december daily: elves at work...

december daily: the next "Sid the Kid"....

When we lived at "home" on a 2 acre property, Ron managed to create a fair size arena in our back yard for us to skate on, but in this province we have only a half-acre to enjoy. Persistance has paid off, and Daddy has managed to carve out a small piece of ice in our mainly sloped backyard so that "Sid the Kid" can practice his shots after supper. The only drawback here is that although the super cold weather is great for ice-making, it is not so great for little fingers & toes. We put him out for only 30 minutes at a time when it is colder than -15. He doesn't complain about the cold and I am sure that he would stay out much longer if we allowed. He is hockey crazy and has been since he was very little...

Hunter & I just got back from skating & the boys just got back from Tyler's hockey at 7:15 am & then Ron's hockey at 10 am. Hunter & I are off to the grocery store to pick up some groceries and Ron just told me to pick up some ice cream. I am NOT going to go look in the freezer to see what happened to the other 2 tubs.... I am not even going to bother. Did I mention shameless ice cream glutton??????

december daily: homemade eggnog

I can't remember exactly when my mom started making homemade eggnog, but it was at least 25 years ago. She originally made it with a raw egg custard, but then switched to a cooked custard mixture for reasons of safety. I have always really looked forward to my mom's eggnog....sweet, creamy with whipped cream on top and the best part~ fresh, fragrant nutmeg grated on top. Yum! (Storebought eggnot does not compare in any way!). When I lived at home, in addition to the Christmas eve sipping, I always had a glass of eggnog for breakfast on Christmas morning........nothing else.....just eggnog. Then when I moved out of home, Mom always gave us a jug full of eggnog to take home and the breakfast tradition continued. Last year, Mom was in our kitchen for the Christmas holidays and she made the eggnog for us......but this year will be my turn to make eggnog on my own. I don't relish the thought even though I have Mom' s recipe and I have watched her make it many times.....there is just something about my Mom's eggnog that tastes so good to me. But I will try, oh I will try.......

december daily: gifts made with our hands & hearts....

One of the things that I want to instill in my children is that gifts made with our hands & hearts can be one of the most beautiful gifts given. Making something with our hands and decorating it with our own creative energy makes for a gift that is unique and wonderful all on it's own. There is special thought & care put into a gift that is handmade and that is one quality that cannot be purchased. This year, we have decided to make pretzel hugs (shown above) as gifts for teachers, coaches, etc. This treat is simple enough for Tyler to make and we will be packaging it with little tins of tea. Last year we gave out homemade sugar cookies with packs of hot chocolate. I like the fun of watching the giving as well..... Tyler has such a proud look on his face when he gives out things that he has made all by himself.....so amazing to see.

december daily: tyler's turn to read....

Hunter has been reading to us from the House of Wooden Santas. So far we have read about Guardian Santa, Long Ago Santa, and Reading Santa. Now it is Tyler's turn to read to us.... he read this book, which is really one of my favorites.... it is so cute and the message is simple. I love the illustrations....so true to life. Tyler was trying to help me wrap some gifts the other day and he looked not far off this picture when we were done.

one of our absolute favorites....

to buy at Christmas time is this ice cream. My favorite ice cream as a child was peppermint and I still love peppermint ice cream. Peppermint ice cream was available as farm stand ice cream until about 10 years ago when Farmers Dairy stopped making it, much to my chagrin. President's Choice came out with this flavor about 6-7 years ago, and it is an awesome substitute. I personally blame this ice cream for the reason that Tyler was born weighing in at 9 lbs. 2 oz. and not 7 lbs. something like his sister...... the temptation of eating this ice cream over Christmas was too great. Last year, this ice cream was sold out before I had a chance to get any for our freezer, but when I saw it last week, I bought 3 tubs......not surprisingly 1 tub is gone already but I will let Ron take the blame for that...... he is a shameless ice cream glutton. (love you honey!)

December Traditions....

So many wonderful things on my mind this morning.

December brings many wonderful things that start happening around our house~our family traditions~ to help us celebrate the holidays.

I am starting to make a list of the traditions/little things/big things/outings/adventures I want to make sure we have the chance to experience as a family this year. Some are old (the beauty of traditions) and some are new.
I'll be adding to this as I think of additional old + new:

• the kids having matching Christmas pyjamas to wear for the season.
• decorating in my preferred palatte of blue, white & silver, which never gets "old" to me.
• placing a basket of all of our favorite Christmas books by the fireplace in the living room to read here and there when we have a chance. Our basket is positively bursting with each child's collection numbering well into the double digits.....
• making Christmas cards and gifts for teachers at school, skating coaches, etc. This year we are making pretzel hugs to go along with tins of tea.
• making a gingerbread house from a kit.
• getting out our collection of Christmas movies to watch with popcorn & hot chocolate. The favorites are Elf, Arthur's Christmas and A Charlie Brown Christmas.
• Lighting a candle each night in December as we read together the 24 chapters of "The House of Wooden Santas". This is a wonderful book about love and celebrating the true spirit of Christmas. Hunter has had this book for about 8 years. We bought a copy for Tyler when he was a baby. I showed this book to Hunter's grade 6 teacher and she loved it so much that she is reading it to Hunter's class throughout December as well.This book is an absolute treasure. No matter how busy life gets in this crazy time of year, the kids and I sit down every evening and read one chapter of this wonderful Advent-style book. The book's amazing artwork is real-life pictures of carved wooden Santas by an artist in Cape Breton. Each Santa represents a gift or value related to the true spirit of Christmas.
• Getting together with a special person to make Christmas goodies....either my Mom or Nicole.
• sending Christmas cards to friends and family that we don't have a chance to see/visit during the course of the year with our family letter and Christmas photo of the kids.
• going for a drive after supper in our pyjamas to look at Christmas lights with a stop for hot chocolate.
• thinking of a service project to do together as a family......probably shopping for a child in need for the "Stuff a bus program" that is happening here locally.
• making with our hands & hearts some special gifts for family members. Hunter has already made a gift for some special people in her life....and I have made 4 special projects as well, with many more in progress (dang my broken sewing machine!~).

The process of actually writing this out is a good one. I keep thinking of other things to add and it helps me focus. I love lists.
What's on your tradition list? Anything new you are adding this year?