Eileen on Him . . . at least, I try!

Refugees

Last night there was a strong wind that blew over three of our porch nativity statues.

Obviously, the Holy Family needed protection, so we brought them inside. :)

SB thought the Baby Jesus needed extra attention.

And Taz thought He would enjoy a good book.

(Personally, I think He was just fact-checking.)

But it's still Christmas Time (all the way until next Sunday!), so, with a few paint touch-ups and weather notwithstanding, they'll be back on duty today.

Merry Christmas!

Our St. Lucy Christmas Traditions

When we first started celebrating St. Lucy's day four years ago, Junie wore a paper wreath and served Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate to Daddy in bed.  The Chief had been out of town on business earlier in the month, and had missed Step 2's Christmas band concert, but the school was putting on a shorter version of the concert as a student assembly on the last day of school before Christmas break.  The Chief took off the day from work so he could at least attend that; and kicking off our Christmas week with St. Lucy had been so special that we knew we'd be doing it again!

Since then, St. Lucy has become one of our most cherished Christmastime celebrations.  We celebrate St. Lucy's breakfast, not on her feast day (December 13), but on the 4th Sunday of Advent.  Step 1 & Step 2 stay overnight the night before, and Junie B. dresses up and awakens the family, candle in hand, to invite them to a special breakfast of a sweet wreath of homemade braided bread, hot cocoa and sausage omelets.  The omelets are made by our family professional chef, Step 1, and one of the highlights is watching her awesome omelet-flipping skills!

Taz loves to be Step 1's Sous Chef -- he took it upon himself to set up all these individual omelet ingredients for her!

We don't neglect the actual feast of St. Lucy, however.  That, too, has a very special place in our Advent buildup toward Christmas.  Every year on December 13, we plant a large dish of winter wheat seeds -- which grows so fast you can almost watch it happen! -- and use the cuttings (about 8" tall, 10 days later) to line the front porch Creche in a special enthronement ceremony on "Christmas Eve-Eve" (December 23 -- that's the night Santa also comes to our house.)

This year, little Taz was excited to get in on the action, in his first appearance as "Star Boy!"  I made a cone-shaped hat for him using these directions.  We painted it blue and studded it with glitter (I don't really know why; it just seemed "right").  His special job was to carry our Tinkertoy Jesse Tree as he led "St. Lucy" to wake up the rest of the family.  (I don't care what the tradition is "supposed" to be; we do what we love!)

Every year, we've used a different recipe for St. Lucy's bread, none of them "authentic."  This year, we used the same recipe we'd used to make St. Nicholas bread figures from the St. Nicholas Center website --  except I added a half a cup or so of candied fruit to the dough (next time, I'd use more), shaped it in the traditional braid, and topped it with a simple glaze of confectioners' sugar and cream.  (This recipe is quick, easy even for the kids to handle, and very tasty!)  Finally, we sprinkled the glaze with finely-chopped almonds.  Mmmm!

Later in the day, we even made "Swedish Cookies" -- a special tradition from the Chief's family (via a Swedish tenant of his German grandmother's, way back when!), and a perfect extension to our Swedish-inspired celebrations.  (I'll have to add a separate post with some of our favorite cookie recipes -- this one definitely makes the cut!)  They are a simple cream wafer, rolled in granulated sugar with a special notched rolling pin before baking -- light, flaky and delicious!

(Note the St. Lucy Braids.) :)

When you add something new to your family's most cherished traditions, you don't know for sure if it will "take" -- especially when it involves waking up 18 and 21 year olds at the crack of dawn and putting them to work as part of the deal!  Step 1 sealed it for us this year, though, when, on her way out the door this year she said, "I love that we celebrate St. Lucy!"

Me, too.

Really Cute Nativity Advent Calendar to Print

Found this via a search for a "free printable Advent Calendar". Turns out the article is intended as a resource for Latter Day Saints, but the printouts are simply for a general, cute all-purpose scene intended to be put together piece by piece a day at a time from December 1-24. You can print out a full-color version, or a blackline version you (or your kids!) can color yourself (pdf files -- Update: tried to link directly, but both links were oddly redirecting somewhere else, so I removed them).

