Post-Holiday Aftermath

Bringing everything home, it begins to feel like this whole Christmas thing was a mistake. Maybe the kids don't need more stuff. Maybe none of us need more stuff. So an intensive sort of all toys took place to clear away the old and make room for the new. And again, for maybe the fifth year running (note the correlation with Aleks receiving presents), a reconsideration on who should be gift-giving and how and what...

We seem to cut back every year and yet thus far we've only seemed to increase the children's sense of entitlement and expectations. Admittedly, this is an age-appropriate response to receiving and there is a lot of sweetness, love, and a spirit of giving amongst the greedy gobbling of goods. Nonetheless, it is a somewhat disturbing representation of our values.

We don't want to be buried with stuff and we don't want to support the current climate of commercialism and consumerism any more than...we do want to, I guess. Of course we buy things. We enjoy our toys and our computers and our giant robotic dinosaur. We are a part of this culture. This is our context, as much as we venture to its extremist edges philosophically.

At the same time, we want to be careful about what we want... The only thing to do is to encourage a spirit of cooperation, a volunteer ethic, giving in addition to receiving, and a sense of community, emphasize the meanings we assign these holidays and traditions, clear out the old, eliminate excess, redirect some of our media consumption, remind the boys why they don't need everything they see, and have patience with their under-developed minds that don't quite get it.

In addition to that, I'm going to put a halt to extended family gifts next year, find ways to avoid advertising more, commit to more activities that have nothing to do with stuff or that have more to do with giving, re-watch The Story of Stuff with them and peruse The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood website.

Post Christmas Walk with Grandma and Aunt Lilly

As Jon and I packed up to head back home, the boys went to Aullwood to check out the center and hike with Grandma Cat and Aunt Lilly.

In the center, they put together a deer skeleton, wore some antlers, and checked out the bees:
Outside, Lilly took lots of photos of herself with my camera:
They saw a bat house...
Climbed through and over creeks...
Aleks harassed Grandma endlessly for more and more piggy-back rides, resulting in some upset feelings upon returning home.

Bastian battled the long grasses.


They visited the lookout tower in the middle of the field. We once got stuck in the rain here...
Then Bastian tried once more to defeat the pokey pasture...


They disguised themselves amidst flora, fauna, and winged creature...

...and forged the creek once more...

December 25th

The final envelope.

Sugarplum fairies personified in wealth beyond measure. Ah, the Christmas catalog.Woo-hoo! An envelope involving nothing more than what we'd otherwise do!
And the children awoke far too early and got everyone else up to shower ourselves in gluttonous bounty.
By the time we got there, they'd already made their way through most of the stockings with the help of Aunt Natty and Lilly.
Bastian, ravenous for earthly possessions, tears open packages with teeth.
The boys rip and shred, loving everything.
Lilly gets what she knew she was getting...
And then, after almost all the presents were opened, like something out of A Christmas Story, Grandpa Jim says to Aleks, "what's that out in the mudroom?"Aleks rushes past me, flings open the door and starts dragging this giant wrapped box into the room. I, not knowing what was going on, begin to stop him from opening it to see who it was for. Sure enough, it said, "To Aleks. From Santa." I have no knowledge of this gift. I fear the worst.

Sure enough, upon unsheathing it, the boys come to find the ultimate reward for all those dozens of letters to Santa - a giant robotic dinosaur. It does not transform into a green car or shoot ice lasers from its eyes, nor is it forty (or ten) feet tall, but it is the exact model that the letters to Santa had finally settled on and which calls to Grandparents described endlessly in the frenzied build-up the Christmas Countdown became. D-Rex has arrived. Oh dear.
Exploring his controls: Attack, Guard, Seek, Prank, and Q&A. Attack roars and moves. Guard paces back and forth. Seek uses a sound sensor to follow you (and roar and look threatening at you!). Prank farts, burps, and yawns, usually followed by a snicker that's just lizardly wrong. With the Q & A function, you can ask D-Rex any yes or no question and he'll answer - sort of like a magic 8-ball, only with weird Velociraptor-like clicking and either a nod or shake of the head. His snout crinkles. His eyes squinch. He gives Jon the heebeejeebees and the boys call him their pet.
The Plan Toys pirate ship I'd bought for Bastian came with a broken anchor. Grandpa Jim excitedly announced that he had the perfect wood glue. We entrusted the ship to him.
When Jim opened the glue, however, it exploded all over, sticking the bottle quite effectively right to his hand.
When I returned to the kitchen from telling the boys what had happened, I found Jim sucking his fresh (burning hot!) coffee from one cup and depositing it in another as the first cup had become glued to the countertop, preventing him from drinking it.
While photographing this for posterity, I became glued to the counter as well.
While the children played with their new toys and Aunts Natty and Lilly napped and played on their computers, Jim eventually worked his way free of the bottle of glue. Success!
Everyone lazed about appropriately for the rest of the morning.
The boys, counter to my previous dismissals of Waldorfian elf hats and playsilks, donned just that as they played with their electronic monstrosity.
D-Rex joined them, occassionally letting out a bored roar, as they played pirates, vikings, and Lego Agents on the new pirate island play mat.
It is so the blissful image of that which I simultaneously mock and strive for: the privileged children in their Hanna Anderson Christmas pajamas and matching Swedish moccasins, the wooden playscape...spoiling the scene with their plastic crap. They look like all the other crunchy unschooled children. I eat it up, of course.
For Christmas dinner, we went to Jeri's house where the boys had even more gifts showered upon them. Aleks mostly enjoyed the holiday poppers and the bizarre tiny plastic China-made treasures embedded within. The adults drank lots of wine. Christmas exactly as it should be, told through the jaded eyes of the post-New Years' aftermath...

