Wrapping Up Christmas

I think I found all of Christmas and boxed it up.  No doubt I’ll find a towel in the laundry or a jingle bell hidden in a couch cushion next week. For now though, Christmas is put away.  It’s always bitter-sweet putting away the trappings of the holiday season.  I love decorating everything.

I won’t miss Meap, the Claw Kitten ransacking the Christmas tree or leaving scratch marks on my reindeer.

I won’t miss her derailing the Christmas train either.

But I will miss her sleeping in the manger.

And I’m already planning for next year.  I’ve pulled out my Christmas Planner only to discover the web hosting site where I stored all the pages went down.  I’ll try and find a way to post them again.  I love what Organized Christmas does.  They have a Rudolf Club that works on Christmas on the 25th of every month of the year.  I’d love to do that this year.  So every 25th I’m hoping to get one step closer to a more relaxing season next year.  I’ll probably follow my own schedule.  So far I’m planning on May being my Power Tool Present Fest.

This Christmas was probably my most relaxing so far.  Mainly because I turned it all over to Prince Erik and my Angel Mom.  I’ve been recovering from surgery.  Nothing tramatic, my plumbing just needed upgrading after 6 kids.  So why not have it in the busiest month of the year?  I like doing things that defy reason.  But, it needed to be done and I’m sure blessed to have such a Knight in Shining Armor Guy for my husband.  Double Bonus is that he cooks and he’s good at it too.  I’m a lucky girl.

And special thanks to my Mom who braved a winter blizzard to come stay with me for a week and chase all my wild herd from one Christmas activity to another.  I owe her big time.

So I’m planning away for next year with all the excitement of a child on Christmas Eve.  I’m sure it will be here before I know it.

Have Broom, Will Travel

Is the slogan of my newest Tee-shirt. And my kids wholeheartedly agree that it suits me to a Capital T.   I only wear it on house cleaning days.

Today was one of those days.  The weatherman said that Fall was finally going to arrive this week in the form of cold weather, abundant rain, and frisky wind - so that meant one last sweep of the garden of weeds to see what I could harvest.  It was a little scary.

Yet, with Hope’s eagle eye (I guess it helps to be closer to the ground), we were able to pull in a nice last haul.

Yikes, now I’ve got to plan a couple of days just to process all of this food for storage.

Will someone tell me why I planted beets?  I don’t even know how to cook them.  I guess it will just have to be another Fawn first moment in the making.

Now for the update on my Holiday List.  See I remember that I was supposed to make a list and read it.  And I deserve a gold star for actually completing most of that list.  I’m still digging up a couple of addresses on my Christmas mailing list and there are still some Halloween decorations I need to finish making.

The kids and I had a hoot making several super-fun crafts:  Including  some Potions Labels for an odd collection of different shaped bottles.  You can check out my Mommy Blessings Blog to see how we made them.

I’ve also been working on repurposing some vintage looking books into something enchanted.  

Shhhh, don’t tell hard core book lover’s that I’m cutting up books, or they might not let me in the second hand bookstore any more.

 

From the ’Joy of Words’ to ‘The Joy of Wands’.  And I’m turning the old fall-aparts into Magical Books that hold secret compartments, fairy quotes, and magical goodies.

Can’t wait to show you how I made them.  Of course I’ll post the instructions on Mommy Blessings when I finish.

So, as you can see, I haven’t finished decorating for Halloween so that’s back on my list for week 2 as well.

What’s up with my Holiday Countdown.  Well here’s Week 2:

1.  Um – Complete Halloween Decorating – Still.

2.  Sew at least 1 Halloween Costume.

3.  Cut out patterns for some Christmas Presents

4.  Design a Christmas Card.

and that’s in addition to preserving all those goodies from the garden,  and keeping my sanity in check.

On a side note:  The blessing keep coming.  My good friend Ethel stopped by and helped me clean up my sticky floor today - Just because she had nothing better to do than earn saint points from on high.  Maybe she was just disgusted that you couldn’t walk through the house without something gummy glued to your shoes or socks – or maybe, just maybe, she might be an angel in disguise.  I’m leaning towards the notion that she’s an angel.

My Brain… What, Where?

I’ve discovered over the past nine plus weeks that stress can do really funny things to your brain.  Mine has gone missing. I am searching for it as we speak.  My short term memory is shot to bits. 

