Gramma's Treasures

I hope you're enjoying your holidays! Christmas week is always filled with social activity around here -- lots of visiting, game-playing, eating and movie-watching.

On Friday we had my paternal grandmother's annual Grandkid Christmas Luncheon. Gramma has 15 grandchildren, not including spouses and great-grands. Nine of us, plus SOs and one great-grandbaby, joined her for lunch on Friday. Only a few of us live in town still, so it's a nice time to catch up with what new things everyone is doing.

My sisters were here for the luncheon, but had to return to San Francisco and Tuscon this weekend. Then Sunday night, my aunt, uncle and two cousins arrived from Portland, Oregon to spend a few days with us. They haven't come to California for Christmas for years, so this was a special treat.


Today my grandmother, who is 79, invited all the aunties and granddaughters to her home to look over her jewelry collection and choose what we liked. Most of her jewelry was made by her father, my great-grandfather, who was a lapidary (as well as a Harley-Davidson motorcycle dealer).

It was lovely to be there with my aunts and cousins and Gramma, admiring the stones my great-grandfather polished and set, and I know she was thrilled to have us all together.

I don't like to think about why Gramma wants to give things away now, though she seems determined to make us think about it. She is systematically reducing her load on this earth, and I do appreciate that she wants to make things easier on everyone when it's her time to go.

For now, I'm just grateful for the time we have with her. I hope I can age as gracefully as she has. She is more beautiful now than ever. I love you, Gramma!!

Tidings of comfort and joy

Joy To The World

Joy to the world! The Lord is come.
Let earth receive her King
Let every heart
Prepare Him room
And Saints and angels sing
And Saints and angels sing
And Saints and Saints and angels sing

Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns
Let Saints their songs employ
While fields and floods
rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, Repeat, the sounding joy

Joy to the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders of His love

No more will sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He'll come and make the blessings flow
Far as the curse was found,
Far as the curse was found,
Far as, far as the curse was found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And gives to nations proof
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love;
And wonders of His love;
And wonders, wonders of His love.

Rejoice! Rejoice in the Most High,
While Israel spreads abroad
Like stars that glitter in the sky,
And ever worship God,
And ever worship God,
And ever, and ever worship God.

--Isaac Watts(1674-1748)  

One of my favorite things about Christmastime is listening to Christmas music as much as possible (right up until my hubby starts to go nuts). I don't want to hear anything else in December.

For me, nothing beats a traditional carol. I love folk, pop, rock and classical Christmas music, as long as the lyrics are traditional. If the lyrics aren't about Christ's birth, it's holiday music, not Christmas music. (Although I'm also a sucker for anything sung by Nat King Cole -- who isn't?)

I've had Pandora Radio Christmas stations on pretty much every waking minute at home. I LOVE that website! I've been totally out of the music scene since college, so it's very nice to be able to put in one favorite song and have them create a station of new (and old) music I'll like. Especially since I don't own an iPod.

We've been listening to Pandora's Folk Holidays (Scott's favorite), Classical Christmas, Peaceful Holidays and a station I created based on "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel," which is in my top three Christmas songs.

When our Internet connection has gone down lately (cable isn't supposed to do that!), I get out the Christmas Songbook CD collection I picked up last year at Costco. It has all the classics, sung by everyone from Bing Crosby to Billie Holiday, Perry Como to Gene Autry.

I found this great site for Christmas carol lyrics.

What's your favorite Christmas song or album?

Advent: The Christmas Pageant

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
--Isaiah 9:6

This weekend the boys were in our church's Christmas pageant. Instead of the traditional nativity story, the volunteer directors chose a short musical about a fourth king who comes late to Bethlehem and misses meeting the Christ child.

After a last minute scramble of rehearsals to get all the songs, movements and lines learned, the kids donned their costumes and the parents and Sunday school teachers got to sit back and watch it come together.


My older two enjoyed learning the songs, but were mostly grateful to finally be shepherds instead of sheep! My littlest didn't mind being a sheep for the first time.


We attempted to teach the little angels and sheep a song to sing, but mostly they rang their little bells while the Sunday school teachers sang softly below the stage. It didn't matter, they were totally adorable. That's my little lamb on the far left...

Chilly, lovely, Christmas-y days

Oh, it is FEELING like Christmastime today! The weather forecasters have been teasing us with the possibility of snow all week, but so far we've had to be content with the cold rain. This morning the boys slept in later than usual, and I turned on just the tree lights and enjoyed the sound of the rain.