It's a nice size for a bulletin board or flannel board display -- the Wise Men, for example, are just under 6" tall. If you printed them out on magnet paper, they'd be a fun addition to the refrigerator door, too! :)

We'll have our usual Jesse Tree and Advent Wreath activities going, of course, but I thought it would be fun to have a simple Nativity Scene coming together day by day, too!

Here's a link to a picture of the set assembled in full.

Entering Christmas Week with St. Lucy

"Come on, Mom!  The snow is turning blue!"

It was true.  Even on the shortest day of the year, the morning was coming too quickly.

"Don't worry," I assured Junie B., as I helped her adjust her red-sashed white dress, and placed her St. Lucy crown upon her head.  "All we have to do is light the candle, and you're on your way!"

She already had the pillar candle in hand.  Taz had gotten up too soon, and, having been allowed to watch as we put this year's version of St. Lucy's bread into the oven, was shoo'd back up to bed to be officially greeted by the good Saint.

A quick flick of the fireplace lighter and an obligatory picture or two, and St. Lucy was on her way.

Christmas Week 2008 was officially underway!

Celebrating St. Lucy is a new custom with our family, but it has fast become one of our favorite family traditions.  Oh, sure; we celebrate it our own way, on a day that works for us -- well after December 13.  In fact, in our home, the Sunday before Christmas is now marked as "St. Lucy's Breakfast Day" -- with a menu including a special homemade bread, sausage omeletes made by our very own family chef (she's done with culinary school, as of last week!  It's official!), and hot cocoa.

 This year, the bread of choice was a 90-minute cinnamon bun recipe found at allrecipes.com, that Junie B. and I began working on at 6:00 AM.  We placed the buns in a round pan to form a Crown.  It was not as fancy as the bread we made last year, but certainly special enough -- especially with a drizzle of confectioners' sugar glaze, a sprinkling of chopped pecans, and a few tastefully arranged glazed red and green cherries!

The table was moved to the center of the living room, where we enjoyed our special candlelight breakfast on our best dishes.  The cozy warmth of the woodstove fire and the gentle glow of the Christmas tree surrounded us, as the seven of us shared a rare meal with all of us together.

I'd say it doesn't get any better than this ... but it isn't even Christmas yet! 

And it really does get better.  Every year.

"Saints and Feasts of the Season" Ornaments

Inspired by this post at Ten Kids and a Dog, my children and I made a set of very simple, kid-friendly Christmas Ornaments to honor the Saints and Feasts we celebrate during the Advent - Christmas Season.

(We didn't actually cover every single Saint; just the ones we've discussed and will celebrate.)

This craft couldn't be simpler, and all three of my youngest were able to participate.

We used:

• a catalog of religious images
• Sheets of red, green, white, yellow and black craft foam, cut into rectangles slightly bigger than the pictures cut from the catalog
• Sequins
• Glue

We went through the catalog and found small but clear pictures to represent the Saints and Feasts we would be honoring, starting with Christ the King (I know, this feast is actually the last one of the Liturgical Year, but its celebration sets Advent in motion around here!) and ending with the Baptism of Jesus.  In between, we included:  St. Andrew, St. Nicholas, the Immaculate Conception, St. Juan Diego, Our Lady of Guadalupe, St. Lucy, the Nativity, St. Stephen, St. John the Evangelist, the Holy Family, the Holy Innocents, Mary Mother of God, the Holy Name of Jesus, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton and the Epiphany.

(The particular issue of the catalog we used lacked pictures for St. Lucy, the Holy Innocents and the Epiphany; and we filled in with a quick online image search.  Of course, you could do this for every image, or use higher quality holy cards, instead.)

We glued the pictures to the foam, then the children glued freely and added sequins, ranging from careful selection and placement to decoupage-like drenching and dipping.  The only "rule" was, don't cover up the main picture with sequins! :)

We dried them in front of the woodstove for a couple of hours, then punched holes near the top center.  We plan to use these in the future to decorate the tree; but for now, they will be hung on a garland around our Advent Altar.