I constantly find myself driving to somewhere totally unrelated to where I need to be or asking my  husband the same question I asked him not 5 minutes before, because I forgot his answer.  It’s a little scary.  But I think I’ve got a solution to my problem.  It’s called Sleep, Exercise, and eating something other than Chocolate and Sugar.  DUH!!! & UGH!!!

 

And while I’m working on those three things I’m relying heavily on Lists to help me stay on track.   Lists are great except I have to remember where I put the lists and then I have to remember to actually look at the lists.  Wow, that’s a lot for a fried brain to remember.  But it’s working.  Thankfully I haven’t misplaced any kids yet,  they wear clean clothes, eat healthy foods, and we still visit the land of imagination occasionally.  Yes, my house is very messy and still cluttered but no matter how hard things are I’ve got to remember to Smile and keep going. 

Seeing how I’ve already lost one week off the 100 days till Christmas – I’ve got to get BUSY!!! Without losing what’s left of my brain as well.

I found my Holiday planner and I’ve thrown out the pages I no longer need, and have fresh pages in to start to work on. 

So over the next week this is my Holiday Checklist.  I’ve decided to show you the ideas on what I’ll be making my kids because they never read my blog, I’m not interesting enough and they know that I’ll tell them if I blog about them.  However my siblings who probably check daily to see if I’ve been committed to the funny farm yet, are not going to get any hints on their gifts.  Neener, neener, NEENER!  But remember my WISH budget of $200 which means simple, but hopefully meaningful.

So this weeks HOLIDAY countdown includes…

1.  Update Holiday Mailing List.

2.  Decorate for Halloween. (with the exception of carved pumpkins. For that would make a moldy gooey mess if done now)

3.  Finalize costume plans.

4.  Start planning Christmas Gift Lists

So that’s what’s happening on the holiday front.  On the Home front.  I’ve got to process all the goodies my garden is throwing at me.

Thankfully the girls are excited to enjoy these last few days of our Indian Summer.  Lea picked and cleaned some carrots for me.

While Princess and Hope decided to tackle a weed patch without me even asking them.

I think they were motivated to uncover this hidden treasure.

Silly weeds had no chance against those two.  They uncovered the bike in no time.

Now I’ve just got to clear out the garage so we can hide the bikes from future weed infestations.

Well I’m off – lots of work to wrap my mind around.  Now where did I put that list?

Not Again…

No way is this happening again.

100 Days Until Christmas!!!

Does this fact stress you out like it does me?

Ahhhhhh!   Can I just skip it this year?  I mean who really needs this pressure anyway.

If I didn’t have little ones who believe in magic I might be tempted.  But I do have kids and I so want them to hold onto that magic.  I find the harder life gets the more I need it too.

No I haven’t forgotten Halloween and Thanksgiving.  You’ll see me go overboard with those holidays as well

Once again I’ll be doing my holiday countdown.  Setting superhuman moderate holiday goals for the week and trying to pull them off without going Looney, and driving my family insane. 

I’m also going to match last years goal of Halloween (custom costumes for all eight of us & calorie-free goodies) for less than $100. 

Plus – Do you want to hear my goal for Christmas.  Six kids, 1 Hubby, 14 siblings, Parents, Neighbors and Friends, 1 dog, and a gazillion other things that have flown from my mind for the present...  all for the measly amount of $200.00 or less.  That’s it.  Not a penny more (I can dream, Can’t I?).  I guess that means I’ll finally be using all the sewing and crafting stuff I’ve been collecting over the past couple of decades.

Shah!  Don’t tell Prince Erik, he’ll have me committed for sure.  I know it might not be a realistic goal but it is practical for the situation we are going through.  Plus there’s nothing like a little challenge to light a little fire under my backside to get me creatively motivated into action.

I might not meet the goal, but I’ll give it a good old-fashioned try.  And let you know my triumphs and failures along the way.

First thing on my list.  Pull out the Holiday Planner and give it a go-over.  Click on the picture to see how I made it

Every Tuesday I’ll list my new weeks goals.  You can join in (PLEASE) and give me suggestions as well. 

More than anything I want this Holiday Season to be about Love and Family.   Because if I met all my other goals, but I didn’t have my Family or the Love there everything else would be meaningless. 

Taking Christmas Away.

My daughter Hope accused me of being the Grinch today (which she must have watched 10 times this holiday season). I was packing up Christmas and she accused, ' Mom, you're taking away Christmas.' Of course it didn't help that she put on her most sad, eye watering, lip-quivering demeanor as she played Cindy-Lou Who to perfection.