This afternoon they decided they wanted to play outside even if they'd get wet. They stayed out until the sky was dark and their hands and faces were bright red from the cold. The bath was filled and waiting when they came in.


We've been baking and making like crazy the last few days. This is the spot I kept coming back to at my mom's house last weekend:


Here's a peek at the goodies...shh! Don't tell!


Today I finally mailed packages and the last few Christmas cards. I get a little frantic when it's time to gather all the piles and ship out. I want things to arrive before Christmas, and earlier for friends who won't be home next week. I have to set my deadline early, or else I'll never finish. Last year I think I only mailed cards out through letter P in my address book!


It feels good to have it done, and know everything should arrive on time. I don't want to have to think about anything but enjoying the week with my family after Scott's vacation starts.

The boys have their Christmas pageant this weekend, and then my sisters arrive on Tuesday. I've done all my shopping -- presents and groceries both. I planned gluten-free, dairy-free meals (for my sister Brook) for the week so we can eat together at my mom's house.

Now I just have to finish baking, wrap family gifts, and maybe squeeze a few more knitted things for the boys out of the week. Tomorrow we go make graham cracker "gingerbread" houses at our homeschooling group's Christmas party -- fun!

The Twelve Days of Christmas, A Homegrown Life Version

Last Friday my mom and I joined my aunts and uncles at their church's junior high Christmas program fund-raiser. During the intermission, the pastor led the audience in a localized version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas." You'll have to read my mom's post about that one. I told the boys about it, and they've been singing it nonstop since.

Today they helped me make up our own version to reflect the blessings of the past year. Be sure to sing it out loud for the best effect!

On the First Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen.

On the Second Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Two weekends camping,
And a stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Third Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And a stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Fourth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And a stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Sixth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Seventh Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Eighth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Eight homeschool skate days
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Nine dozen cookies (That's the understatement of the year.)
Eight homeschool skate days
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Tenth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Ten Lego Bionicles
Nine dozen cookies
Eight homeschool skate days
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Eleven prolific tomato plants
Ten Lego Bionicles
Nine dozen cookies
Eight homeschool skate days
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me:
Twelve trips to the dentist (between just two kids)
Eleven prolific tomato plants
Ten Lego Bionicles
Nine dozen cookies
Eight homeschool skate days
Seven hens a-laying
Six Hogwarts lessons
FABULOUS FRIENDS
Four skeins of yarn
Three Warcraft gamers
Two weekends camping
And,
A stolen car that wasn't really stolen

Now that my silliness is done, go learn about the true meaning of the original song in Fr. Peter's post about the Twelve Days of Christmas.

My mom's gingerbread

Apparently, spending all morning and part of the afternoon eating chocolate cookies and making salt dough Christmas ornaments yesterday was just not enough fun for one day.

So while I spent two hours scrubbing paint, glitter and glue off my $5 plastic Christmas tablecloth (we're in a Recession, people!), my mother decided it was the perfect time to make up some gingerbread dough. Have I mentioned she has a lot more energy these days? Er... nights?

I can't blame her, really. Last year was our first Christmas without my grandmother. The year before that my mom was recovering from a broken ankle and surgery to fix it. And three years ago she was in the hospital just days before Christmas with some unknown, extremely painful gastro-intestinal illness.

This year? She's blogging. (Yes, I know. The potential ramifications are great. These are the sacrifices a devoted daughter makes.) And you know what that means -- no shortage of motivation to crate something fun to blog about!

So, we cleared the dinner dishes, washed the salt dough off the rolling pin, and got to work cutting out gingerbread men and baking them into deliciousness. And, believe me, my mother's gingerbread is the BEST.

Best Ginger Bread Cookies Ever

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 egg (cage free, of course)

4 tsp. grated orange peel

2 tbsp. dark corn syrup

3 cup sifted flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ginger

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter & sugar, add egg, beat until light & fluffy. Add orange peel & syrup. Stir in dry ingredients. Form into ball, and chill at least one hour. Roll out and shape. Bake for 10 minutes, cool & decorate.

Advent: Salt Dough Ornaments

What's way more fun than mopping and still gets your floors sparkling? Playing with glitter, of course!


