthday present.
• The kids in their class wished me happy birthday (some sorta sang), as did several of the teachers  . . . because I was wearing my "Super Dude" button at school!

Advent Activity: Best. Show. Ever.

Yesterday, we took the kiddos to see the New England Ballet Company's performance of The Nutcracker, only their second live theater performance (after a puppet show of Goodnight Moon; concerts of Laurie Berkner and Imagination Movers don't count.).  They'd seen part of the ballet in school and watched some of Pacific Northwest's version on dvd.  And so, after talking to to them about theater culture (blinking the lights to send you to your seat; intermissions) and etiquette (no talking or getting up; go to the bathroom beforehand), we dressed in our holiday best--Sis in her new red tulle over black skirt tutu-like holiday dress and Bud in a button-down shirt with reindeer sweater--we headed to the theater.  Yep, me too.  Because this particular theater has boxes set aside for people with disabilities--large empty spaces at the back of the theater with movable seats primarily for people using wheelchairs but perfect for me to pace in with no one behind me and lie down in the extra seats pulled together.   Sis, Bud, and Mama sat in real seats right in front of me.  It was beyond perfect and I sniffled through the whole first act, having never thought I could go to the theater again in the near future, which was a loss because Mama and I love musicals.  It was perfect.

I also sniffled for other reasons, being a sniffler.  I remember the last time I went to The Nutcracker, the only other time actually.  I was probably 7 or 8.  Gommie and her friend, dear Miss Betty (who died a few years ago), and maybe another adult though I'm not sure, took me and the other neighborhood kids (Aunt Banana, do you remember this at all?  Was I older?  Were you there?) to Houston's fancy Jones Hall to see the ballet.  I felt so grown up being in that big theater and the performance was beautiful and magical.  I bought a small red Nutcracker to hang on the Christmas tree that I still have.

And I was so glad that the kids were getting to see the show.  They're interested in the story and love to dance around the house.  More than that, I hope that going to the ballet (though, it's our least favorite performing art), musicals, the opera, plays, the symphony become a regular part of our lives.  Especially with Broadway, Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall not so far away.

This production was perfect for us.  Small, local, child-friendly.  Colorful, vibrant costumes.   Loud, fast-paced score (Tchaikovsky on speed!).  And with a large children's cast, including two of their little friends from Daisies, that they could identify with.  Bud liked the Mouse King best, and even bought a Mouse King nutcracker.  Sis liked the finale when they all danced together.  I liked the Waltz of the Snowflakes and the Waltz of the Flowers.  Basically any scene with the corps de ballet and a principal.  And the whole score.   Mama, well, I think Mama was caught up in all the body and gender issues inherent in the art art form.

When it concluded, Sis yawned and stretched (she was bored by all the Sugar-Plum Fairy and her cavalier), but Bud proclaimed it, "The best show ever!"

We celebrated afterwards with a run to Pinkberry, the tony frozen yogurt place. Chocolate with M&Ms, peppermint with chocolate, mango with fruit, original with fruit, almonds, and mochi.  And then we danced and hummed the rest of the evening away . . . .

Next year, Lincoln Center and Balanchine.