'I'm taking the Decorations back to my workshop - Dear. And with my luck it will take me 2 - 3 weeks to clean up this mess. Don't worry Christmas will be back next year.'

The Big Thaw has begun and the UPS man finally made it to my home to deliver my Home for the Holiday's Christmas Swap Package.

Here's my late Christmas Present.

My swap partner Michelle knew exactly what Magazines and Books I would love spending my time gleaning ideas from.

I just know I'm going to love trying some of the re-purposed crafts mentioned here...

How did she know I'm still battling the Clutter Monster?

And she was very wise and instead of sending fattening goodies she gave me a ubber healthy cookbook. My husband has his eye's on it and since he's the main cook in the house I may have to turn it over to him.

So one of the rules of the swap was to post what we sent as well as what we received. Of course we filled out questionnaires for each other so we could better understand who we were getting gifts for.

Here's what I sent Michelle...

I luckily scored a lot of my gifts for 75% off on Black Friday.

I love sales.

In wrapping up Christmas I just have to tell you that our 12 days of Christmas Elf did deliver days 10,11 and 12. I'm just late in posting.

So Day 10 went like this...

Ten Lords a Leaping would be an awesome gift.

But they got stuck while jumping through a white snowdrift.

We had to be content, you see.

To watch the Kettle Corn Fly

So we added a sweet topping to it for you to try.

On the 11th Day of Christmas...

Those eleven pipers piping remind us of our plumber,

To leave him on the doorstep would really be a bummer!

Now make your water piping hot and fill your cups with care,

We're giving you hot cocoa we know you'll love to share!

We simply can't believe this game is almost through,

We have had a jolly time bring these gifts to you.

With only one more night, don't you wish you knew,

Just exactly who we are and why we're doing this for you?

I just love Hot Chocolate...

I didn't actually get a picture of Day 12, because um the kids raided the goodie cookie plate. But included in a sweet red Chinese take out box was chocolate drizzled fortune cookies, and a poem that goes like this.

Christmas Eve has arrived and on this our last night,

One dozen drummers would be a spectacular sight.

But the noise of the drums would really hurt your head,

So eat all these yummy cookies we've brought you instead.

And so we wish you a joyous Noel.

We know that you're hoping our name we will tell.

But our names stay a secret, we just can't simply share,

If just wouldn't be right, no it wouldn't so there

Merry Christmas to each and everyone one of you tonight...

Doing this for you all has brought us much delight!

Thank you 12 Days of Christmas Elf. We have no idea who you were but our holiday memories from this year will be much sweeter because of you.

Yes our holiday was simple but also very delightful. I'm glad it's over because I so need to shed the holiday pounds that I gained this year.

To bad I can't be a snowman.

A couple days of over-indulgent stuffing followed 2 days of above freezing (so I can come out of hibernation) temperatures. And our plump and happy snow man has turned into the Skinny Snowman. It look's like he's sporting a pompous hair-do, beard and doing his best to sing Christmas Carols to our passing neighbors.

O.K. I don't want to be a bearded singer. Just skinny.

Went to church in my Pajamas!

Shhh don't tell anyone because I don't think they knew. No it wasn't a dream - just my reality.


So the storm came and so did the snow. Thankfully the Horrid winds they were predicting didn’t materialize. Yeah! We made it through Round One with our power still intact. But with the snow from last week and last night, we actually have a good 13 +++ inches now. We are supposed to get another 3-6 inches tonight, with two more storms on Tuesday and Christmas Day due to drop more of that white fluffy stuff.

So with all the snow and hills and not a lot of people with 4X4’s around they decided to hold church in our homes this week. We have a bunch of emergency prep groups all set up within our wards boundaries and my husband happens to be the unit leader of one of those groups. So it’s our responsibility to check up on close-by church members when something big happens (Snowstorm, Earthquake, and Flooding etc.).

Well our bishop decided that it would be good to still have church but in much smaller groups within walking distance of most of the homes – since driving in this stuff would bring on the label of insanity. So we were to invite our people over for Sacrament meeting.

I found this out at 10:00 a.m. Whoa! I had three hours to clean and de-stink the house before the 4-5 families that lived near-by showed up.

I was wearing my shirtdress that I happened to use for pajamas last night and thought I’d change right before people came. But wouldn’t ya know it – I got so busy that before I knew it people were here and I was still in my Ethel dress. So I threw a sweater over it and hoped they wouldn’t notice. I just thought they would notice more if I changed after they got there. At least it was a dress.