The simplicity of the activity allowed for discussion of each of these wonderful feasts and commemorations, and how the "extra-special" ones (to our traditions, anyway) are played out in our family.

I really like how these turned out! (ETA:  Garland photo)

A.: One Bite at a Time?

Q.:  How do you eat a loaf of St. Nicholas bread???

I had some serious misgivings about carving up these St. Nicholas figures.  (I'm a little squeamish about slicing into people I know; it's just a thing with me, I guess.)

Anyway, after removing ... uh ... the heads and any loose foot and hand pieces, I just carved them up like any loaf of bread, for a bread & butter treat, or for a lunch of PB&J and noodle soup.

By the way, the texture is awesome, and the sweet lemony smell is to die for!  My family tells me they taste like (no, not chicken) a sweet pretzel.  Step 2 even compared it to that delicious St. Lucy bread that we made last year!

Despite the misgivings, then, this yummy treat stays in the family tradition repertoire! :)

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Watch out, Big Fella. You're next!

The Santa Clause (or, Uh, On Second Thought, Virginia ...)

***Santa Spoiler Alert***

I originally wrote this post last year, trying to offer an explanation for why we celebrate Santa Claus in our home.  In honor of our dear St. Nicholas of Myra on this, his Feast Day, I'm posting it again.  I guess it's my contribution to the "Santa or No?" conversation that comes up every year in our little corner of the blogosphere.  It's meant to be a loving tribute, and I hope you enjoy!

I loved Santa when I was a kid, and I cherished the belief in the magic of it all long past the time when others my age had moved on.  (I kept the faith long enough to have the interest in calculating the mathematical possibility of getting to every house in every country at exactly midnight, taking time zones into account, for example.)

I "found out" about Santa rather abruptly one summer day, courtesy my sister Noreen.

Family lore has it that Noney "wrote the book on kindness," I'll have you know.  Rest assured, it's true; and I don't hold this black mark on her otherwise stellar record against her.  Too much.)

(Aside:  When I bought Lovasik's Kindness book, The Chief's only comment was, "Who's Lawrence Lovasik?  I thought Aunt Noney wrote that book.")

So, as I was saying.  We were jumping rope in the driveway, and I (who would never have been mistaken for being the original Kindness author) was hogging the rope.  In utter frustration, Noney stomped her foot and said, "You're such a baby, you still believe in Santa Claus!"

Oh, yes, she did.

I stared at her blankly for a minute.  What kind of an insult was that?  It was as if she'd said, "You're such a baby, you still think your eyes are brown."

Ever ready for a good debate, I took her up on the theological argument for a moment or two, and then...it happened.  For the first time in my life, I experienced something dark and awful.

Doubt.

"MAA-AAH!" (think loud, whiny doorbell), I shouted as I indignantly ran into the house.  "Noreen says there's no Santa Claus!"

"Maa-aah" was sitting at the kitchen table, nursing a full cuppa, her probably seconds-long moment of peaceful solitude shattered.

My parents had a policy.  It's called, "Tell the Truth."  They promoted Mr. Claus, for sure; but when confronted with "The Question" directly, they always and immediately came clean.

I saw her take a deep, "here we go again" breath, and she proceeded to calmly give me the straight scoop.  It really wasn't so bad.  I giggled wide-eyed as she let me in on one of the world's most amazing secrets, and how it played out even with my own favorite gifts over the years.  I'll always cherish the story of my Christmas dog, Buffy, and how she was kept in a little open box at my dad's office, waiting to be brought home to me.

It was a loving and kind conversation, and, though actually fairly brief, I count it among the most wonderful conversations I've ever shared with my mom.

(So don't worry, Noney.  If I have anything to say about it, you won't be spending any time in Purgatory on my account.  At least not for this particular transgression.)  :)

So I had no doubt, as a kid at least, that Santa would be a delightful participant in our family Christmas celebrations all my life.

It wasn't until I was an adult and began to "think" about the implications of encouraging my children to believe an "untruth"--especially one tied so thoroughly to the One Truth--that my relationship to things Santa became more uneasy.

