delivery

Delivering bread and other little gifts to our landmates. Returning home with rosy cheeks and cookies in our tummies.

Mmm. A lovely holiday so far over here. We are recovering from all the fun we had at our string of holiday events. We were hoping to avoid the overwhelm, and managed to spread the fun over several days which worked great. Only now we are tired and ready to spend some time quietly playing and hanging out together. We hosted a Christmas Eve dinner at our house. The night before the event I sat on the stairs and wondered where on earth we were going to put all the people we'd invited, but we managed just fine. This was the first gathering we'd held at our house since it has grown from a wee cabin, and it felt good to fill up our living room with friends and food and babes.
And Christmas day was lovely- a slow, quiet morning where Ari opened presents and played with each one before moving on to the next. We generally want to keep the toy part of the holidays simple, with only a few meaningful gifts and lots of focus on the traditions and friends and family part, and I'd say this was a success. We exchanged our handmade gifts for each other on solstice (another post!) and just had a few special things in the stockings and under the tree- some furniture for the farmhouse, a tomten and fox wooden figures, a pair of secondhand skates, a couple books. The marble in the top picture is a very big hit, a gift from Ari's grandparents and aunt and uncle. And Dorian got a few small treasures too. We had Christmas dinner with family and friends and did our annual hike despite the cold. I had Dorian in the sling with a borrowed parka zipped over top and managed to stay warm enough. And the abundance of good food helped too.

I have not done a good job of taking photographs of the various projects we have been working on. I will try to gather up the finished crafts and photograph them for the archives (that would be this blog.) The stockings I finished just in time, there have been a few glimpses of them in progress, and here they are in action. This was my first real embroidery project and I enjoyed it. I used Wee Wonderful's free stichette pattern; I have a few more of her patterns sitting in my sewing room awaiting the embroidery needle. I had Perry help me alter them a bit to have each one be a little different and have each little elf holding something that is meaningful for the boys. Ari's is holding a star (the meaning of his middle name,) and Dorian's is holding a candle (his middle name means "peace.") All the other projects will make their way here soon, now that all the surprises are out!

welcome back the light

Happy Solstice to you all!

baby it's cold outside

Okay, this cold is getting old now. Sure it is nice to sit by the woodstove and knit, and heaven knows I have a pile of handmade items in need of finishing. But lordy, this cold! It had been over a week now with temperatures really is too cold to got outside- it is currently minus 30 and windy, a nasty combination. Our solstice sleigh ride we had scheduled for tomorrow is cancelled, as is our annual forest picnic. We are all getting a little snaky from being inside our house so much and our little town really has very few indoor options to be with kids. I'm afraid there is a little more grumpiness than festiveness right now as we try to occupy the active two-year-old indoors day after day. The baby refused to nap today too, making it hard to get much done.

Alright. There. I'm done my whining. Now let us focus on something small and sweet and delicious, shall we?

There. That's better.

for the birds

We made pine cone bird feeders the other day. A fun messy project, though Ari was not too keen on getting his hands covered in peanut butter which surprised me. I can think of many wonderful traits he possesses, but cleanliness wouldn't be the first to come to mind. And heavens knows he doesn't pass up an opportunity to get his hands right into his supper.

Oh well, once the really sticky part of the job was over, he enjoyed covering the cones with birdseed and running the seeds through his hands- which is its own sort of tactile experience. As is throwing the bird seed into the air and walking over the scattered mess "like outside in the grass." Like I said- he's not exactly the tidiest fellow. But he is a generous sweet hearted nature- lover who is excited to feed the birds, and will enjoy hanging these up and seeing who comes to snack upon them.

made it

We made it through our first day alone just fine. We read books and baked and played with yarn and tried to keep the house warm with the outrageous cold outside our doors. I put a few too many logs on the fire when I saw the temperature - minus 25! - hence the shirtless boy above. We stayed cozy inside, and did not brave the cold. It is supposed to be this way for the next week at least, so I might not be feeling so positive about things after 5 days cooped up.
We will have to keep up the active indoor play - jumping on the bed, wheelbarrow walks, spinning and flips and swinging in the hammock. And lots of dancing.

And stay busy with christmas crafting and kitchen projects. My little helper and I baked bread from my new bread cookbook today while the baby napped. There will be more of this in our future.

how lovely are thy branches

The tree is up and I am loving how festive it is feeling around here. Did I mention I am having such fun having a child old enough to understand the celebrations? I might have mentioned that. But it is pretty exciting to start implementing some of the traditions and ideas we've been talking and thinking about for years. My heart was never in the celebrations when we were trying to create it before kids. But now it is such good fun.

