Winter Vacation...

I've been luxuriating in winter vacation...those precious two weeks in the middle of the school year.  The break is long enough to feel full rested at the end - and to work in some great play time with the kids.  It's also short enough that I don't feel guilty while basking in laziness!

Next week I'll be back at my typical efficient working mommy-ness...but this week...

• I am enjoying long mornings in my jammies carrying my cup of coffee around with me
• I have been reading some great books...a couple light and fluffy ones and one that is very thought-provoking
• I have been reveling in "Crafting Coolness" with my new Silhouette :) Merry Christmas to me!
• We have plans to visit with friends and eat lots of great food
• There's at least one more great day of skiing this week
• The boys have some fun new toys and games that need to be tried out

What are you up to this week?

Holiday Home Tour...

I am joining the Holiday Home Tour, sponsored by LeeLou Blogs.  Pop on over to check out everyone's beautiful holiday decorating ideas...


These are a few of my favorite Christmas decorations...

I collect snow men and enjoy leaving many of them out through February...a couple of lucky ones get to be out year round!

The wooden tree on the left was given to me by my Aunt Jo when I was a freshman in college.  Each month in a care package she would send a new set of ornaments.  {The snowmen will go on in January}

I made this table runner a couple of years ago...I love the look of wool applique.  I have one with turkeys in progress.

Snowmen just make me smile :)

We don't have a fireplace so we reclaim shelves, that have pictures on them during the rest of the year, to serve as a mantle.  I made Kyle and I stockings for our first Christmas together and then the boys for their first Christmases.  Fortunately, Santa fills all the stockings!  My mother-in-law solved the problem of a chimney when my oldest son was about 3, and quite worried about Santa's entrance.  You'll notice a key hanging with Aiden's stocking.  It's a Santa key and the boys hang it on the outside door knob on Christmas Eve...allowing Santa access sans chimney. 

Our Book Countdown to Christmas

I keep a small scrapbook with all the boys Santa pictures and display the current year's picture in the frame.  {It's still last year's photo...Santa pictures are Saturday!}

We don't have a themed tree...I have several different collections of ornaments and I look forward to putting them out every year.

One of my favorite sets of ornaments are framed pictures of the boys each year...sometimes with Santa and sometimes other candid winter shots.  I'll tell you more about this picture next week...stay tuned!

This is from a collection of bells that have been handed down...the story is that my Great-grandfather brought them with him when he emigrated from Sweden.

The boys have their own tree in our family room...

...their ornaments are mostly toys & candy....it's so much fun!

Thanks for sharing my Holiday Home!



Count Down to Christmas...

This is my all-time favorite tradition of all! I thoroughly immerse myself in the holiday season...everything about Christmas is fun for me...as you'll see if you keep reading this month.  But this tradition?  This tradition trumps everything else and is by far, my favorite.

There are few personal pleasures more important, or satisfying, to me than reading a good book.  I do love to curl up and read.  When my oldest, Connar, was approaching his first Christmas I wanted to start something special that would become a time-honored tradition.  (That's a lot of pressure for a new, young family...but I succeeded!)  I read about this idea somewhere, and I wish I could give credit to the original source. 

I built a Christmas Book Count-Down...

What a fantastic box full of presents.  When Connar was a baby, and I was dreaming of this amazing family tradition, I was thinking about having a gift to  open every day.  Here's our book box...there are 23 wrapped Christmas books and two wrapped copies of "Twas the Night Before Christmas". 

The first few years of the Christmas Book Count-Down  I didn't have a book for every day of the month... we started opening books later depending on how many there were.  Since I have added books, liberally, to the collection I now have more than enough.  I store the books all year, so they are not on the kids book shelves...the only time we read the books is  during December.  Every night before bed they take turns choosing a book to open.  There are several favorites in the collection and they spend hours flipping through the wrapped books trying to predict which is which. 

With a little wrapping paper, a couple of hours and a much-loved collection of books...I put together my favorite Christmas tradition of all time.  And if the boys excitement at seeing the box of wrapped books is any indication...it's one of their favorite traditions as well!

Our Elf...

One of our most recent, but favorite Christmas traditions is The Elf on the Shelf.  I bought this book for my kids last year and our family's elf came with the book.  As per the book's instruction, we learned that our elf was visiting from the North Pole and would be reporting back to Santa, frequently, during the holiday season.  The boys would know that he traveled to the North Pole each night because he would be sitting in a new location each morning.

This morning Jingle was sitting on the shelf with the boys stocking holders! 

Since my boys are 5 years apart, I had been looking for a way to keep the magic of Christmas for my oldest.  This new tradition has been perfect.  They love looking for Jingle each morning and my husband and I occasionally remind them that Jingle is listening to their conversations {arguments}  The magic of the season is alive and well in our house as we host one of Santa's elves during the month of December.  Last year, the boys were disappointed to discover that Jingle returned with Santa on Christmas Eve.  With their excitement at his appearance this year, I am sure they will be sorry to see him leave again this year.

What are your new, favorite traditions?

Looking Forward...

I love the Holiday Season...I've never lost that little kid wonder and awe of the season.  My husband and I start our holiday shopping with Black Friday because I love being in the stores all decorated for Christmas.  It seems that this year, I have so much to look forward to...
* My oldest will be performing in his first band concert
* My family has season passes to a local ski / snowboard mountain and I can't wait to hit the slopes
* I have lots of Christmas crafts planned
* My all-time favorite count-down to Christmas will return (stay tuned later this week)
* Family traditions and time with friends...lots of shopping still to finish
* Late night wrapping parties with my husband
* Christmas light drives with my kids
* Ice skating and sledding
I can't wait!

