Teaching the Christmas Story (Christmas Club #5)

For this week's installment of Christmas Club, an exercise in which Sian of From High in the Sky, encourages blog friends to share tales of Christmas past, I offer this layout from 2001 in which it becomes obvious that at least one of my children is just a little unclear on the concept of Christmas:

Las Posadas is a traditional Mexican Christmas celebration, in which members of the community dress up as Mary and Joseph, innkeepers and towns folk to re-enact the events of the very first Christmas Eve.  A procession, led by Mary and Joseph, goes to several pre-selected locations and asks for shelter.  They are repeatedly turned away, until finally they are admitted at the last location (usually the Church or Church hall) and a party is held.  Attendees carry candles and sing songs (in Spanish) pleading for shelter and lamenting the fact that the family has no place to stay.  This layout shows the Posadas celebration we attended with my sister in southern California.

Afterwards we went back to the Church to look at the Nativity.  Like many Churches, baby Jesus is not placed in the scene until Christmas morning, and the Wise Men do not show up until Ephiphany.  Clara was disturbed by the empty cradle; you can see her pointing to it in the lower left hand photo.  When she asked where the baby was, Henry assured her that he would be there on Christmas morning.  Clara frowned and continued to look puzzled, until finally you could see a light bulb go off in her little head.  She smiled, gave a firm nod, and said, "Oh, Santa's bringing him" 

Decorating the Tree

This little bokeh-backed Nutcracker oversaw the tree decorating this evening. We have lots and lots of ornaments and each one is unique.  We've been collecting them for years - when we travel and as gifts to the kids or each other.  We opened the boxes, and I found my favorite ornament.  One I made in kindergarten (it's dated 1966):

Here it is, hanging on the tree:

And the hipstamatic version that will go in my JYC:

Clara had fun decorating; she loved the new ornament I got her:

Henry appears a bit bored with the whole tree decoarting thing but did seem to like his new ornament:

And a few last shots of some of my favorite ornaments and the finished tree.

 

ISO Winning Cookie Recipe

We're used to being winners around here.  This one is playing on a basketball team which is 7-0!

And this one's soccer team went 4-1 during a very difficult pre-season schedule (playing teams from higher divisions):

So, on Saturday, I'm going to a cookie party. Everyone brings six dozen cookies and then trades with each other.  I love going to this party and always have a great time.  But, I have one little issue - there are prizes.  Fun, silly prizes. That I have never won, although I would dearly love to.  At least once.  So, I'm hoping you can suggest a good cookie recipe.  And by "good," understand I mean a winning recipe. The categories for prizes change every year, and the cookies are judged on appearance only.  In the past, categories have included "Most Martha Stewart Cookie," "Elf's Favorite Cookie," "Husband's Favorite," "Most Festive," "Most Decadent." I'd like it to be a relatively easy cookie to make, since I need to make six dozen.  So, please, post recipes or links.  I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.  And thanks!

Polar Animals

The Gingersnap Creations Challenge blog is going all wintery this month, and the theme for this week is polar animals.  After having pulled out my vellum to work on a Tim Holtz tag last week, I decided to keep playing with it.  I stamped and embossed in white on it for this card (both the image and sentiment), added some layers and brads, inked the edges and called it done!  I like how it turned out.  While I had my polar animal stamps out, I made one more card and a little penguin tag, too.  Here they are:

In addition to polar bears and penguins, I also really like reindeers images.  Do you have a favorite polar animal?  If so, come join the challenge by clicking this link. Would love to see what you do!

 

Tree Farm Visit: 4 people 12 times

Since May, I've been participating in a project called "4 People 12 Times," taking a family portrait at least once a month.  I missed November but have otherwise been keeping up.  When we took a family trip to the tree farm today, I made sure to ask someone to take our picture. It's not a great picture, and I'm hoping that I will be able to improve it when I start some photoshop classes next year.  In the meantime, I did take a few pictures that I did love.  Here's the kids playing together on a tree swing:

My beautiful daughter:

My gorgeous husband:

My strong son:

I shot everything today with my new 85 mm fixed lens.  I'm still working on how best to use it, but I like many of the shots I took, including these:

Got any favorite shots in today's post?

