this moment

I'm joining Soule Mama in this Friday ritual.

In her words: "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

 Wishing you a very delightful New Year!


Please post your moment in the comments for others to connect to and enjoy!

Quiet

I like quiet time, but like so many mamas rarely get to savor it.

So it is bittersweet to have a wee bit of time to write in my little "flood notebook" and enjoy some bites of chocolate.

I have this time because I am sitting watch over a sleeping child with an upset tummy.

So my quiet prayer is that he wakes feeling strong and refreshed and ready to be noisy and rough and beyond the belly aches.

I would forgo any amount of quiet for that.

holiday-ing

Still enjoying the treats of the season here.

I will be fully back later in the week, and excited to share some of the special creations I was able to make for Christmas!

merry christmas

From my family to yours...

I wish you a Christmas full of happiness and peace.

May God's love be a place of calm and healing, and may you come to the New Year with gratitude.

I am grateful to you, and for your being part of my life.

I did it!

Just when I thought I would have to let it go off of my "like to do list," I made that Peppermint Bark.

And when I say "I made it" I mean I made it.

Not the usual "I made it" meaning that my honey made it.

But I did have the help of the most excited boy, who asked all day long if it was time to make the peppermint bark yet.

So after dinner and once Little Brother and Baby Sister were asleep, we found our way to the kitchen and the yummy ingredients that have been beckoning all day.

With very careful recipe reading, careful chocolate double-boilering, careful spreading, careful mint mashing, careful chilling and careful cutting we have made some de-lic-ious peppermint bark.

Oh, and don't forget the chocolate sneaking, spatula licking, and mint munching that are very important to a project like this!

And I needed a project just like this.  It was a bit of a rough day.  Lest my last post made it seem that I had it all together, sometimes it simply takes a couple quirky things to throw the rhythm of the family out of whack -- which we were today.

So I've enjoyed this slowing down to create something yummy.

And create it with one of the greatest kids ever.

And now for some grown up chocolate sneaking...

workshop humming

The Christmas workshop is humming along here.

Projects are being checked off and hidden away.

And there are still several more to complete.

(Yes, those are the ingredients for that Peppermint Bark!)

I've been making quite a few cups of hot tea to keep me company in the wee hours.

And I've been enjoying these songs from Innocence Mission, just about my all-time favorite.  (They have several Christmas song on their web-site as free downloads, so you can enjoy them too!)  Each of the songs is simply beautiful!

Kids-made projects are well underway, with more fun in store over the next couple days.

The touches of the holiday are being enjoyed in many corners of the house.

And I feel ready. 

Ready to celebrate the Birth of Christ.

Ready to enjoy the present with my children and husband.

Yes, the present.

Which I am giving as my gift to myself.

This has been such a year of learning and growing and thinking.  I find that when I embrace each moment of present with joy, my life feels fuller.

So I am embracing these final preparations with openness to the present.

The cookie making.

The present wrapping.

The good-night kisses, and snuggles, and lullabies as young ones have trouble falling asleep in anticipation.

And I will be thankful.

To the Christ Child.  And His amazing Mama. 

And to our God of Love and Mercy.

Amen.

this moment

I'm joining Soule Mama in this Friday ritual.

In her words: "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

 Wishing you and yours time this weekend to enjoy each other!

tradition {kolache making}

I feel very lucky to be part of a family that has nurtured family traditions.  Traditions that have real and important meaning to us and our relationships.  While we have  varying traditions throughout the year, we enact several special ones as we prepare for the holidays.

One of these special traditions is the gathering of the cousins -- all nine, ranging from wee to teen -- to make kolache.  Kolache from our Slovak family tradition is more commonly known as nut rolls.  But that isn't wholly accurate because the fillings can range from poppyseed, to apricot, to other fruits and cheeses.

So early each December we gather at Nonnie and Poppy's house.  This day is unlike any other gathering at their home, which often is connected to a birthday or another celebration.

