Did any of you have an advent calendar in your home growing up? We did, but we didn't call it that. My Grandma Marge made Ken and me a Christmas banner. It was made of red corduroy, hung on the wall, and it had little loops sewn on it so that you could tie little gifts to them. Each loop was labeled with a date--I think it went from December 12 to the 25th--and, in the midst of GREAT excitement, my mom would hang the banner every year, with lots of little wrapped gifts attached to it.
Y'all, you cannot imagine the anticipation with which Ken and I regarded that banner. We could not wait for it to make its appearance every year. And the first thing we did every morning--indeed, the first thought we had upon waking--was to ruuuun to the banner and open the day's gift.
Looking back, the gifts were just little things, but to us they were treasures. We might get a $1 bill, rolled up and wrapped in paper. Or perhaps a candy bar. And always, for some reason, at some point along the way, we'd unwrap a toothbrush. To this day, Mom still puts a toothbrush in our stockings. I have no idea why she started doing that, but now she can't stop, because it has gone on for so long that it has become tradition.
Of course, having such good memories about the Christmas banner makes me want to do the same thing for my kids. But I think I'll do it a little differently. Instead of opening a gift each day, I'm planning to announce a different Christmas activity every day. A girl I know grew up doing it that way, and I love the idea. There are plenty of gifts flying around this time of year; I like the idea of focusing on one thing to do together every day, instead. And according to my friend, she and her brothers and sisters were no less excited about pulling the note out of the advent calendar every day than Ken and I were about unwrapping our lip gloss or cap gun.
The problem for the parent, though, is that you have to think up so many activities! So I brainstormed the other day and came up with several. We're going to do crafts, sing Christmas carols, go look at Christmas lights, make an ornament, go to a Christmas fair, read the Christmas story, bake cookies to eat, bake cookies to give away, make a Happy Birthday Jesus cake, and so on. Not every activity has to be extremely complicated or involved; the main point is just to do something Christmas-related.
To me, the entire Christmas season is so much about joy. I'm so excited about imparting simple joy to our kids through our advent calendar. And I imagine that we will also use it to impart joy to others from time to time, by using it to get our kids involved in service projects. Even this year, I'll have Noah help me bake cookies for neighbors and family members. I love the Christmas season, and I want to make it vibrant and full of life for our children, so I'm excited about this project. We will start tomorrow, December 1st, and run through the 24th or 25th. I can't wait!
Here's to Christmas spirit!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Christmas Cards
Hey peeps!
So now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start thinking about Christmas, isn't it?
Raise your hand if you've already decorated your house for Christmas.
Raise your hand if you've already done some Christmas baking.
Raise your hand if you've already got your Christmas cards done.
As for me, I'm afraid I can't raise my hand for any of those yet. We are going decoration shopping today, though, and we brought home a Christmas tree yesterday, so we are well on our way to having some holiday spirit in our home! And Noah doesn't know it yet, but we are going to be baking Christmas cookies and a Happy Birthday Jesus cake as part of our 25-day advent calendar (which will be all activities instead of little gifts).
And as for Christmas cards, well, let's just say that Lauren is not very good about Christmas cards. There have been many years when we didn't mail any out at all, but since we've had kids, I've gotten better about it. There are just a few things that are difficult about Christmas cards: compiling addresses, hand writing all those addresses, and not to mention getting a picture in which all the participants look good (a real challenge with kids!). But do you know what is fun? Picking out the card!
I always use Shutterfly for our Christmas cards. Lots of us use them for lots of things, don't we? From cards to birth announcements. Their desk calendars and wall calendars make good gifts for grandparents, too, I've found. I've been browsing Christmas cards for this year, and here are some of my favorites:
I also really like this one. There's brown in our family picture, so this is a possibility for our family's card this year:
I think this one is fun and festive:
I also tend to gravitate towards cards that have black and white pictures contrasted with a color on the card. This is a good example:
But I also love this one. "Joy" is something I love to put on Christmas cards, and this one has such a happy looking text--it looks sparkly. :) And I like that they paired it with a picture of laughing kids. That's a great idea. It just all comes together nicely. I only wish you could read the text a little better, but that could be corrected by lightening the picture, I'd think.
I'd better wrap it up for today, friends. We have Christmas shopping to do!!