Ari was pretty excited with the decorating- the treasures in the Christmas box (rather sparse really, but it'll grow,) and the fun of putting it up. Not to mention the hot chocolate to be drunk beside the tree as we adults fiddled with the lights and the tree stand. We really don't have much in the way of decorations, but we will keep building up our collections with handmade treasures over the years. This year's addition was reusable tin tinsel, which I am rather in love with. I hope to make some garlands with Ari this week- cranberries and popcorn perhaps.

And yes, this week is the big one- where I am alone all by myself with both babes for the first time. All day long. Oi. Wish me luck.

tree blessings

We went out the other day to hunt for our Christmas tree and found a beauty. We have been getting our Christmas trees off our land for the past few years. We feel pretty blessed with our abundance of the lovely green friends, but feel some guilt chopping them down. We ease it by only choosing trees that need to be cut, either to clear a path, or to thin out a section. Ari is sitting in front of our tree here, it is clumped together with a bunch of other small trees, so cutting it was giving the other trees a chance. Or so we tell ourselves.

We brought a little picnic into the woods and ate it at the base of the tree before we cut it. Something about the smell of spiced tea outside on a winter day is pretty lovely and food always tastes best after a good walk through the woods.

We thanked the tree before cutting it- feeling grateful for the living thing we were taking from the woods into our home. Ari called out "thank you tree for coming to our house." I'm sure it understood. We plan to decorate it today, now that the ice and snow have melted from the branches. So off we go to drag out the Christmas boxes and crank the holiday music. Fa lalalala.

full moon walk

Today the advent gnome told us we would be going for a moonlit walk after supper. Ari was thrilled, and we donned our snow gear, bundled the baby into the sling and headed out into the windy night. It is magic out there, the moon so big and bright, the snow lit up, the wind kicking up the powder into moonlit clouds. If it wasn't for the cold wind and the approaching bedtime we would have stayed out longer, but instead we trouped inside for PJ's and bedtime stories. Now both boys are asleep and the fire is crackling and Perry and I are bustling away on Christmas projects.

My parents had Ari for a few hours today and I got some time to coo at Dorian and take yet more photographs of him. He is wearing a pair of wool pants I made him from the sleeves of a wool sweater, they work well as a diaper cover and are pretty cute too. I'd like to make up more of these from the ever growing pile of thrifted sweaters in my studio. And did I mention I am madly in love with this baby? Because I am. He just melts my heart with his sweetness.

He laughed for the first time today. When I scooped him up out of the swing (which he likes an awful lot,) to get him dressed for our walk he just started chuckling. I'm not sure what was so funny, but I'll take any baby giggle I can get.

stickers for advent

A little festive decorating.

more cookies

I wish I had terrific decorated cookie shots to put up here, but the light is so tricky this time of year I didn't end up with any, and the cookies are all hiding in the dark freezer now. I do, however have a recipe to post after several requests. It is a good one, tasty and healthy, sticky and fun.

Yummy Vegan Gingerbread Cookies
3/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup oil
3tbsp fresh ginger grated
2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (I used half unbleached)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Blend syrup, molasses and oil and grated ginger together thoroughly. I've done this by hand and with a blender and both worked fine. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Add blended concoction to dry ingredients and mix with as few strokes as possible (the most difficult part with a toddler!) Chill dough. Roll. Cut. Bake at 350 for 10 to 12 minutes.

I used royal icing to decorate which is neither egg or sugar free. It made nice designs though. And the sprinkles I used were organic and coloured with beets and turmeric. So that makes up for it, right?

gingerbread baby

What a delightful mess a toddler baker can make, when rolling cookies beside his mama. And as long as his mama can let go and accept the flour on the floor, the dough rolled onto the counter with great sticky vigour, the messy fingers and mangled gingerbread forms, the enormous quantity of dough consumed, then a great deal of fun can be had. Luckily our recipe comes from the days Perry worked at an organic bakery and it has no refined sugar or raw eggs to worry about. Though if someone was looking for a sugar high, one can most certainly be had through maple syrup and molasses.

This was yesterday's glorious advent mess. Today's will be decorating our creations. Icing and dried fruit and sprinkles- oh my.

advent gnomes and coyote homes

It has been lovely here the past few days, warm and sunny and lots of new snow to play in. We had a fun party up here in the big house last night - a sorta surprise for all the friends who had turned thirty in the past year (yup, that would be me- though I will journey on to 31 pretty soon,) and a lovely evening of food and friends and oh so many little ones. And this morning we spent outside, making snow chairs, throwing snow "basketballs" and looking at the coyote tracks.