This day is different.

It stretches ahead of us with only the kolache rolls to make.  The kids know a long day of play awaits.  The furnace is intentionally set a bit higher, warming the house to help the rolls raise for baking.

And we all take turns around the wooden dining room table.  The same table that has been the center of family meals, from early in my childhood.

We take turns using the taught technique of short rolling strokes to stretch the dough, which thankfully is made by my Mom a day prior, into long rectangles.

The carefully measured filling is spooned and spread onto the flat dough and then oh so gently all of it is rolled together into a long skinny form. 

In reality the Aunties do most of the rolling. 

But each cousin is encouraged to help with at least one of the 18 rolls, and most do, some kids lasting longer than others at the technique that have been passed down through several generations.

At the very least small ones flitter around the room, sneaking bits of the nut filling, sweetened with condensed milk or greedily licking up the spoons used for the poppyseed filling.

And then they return to their chasing games and dress up and watching Christmas movies snuggled up together in the reading room.

This year held a pretty awesome snowball fight, with kids coming in soaking wet and cold.

By early evening the rolling was done.  Baking was underway and families were bundling back up to head to our own homes.


And in just over a week those rolls will be sliced and displayed on Christmas plates.  They will be eaten and enjoyed, and kids will be sneaking entire pieces before dessert time.

and it begins

I am finally beginning to actually create the creations that I have been making in my head the past several weeks.

It is usually about this time in the holidays, approximately ten days before Christmas, that I realize the big plans that have been formulating in my mind since Halloween need to either get to getting or get gone. 

The list of gifts I want to make is much longer than the actual time I have to make these gifts.

So...

I began tonight. 

It involved markers and a scrapbook punch and sandpaper and hot mitts.

And lots and lots and lots of trial and error.

Lots.

But I have begun.

We will see how much of the list I accomplish and what I will end up having to let go.  (Ooooh, the letting any project go is so hard!)  And seeing enticing homemade gifts like this just make me want to add to my list.  I am desperate to make that Peppermint Bark.

What special gifts are you making this year?

scenes from a snow day

So very cold outside, that the snow could only be enjoyed through the frosted windows.

But inside it's been warm, and fun has been had.

All.  Day.  Long.

 play dough.

playing cards.

book making.

 fun making.

  money making.  (to be spent in the pricey holiday shop set up in the living room)

 even more card playing, with Dad who got to come home a bit early!  Hooray!

One family member did get to enjoy the snow a bit.

Don't worry, I made her come inside every so often -- and within minutes she would bark to go back out and curl up into her little snow nest.

Wishing you a warm warm week.

magic letters

Seven little letters that make up one of the most wonderfully magical phrases in the world:

S. N. O. W.  D. A. Y.

Yep, lists are made, fun is being had...

So must go, but promise a full report later!

this moment

I'm joining Soule Mama in this Friday ritual.

In her words: "A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember."

Please link up your moment in the comments for others to enjoy!

Wishing you a weekend full of love and kisses, mistletoe optional!

wintery

Oh, we've been enjoying an early start to a winter wonderland around here.

I love it, and all that goes with it.

The quieting of the neighborhood.

The plants and trees pulling on the heavy covers of snowfall, showing their subtle deep colors.

Our outdoor sacred objects decorated for this cold season of hibernation.

The pinkened cheeks and noses.

The piles of coats and boots and mittens and scarves dampened from fort building.

The hot chocolate following the time in the snow.

All of it.  I love all of it.  And am enjoying watching my children love it too.

The early cold this year, though, has also brought to mind the many who don't have a warm home to enter into, those whose blankets don't sufficiently warm them up at night.

As I find myself shivering a bit when dodging in and out of the cold, I let each shiver be the important reminder of the many without.  And that shiver is my call to pray at that very moment for God's mercy on those most in need.

Perhaps you can let any chill you have be a reminder to pray as well.