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Simple Moment

A Simple Moment is a post that appears here every Friday.
A photo I want to remember of a simple moment, with a few simple words.

If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link in the comment section for all to see and read.

Making Vegetable Ribbons from the recipe book Kids in the Kitchen, by Sara of Feeding the Soil and Kylie from How We Montessori. My girls really enjoyed making this, and it eating for dinner.

A Simple Moment was inspired by SouleMama. Visit her site to see many more moments.

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Simple Moment

A Simple Moment is a post that appears here every Friday.
A photo I want to remember of a simple moment, with a few simple words.

If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link in the comment section for all to see and read.

A Simple Moment was inspired by SouleMama. Visit her site to see many more moments.

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Getting some fresh air after Christmas cabin fever

I really enjoy my time at home with my girls, with no school, with my husband around more doing the holidays, and with the bustle of entraining family coming and going. But with all that Christmas cheer, since school let out on Friday we have stayed pretty hunkered down at home, enjoying new toys and unlimited time to play.

Thursday afternoon cabin fever hit. It was 35 degrees outside and damp, after a few days of windy, rainy weather. The girls were upstairs doing some kind of gymnastics routines and banging on the floor so loudly that I thought the plaster on our old walls was going to start cracking. I sent them to the basement where they now have mini trampolines, and they turned a cedar chest into a balance beam where they were doing summersaults off of it, on to the concrete floor.

“That’s it,” I said. “Bundle, up, and get outside.” They protested by whining how cold it was. But I thought about people who live in the mountains where the cold is no excuse. I thought about their school where everyday, unless it’s raining hard or something crazy cold like 20 degrees – they go outside.

“Put on your hats, your wool socks, your snow boots, your ski coats and get outside. You need some fresh air,” I declared. Then I made a plan to take the girls ice skating, outside, that evening.

My two youngest girls happily played on the seesaw, and entrained themselves in the sand box and with a soccer ball, for at least 30 minutes until it was time to head to the car for ice skating. The seesaw is a new Christmas gift by their grandparents. It’s one of their favorite gifts. I’m grateful for in-laws who give really, thoughtful, mom-approved gifts. (Look for my next post on our favorite Christmas gifts soon!)

My oldest came inside shortly after, saying it wasn’t that cold and she was not going to wear her ski pants ice skating.

I do confess, that I watched them out the window while blow drying my hair inside, with a very hot dryer. But then again, I want’s summersaulting off cedar chest either. 

But then without another word she went to put them on. Because yes, it was cold!

The plan was not to take our three-year-old ice skating. But she really, really wanted to go. So, she went. And by golly, the little munchkin really ice skated. She fell, she laughed, we helped her back up and she did it again, until I couldn’t bare to watch her tired little legs any longer. And she fell asleep on the way home. 

Sorry for the blurry phone photos – which is the result of me trying not to drop my iPhone on the ice skating rink, while helping my middle child stay standing on the ice and be there at a moments notice for the three-year-old on skates – all while trying not making a spectacle of myself. I didn’t (but maybe I did?). Besides, the smallest ice skater on the rink was stealing the show by far.

Ah yes, fresh air makes everything better.

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Merry making and merry eating

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday. Here’s a glimpse into the merry making, baking, building and homemade goodness that happened here.

Dolls were sewn, up until the very last minute. They are from Sewing for Children, with bit of my own adaptations in the dresses. 

My oldest daughter, who helped me play santa this year with the stockings but still took joy in leaving a letter out with the cookies for santa, was the most thrilled with her homemade doll bed – built by my dad. It was the total wow, freak out kid moment when they get just what they wanted for Christmas but never dreamed it would really actually happen. I wish I had it on video, but instead of playing with my camera I was soaking in the moment. And I’m glad for that too.

She is an American Girl doll lover and has been since my parents gave her the doll Kit Kitridge when she four. She really wanted the bed for Mckenna, who was the 2012 doll of the year. She has wanted it for a good six months, and more than she has ever wanted anything in her life. She knows it was expensive, too much for me to rationalize spending on a doll bed.

