I'll slow down after the new year...

...but until then, I'm keeping a pretty frantic pace.

I finally printed out a few planner pages (thank you, donnayoung.org, for all the printable calender and planner pages I could ever use) today because the jumble of things I need to do in the next two months was causing some severe sleep deprivation.  Putting the mess on paper got it out of my head so that I can sleep at night.  Yesterday afternoon, as I began to fade out after only 3 hours of sleep the night before, I decided to make coffee.  Generally I drink one mug of half-caff in the morning and that's it.  Well, I brewed up half a pot of very strong Ethiopian coffee and drank three mugs the size of a soup bowl (thanks, Annita, for the new mug--it'll be handy for morning coffee or soaking my tired feet in).  I got pretty wired; Una said I was vibrating...

Much of what's on my mind is related to Christmas.  Making things for the shop and for the kids.  I finally finished these little pocket gnome-babies and got them listed in the shop, with a couple put aside for Gemma and my niece.  I think they turned out well, the proof being that my boys, right up to my soon-to-be 12 year old, all love them and ask, "Can you make one for me?")

I'm sharing this on Keep Calm, Craft On {Crafting On}, on Frontier Dreams and Creative Friday on Natural Suburbia.  So...what are you working on for Christmas?

Crafty

Never an idle moment in the last quarter of the year!

The days have been passing in a blur as every moment not spent on home, hearth and schooling has been dedicated to crafting.  Some of it is knitting, some of it sewing, and it has been pretty equally divided between making things for our Etsy shop, Frost Lane, and making Christmas gifts.  I have made wool dryer balls from these instructions, for myself and as gifts.  The little autumn babies tucked into walnut shells are in our shop now awaiting adoption, and I have made a number of cherry stone heating pads/ice packs for the shop as well.  Currently in production are the "Pocket Babies."  I have to attach their little gnome hats and wrap them in their felt blankets, but I hope to have them in the shop soon--with a couple put aside as gifts for a couple of special little girls I know.

I'm linking up with Frontier Dreams (Keep Calm, Craft On)...

20+C+M+B+13

The three kings made the journey across the dining room to the nativity some time last night.  This morning we had a "King Cake" for breakfast (actually made from my cinnamon roll recipe, but formed into a ring) and crown cookies and chocolate coins for dessert.  For years now I have strung chocolate coins and hung them on the tree along with the other decorations and we have made a tradition of taking them down and dividing them among the children on Epiphany, to represent the gold brought to the Christ Child.  It is a tradition the children relish, naturally.

Tomorrow we get back into our school routine.  Truth be known, I am not really looking forward to it.  I've been enjoying the more relaxed pace, and not having to whine and nag quite as much as I do when trying to get the children to tackle their studies.

Maybe I will even get back on track with this blog...!

Creative Friday: a dozen beanbags

Here is one of my hand-made Christmas gifts that turned out to be an unexpected hit:  two sets of six beanbags (actually they are filled with rice).  My four boys have used these for mock battles (they build pillow forts at opposite ends of our hallway and try to shoot them down) and various other games they've come up with.  The bags are made to put up with a great deal of abuse--double bagged in muslin--and filled with 8 oz. of the cheapest rice I could find.  The numbers, printed onto iron-on transfer paper, were added for two reasons: first, it makes it easy to see if any are missing, and secondly, the bags can be divided for teams, which is what we have during fort-battles.

Since getting these, the boys have stopped hurling the 3 lb rice-filled heating pads at one another!

Join Linda on Natural Suburbia for more Creative Friday inspirations...and have a great weekend!

Yarn Along--and Christmas knits revealed

Current project: fingerless mitts for my young novelist

Gabe's Watchman's Cap

Adrian's slouchy hat

Una's beret and cowl

Gemma's Sunday Sweater

Salutations, and happy New Year to all!  I am back for Ginny's Wednesday Yarn Along, finally able to show you some of the things I knit for Christmas.  Missing from this post are one more Watchman's Cap and another slouchy hat of the same patterns as those above, and the baby hat from my last Yarn Along post.  Everything is up on my Ravelry Projects page.    

As for reading, I haven't picked up anything to read for myself in a while, but I have been reading books from our seasonal book basket to the little ones, as well as some we picked up from the library.  

If I get the mitts done, I will see you next week on the Yarn Along!