What are you most looking forward to this season?

Happy Thanksgiving...

Savor every moment of your day!

It's Not Halloween Without...

...Pumpkin carving!

 Aiden was fairly certain that touching the pumpkin guts would make him "barf!" but he managed to scoop out some of the seeds...

 This was the first year that Aiden was interested and capable enough to carve his own pumpkin...start to finish...on his own...

 It was tough, but he was really proud of the finished product...a four-eyed, Frankenstein pumpkin...

Connar wouldn't let us see his project-in-progress, but wanted us to, "be amazed by the results!"

And I was amazed!

With so much busy, running around lately, it was wonderful to just relax and enjoy our family for an evening.  Just the refreshing moments and memories we all needed.

Family Traditions...

One of my favorite things about Fall is the family traditions that accompany the season.

Every year my family gets together to make lefse, a Scandinavian bread made out of potatoes.  It's delicious rolled up with butter and a bit of sugar.  Without lefse we couldn't possibly have Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter dinners.

 For the first time, this year, my nieces and my own boys helped.  (At least a little!)  Chloe actually rolled the whole first batch.  While Connar didn't last nearly as long, I was impressed that he gave it a shot.  My mom, loved teaching them both how to roll out the little balls of mashed potatoes.

 My job is usually to bake the lefse.  Once it's been rolled out, my mom drops it directly onto my glass-top stove.  We used to use cast iron skillets and electric frying pans.  The stove-top method is really easy...there is however a huge flour mess when we're finished.  My Gram usually rolls lefse, but with the kids helping she joined me at the stove to cook.

 My niece, Desi, helped pat excess flour off the finished pieces and move them over to the drying & cooling towels. Once the lefse is cool, we wrap it and freeze it for holiday meals.  There is also a large plate full of "duds"...pieces we deemed good only for that evening's dinner!

Once the lefse was cooked, and the cookies decorated, we had a big family dinner.  I love entertaining and the cozy feeling of a house full of family.  This is the perfect kick-off to all the holidays and family celebrations.

How do you celebrate fall and family?

Halloween...

I love decorating for the seasons!  The other day, Aiden and I put out some of our Halloween decorations and I had to share...

I made this a couple of years ago embroidering wool pieces onto a wool background.  The metal spider candle holders are fun too!

Isn't the count down fun?  That was a great kit put out by the girls over at How Does She?  My kids are having a great time counting down to Halloween!  Aiden put together the owl and cat pumpkin with pieces I got several years ago through Current magazine.

My mom made this great table runner and I loved how it looked with my Ikea candle holders!

My aunt Jo made the pumpkins and ghosts years ago!  Actually when I was in college she sent a monthly care package with new seasonal pieces every month.  It was my starter piece for my own monthly decorations.

I don't go all out...but it's fun to have a little seasonal corner of the house.

How do you decorate for the season?

Fall Crafting...

I love fall...once we've gotten ourselves back-to-school an into the routine of school and sports, fall is a season to relax.  Rainy days...cool mornings...crisp sunny afternoons...I love them all.  I wanted to share with you my latest craft... a falling leaves welcome wreath.

I started with 12 small wooden leaf cutouts, a wooden pumpkin and several fall-ish papers.  I also had my mod podge on hand and some antiquing gel.

 To cover the leaves, I started by tracing around each leaf onto the back of the decorative paper.

Then, I put the paper onto a scrap of card board and traced inside the line with a stylus.  This almost perforated the paper so that I was able to...

...tear the leaf out of the paper.  You could certainly cut the leaf shape out of the paper, but I really liked the look of the torn paper.

Then it was time to mod podge all the papers onto the leaves.  A little messy!

I traced and tore paper to cover the pumpkin just like I did for the leaves and mod podged it onto the pumpkin.  Once the orange paper was on, the stem and leaf looked too white so I rubbed on a bit of green acrylic paint.

Then it was time for the antiquing gel.  I just rubbed some on with a foam brush and wiped it off with a piece of flannel.  You can keep adding antiquing until you get the look you want. 

I antiqued all the leaves too and took this picture to show you the difference a little antiquing can make.

Finally I laid out all the leaves around the pumpkin to get just the look I wanted...

...and hot glued them all together.  After a couple of letters and a light spray of acrylic covering...

I was pretty happy with the final look!  I think this will look great in my kitchen for the fall season.

Happy 4th of July...

I love the 4th of July!  It's a great holiday for many reasons...one of which is that we have so much fun.  For the past several years we have spent the evening with family friends who have a lake cabin.  In the county where we live, personal fireworks are illegal.  While there are several large local shows, the traffic involved is not fun!  On the lake, where our friends live...fireworks are legal.  This year we packed up our kids, swimming gear and a truck load of fireworks and headed out to the lake!

Traditionally we have scorching hot weather on the 4th of July...not so much this year, it was a bit cold. The cold weather didn't deter the swimmers though.  The kids had several water fights and a game of basketball.

The moment dinner was over, the kids were asking when we could start fireworks!  (At that point there were about 3 hours of daylight)  Fortunately, the truck load of fireworks required a little unwrapping and prepping...that kept the boys busy for at least 30 minutes.

After a rousing game of hide-n-seek, Kyle talked to the kids about being safe and set up some ground rules.  Then they dove into the Roman Candles, Sparklers and Crackling Balls. 

Finally, as it started to get dark, families all over the lake started their fireworks shows.  For an hour we watched Kyle launch our own mortars and missiles while also enjoying the displays around the lake.  It was beautiful and spectacular.  The 4th of July is one of my favorite family holidays!  Thanks to our great friends for their hospitality and friendship.  We can't wait until next year!

H

How did your family celebrate on the 4th?