Have a happy Monday!
So now that Thanksgiving is over, it's time to start thinking about Christmas, isn't it?
Raise your hand if you've already decorated your house for Christmas.
Raise your hand if you've already done some Christmas baking.
Raise your hand if you've already got your Christmas cards done.
As for me, I'm afraid I can't raise my hand for any of those yet. We are going decoration shopping today, though, and we brought home a Christmas tree yesterday, so we are well on our way to having some holiday spirit in our home! And Noah doesn't know it yet, but we are going to be baking Christmas cookies and a Happy Birthday Jesus cake as part of our 25-day advent calendar (which will be all activities instead of little gifts).
And as for Christmas cards, well, let's just say that Lauren is not very good about Christmas cards. There have been many years when we didn't mail any out at all, but since we've had kids, I've gotten better about it. There are just a few things that are difficult about Christmas cards: compiling addresses, hand writing all those addresses, and not to mention getting a picture in which all the participants look good (a real challenge with kids!). But do you know what is fun? Picking out the card!
I always use Shutterfly for our Christmas cards. Lots of us use them for lots of things, don't we? From cards to birth announcements. Their desk calendars and wall calendars make good gifts for grandparents, too, I've found. I've been browsing Christmas cards for this year, and here are some of my favorites:
I like the red in this one--I'm partial to red in anything Christmas related, anyway:
I also really like this one. There's brown in our family picture, so this is a possibility for our family's card this year:
I think this one is fun and festive:
I also tend to gravitate towards cards that have black and white pictures contrasted with a color on the card. This is a good example:
But I also love this one. "Joy" is something I love to put on Christmas cards, and this one has such a happy looking text--it looks sparkly. :) And I like that they paired it with a picture of laughing kids. That's a great idea. It just all comes together nicely. I only wish you could read the text a little better, but that could be corrected by lightening the picture, I'd think.
I'd better wrap it up for today, friends. We have Christmas shopping to do!!
Have a happy Monday!
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Turkey Day!
Did everyone have a happy Thanksgiving? I sure hope so!
I thought that today would be a good day to recount our Thanksgiving stories. Did you have something funny happen? Did someone say they were thankful for something especially sweet? Did your favorite corn casserole totally bomb? Let's all leave a comment with a little nugget from our day.
Here's mine: Though we didn't have anything truly exciting like a five foot fireball this year, we had a very nice Thanksgiving. Right now, we're heading out to go camping with my parents (first time for the kiddos!), so that is our exciting thing for this year. What's yours?
I thought that today would be a good day to recount our Thanksgiving stories. Did you have something funny happen? Did someone say they were thankful for something especially sweet? Did your favorite corn casserole totally bomb? Let's all leave a comment with a little nugget from our day.
Here's mine: Though we didn't have anything truly exciting like a five foot fireball this year, we had a very nice Thanksgiving. Right now, we're heading out to go camping with my parents (first time for the kiddos!), so that is our exciting thing for this year. What's yours?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Bonnie's Pumpkin Bread (or Rolls)
Hello and Happy Thanksgiving, all!
As I've mentioned, I'm not making our entire Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, but you probably could have guessed that I would not be able to get through this holiday without getting excited about trying out some new dish.
Well, this year it's rolls made from Bonnie's pumpkin bread recipe. Bonnie is a good friend of mine from Boston, and she is known for her fantastic baked goods (particularly her baby shower cakes, but that's another post). Anyway, sometime last fall, she brought over a lovely pumpkin bread. It was not a sweet bread; it was a yeast bread, and it was quite delicious. Upon request, Bonnie sent me her recipe, and I'm hoping to adapt it tomorrow to make rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. Besides being lovely and autumnal because of the pumpkin, it is also a tiny bit sweet because of the sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla. However, those ingredients don't make it too sweet; in fact, when I've mentioned before that there is vanilla in the recipe, I've gotten surprised looks. It is definitely fit to be an accoutrement to the turkey or another fall main dish rather than relegated to the dessert table.
Rather than baking it away in the bread machine or in a loaf pan, I plan to have the bread machine mix the dough for me, then I'll bake balls of the dough in a muffin pan sprayed with nonstick spray at 350 for about 10-15 min. The recipe below is simply for a loaf baked in the bread machine, but you can adapt it as you see fit. Enjoy!