In September the bed sold out. My daughter thought it was no longer an option, and there was no point even asking santa for it. My dad is a master builder. Two years ago he build a triple bunk bed for her dolls, a week before Christmas, when the homemade version santa ordered off Ebay never arrived – ever!

Coming to the rescue again, he built one for her. He did so based on this Youtube tutorial. The Gramps made version is way better than the store bought version, just because it’s built by him.

I sewed the bedding and ordered some accessory items from Etsy. It was the gift of the year!

I had big plans to make many gifts for the girls this year. But when it came down to it, I realized having a mom who was present, and not up sewing half the night before, was more important than recieving more gifts.

When my dad rolled up in his santa sleigh (okay SUV) on Christmas Eve, he carried something else so massive that I was glad I let all my homemade gifting guilt go, because he did it for me.

About two weeks ago he called asking what he could make for the other girls, since he had made the doll bed. I gave him the idea of a treehouse kind of fort that could provide open play, to be given to one special middle girl needing something unique and special to her. I sent this link to an Etsy site, for ideas. And he built this.

It is doing just what I hoped, in merging the three sisters together through play, with this special gift to my middle child who so often plays the typical role of, well, the middle child.

As for other family  members, everyone received calendars and photos gifts from Shutterfly. After two days sitting at my computer and uploading more than 250 photos  – I decided that computerized photo gifts totally count as homemade.

The making I focused on this Christmas, was the food, and the merry eating.

When our kitchen was being renovated the contractors found a recipe card for “Kris Kringle Punch” behind the cabinets that were removed. The card is brown with age and hardly tattered. I taped it inside my new cabinets with plans to make it every Christmas. My immediate guess was it belonged to the couple who lived in our house the 35 years prior to us buying it.

The lady, Mrs. Weaver, was quite the cook we hear. Her best friend, aging with alzheimer’s and widowed just this year, still lives in the house across the street. So I  took her some punch for sharing.  Her daughter was there getting ready to do their annual cooking baking tradition. She returned the jar later with holiday decorated sugar cookies for the girls. That was very merry! 

The punch was hit at our house too. It did have added sugar (I only used 1/3 instead of 2/3 cups of sugar). But I liked that the red coloring simply came from frozen raspberries. I do believe we started something that will be repeated next year.

The holidays are for sweets right?

I laughed at the site of this cream cheese chocolate chip ball served with graham crackers, after three little girls with three little knives had their way with it. 

Everyone needs to make something off Pinterest sometime during the holidays – right? Mine was this Cinnamon roll Christmas Tree, from Made it on Monday.

It was made totally from scratch. I do love the site of dough rising in my husband’s grandmother’s wooden biscuit making bowl. 

I didn’t realize going into it that the recpie made enough dough for four trees! So we sent one off with friends, along with some punch, on their Christmas travels.  The rest of the dough was turned into a french toast casserole, enjoyed for breakfast with a spinach quiche, after all the presents were opened. The casserole was a spur of the moment creation adapted from The Pioneer Women, using a pan of cinnamon rolls instead of sourdough bread, and leaving out the sugars since there was already plenty in the rolls. This might have been more tasty than the tree – but not as pretty. 

I love quiche! It’s my quick, go to meal for all meals with fresh farm eggs and veggies that are in the fridge. It took a few times to get the crust perfected, from here. Now, I will never allow my husband to buy another store-bought pie crust for his pecan pie again. He can, for the record, make three things – sweet tea, pecan pie and biscuits. And he’s looking to add pimento cheese to the list. But he brings me coffee in bed every morning – so I will never complain.

The Christmas morning quiche had onions, pesto, a mix of spinach and chard, goat cheese and some leftover shredded pizza cheese mix from our Christmas eve pizza making dinner, featuring holiday shaped pizzas.  I beat about six eggs with about 1/4 cup half and half, salt and pepper, – pour it over the crust with greens and veggies, and then top with cheese. You really can’t go wrong and the dish is a veggie lover’s protein delight. 

I didn’t take pictures of the actually Christmas dinners we hosted – twice – with two different sides of the family. Being a vegetarian my whole adult life, even though there is some meat I now cook for the three out of the five meat eaters in our family, I don’t think I could ever cook a turkey. It’s way too massive an undertaking for me. Usually, I rest happily assured that someone else will have that under control, like my mother-in-law with her vintage smoker.

