Holiday Happenings: Part I

Thanks to the past two snowstorms, two cancelled church services and two snow days I'm totally ready for Christmas.  This might be the only year on record that I don't pull any late nights!  Hooray!  Here's what we've been doing the past few weeks.  I'm really enjoying reconnecting with my crew.

Lighting the Lights

 Nutcracker with GeeGee

 Finally Old Enough to Put up Betty Will's 1930s Doll House

 Rosky and Sugar Cookies with Matka and family

Sister Selfie

 Snow!  A Miracle as far as we're concerned....

The Tree!

 Teacher Cookie Gifts - no help from Mom!

 Santa Lucia

 More Holiday Baking

Awake, Awake and Greet the New Morn

Nativity Hand Sculpted by my Uncle the Wild Man of the Mountain

Awake! awake, and greet the new morn,
an angel heralds its dawning,
sing out your joy, for Christ will be born,
God's gift, this Child of our longing.
Christ comes as a baby weak and poor,
to bring all hearts together,
to open wide the heavenly door,
and live here inside us forever.
To everyone who sorrows or fears,
Emmanuel comes asinging;
the humble song is quiet and clear,
but fills the earth with its ringing.
Music to heal the broken soul
and hymns of loving kindness,
the thunder of the anthems roll
to shatter all hate and injustice.
In deepest night Christ's coming shall be,
when all the world is despairing.
Where people long to love and be free,
Christ comes to speak of God's caring.
A soul without voice breaks forth in song,
a lame one leaps in wonder,
the weak are raised above the strong,
and weapons are broken asunder.
Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night,
though winds blow wildly and cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light,
be strong and loving and fearless.
Love be our song and love our prayer,
and love, our endless story,
may God fill every day we share,
and bring us at last into glory.
Music: Rejoice, Rejoice Marty Haugen (20th C)
Words: Marty Haugen (20th C)
Sequence: Cathouse Pandemonium, Ltd.

A Christmas Poem and December Festivities Update

It's the last Sunday in Advent.  Are you ready?  Have you managed to take care of the details of Christmas, so you can spend the time focusing on your family and loved ones?  Not the time of giving them stuff, but the gift of giving them your time. 

 

Although it feels like I've been getting ready for Christmas forever this year, I'm so glad I did so many tasks in advance.  It means that our Christmas break will really be about spending time together.  I'm relaxed and ready to spend lots of time enjoying each other. 

 

What we've been up to in December....

A Weekend at the Farm with Grandma

My sister has been decorating my grandma's house for almost 30 years.  Before my grandfather passed away it was a job they did together.  She still misses him when she decorates, but it helps to have the kids there to help.  They have fun with their Aunt, and Grandma is always so excited to have her house so pretty.

 

 

 

 

Farm Tree

We're very frugal people about many things.  One of them is our tree.  Although the choices are getting slimmer every year, we still prefer to pick a tree from my parent's farm.  Farmer Dan cuts and loads the tree, and the price is certainly right (FREE)!

 



 

Making Roshky and Sugar Cookies with Matka

As expected, grandma gave me instructions the whole time.  It's such a wonderful day with her. She chatters away, and then laughs at herself when she tells me how to make cookies I've been making with her since I was five. 

 

 

Apricot filled Rosky

 

Nut filled Rosky

 

Decorating these cookies takes some serious concentration.

 

 

 

 

 

We decorate cookies for each person in the family.  These face cookies are our sugar selves. 

 

My Aunt tried to share a cookie tray with Matka.  Matka kept stealing the cookies that Aunt Deb planned to decorate.  It was very funny.

 

It was a rainy day, so Farmer Dan was not hunting.  He got creative with the cookie dough and did some free hand sculpting until we chased him out of the kitchen.

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Days at Home

Tree Decorating

No matter how humble, once a tree has lights and ornaments on it becomes a thing of beauty and peace.

 

 

Hanukkah

We had a great time celebrating Hanukkah this year.  Highlights included lighting the menorah and saying the blessing most nights ( I think we missed two nights), eating copious amounts of latkes and playing dreidel after dinner while we waited for the candles to burn down.  I feel that celebrating Hanukkah really increased the kids capacity to tolerate and appreciate religions other than our own.  We'll definitely be keeping this as one of our December celebration traditions.

 

Latkes and Apfelpankuchen (German Oven Apple Pancake)

 

 

Santa Lucia Day

This was a new one for us, but one that Reading Girl really enjoyed.  She really, really wanted to wear a crown of real candles, but I nixed that idea.  We prepped the dough the night before, but she insisted on doing everything else herself.  She got up really early and baked the Santa Lucia breads on her own and made hot glogg.  We decided though that it's too much for a school day, so next year we'll be doing Santa Lucia the second weekend in December.

 

Solstice Bonfire

Another new event was having a bonfire on the night of the Winter Solstice.  It was a very cold and windy night, but we enjoyed time around the fire with friends drinking hot wassail.  Then when we got too cold, we moved inside, turned off all the lights in the house (with the exception of the Christmas tree lights) and lit all of the candles.  It was a delightful way to kick off our holiday celebrations.  I think we'll be doing this one every year too.