--
Bonnie's Pumpkin Bread
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon brandy extract or vanilla extract (optional)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
2-1/3 cups bread flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/3 cup chopped pecans
If using a bread machine, bake on the White/Basic cycle. You can add the pecans at the beginning, or, if you don't want them to break up as much, you can add them after the first kneading cycle.
Enjoy!
As I've mentioned, I'm not making our entire Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, but you probably could have guessed that I would not be able to get through this holiday without getting excited about trying out some new dish.
Well, this year it's rolls made from Bonnie's pumpkin bread recipe. Bonnie is a good friend of mine from Boston, and she is known for her fantastic baked goods (particularly her baby shower cakes, but that's another post). Anyway, sometime last fall, she brought over a lovely pumpkin bread. It was not a sweet bread; it was a yeast bread, and it was quite delicious. Upon request, Bonnie sent me her recipe, and I'm hoping to adapt it tomorrow to make rolls for Thanksgiving dinner. Besides being lovely and autumnal because of the pumpkin, it is also a tiny bit sweet because of the sugar, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla. However, those ingredients don't make it too sweet; in fact, when I've mentioned before that there is vanilla in the recipe, I've gotten surprised looks. It is definitely fit to be an accoutrement to the turkey or another fall main dish rather than relegated to the dessert table.
Rather than baking it away in the bread machine or in a loaf pan, I plan to have the bread machine mix the dough for me, then I'll bake balls of the dough in a muffin pan sprayed with nonstick spray at 350 for about 10-15 min. The recipe below is simply for a loaf baked in the bread machine, but you can adapt it as you see fit. Enjoy!
--
Bonnie's Pumpkin Bread
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon brandy extract or vanilla extract (optional)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon oil
2-1/3 cups bread flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice
2 1/4 teaspoon yeast
1/3 cup chopped pecans
If using a bread machine, bake on the White/Basic cycle. You can add the pecans at the beginning, or, if you don't want them to break up as much, you can add them after the first kneading cycle.
Enjoy!
Monday, November 22, 2010
2010: The Churchless Year
Y'all, seriously, something's got to give. We have missed so much church this year. Like, a lot. It's ridiculous. I am sure we've been home more Sundays than we've been at church.
Starting in about January, this was the cycle: we go to church. The following Tuesday, Noah comes down with a cold, which he caught in the church nursery. He is still sick and has a runny nose on the following Sunday, and not wanting to be the parents who get the next kid sick, we stay home. Oftentimes, he is still not completely well even a week after that, meaning that after one Sunday at church, we're home for two weeks.
Then, Jane arrived in early March. I am not in the take-your-baby-to-church-as-early-as-possible camp. Mostly because of the fear of germs attacking my precious, innocent, developing newborn. And also because I had major surgery and wasn't doing much of anything for at least a month or two.
We had a couple of months when everyone was generally well and we were going to church, but even then, we skipped some because of Nathan's dissertation busyness, sickness, feeling that it's a bit pointless when you're walking a fussy baby in the lobby for most of the service, etc.
In late May, we moved halfway across the country, which marked a whole new interruption in our church life. For the first couple of months, we were using our weekends to move, go out of town, be with family, etc. Then, we started visiting churches, and--you guessed it--we started the cold cycle again. Nursery, Tuesday cold, stay home the next week. Or Nathan is sick. Or Lauren is falling-on-the-floor exhausted from a night with a wakeful baby. Or something. There is always something!!!!
We talked about this issue this weekend, because we really do need to find a church and settle into a church family. For one thing, we miss the fellowship. We also miss the instruction and edification that comes from a church service. And I'll tell you what I thought of today to add to the list: friends for Noah. I mean, he does have little friends at Mother's Day Out and stuff, but I realized we really need to be building relationships with families who have kids his age so that we all have a reason to have play dates and whatnot. At this age, the key to finding friends for our kids is finding the parents first. Poor Noah misses his friends in Boston when we mention them.
Anyway, as Nathan and I were discussing this dadgum churchless year this weekend, we did bring up the point that one parent could take the well child and go to church, even if one kid is sick. But the reason we haven't done that is because neither of us relishes the idea of visiting a church (very possibly a new one) by ourselves with half of our family missing. And there's yet another reason we need to find a good church and settle in!