Journaling My Christmas

One of the prompts in Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas class is about wrapping presents.  My favorite type of wrapping is the kind that stores will do for you! It always looks so nice and professional and saves me time later in the holidays.  I was so happy when William Sonoma agreed to wrap these presents (one for my brother and one for my husband).  I always ask if there's complimentary gift wrap available and take advantage of it when it is.  How about you? Do you ever get the complimentary gift wrap?

Stockings is a prompt for later this month, but I'll be heavily involved in a baking party that day, so I decided to complete the prompt now:

I love the idea of having fancy, personalized stockings that the kids can use throughout their lives and take with them when they grow up and move out.  It's one of the things that I want to be heirloom quality.  So early on, I bought these stockings from Lands' End.  I added personalized pewter stocking hangers a few years ago. They're one of my favorite Christmas things.

And here's the post I settled on for the "Traditions" prompt because it involves two things which are key two me about Christmast traditions - family and the real reason for Christmas:

 Many years ago, Paul's parents asked each of their children and spouse to select a shared present for their household.  I told Paul's mother that I wanted a nice Nativity set.  I think they gave us a TV that year.  But the idea stuck in her mind because the next year she gave us this beautiful set which she made herself!  I love it and treasure it both because of its beauty and because of what it represents.

Now, of course, I realize that it must have taken forever to make.  It has 18 pieces and is just gorgeous.  Since so many of you commented on my last post about Nativity Sets, I thought I would share a picture of my other set.  It's one I bought for the kids when they were little, and they used to assemble it in front of the tree on Christmas Eve. I thought they were a little old for it now but Clara found it when we were decorating last weekend and had fun putting it together on top of the keyboard:

Christmas Memories from High School (Christmas Club #4)

Here is this week's submission for Christmas Club, an exercise started by Sian of the High in the Sky blog, where she encourages us to post a memory of Christmas past.

At the beginning of A Child's Christmas in Wales, Dylan Thomas writes about recallinig Christmas memories this way: "I plunge my hand in the snow and bring out whatever I can find.  In goes my hand into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of holidays resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea, and out come Mrs. Prothero and the firemen."  Well, today, I plunge my hand into the bank of Christmas memories and out come memories of Jr. High and High School . . .

I'm not sure I knew it then, but I now realize that the Jr. High and High School years are so very fleeting.  I see it now as Henry is half way through his Sophomore year of High School and Clara is poised at the half way mark of middle school.  But I certainly didn't notice it when the picture was taken above.  I was in 8th grade and weighed about 80 pounds.  Because I was so small, I was chosen to be Santa Clause for the Reindeer Race.  We decorated a wagon as a sleigh, I dressed as Santa, my classmates put on reindeer antlers, they tethered themselves together and then they pulled me across the school yard.  Our wagon tipped over halfway through the course, and I came tumbling out, laughing and unhurt.

I plunge my hand back into the bank of memories and recall Christmas caroling with friends in high school, walking along the streets giggling and singing, occasionally being invited inside for cookies and cider.  Unfortunately, my friends asked me to sing more quietly because I am overly enthusiastic for someone who sings off-key.

Once more, I plunge my hand into the snow bank, and I pull out one last memory - visiting my favorite High School teacher and her husband. She was much more than a teacher because she coached our speech and debate team.  We travelled and competed in many tournaments throughout the year, and she always treated us as psuedo adults.  During the Christmas holiday, the team would go to her house for a party.  The highlight for me was when her husband would pull out a book with gorgeous woodcut illustrations and read in his beautiful baritone voice.  Each year, he would begin, "One Christmas was so much like the other, in those years around the sea-town corner, now out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve, or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six. . . "