This year my husband received a frozen Honey Baked Ham and turkey from a work colleague as gift. So he was in charge of the meat and the turkey gravy. He passed, and maybe we can add gravy to his list, maybe – it was from a packet. Does that count as cooking?

I am proud to say that besides that bag of potatoes (for mashed potatoes), every other dish and salad served this Christmas came from Farmer Megan and our CSA. There was kale, chard, spinach, carrots, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower. And that’s what we ate for holiday dinners. If she didn’t grow it, I didn’t make it.  And that was a very merry feeling.

For more snapshot sof merry happenings this holiday, see this post – Snapshots of the Season.

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A Simple Moment, with peace, love and joy

A Simple Moment is a post that appears here every Friday.
A photo I want to remember of a simple moment, with a few simple words.

If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link in the comment section for all to see and read.

It’s been a few weeks since I have done a Simple moment. But this one is one of my favorites. It fills me with peace and love and all the joys of a proud mom.

My heart has been quiet this past week thinking about the tragic sadness at Sandy Hook. I’ve been hugging my kids tighter, trying to have more patience and trying to not let my mind drift too far into thinking that I too have a kindergartner, and, well…you know all those emotions. Also, my heart has held a mood of saddens this week thinking about the mom in our local, natural birth community who lost her life giving life last week. And the dad who went home without a mother to his newborn, in a time when we don’t think of that happen anymore.

So this Christmas we trying to be more still, enjoying the simple times around us, with less hustling and busting, doing, and buying and going.  I’m thankful that we are all here together, kicking off the holidays today (on this very cold Winter Solstice day) with six days of family coming and going to our home – filling us with love and joy

Merry Christmas!

A Simple Moment was inspired by SouleMama. Visit her site to see many more moments.

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The BIG SANTA truth talk, and growing up

I’m sharing this post because I believe this conversation, when a child learns the truth about Santa, is such a huge milestone. I worried about I how I would handle it when the moment came, and the truths about Santa, the Elf on the Shelf and the Tooth Fairy came to light.  I think it went well, from a mothering aspect. And I hope it might help other parents who are nervous about the day when their children ask…..

“Mom is Eddie the Elf real? Because Morgan on the playground said the moms and dads just move the elves around at night,” said my oldest daughter.

“Do you move Eddie around at night?” She continued as I emptied the dishwasher. My other two girls were in the bath and I tried to avoid answering her, saying she need to go upstairs and get ready for bed too. It was the start of what I knew would lead to the BIG SANTA talk. She is eight years old and this was not the first time she has had questions about how it all works.

But still, I wasn’t ready for it.

Then came the whammy…..

“You don’t lie to me, right mom?” she asked. “I don’t lie to you and you don’t lie to me. So is Eddie real?”

I told her to think about it a little more and if she really wanted to know the answer, we would talk about it. I wanted to make sure she was ready for the truth.

JUST THE NIGHT BEFORE , she made a bed for Eddie the Elf and was all jazzed up about out leaving him notes, and cookies and even sewed a pillow for him. I had a feeling she really wanted to believe.

I believed in Santa for so long that my mom finally had to sit me down and tell me the truth so I didn’t embarrass myself on the playground. I know I was older than 10.

My older brother used to leave ash boot marks on the fireplace hearth and ring bells outside as I was going to sleep. I WAS A BELIEVER! And when my mom told me truth – I didn’t believe her.

Off went my daughter upstairs to get ready for bed. When I went to her room to tuck her in, she continued with her questions.

“Mom, I really want to know. I want to know the truth. Is Eddie real?” she asked.

This was the moment when I felt like parenting was hitting the big leagues.

She was shocked to hear the real answer. But I was glad I told her.

It didn’t feel right fabricating stories to keep her believing. It has always felt like lying to me.

One of my good mom friends brought up the great point that this all depends on your own personality. She loves fantasy and is naturally passing that trait down to her daughter, to the point that her eight-year-old has convinced other neighborhood kids that she herself is a real fairy.

I tell things straight up. So much so that sometimes I wish I knew better about when to embellish a story and when keep my mouth shut.