So that's our conundrum. Having a church family is so important. Fellowship is so important, as is accountability. Not to mention having some time to refocus on the Lord. So we are really hopeful that everyone stays well for a while, especially in this busy season. Hopefully 2011 will be the year of building relationships and much spiritual growth.
Starting in about January, this was the cycle: we go to church. The following Tuesday, Noah comes down with a cold, which he caught in the church nursery. He is still sick and has a runny nose on the following Sunday, and not wanting to be the parents who get the next kid sick, we stay home. Oftentimes, he is still not completely well even a week after that, meaning that after one Sunday at church, we're home for two weeks.
Then, Jane arrived in early March. I am not in the take-your-baby-to-church-as-early-as-possible camp. Mostly because of the fear of germs attacking my precious, innocent, developing newborn. And also because I had major surgery and wasn't doing much of anything for at least a month or two.
We had a couple of months when everyone was generally well and we were going to church, but even then, we skipped some because of Nathan's dissertation busyness, sickness, feeling that it's a bit pointless when you're walking a fussy baby in the lobby for most of the service, etc.
In late May, we moved halfway across the country, which marked a whole new interruption in our church life. For the first couple of months, we were using our weekends to move, go out of town, be with family, etc. Then, we started visiting churches, and--you guessed it--we started the cold cycle again. Nursery, Tuesday cold, stay home the next week. Or Nathan is sick. Or Lauren is falling-on-the-floor exhausted from a night with a wakeful baby. Or something. There is always something!!!!
We talked about this issue this weekend, because we really do need to find a church and settle into a church family. For one thing, we miss the fellowship. We also miss the instruction and edification that comes from a church service. And I'll tell you what I thought of today to add to the list: friends for Noah. I mean, he does have little friends at Mother's Day Out and stuff, but I realized we really need to be building relationships with families who have kids his age so that we all have a reason to have play dates and whatnot. At this age, the key to finding friends for our kids is finding the parents first. Poor Noah misses his friends in Boston when we mention them.
Anyway, as Nathan and I were discussing this dadgum churchless year this weekend, we did bring up the point that one parent could take the well child and go to church, even if one kid is sick. But the reason we haven't done that is because neither of us relishes the idea of visiting a church (very possibly a new one) by ourselves with half of our family missing. And there's yet another reason we need to find a good church and settle in!
So that's our conundrum. Having a church family is so important. Fellowship is so important, as is accountability. Not to mention having some time to refocus on the Lord. So we are really hopeful that everyone stays well for a while, especially in this busy season. Hopefully 2011 will be the year of building relationships and much spiritual growth.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Daniel and Meghan's Wedding Reception
Three weeks ago, we headed up to Waco for a very special occasion: the wedding reception for Nathan's brother, Daniel, and his bride, Meghan.
It was a reception only, because Daniel and Meghan were already married--they actually eloped in August! Now, if I were to ever know someone who might choose to elope, Daniel would be the person. It just suits him.
Since the happy couple lives in Atlanta, this was the first time Nathan and I met Meghan. She struck me as very sweet and upbeat. And I like that she seems to be Daniel's perfect foil, complementing him in many ways, yet still sharing a lot of his interests. They actually met swing dancing; isn't that fun?
And evidently, Meghan and I are interchangeable. Of all people, on separate occasions both Jane and my mom thought Meghan was me! We figured it was the hair. And at one point, Meghan sidled up to Nathan, thinking he was Daniel from behind. So funny!
I'd post some pictures of the family-filled weekend, but firstly, I didn't take very many at all, and secondly, the ones I took were terrible. I am just going to wait until the professional photos become available, and then I'll post one or two, if I get the chance. In the meantime, this is the best pic I have of the two of them from the weekend. They were meeting Jane for the first time.
And here's a wedding picture that I swiped from Meghan's Facebook page.
Congratulations, guys! We can't wait to spend more time with you at Christmas!
It was a reception only, because Daniel and Meghan were already married--they actually eloped in August! Now, if I were to ever know someone who might choose to elope, Daniel would be the person. It just suits him.
Since the happy couple lives in Atlanta, this was the first time Nathan and I met Meghan. She struck me as very sweet and upbeat. And I like that she seems to be Daniel's perfect foil, complementing him in many ways, yet still sharing a lot of his interests. They actually met swing dancing; isn't that fun?