There you go – Another FawnDear first. Went to church in my P.J.’s. Shhhhh - Just don’t tell anyone. And there’s no way I took a picture of how I looked. I do have some dignity I’d like to hang on to. Not a lot but I’ll keep what’s left – if there is any after this post.

It was actually a really nice little meeting. Perfect for a before Christmas Sunday. Simple and Humble. We probably had around seventeen people in our front room; couple of wiggly tot’s (including mine). But I’ll always remember it because it was simple and lovely and humble.

After church was over I did get dressed in something a bit more dignified and warmer because we couldn’t keep the kids in with fresh snow outside.

I know you’ve seen a million snow angels but here’s a couple more. Well start with Princess - who is absolutely a snow angel but need to work on her leg action.







And not to be outdone was Hope, who happened to like the snow so much, she was out after dark making this here impression.

And you know, Lea was making her share of snow angels because she is now sporting the fetching look of matted snow dog hair.

I didn’t think our Christmas Elf would make it. And I was really afraid that he’d end up in a snow bank somewhere. Rudolph must have been free to help tonight.

Here is the sweet gift for tonight.

Nine ladies dancing would be too big a crowd,
Besides their music is WAY too loud.
Christmas songs for you to enjoy with each other,
Just don’t listen to them too loud for sake of Dear Mother!

So we stuck in the CD and watched Hope and Princess twirl around with dancing glee. Maybe crazy me, myself and I joined in on the dancing. Maybe I didn’t? After all I’m still trying to hold on to some dignity. Maybe I should try dancing in the snow next.

On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

Had another visit from my friend today. Notice the eye contact! We were sending subliminal dear/deer messages to each other like,

'Oh hi there cutie,' me

'It's that freaky lady with the camera again,' Bambi - then he bounds away after his mom and sister.



I got absolutely nothing concerning Christmas done today. Instead we spent the day battening down the hatches, so to speak, in prep for the Gigantor wind/snow storm we are supposed to get tonight. Gas for generator and one drivable snow vehicle– check, Food for the hungry masses – check, Firewood stacked out of the weather – check, Sidewalks shoveled – check (but I don’t know why because it’s supposed to just get buried again.

I also unburied the laundry room so someone could finally come and look at our dryer. After he looked at it we decided to wait on fixing the beast. Ugh. Because we have to decide whether to fix an expensive piece of junk or spend the same amount of money on a new cheaper thingy.

Personally I want to find a 15 year old dryer that still runs. The fix-it guy says the newer models are all cheaply made junk and they always need work within the first couple of years anyway. So we are thinking out our options. Wish decisions came a bit easier.

Our Christmas Elf made it back with these goodies while Prince Erik took the big kids Christmas shopping (love that $1 store). Here’s the darling package they left for our Eighth day of Christmas.

On the 8th day of Christmas, we’re busy as a bee.
Eight maids-a-milking, no where do we see.
But there in the barn we spy a tasty sweet,
Yummy chewy caramels, oh what a special treat.

We hope you enjoy this extra chewy caramel surprise
We’re sure it will disappear without too many sad cries!!

Hope raided the candies and ate all but three of the boxes before the other kids got home so darn-it we got some sad cries after all. But not too sad, cause they still got something.

Also got this cute tin from my Craft-Queen friend Cheri…

So if you’re brain-storming last minute gift ideas for friends check out her workshop. Love her ideas and recipes.

On the Seventh Day of Christmas...

What? Only Seven more Days? Ahhhhhh!!!

So this morning I woke up super-duper early to this beautiful and peacefully calm vision.

It lasted about 2 ½ hours and then the kids woke up. But I did get a good bit of secret sewing done during that time. Then I bravely put my old Idaho mad snow driving skills to the test and made the trek in our 4X4 into town to pick up some notions to finish my Christmas projects. I’m hoping to start showing you what I’m making tomorrow.

While I was gone our Christmas Elf dropped off not one but two days of presents.

Day Six…

Six geese a-laying what an interesting sight.
One of them squawked and they all took flight!
What they left in their nest, you’ll just have to see
Wait oh wait just what could it be?
Holiday dishes that will be great in a pinch
And then use the cutters for cookies… Oh what a cinch!!!

Again we say Merry, Merry to each of you,
Could it possibly be true that you still don’t have a clue?
Have we been tricky enough to stay a secret spy?
If not we might have to really try hard not to cry!!