So like mother like daughter, I looked my eight-year-old right in the eye and talked straight.

“No he’s not real. It’s true. Mom and dad move Eddie around at night,” I said.

As soon as she was over the shock, came the BIG, IS SANTA REAL QUESTION? For the moment she was okay with a simple yes. Thank goodness.

“The Elf on the Shelf comes from the store, but Santa does not. He’s the real thing,” I explained, doing a crummy job at bluffing.

Thinking of how my brother loved to make Santa seem more believable for me after he was a non-believer, I snuck her back down stairs with me to do the nightly Eddie duties of moving him and leaving out the M&Ms for the next morning.

This is my favorite part of the deal – that she will never let us forget to move the elf again. I don’t have to wake up panicked for 25 nights in December trying to remember if he got moved before I dropped into bed for my good night’s slumber.

And she loves this little secret we have!

BUT IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for her to ask me what I do with the letters the kids leave out for Santa, to be delivered by Eddie.

I swear, this Elf on the Shelf business really complicates the classic long-time Santa schemes kids have believed in for decades. 

But I could tell she didn’t want to know the answer.

“Here mom, I’ll just give them to you because you know what to do with them,” she said, handing over one of her last letters to Santa.

I was not ready for that either. It seems with this not believing in Santa stuff, a slice childhood is disappearing too fast.

It took all of two days before she found me alone in the laundry room – which is one step away from the bathroom when it comes to having private conversations in a house with three girls. She came down to hand deliver a letter to Santa to me, that she wrote. It said, “Dear Santa, I want to have a magical Christmas.”

Then came the second whammy…..

“Mom, I want to have that talk now. I want to know if Santa is real,” she said. “Because Elli said he found their family’s Santa bag in the basement.”

I told her I just wasn’t ready for this.

“Mom, it will be okay. I just want to know,” she said consoling me as I thought about our red Santa bag. It says Simmons and it gets left under the tree every Christmas morning. And we keep it hidden in the basement.

As I pulled toddler size panties from the dryer, it was time to fess up – to tell the truth.

“No Santa is not real,” I said. “And our red Santa bag stays hidden in the basement too, like Eli’s.

Her first question was if Santa doesn’t bring the presents, how do we afford to buy all those gifts?

Finally, the day was coming when the man in the red suit wasn’t going to get all the good credit for those thoughtful gifts!

Then she asked who gets presents for dad and me. When I told her grown ups don’t get Santa presents, she had the sweetest response in the whole world.

“Well, I’m going to make you extra presents this year since I know Santa is not bringing you anything,” she said.

And she continued to knock my socks off….

“Thanks for telling me the truth mom,” she said. “I’ve been thinking about that for a long time. There is no way Santa can go like this [putting one finger on one side of her nose] and go up a chimney or go to every house in one night. I’m glad I know. I feel relieved.”

She is SO BIG. When did eight-years-old all the sudden get this big?

Then I finally got to tell her, that her triple doll bunk bed was made by Gramps. Two years ago she asked Santa for the American Girl version that was super expensive and sold out. When the handmade Ebay version of the one I ordered never came, my dad made one the week before Christmas and I sewed the bedding.

She was touched by the story, of knowing that truth. And she feels like we have this cool mom and me secret as we work together to keep the little girls believing.

The next morning we watched “Miracle on 31st Street snuggled on the couch with hot chocolate. I was hoping she would see Christmas could still be magical, even if you don’t believe all the tiny details of Santa.

She seems like an older child to me now. And I feel like we became more bonded over the truth. We laughed together, snuggled and shared some of the elf’s extra M&M’s stash when her sisters where already in bed.

Just when I was settling into the new us…. the third whammy came….

“Mom, are you the Tooth Fairy,” she asked humorously while stomping into the kitchen the next afternoon.

“Nope, I’m not going there right now,” I told her. “I’m not ready!”

She laughed at me.

“Seriously mom, are you the Tooth Fairy? I need to know,” she pleaded.

Well fine.

“Yes I am the Tooth Fairy but I didn’t save your teeth because that is gross,” I joked right back at her. “I put them all in the trash.”

She laughed at me again.

“Ewww mom, that IS gross. I would have thrown them out too,” she said.