Ari and I have been stitching away during quiet time. He's getting rather good at it. He tells me he is sewing a little tiny gnome.

And, while we are talking about the wee folks, here is our advent elf, who is marking the days (sitting on his little clothespin,) as we travel towards the shortest day, and the Christmas season.

So far our little advent cards have told us to take out the Christmas books, cut branches for an advent wreath, do some (top secret!) crafting for Christmas presents, make paper snowflakes, go to the airport to meet our friend who was flying in, and somewhere in there was a CD of Christmas music to bring in some good holiday cheer. This is all rather fun, I must say. And I think Ari would say the same.

one happy baby

And more photos of him than I could post. He keeps us smiling and cooing over here.

we need a little christmas

I caught this (blurry!) picture of Ari just as he was shedding his layers after some good outdoor time. He looked so sweet and woolie and red cheeked I just had to record it.

We've fully switched into winter mode now. The winter books are out and being read and reread. Ari is quite taken with Ollie's Ski Trip and regularly sees Jack Frost hanging about. This morning it was clear Jack had been busy during the night, covering the fences and making the snow in the yard glittery and beautiful.
The nature table has transformed from its oranges and browns to white and blue. It is sparse, but then, so is the season.

There is a bear hiding in her cave on the edge of the table. She's pretty sleepy in her snow-covered den and only comes out to play now and then.

With all this wintery-ness is the start of the Christmas excitement. This will be the first year that we have a child who gets what is going on, and we want to be mindful of the traditions we create and the tone that we set. I remember Christmas feeling so magic and special, and I want lots of that for my kids, but not the hype and the consumerism and overdone schmaltz. I've been inspired by some of the great advent ideas I've seen around, and am working on an activity calendar to ritualize the Christmasy things we will do together a little more. It is just a little envelope for each day with an activity written on it: bake cookies, cut paper snowflakes, have a fancy tea party, go for a moonlit walk etc. We are nowhere near organized enough to plan a whole month ahead, since we will include christmas concerts and visits with friends and such, and we don't know yet when these will take place. But then we can just change the contents of the envelopes around to suit our schedule. I think this type of advent count-down will work well for Ari. He likes to know what we will be doing and to have things laid out. And he certainly doesn't need a piece of chocolate every day!

We have also decided to start a handmade tradition with our family- not buying anything, but making something for each member. I know what I am making for all my boys, but I have to think of how to help Ari create gifts for his Papa and baby brother. I think the baby gets exempted from having to make something this year. But next year boy, he'd better shape up.

here to stay

We've had snow for over a week now and it is clear that winter is here for keeps. Ari is mighty pleased and looks out the window every morning saying "look at all the snow, Mama!" He and Perry have been going out in the mornings for sledding and playing and he comes back with rosy cheeks and lots of stories to tell. I have been meaning to get out with them too, but it is hard to give up that one little piece of the day to coo at the baby and knit in peace. It will be a shocker when Perry goes back to work and I have to do these things all by myself. I'm just not thinking about that yet.

Knitting is really all I want to do, and it is the only crafty thing that feels realistic with Dorian in tow. I've had a few rounds at the sewing machine, but it is hard to get up the the sewing room. Much easier to sit in the big comfy chair by the fire and nurse the babe and knit while commenting on Ari's amazing flying leaps into the hammock chair. Most of my christmas projects will be made while doing just that.

holly's little sister

This new little lass is the little sister of the doll I made last winter for our friend's little girl. They wanted one for their youngest too and asked me a good while ago to make it. Finally she is done and off to her new home. I never did get a better picture of her big sister. I've asked to have her back for a tune up (I'm not confident enough in my sewing skills to believe the dolls can withstand all the play they are getting,) so maybe I'll photograph her then.
I found the softest yarn for her hair, and went a bit crazy with it- she has a lot of hair. I can't remember the name of the wool, but it is some kind of alpaca and looks very hair-like. Her shirt and top are ones I changed a bit from the Weir doll patterns, and I made the sweater pattern up myself and sewed it from an old wool sweater.

Ari whisked her away as soon as she was done to show her the sights from his favourite viewing platform (the top of the stairs, where he can watch the goings on of all our neighbours and report back to us- or in this case, report to the doll.)

The new recipient was as appreciative as a 10-month-old can be. She smiled and chewed on her arm. High praise I'd say.