This rather sweet package came wrapped in this gorgeous gold ribbon. Since we haven’t topped our tree yet I decided to tie up the bow on top as a temporary.

And since I’m not making cookies for a couple of days I thought I’d tie the cookie cutters on the tree as well.

This way I won’t misplace them, or lose them in the mess I call home.

And Christmas Elf – We are still entirely in the dark as to your secret identity.

Also left was Day Seven

The 7th Day of Christmas and we are half way done,
Remember no peeking or you’ll spoil the fun.
On this day of Christmas how nice it would be,
If seven swans a swimming your family could see!
The pond was quite empty since the swans have gone south,
We could only find yummy gummy fish to put in your mouth!

Yummy, oh yummy, oh yummy, you’ll see…
How much more fun could this really be?

Note: The elf left more than one package but my kids raided the stash before I got home. I did get a picture of one of the little wigglies before it met its demise.

We are battening down the hatches because they are forecasting a Wow-ser of a wind/snow storm. Last time I checked Wind + Snow = Blizzard. Burr, I'm cold just thinking about it. We are crossing our fingers and hoping that it won’t leave us in the dark like our last big windstorm in 2006. Then we were out for a whole week. Aught to make for an interesting day tomorrow. Fortunately we have a generator powerful enough to power my sewing station so I'm still good to go.

On the Sixth Day of Christmas...

We finally received the snow the weatherman has been promising all week. In fact we believe we just experienced the biggest snowstorm we’ve had since moving to the northwest almost 12 years ago. The snow was even deep enough to keep our dog inside. Our house, not his. I don't think he could fit through the opening of his house right now.




The weather even kept our Christmas Elf away. Seems Rudolph was busy getting ready to pull Santa’s sleigh he couldn’t help out our wee little Elf find his way through all that snow. But they did call to let us know they’d be back tomorrow.

So, all this snow means no school now for the rest of the year. And I was so hoping for at least 3 days of school to work my sewing magic without the kids under the roof. Seems my procrastination is going to cost me some late nights.

I got six more sewing projects cut out and I’m done with the hard part. The serger and sewing machine are threaded and ready to go. Just waiting for my oldest kids to nod off. I’ve been using the phrase, You So Really Don’t Want to be On Santa’s Naughty list – so Cut That Out.’ Then I send the kids outside to play in the snow, freeze, come inside, change their clothes, then go outside again. Needless to say the washer is going full tilt.

Evo-Man has been outside more than he’s been inside today. Because he wanted to be there, not because I sent him there (Just thought I'd clarify).

Don’t ask.

I have no idea about what goes on in his head.

The good thing is, it stopped snowing, but now it’s freezing cold and they predict that it isn’t going to sneak up above freezing until mid-week of next week. Get this – it’s supposed to snow again Saturday.
Our town is at a stand still. If you don’t have chains, you stay home. And that means everyone. Prince Erik ventured out today and even in 4X4 was slipping around a little. But he made it just fine.

O.K. I think I'd better get back to sewing.

On the Fifth Day Of Christmas...

On this the fifth day of Christmas we were hoping to get lots done. But they cancelled school on account of about an inch of snow that fell overnight. To be fair the forecast called for a lot more during the day. Of course it didn’t happen until during the evening hours. I’m sure school officials are kicking themselves now.

However, the Christmas lights seem much brighter when there's snow on the ground.

We had our little visit from our very own Christmas elf again tonight and here’s what he (or she) brought and what they had to say…






On the fifth day of Christmas with things rather tight,
It is important to us that we all travel light!
Gold rings are too heavy (and so are gold buckles)
So please be content with sweet rings on your knuckles.

Still hoping that you all are still hanging in for more
And waiting nightly for the next treat at your door!






I also made some nice progress on my gift list. Today I set about to get everything cut out. I almost made it. Still have a couple more to go, but cutting out 14 different projects takes time. It’s my least favorite part about sewing, other than unpicking mistakes of course, for me it’s the slowest part of the process.

Our family was also the recipient of an anonymous and generous Christmas donation. I’m still trying to collect my thoughts about the generosity of this special angel and I’ll probably blog about it tomorrow, but Gratitude doesn’t quite cover how overwhelmed we were when it came, and still are.

So to those hidden angels all around us – Thank you! Even though those simple and beautiful words don’t quite cover our gratitude, seriously – THANK YOU!!!