My roommate's Fiance came over one evening at Christmastime, carrying a small statue of Santa kneeling at a manger.  Oh, this bothered me, and I said so.  I thought it relegated both images to the realm of myth.  Santa and Jesus, I insisted, had to be kept very, very separate.

Then along came St. Nicholas.  We never celebrated St. Nicholas Day when I was little, though I looked on my friends who did with a mildly jealous curiosity (there was chocolate involved, after all).  As an adult, I observed an effort to integrate the image of St. Nicholas with that of Santa, and I didn't like that, either.  I didn't mind saying that "Santa" is derived from "St. Nicholas," of course; but one image is a secular myth, and the other a Holy man who lived to honor a very real  God.  It's not like the "real" St. Nicholas puts candy in your shoes, after all.  How is that any more truthful, I thought, than just encouraging the belief in Santa outright?

So when my own children came along, I wondered if we should even bother with the Santa myth at all.  As it turned out, though, since Step 1 and Step 2 were already in the picture and already invested, there really wasn't much of a decision to be made.  Santa was here, and that was that; we'd just have to deal with the consequences, I guessed.  Besides, celebrating Santa with little children, I discovered, is really fun.  Snotty, know-it-all doubts are quick to melt away in the innocent, believing eyes of a 5 year old child.

What happened to me is this:  I began to remember, clearly, how it felt to believe in Santa.  I recently saw a man on the Antiques Roadshow, wondering what might be the value of his (I think) great grandmother Virginia's original letter to the New York Sun...and I just started to cry (I think the appraiser almost did, too!)

The wonder and magic of it all is precious to me...and I can't think of any other experience in life that feels quite the same way.

I'm not sure how to explain this, but I can't help believing that, somehow, that feeling must point to something wonderful about God.  Don't ask me how; but everything truly beautiful ultimately does.  (And maybe that's exactly what my friend's Kneeling Santa statue was trying to articulate.  Peggy Noonan wrote this beautiful essay for the Wall Street Journal a few years ago that comes very close to articulating it as well.)

Thus, in the face of the inexplicably wonderful, intellectual uneasiness has been cast aside.

Santa stays.

So, of course, does my parents' "Tell the Truth" policy.

My children may or may not be caught up in the mystical, magical wonder of it all to the same degree that I was; but the opportunity is there.

And that's how we handle Santa at our house.

Quilting Pattern Christmas Cards

I thought these simple-to-make cards came out really cute!

We used this angel template, found at Free Quilt Patterns (there are lots of links to simple quilt patterns here that could be put to good use, even if you're not a quilter!  I especially liked the angel and star patterns, but the choices are pretty much endless).

I printed the template onto cardstock and cut out the individual shapes (I used two copies to get a clean cut of each piece).  Then the children picked out the scrapbooking paper they wanted to use -- a different color/pattern for each shape.  They then traced the template onto the back of the paper, and cut out the simple shapes.

For the card, the children chose coordinating paper for the background and frame; the 12x12" sheets were cut in half to make one 6x12" strip.  This was folded in half to make a 6" square side-open card.  The frame piece was made by cutting out a 6" square of paper, and then tracing a 4-1/2" square template on the back, and cutting out the center.

We glued on the frames first, then centered the pieces inside the frame to assemble and glue the angels.  If they chose to, the children cut and pasted additional embellishments from scraps of paper as well.

Junie B. (9) was able to complete this activity with verbal directions, only; Taz (5) needed help with tracing (I held down the shapes for him while he traced with his pencil) and assembling, and I cut out his frame for him; Sunny-boy (who will turn 3!! later this month) snipped vigorouly at the scraps while I cut out his pieces, then applied his own glue and patted the pieces in place.  SB also enjoyed helping me use the paper cutter to make the card strips, and folding & creasing the paper.

Jolly Old St. Nicholas (and Yummy, too!)

Let the baking begin!

With St. Nicholas Day right around the corner, we opened our Christmas Baking Season 2008 with a bang!  Inspired by this post at Catholic Cuisine, we decided to try our hands at two St. Nicholas Day traditions:  Speculaas (a mild gingerbread or spice cookie), and St. Nicholas Bread.

This was really fun, and all three of the youngest kids were able to participate!