Winter Crock Pot Wassail

Add to crock pot
4 beers (I used 2 Harp and 2 Pumpkin Wheat because that's what we had).
1 bottle of sweet red wine or port
1/2 c. (or 1 c. if you like things sweeter) of brown sugar
1 orange sliced
bag of mulling spices (if you don't have mulling spices put in fresh ginger and a few cinnamon sticks)

Loving God, Help us remember the birth of Jesus,

that we may share in the song of the angels,

the gladness of the shepherds,

and worship of the wise men.

Close the door of hate

and open the door of love all over the world.

Let kindness come with every gift and good desires with every greeting.

Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ brings,

and teach us to be merry with clear hearts.

May the Christmas morning make us happy to be thy children,

and Christmas evening bring us to our beds with grateful thoughts,

forgiving and forgiven, for Jesus' sake. Amen.

- Robert Louis Stevenson

What have you been up to this December?  Did you do anything new?  Whatever you did, from the simple to the complex, I hope you had plenty of time to enjoy each other. 

Blessings to you and your family in the new year.

For Jesse and his Dad who didn't get to make their own...

Neil Heslin, 50, father of six-year old Jesse Lewis, told the New York Post that he had been planning to visit his son's class Friday afternoon to make gingerbread houses. "I dropped him off at school at 9am. He went happily," Heslin said. "That was the last I saw of him."
 
Matt Williams and Amanda Holpuch in New York  guardian.co.uk, Saturday 15 December 2012 



One of my favorite holiday traditions is making gingerbread people and a gingerbread house with my kids.  It's a great way to spend time together, and it uses up the last of the Halloween candy.

Give yourself several days to complete this project. We usually make the dough on Friday night, bake on Saturday morning, decorate the people and assemble the house on Saturday afternoon, and decorate the house on Sunday afternoon.  We generally do this the weekend before Christmas, and amazingly, the children in my life tell me it still tastes great when we eat it on the 24th.  I'll have to take their word for it.

The gingerbread cookie dough is my Aunt Mary's.  I've been making and eating gingerbread boys and girls since before I can remember.  Their one of the required cookies at our house.  They make it feel like Christmas, and they return me to my own childhood.

If you don't have a gingerbread dough that you love, use this one.  I've given it to several friends over the years and they always say that it makes the best gingerbread cookies they've ever eaten.

Making and decorating the gingerbread house does create quiet a mess in your kitchen.  Luckily, my children now know how to use a broom, and I sort of give up on house cleaning the week and a half before Christmas.  One of my favorite gifts from the Woodsman is a full house cleaning - which he does on Christmas Eve afternoon, right before guests arrive for dinner.  This means the house is clean, clutter free and relaxing for Christmas Day, so I don't sweat the baking mess.  Time with my giggly children is so worth the crunch of sugar underfoot.

Make the dough the night before you plan to bake.  It needs to chill for at least 12 hours. 

Aunt Mary's Gingerbread Cookies

1/3 c. Crisco
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups dark molasses

cream together using an electric mixer

In another bowl, sift together
2 3/4 c. flour
1 t. salt
1 t. baking soda
1 t. ginger (fresh works best - but powdered is OK too)
2 t. cinnamon

Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix.
Chill overnight.
Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake at 350 for about 8-10 minutes.  They should be firm and bouncy when they are done. 

Roll the dough out 1/8 inch thick (I put a bit of flour and sugar down on the counter first).  Farmer Dan made these rolling boards for me years ago.  They ensure that my dough doesn't get too thin.

Cut out and bake.  They're done when you press down on the gingerbread and the cookie springs back (no finger impression left).  Bake house pieces longer.  You want these to be a bit crispy so your house will be structurally sound when you put it together.

I used to use my own icing, but this is one time where I buy the commercial stuff.  It just sticks together better.  You need good mortar.  Ice the edges thickly, then have a helper hold the pieces together while you stick them together. Ice the bottoms too.  You want your house to stick onto the board (here I used a cutting board covered in freezer paper).

Be careful when placing the roof.  This is the trickiest part.  Some years we need to use a small can to hold the roof in place while the icing dries.

Let it dry overnight.  This ensures that you don't shift the house pieces apart when you decorate.

When you have the house assembled, it's time to ice the people.  I make a simple sugar icing (just powdered sugar thinned with a bit of milk) and add food coloring until it's the desired color.  We then paint on outfits.  The little cookies just get dipped in the icing. Let these sit out on the counter until they're fully dry.

The next day cover the whole house in icing and then let the kids decorate away.  My two use leftover Halloween candy.  It's a great way to empty out the candy jars before Christmas.

We always take our house to church on Christmas Eve for our congregational cookie share.  It's great - other kids help eat all that sugar (sorry church friend moms).

One year my kiddos are going to be too old to do this, but for now I'll savor this afternoon.