On the Feast of Stephen

All of my Christmas knits wrapped up

A happy and blessed Christmas to all of you!

I have decided that the day after Christmas might just be my favorite day of the entire year.  All the hustle and bustle of the 25th is done with, the kids are all content and busy with their new things, there are leftovers for dinner, and one can just kick back and enjoy the next 10 days of Christmas with none of the pressure of the first.

After three years in a row of going to a rather loud and crowded vigil Mass, this year we opted for a Christmas day Mass at the Chapel of Divine Mercy.  This meant that the children had to practice heroic patience and wait until after Mass to open their presents (they were permitted to look into their stockings and  they opened the knit things I made them).  The Mass was quiet and beautiful.  We got home, had a bite to eat and then the kids finally were able to open presents.

It looks like a huge number of gifts under the tree, but there were eight knit items, a number of pairs of socks and several packages of goodies from my mom.  Bret and I made several of the gifts this year, but that will have to be another blog post.

We went into Gallatin today in order to exchange a couple of items, pick up Bret's sharpened router bits and stop at Goodwill (seems I am always searching for some article of clothing for one child or another), and as we were on the road, it began to snow.  No, it isn't a lot, and it probably won't stick around, but it's rather nice for Christmas.  The wind is howling out there, and the dusk is coming on quickly, and the words, "In the Bleak Midwinter" come to mind.  Sebastian has to go out and milk in a moment, and he has his long underwear on and is taking a hot cup of (decaffeinated) coffee out with him.  Poor lad...

I'll try to get back to this blog soon...but right now I am enjoying the lull.

Yarn Along--last of the Christmas knits...I think...

 

I'm back with Ginny for another Wednesday Yarn Along.  It's been a while since I knit one of these, my favorite baby hat pattern.  My dear friend Cindy became a grandmother for the first time, and this hat is for Aiden Christopher, her grandson.  Isn't the button adorable?  I say that I am done with the Christmas knits, but I can't bear to ride in the van or watch a movie without my knitting, so I might manage one more hat...

As for reading, I've had no time for any reading of my own, but I am reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.  I had never read it or seen the movie, so I am as entertained by it as are the children.

So...it's down to the wire.  Are you still knitting for Christmas?

How many days 'til Christmas?

That's the question I have to answer several times a day...

I'm fading fast here, people...it's that wicked thief of sleep, insomnia, and I have managed to run all day--well, I ought to say drag around all day--on three hours of sleep.  I awoke to the sound of Gemma using the bathroom at 1:30 a.m., and that was it for me.  I prayed for a while, took some homeopathic stuff, played a few games of Spider Solitaire on the computer and tried to return to sleep.  To no avail.  I finally got up at 4:10 and did my morning prayers and reading, and finished a hat for a friend's grandbaby.

Now I am yawning every half-minute, and wondering if the kids will have scrambled eggs or oatmeal for dinner.  Whatever it will be, I won't be cooking it.

The past seven days have been a flurry of packing up Etsy sales, making gifts, knitting gifts, wrapping gifts, last-minute ordering of gifts, baking cookies, mailing cards and making space in my workroom for "Christmas Central".  Today I was forced to slow down.  I moved through the day in slow motion, tidying my yarn stash, wrapping a few things, baking some easy cookies.  I listened to this CD and dozed off in my chair for 15-20 minutes.

The snowflakes above were made using the instructions here.  Really easy and fun for the kids to see, although the boys immediately began to think about dropping Lego men and other things into the solution.

G'night, folks...

The days of waiting

Every year Advent has come and gone with a lot less spirituality and a lot more fuss than I can feel good about.  But things are changing...my youngest is 3 1/2 now, so it is a bit easier to get things done.  My oldest kids are now old enough to give a hand with some of the preparations.  It's getting easier to enjoy Advent more without the anticipation of Christmas being bypassed in a blur.  Yes, I still haven't mailed or even written a single card, I have not yet baked a single cookie.  I still have some gifts to make and some to buy.  but I am just trying to pace myself and not go nuts.  Insanity is not a good way to celebrate the Incarnation.

Inspired by other bloggers, as I always am, I came up with a list of my own.  Mine is not it any sort of order, and certain items--reading books, watching Christmas movies or baking cookies--will be repeated a few times during Advent.