Yep, she is most definitely eight! And I really, really like it.

***

For record, this post was approved by my daughter and she gave me the thumbs up to share it here. Otherwise I have tucked it away in my own mom files. I hope you enjoyed our story.

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Teacher gifts for Christmas

This is what the girls and I pulled together this afternoon for teacher gifts, using apple butter we canned in the fall. The apples were from a swap I did, in return from  pears from our pear trees.

Everything else we used today we had on hand. The girls took ownership of the whole process. I love when it works out that way!

Watching them make cards was a lesson in what kids can do. I made dots for my three-year-old to write her name, thinking she would just squiggle all over the page. And she really wrote her name! Her teachers are going to be so happy. I know it will mean a lot to them. Which is important to me. I want them to feel appreciated and loved, for the big important job they do of loving (and teaching or course) my children in all the days they spend with them. 

My oldest daughter is past the kindergarten, love my teacher age. She enjoys her teachers, but a simple tag was all she wanted on her gifts. And she’ll probably put the jars in her school bag and ditch the cute basket in them morning. But it does make for a nice photo – right? And that makes this mom happy.

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Snapshots of the Season

I’ve been taking it day by day during this bustling season. Only accomplishing what must get done, keeping a lazy eye on those to-do lists and not letting them takes us over. So these days, dinner might not get made on time. But we did make a plateful of beeswax candles.

“Mom, I have a good idea. Lets make candles,” squealed my three-year-old in delight. And with the sweet excitement in her voice, I wouldn’t dare say no. So we enjoyed a late candle lit dinner.

We went a week later than we usually do to cut down a Christmas tree, because someone was feeling a little under the weather. This year  I planned for us to visit a different tree farm. Since we moved to Knoxville seven years ago, we have gone to the same Christmas tree farm to cut down our tree. The lovely old couple who runs the farm stopped planting new trees a few years back, and the trees have become really picked over. So this year I thought we would start a new tradition.

We went to a farm where they – gasp – bring in Frasier Fir trees from North Carolina. Which means we would not be cutting down a local tree this year, but supporting a local business to get our tree. That did not go over well with the kids!

My oldest daughter insisted that we she cut down her own tree. So she did. And we went home with two Christmas trees. And we may have started a new tradition. 

There are many trees in our house this year, seven to be exact. The one she cut went in the kitchen, decorated with all the girls homemade ornaments from years past.

I went to a girls night gift swap party where the gifts had to be things that you didn’t want – this really is great fun! Me and a girl friend laughed our tails off on the way home when my paper bag full of someone else’s discarded items ripped, making it imposable to carry.  For a moment it seemed humorously symbolic of the overabundance of “cheer” we have during the holidays. Then I got home and found the prefect home for those stocking hangers I ended up with.I’m loving this little ledge above our sink more and more everyday. When I had the contractors put it in, they asked what I was going to put there. I said I have no idea. But now it’s perfect. 

My three year old has been helping me stamp wrapping paper. She said, “We did it during our special time.” Meaning we had 20 minutes of quiet, one-on-one time in the basement where she became covered in ink. Still, good times indeed. 

The cat Fruit Punch has taken over Eddie the Elf’s bed. 

For YEARS, and I mean years – I’ve been wondering who sang that version of “It’s beginning to look like Christmas,” that I remember playing every year at my house grown up. I have exact memories of my mom dancing around the house, decorating the living room, while this song played on the record player and I rocked on the old orange and brown plaid chair watching her. When I heard it I knew – that was it! It was playing on my XM radio in the car and snapped a picture of it so I would remember. It’s apparently, according to YouTube, From the 1984 Reader’s Digest collection, “Christmas Through the Years.”  

In past past we have made our own gingerbread houses from scratch. This year I went for the $9.99 box version with five mini houses – enough for us all. They are living as decorations and not for eating. The process was fun, and easy. I’m going for easy this year.
My oldest daughter kept saying she wanted some of the those “sculptures” in the yard. There are several people in our neighborhood who have the big plastic santa, snowman and a nativity scenes as their decor. There is one house with the inflatable Snoopy, but she deemed those unacceptable because of time they lie flat and not plugged in. That was good, because I wasn’t buying them anyway. BUT, when I saw this vintage snowman sitting on the sidewalk of a junky thrift store (there was a big santa too that I could not resist) I postponed my grocery store trip and went home with Frosty. Then my husband hung some big colored lights around the top of the porch, that we found in his parents attic last year. They have some vintage flair too.