Yesterday I decided to invite a few friends over to make salt dough ornaments with us. We hadn't done this before, but it sounded like fun and I knew our friends would enjoy it.

I baked cookies last night so we'd have treats to snack on, and then scurried around this morning trying to make the Christmas decorations I'd scattered around last week look a little more intentional. (The smell of fresh cookies and the pretty knickknacks distract from dustbunnies and dirty diapers.)

Here's the recipe (if I stole this from your blog, let me know, I can't remember where I found it!):

Salt Dough Ornaments

4 Cups of Flour
1 Cup of Salt
1 1/2 Cups of Hot Water
Holiday Cookie Cutters
Paint, Glue, Glitter, Beads, Etc.

Knead the dough and roll it out to cut out shapes with cookie cutters (just like if you were making sugar cookies). Place them on a microwave safe plate and microwave on high for about 2 minutes. Paint and decorate as desired. Most of all, be creative and have a lot of fun!

My kids love playdough, so the rolling and cutting out was fun. I made a second batch of dough, thinking we'd need more with nine kids making ornaments, but we ended up with a lot leftover for the mommies to play with. (Include mine, who was painting long after the kids got up to play.)


We took a break to eat chocolate crinkle cookies and wait for the nuked ornaments to cool. And then we decorated snowmen, angels, ice skates, stars, snowflakes, gingerbread men, stockings and Christmas trees with paint, glue, glitter and googly eyes -- until our hands were as sparkly and colorful as our creations.


After our friends left, there were still a few undecorated ornaments. The big boys were ready for something different to do, but my littlest and I spent another hour or two painting and glittering.

I think this will have to become a new Christmas tradition.

Be Still Sunday

Advent: The Jesse Tree

I have really been enjoying Deb's Rethinking Christmas series on her blog As We Walk. This was the post that inspired me to do a Jesse Tree with our boys this year. She referred to this Advent study, and that's what we're using. I printed out the coloring pages for the ornaments. And then made the tree out of brown construction paper and some leftover Christmas ribbon.

Considering that we're unschoolers who rarely do the same thing two days in a row (besides eating, sleeping and gaming, of course), I suppose it was a little much to expect us to consistently keep up with Jesse Tree lessons. But we're doing our best. Each reading takes only a few minutes, so it's not too difficult to do more than one at a time.

While I'm reading, the boys color, cut and glue, each according to his interests. (Littlest is very fond of glue. Oldest only likes to cut.) They all love sticking the finished ornament on the tree at the end.



Other links for Advent activities...

Advent Coloring Pages

Advent True or False

Advent: Gingerbread traditions

Whew! Thanksgiving dishes were barely washed, and suddenly it's Advent already! I really hoped to be more prepared... but I'm doing my best. (I just wish my 2-year-old hadn't chosen November to give up the need for naptime. In case you wondered why I didn't blog all month.)

It's been a tradition the last few years for the boys to decorate a gingerbread house with their Nana and Papa soon after Thanksgiving. The weekend was busy with grown-up visiting, but yesterday my mom picked up a kit, and invited us over.

When my sisters and I were growing up, my mom baked her own gingerbread and used a paper pattern to cut out the roof and wall pieces. We got to eat the cookie leftovers while she used her homemade icing to construct the house. And then we all helped "glue" gobs and gobs of candies onto it. The nice thing was, it was still edible (at least by kid standards) after a couple of weeks decorating the dining room.

These days at Christmastime, you can hardly get out of a store without finding a ready-to-build Gingerbread House Kit, complete with icing and candy. And my mother has accepted the simplicity of the mass market. We'll get to baking next week. Yesterday we needed some instant fun.

So, Nana and the boys cracked open the box, set up the pieces and iced them together with the premade "mortar." Then they got to the fun part -- mixing the frosting and sticking as much candy onto the house as possible before it hardened. (And yes, she insisted they wear their chef's hats and aprons for the photos!)



The fun was over too quickly. "Can we eat it now?" asked the boys the second the house was finished. Um, since the candy is now cemented into rock-hard icing on stiff, stale gingerbread, I'm afraid that's a "no."

Fortunately, yesterday was only the beginning of our Advent activities. We have much more to do as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. Today I put up our first "Jesse Tree." We've never done this before, but I loved the idea, and the boys are the right age for it now.

I'll post about the Jesse Tree tomorrow, since I didn't get a photo of it today.