And evidently, Meghan and I are interchangeable. Of all people, on separate occasions both Jane and my mom thought Meghan was me! We figured it was the hair. And at one point, Meghan sidled up to Nathan, thinking he was Daniel from behind. So funny!
I'd post some pictures of the family-filled weekend, but firstly, I didn't take very many at all, and secondly, the ones I took were terrible. I am just going to wait until the professional photos become available, and then I'll post one or two, if I get the chance. In the meantime, this is the best pic I have of the two of them from the weekend. They were meeting Jane for the first time.
And here's a wedding picture that I swiped from Meghan's Facebook page.
Congratulations, guys! We can't wait to spend more time with you at Christmas!
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sweeties and Smarties
Some sweet things heard lately at our house:
Jane has started calling me "Mama!" I can't believe my eight month old is saying "Mama!" At first, I thought it might be accidental, but over the past two weeks or so, it's become pretty clear that she calls me when she wants me to come over and feed her or pick her up. If I step away from her high chair while feeding her to go grab something, she calls out, "Mamamamama!!!" I'm so delighted about that! Also, I think most kids say "Dada" first; it's supposed to be easier to say than "Mama." But not Janey. Nope. She loves her Daddy, too, but that girl is a Mama's girl through and through.
This morning, I was trying a little dress on Jane that I'm going to have her wear for our family photo session this weekend, and as I was taking it off her, Noah said, "No, Mommy, no! No take off Jane's princess dress!" I thought that was so cute and sweet! Evidently, Noah approves of the dress.
Smarty pants:
Noah's curiosity has really been ramping up lately. He is constantly asking me where things come from. For example, yesterday he asked me where macaroni and cheese comes from. He asked me where bread comes from. He asked me where peas come from. Thankfully, most of it has been about food--so far, he hasn't asked where babies come from. ;)
The other day, he was helping me add ingredients to the bread machine, and we were talking about each ingredient we added. When we poured in the salt, he said, "What salt do?" So I told him it makes the bread taste good. Then we poured in the gluten, and he said, "Gluten makes bread fluffy." I stood there with my mouth open for a minute, stunned that he remembered that from when I've said it to him the last couple of times we've made bread. I mean, I didn't know that until I was like 28. (How do you explain the chemistry of bread baking to a two year old, anyway? I guess I hit on something, because "Gluten makes bread fluffy" seems to have stuck.) Nathan and I are getting really amazed at the things that he remembers us say, word for word. He is really a sponge right now.
Jane has started calling me "Mama!" I can't believe my eight month old is saying "Mama!" At first, I thought it might be accidental, but over the past two weeks or so, it's become pretty clear that she calls me when she wants me to come over and feed her or pick her up. If I step away from her high chair while feeding her to go grab something, she calls out, "Mamamamama!!!" I'm so delighted about that! Also, I think most kids say "Dada" first; it's supposed to be easier to say than "Mama." But not Janey. Nope. She loves her Daddy, too, but that girl is a Mama's girl through and through.
This morning, I was trying a little dress on Jane that I'm going to have her wear for our family photo session this weekend, and as I was taking it off her, Noah said, "No, Mommy, no! No take off Jane's princess dress!" I thought that was so cute and sweet! Evidently, Noah approves of the dress.
Smarty pants:
Noah's curiosity has really been ramping up lately. He is constantly asking me where things come from. For example, yesterday he asked me where macaroni and cheese comes from. He asked me where bread comes from. He asked me where peas come from. Thankfully, most of it has been about food--so far, he hasn't asked where babies come from. ;)
The other day, he was helping me add ingredients to the bread machine, and we were talking about each ingredient we added. When we poured in the salt, he said, "What salt do?" So I told him it makes the bread taste good. Then we poured in the gluten, and he said, "Gluten makes bread fluffy." I stood there with my mouth open for a minute, stunned that he remembered that from when I've said it to him the last couple of times we've made bread. I mean, I didn't know that until I was like 28. (How do you explain the chemistry of bread baking to a two year old, anyway? I guess I hit on something, because "Gluten makes bread fluffy" seems to have stuck.) Nathan and I are getting really amazed at the things that he remembers us say, word for word. He is really a sponge right now.
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