During Sunny-Boy's naptime, Taz, Junie B. and I were dough-prepping machines.  First we started with the bread dough:  Junie tried her hand at grating fresh lemon rind, while Taz expertly cracked the eggs and lightly whisked them.  I sifted the flour, and Taz added the yeast, while Junie B. warmed the milk in the microwave and set the butter to melt on the stove.  Taz whisked the sugar, butter, eggs and lemon rind together, while the yeast proofed; then I blended the wet and dry ingredients together.  Satisfied that we had achieved the right texture for "playdoh-like" fun to come, we set the dough aside to rise and moved on to ...

Speculaas!  We used the simple recipe we found in Evelyn Birge Vitz' A Continual Feast.  The smells were wonderful, and delightfully "Christmas-y!"  Since the dough needs to be chilled overnight, we set it in the fridge, and then took a break while I cleaned up the (considerable) mess.  (Yes, it's nice to have the kids participate, but with SB soon to awaken from his nap, time was of the essence -- I figure we'll have ample opportunity to work on that connection another time!)

We'll be baking our Speculaas tomorrow, in stoneware cookie stamps we received as a gift several years ago but have never actually used.  I'm really excited about this -- even Sunny-boy will be able to make a respectable, edible-looking cookie without much help! :)

As I cleaned up, Junie B. decided to decorate the Christmas Tree -- which didn't get put up until Monday night, after all, and won't be "officially" decorated until Wednesday -- with Little People Nativity and Noah's Ark figures.  Taz, who has been under the weather all week, took the opportunity to fall asleep.  And in the quiet that ensued, I actually had a rare moment to myself!

Being singularly unprepared for such an eventuality, I decided to go ahead and try my hand at making a bread dough St. Nicholas.  Junie came in as I got well underway, and decided to get to work on her own.  Then SB woke up, and had a blast squishing and forming dough, and liberally painting the dough with egg yolk.  It all had a natural, easy feel to it, utterly lacking the craziness that can sometimes accompany a baking activity, no matter how well thought-out the original game plan.

The St. Nick figures we created baked up in about 25 minutes, and for a first try, I'd say they came out pretty nicely!   This is the first time I deliberately started our Christmas baking as part of a feast day preparation.  What a nice way to begin.

And what a beautiful extension to our St. Nicholas Day family traditions!

Getting Ready ... to Get Ready!

Every year, it gets better.  Our Nativity set -- inherited (free!!!) from our local parish when a new one was crafted -- has adorned our porch for several years now.  Last year, The Chief added a rustic "stable" made of old barnwood (from an actual run-down stall in our own barn!)  This year, he was determined to add a star!  Since the weather was so cooperative, he not only put up the Nativity, but spent the day winding a garland around the porch and lighting up the front bushes.

Of course, Taz was a wonderful help!

While The Chief and his special assistant were hard at work, Junie B. joined Step 2 ringing the bell  for Salvation Army in front of a store in the center of town.  They sang Christmas Carols to pass the time, and even brought in a few donations!

Instead of a traditional Advent Calendar or a Paper Chain, we're trying something new -- a take-off on an idea I found in my daughter's current issue of Highlights.  It'll be a cardboard tube and paper plate Advent Wreath ... with a twist!

Each day, inside the candle of the week, there will be a paper "flame" to pull out -- labeled with a special prayer, book  title, treat, activity, craft idea or surprise outing to make the day special.  The flame will "light" the candle for the day, then, at night, be removed to a dated candle on the wall, where the lit candles will wind their way through the Advent Season.  Don't worry if that doesn't make much sense -- more pictures to come!

Soon we'll be taking out the Tinker Toy Jesse Tree and the precious  ornaments my children and I painted last year.  I love having something already made to just "pull out!"  Hooray for traditions!

The lovely picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe to the right of our Jesse Tree (which Junie B. and I made last year) has been adorning Junie B.'s bedroom wall since the end of last Christmas season -- but tomorrow it will come down to the kitchen as the backdrop to our (real) Advent Wreath.

The tree will be set up tomorrow, and decorated (hopefully!) Monday night.

We're almost ready ... to become ready.

 

Come, Lord Jesus, Come!