The weather outside being frightful and all...

It snowed again this weekend. It's supposed to snow again tonight. And it might snow later this week. Never more than a couple inches, but it's Enough. Enough to make getting around a nuisance for grown-ups, and Enough to put all the kids (who aren't home sick with coughs) in Winter Heaven. Ours belong to the latter category. And Miriam happily shoveled the entire sidewalk and front steps, so actually, the grown-ups are pretty happy too. Once the sun melted the worse of the ice on the un-plowed side streets, the problem of getting around easily was solved. I even braved the snowy roads (me! with my sunny southern California girl upbringing!) to go to the store and get brie and ingredients for chocolate fondue for a party Saturday night (to which no one came -- ah well, more brie and chocolate for me!).

The snow was very powdery -- not so great for snowball and fort making, but I-D-E-A-L for sledding. Every single incline I have passed in the last few days has been sledded smooth by myriads of children (and the young-at-heart like certain other family members). Even Joseph got to enjoy some sledding, with Daddy. According to on-the-scene reporters (since I am not so young-at-heart as certain other family members) he cried "Wheeee!" the whole way down and then "'Gain! 'Gain!" at the bottom. He and Katie have also both eaten close to their weight in snow. I had to explain to Katie that the icicles hanging off the van are not for human consumption, cutely tempting as they are. She confessed that they were a little salty. Ewwwww.

So now I am sitting at the dining table, staring out the window at oft-tramped snow, appreciating the fact that our thermostat set at 68* is much, much warmer than the 20-something outside, and sipping a warm cup of Chai tea with lots of milk and sugar. (The secret is the milk.) Ahh, bliss. Why did it take me so long to get a box of Chai this winter? Loose Earl Grey brewed in my white tea pot (a charming gift from Mr. Pickles) is the perennial favorite, but there's something so seasonal about Chai. It's only delicious on cold days, not so much in the summer. I've tried. It loses some of the magic -- even when it's an iced latte. Must be a nutmeg thing.

ANYway, back to catching up. Specifically, Christmas pictures (in two parts). Following are all the fun Christmas prep things we did.

Mommy's (and/or Santa's) little helper. Tried to crop the laundry basket out of the picture, to no avail. This is my life, folks. Little people strewing colorful things around the house, laundry waiting to be folded. And cute little elves. Must not forget the elves.


Making Christmas presents! Some of you received hand-made Christmas ornaments from Miriam this year. First she close a package of neon-bright sculpey clay (the kind you have to dry in the oven, NOT the air-dry kind) and made marbles and other shapes, which I baked. I didn't take any pictures of the wireworking (mostly since I was doing a lot of spirals to wrap the marbles in -- that part is tricky). Miriam got the idea for all this from her Thursday afternoon co-op classes. I'll have to write about that later -- it's been a great experience for the girls.

Joseph helped. (I think the clay removed some of the finish off the dining table.)


We totally broke down on the Advent fasting and abstaining thing this year, alas. But resisting a whole tin of hand-made Christmas cookies from inlaws, PLUS a box of delicious brownies from Uncle Dave, was just beyond our willpower this year. So Mr. Pickles made egg nog cookies with the girls one day and they had fun decorating them.

I don't remember ever doing this kind of stuff as a kid. Speaking now as a mother, I can certainly see why not. Store-bought seasonal cookies don't leave your kitchen in a state of total disarray for a day (if that kind of thing is important to you). :)

Some cookies they painted before they were baked (as above), others they iced afterwards. Wow, were these good!


Of course, Miriam and I made the traditional Pulla. It's not Christmas without Pulla.

It just isn't. I think that even if I am ever in labor on Christmas Eve, I will still make pulla.
(And no, I couldn't find my advent pillar candles, even though I had JUST seen them a couple months ago -- serves me right for cleaning! -- so we made do with Miriam's homemade Advent wreath, which served the purpose admirably. She added another paper flame each week.) (Have YOU ever tried looking for pink and purple candles a week into Advent?)


On to tree decorating! We went for the popcorn-and-cranberry garland again this year, something I hadn't done since the last time we had a toddler boy in the house to squish all the cranberries and eat the stale popcorn. Ah, good times.

Note to self: 1/4c. popcorn kernels is probably sufficient for a good-sized garland. If you make more, your family will be eating popcorn for the next 2 days. Also, does anyone have any suggestions for using up half a bag of fresh cranberries? Aside from making sauce, that is? How hard are they to dry?

Joseph helped. (In the same way that Sal helped her mother can blueberries for the winter at the end of "Blueberries for Sal.")

Katie doing the honors. Mr. Pickles still will not let me get a new tree topper. He seems to have a bizarre attachment to construction paper and popsicle sticks. However, this year we compromised by also putting up the angel on the other prong of our Orthanc-like tree. (note the popcorn-cranberry garland in action)

Waiting for Christmas morning!