Oh yes, we do have fun with the holidays around here.

 

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Celebrating a birthday, and a treat bag free party

While I’ve been away from this space the last week or so, trying to manage all the things needing my attention at home and with my family, a lot has happened in our little world.

My middle girl is now six. We celebrated with a bowling party, where she could be surrounded by as many friends we could find to attend a birthday party in what fill the hectic Saturdays of December. 

Among the busy times of getting ready for the holidays, I dawned on me that I didn’t prepare any take away treats for the kids at the party.

My husband  begged me to “start a revolution,” and skip the treat bags, or takeaways that kids usually leave a party with these days. He has zero recollection of ever attending a party as a child where this happened. I think I do, but I could be fogging those days together with today’s party planning times. 

Either way the effort, time and money that usually goes into the small treat bag, movie or handmade goodie – was one more thing on my to-do list that I have been desperately trying to pair down during this holiday season. I wanted to follow his lead, but doing nothing seemed like a party sin. Because if you haven’t noticed before, I do throw good kid parties. 

I put this post on my personal Facebook page: “Brian is begging me to “start a revolution” and skip the party bag at my daughter’s birthday party – because he has zero recollection of ever getting one as a kid at a party. I have, in the past, gone a little over the top in this department sewing tea party tablecloths for kids. BUT does anyone not do it all??? That seems like a sin to me.”

Within an hour there were 30 comments of all my friends showing their despise for the traditional sugar laden, plastic filled treat bags in a day when children receive too much stuff as it is. I felt empowered – and started the revolution!

Instead we had balloons at the party, which the kids loved running around with, covering them with stickers and finally, taking one home. And that was the take-a-way gift. Simple, perfect, classic fun. 

The bowling party as a whole was perfect, easy and affordable. The kids from ages 3-10, boys and girl, all had a blast. And the parents bowled too. Most importantly, my birthday girl thought it was great!

We also celebrated at home, because we like birthdays and every girl should get two cakes right? I’m selfish with birthdays, I must admit. I’m all for a party but I want my quiet moment at home, to celebrate another year of my baby getting older, to sing Happy Birthday, and have her all to myself.

Her sisters feel the same way.

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Elf on the Shelf bed and our advent box

Let me start by saying we have the 1.o version of Elf on the Shelf. Meaning we have had our Eddie the Elf for four years, before posting sneaky elf happenings went viral on Pinterest. Until now he had a simple life of landing on spots up high in our house, where the temptation to touch him (because he loses his magic that way) was avoided, and he was safe from becoming a chew toy for the dog – minus that one mishap!

Now that my oldest daughter has gone to other people’s homes and seen what kind of shenanigans their elf’s are getting into. She was inspired to give Eddie some royal treatment.

This is the scene she created for Eddie yesterday. She got out her sewing machine and sewed the pillow to complete his Christmas bedding, and crafted the canopy on the bed as well. She made him a compass and a headlamp, put out doll size snacks for him, gave him a stocking with M&Ms in it, and left out the book Twas the Night Before Christmas for him to read. THIS WAS ALL HER DOINGS!

Eddie is no longer a 1.0 version of Elf on the Shelf. This is what we found him doing this morning!

Eddie has one more job at our house. Every night he leaves three M&Ms in our advent house, one fore each girl. After the girls eat them they put a dried bean in the box for that day, to mark them as days gone by. It’s kind of the reverse of an advent calendar.

Eddie thinks this works better than leaving them all out at one time, because there have been toddlers and puppies living here the last four years. And asking them to not open the boxes and eat all the M&Ms at once is just too much temptation to for them to resist.

The girls LOVE this tradition. In October they start talking about when Eddie comes back, and counting down the days to his return. During the month of December they RUN to the box every morning to get either M&M and find Eddie.

They also leave notes for Eddie to take to Santa, next to the advent box on our mantle.

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