Things to do during Advent
Read the stories for our Jesse Tree and make ornaments for it
"Open" the days on the animated Advent calender from Jacquie Lawson
Unwrap and set up the nativity scene
Listen to Gregorian Chant for Advent
Create a seasonal story book basket (include books for O.L. of Guadalupe, St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, and the   Immaculate Conception)
Ask Papa about his favorite Christmas memory
Clear out our toy boxes and remove broken toys to the trash, and those no longer loved to the box to donate
Watch a favorite Christmas or winter-themed movie together
Read a favorite book together
Pick a gift to give from the World Vision catalog
Make Christmas cards for family members
Bake and/or decorate cookies
Make some batches of cocoa mix and chai mix
Go to a Christmas Parade
Buy and decorate the Christmas tree
Make birdseed ornaments for our feathered friends
Cut paper snowflakes to decorate the windows with
Rent The Nutcracker from Netflix

Some of our favorite Christmas movies:
Little Women
It's a Wonderful Life
Scrooge
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Polar Express

Jessica at Shower of Roses has the biggest list of St. Nicholas/Christmas books I think I've seen.  I definitely need to add some of these to our collection!

On the twelfth day of Christmas...

Yes, the big egg was a double yolk!

...we just went on with our rather relaxing week.  We had our favorite buttermilk pancakes for breakfast (ah, the hens are laying again, which meant I could use our eggs, our butter and our cultured buttermilk!), the kids spent a lot of time outdoors in the sunshine, and we savored the last of the twelve days (the octave of Christmas, the octaves of St. Stephen, St. John the Divine and the Holy Innocents, and today, the Epiphany).

I spent the better part of the day trying to put a menu plan in place.  Why is this so hard?

The tree will be stripped and removed tomorrow.  We will lovingly put away our pretty ornaments (we each have our favorites), take the tree outside for the birds, and put the living room furniture back to where it was.  I always use a few bags of foil-covered chocolate coins to trim the tree with, and on Epiphany, the last evening before we take down the tree, the kids snip off all the coins and divide them up between themselves as a last Christmas treat and a reminder of the gold brought to the Christ child on this day.

Our Nativity scenes will stay up for a while, perhaps until Candlemas.

I thought you might like our favorite pancake recipe.  I was going to put cinnamon and cloves into the batter this morning, thinking of the East, from whence the spices--and the Wise Men--journeyed.  But they are equally good without!

Our Favorite Buttermilk Pancakes


2 cups All Purpose flour (I use white whole wheat flour)
2 Tbsp milled golden flax seed (optional)
2Tbsp sugar or Rapadura
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
2 cups cultured buttermilk
2 Tbsp melted butter

Heat your griddle to where a drop of water dances on it!
Sift together the flour, flax seed, sugar, salt and baking soda in a medium to large bowl.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the eggs. Whisk in the melted butter.
Pour the buttermilk mixture into the flour mixture and stir to blend, but do not over-mix.

Grease your griddle or use pan spray.  Ladle the batter onto it to make your pancakes.
Makes about 26 pancakes 4" in diameter.

Christmas is...for the birds?

This morning I worked at getting down the boxes into which I store the Christmas decorations.  I took down the Christmas cards and put away the Advent wreath and a few of the Christmas things.  Tomorrow I will take down the tree, although I hate to do it...I rather love our little Christmas tree.  But with school starting on Monday, I figure I should put our living room back in order.  I might keep the nativity scenes out until February 2nd (Candlemas).

After three days of bitter cold, I finally heard a bird this morning.   The weather being mild and clear, I thought it a good day to do our Christmas for the birds...taking a cue from Ginny, we got together a few sundries and made a fine mess.  Gemma and Dominic used chenille sticks to make little rings of Cheerios, and Gemma even discovered on her own that she was able to push the wire through the cranberries.  She ate a couple, too.  I thought for certain she would spit the first out, but she didn't even make a face and even ate a second one before declining the offer of a third.  We rolled pine cones smeared with chunky peanut butter in birdseed, too, and hung these up, and I even made a bird feeder out of an old distilled water jug.Couldn't get hold of the suet, as Bret hasn't been able to make it to the butcher.

  So far no bird has yet noticed the fine repast, but I've no doubt they'll find it in time...if it doesn't rain and spoil it all!