Month: December 2010

New Years Eve…..

Well..it is New Year’s Eve….and it has been a quiet day around here..which is fine with me!  After I took pictures for this post…I realized it was connected to my New Year’s Eve post from last year…..strange how things work out….

One of my favorite gifts that I gave this year…..was taking some of my mom’s drawings and watercolors..and getting them framed and giving them to my children, my aunt and one of my brothers.  It is something I had been meaning to do for awhile now….and after I took the photos..I noticed that I had ended the year, last year, with a drawing my mom had done.

So, as I look back and reflect on the past year…..I think it was a nice year, a quiet year….a more gentle year…..the year before I had so been waiting for it to end…..so this year was calmer…but every year is a wonderful year…with my family….and with loved ones….so Happy New Year…..to everyone…..enjoy……love……live…..

Snow Cream…..

Every time it snows….everybody wants to have snow cream for dessert.  In our family, there are two different ways to make it.  For either version, you need a big bowl of fresh snow!

For the first variety, all you need is maple syrup…just pour in as much as you like…which in our families case, is a lot!  Stir it up and enjoy…..very simple.

The other version involves sugar and vanilla!  It all depends on your mood.

For this version, all you do is add about a teaspoon of vanilla and sugar…..a lot of sugar, if you are one of my children!

And of course, you have to mush it all up before you can enjoy it!

Snow…..

We got hit with a big snowstorm yesterday…..it is so windy and cold…but of course, the kids love it…especially River.

She doesn’t want to come inside…she would rather stay out in the snow all day….If you are having snow..I hope you are safe and warm……and if you aren’t having snow…I hope you are safe and warm….enjoy….

Making Christmas cards…another tradition….

So, another Christmas tradition, in our family, is making our own cards.  We love to think and think about what we will do for that year.  The card usually involves some type of photo of the children…..though one year we had them draw the card.

It doesn’t always go as planned or as smoothly as I had hoped…..but in the end, we always love them.  I usually work with the photo in Photoshop and print them out using Publisher.  Sometimes we get them printed at a print shop, but most times I print them out at home using cardstock.

After doing the upside down chin photos earlier this month for my blog, my daughter Tuesday, decided those would be perfect for our Christmas card.

For quite a few years now, we wanted to do a twist on the family Christmas letter….. and then finally we thought of MadLibs.  So, this year, we decided to combine the two ideas…and we made up a Christmas family letter in MadLib form.  It was  a lot of fun coming up with the letter…but it was hard to put it into the right format, so it looked just like the real MadLibs.

In the end, I think our Christmas cards reflected who we are as a family…..pretty goofy!

Embrace the Camera….

So, for this week’s Embrace the Camera (inspired by the anderson crew)…I thought I would like to have some photos of Quinn and I….so I sat us down in front of the Christmas tree…but, of course, River said she had to be in the photos with us…well…she thought she wanted to be in the photos……with us….

And, how could I say no…so…..here we are……well, sort of…River was bopping all around…but I got one good one of her..before she was on her way again……

Yule Lads….

The Yule Lads have started coming to our house.  Another tradition.  Every year, starting on December 12th, the Yule Lads begin to arrive.  We love the little guys.

Each night, we read about the Yule Lad who is coming that night…we get out the little statue….and then the children leave a shoe in their window.

So far, we’ve been visited by Stekkjarstaur, who likes sheep, Giljagaur, who steals milk, and Stufur…who is the little short guy.

In our house, they are all very friendly, and they leave little gifts for good children.  (If you are bad, they leave you a rotten potato!)  Sometimes the Yule Lads do slightly mischievous things, like drink our milk and leave the empty container on the floor!

We haven’t talked too much about Gryla, the Yule Lads mother, or the Yule Cat, because they are a bit too scary.   If you are interested in learning more about the Yule Lads, there are a few good websites..but I love the book that we have entitled The Yule Lads by Brian Pilkington….the illustrations are wonderful!