December 24th

Getting so close now...Kids rockin' out, much like my kids. Dragons and all.
Voila! Nothing spectacularly unusual! Yay for mama not having to do more than absolutely necessary!
On Christmas Eve the last few years, we have gone to visit at Grandma Cathy's house to see and exchange presents with my step-mom, my dad, and my step-siblings. It's a small crowd that we have to fit in around all the other holiday partying. My sister Laura has four children, Mark, Braden, Noah, and Emmalyn. Aleks and Bastian rarely get to see their cousins, so this is always a treat for them. My boys are a little more wild than the other children though. We, uh, aren't very strict parents at all.

The boys with their cousins at Grandma Cathy's house, pre-presents, post nibbles. These four were born within just over four years of each other. For about six weeks each summer, their ages are in a direct line. Next June, Noah will be 7, Aleks 6, Emmalynn 5, and Bastian 4.Jon and Anna Kiss - the couple from H & M. Rare picture of the two of us together...
Upon returning to Grandma Cat's house, the boys opened their special gift - a Gingerbread House kit Papa had picked up. So we built it. The icing was sickly sweet and corn-syrupy. I was in charge of it.
The boys were in charge of decorating.
We pretty much did it exactly like the picture... eh.
The boys proceeded to continuously eat it for the next several days.
Especially Bastian.
After dinner, the boys got to open yet another present - their holiday Hanna Anderson pajamas with matching Swedish moccasins. This is the third year in a row they've gotten them. They're so adorable and organically soft...

I noticed that Aleks kept randomly singing "and a partridge in a pear tree," to himself, so I recommended my sisters and I sing the whole song with him, much like our caroling in the car last Christmas Eve. Our singing is terrible:


Then we decorated the tree. We were very Christmasy.
Aleks found an Elf hat in one of the Christmas boxes.
Jim and Natty attached what has been our tree topper the last several years.
Giselle Bündchen in lingerie and a Santa hat. Natalie used to work at Victoria's Secret and while working Christmas Eve three years ago, the employees were given the opportunity to take home the displays that would have to clear out by the 26th. She grabbed this stupid thing as a joke for Jon. We found she fit nicely upon the tree and remembered that she is indeed an "angel."
Aleks got down to writing another letter to Santa to leave with cookies. Also, drawing out plans for every holiday from here til doomsday (Christmas Day: 1) Open Presents, 2) Christmas Feast, 3) Christmas Party).
So we had to work on the having cookies bit. This would take care of not just Santa, but the baking cookies activity we skipped back on the 20th. We made peanut butter blossoms, everyone's favorite. I did the cookie part.
The boys unwrapped the kisses. And ate quite a few as well.

December 23rd

Since we knew we were going to be traveling on the 23rd to go stay with the grandparents for the big show, the envelope was simple.And covered in gnomes.

I don't think we actually ended up eating any popcorn and we just watched whatever was on TV, but it was festive enough, I'm sure. We're not used to having TV, so it's a great treat no matter what. Woo-hoo! Almost done!

Letter from Santa

Looking in the mail for more Christmas cards to hang on the wall, we discovered two letters addressed to Aleks. Actually, one just had our address on it, which made the whole thing rather confusing. Come to find two letters from Santa. One was a boring form letter with a bad poem on fancy paper. The other, however, was addressed directly to Aleks and had recreated his dinosaur drawing from his letter to Santa. So that was pretty sweet.At first, I was completely confused about this, but then I remembered that the Post Office has volunteers write letters to kids who write to Santa, so I'm assuming that's what must have happened. Because Aleks wrote about five thousand letters to Santa, he got two back. Also, Aleks is now completely convinced that he will in fact receive a giant robotic dinosaur for Christmas, despite my repeated attempts to try to soften the blow of possibly not getting one.

December 22nd

Monday brought craziness as we prepared to leave for the Grandparents' house the next day, which involved packing and washing and sorting and wrapping and folding and picking up Jon's present from Heather and returning videos and library books and driving across town to get gnomes and playsilks for the stockings and getting Ana Taco Bell while I was at it and purchasing one last present for the grandparents at Walgreen's (of all places - they were frames for Aleks' art) and buying tape and sorting through excess toys to make room for those on their way and yet I actually managed to do the activity in no uncertain terms. Finally, back on track.With apple pie.
I give you an uncomplicated activity that I had the insane notion might result in sleeping children.
My crazy line of thinking lead to putting them in pajamas for the car ride.
While hunting Heather down to get Jon's box set of extended Lord of the Rings DVDs (for our yearly viewing pleasure), a friend at the bar where she was working told me about the light display at Nela Park. So that's where we went.
It was much better than the houses we had been passing. Bastian initially had lots of fun pointing out whenever there was a house with lights on it. Aleks complained that our house does not have a fabulous light display. I told him we could start one next year, which was not soon enough for his taste, but eventually I was able to convince him we'd absolutely have to wait as all the stores were closed, I preferred to thrift lights or get hand-me-downs, and because we were leaving the next day to celebrate Christmas at Grandma's and thus wouldn't be around to enjoy the dang things for those last few days they'd be up.
After that and the climax of Nela Park, Bastian got sick of pointing out lights and the boys started throwing things at each other in the back seat. I kept driving thinking we'd find something good. Bastian then started whining that he wanted to go home and Aleks kept trying to convince me to go someplace like a store or someone's house for a visit. They did not fall asleep in the car, needless to say. Jon dealt with putting them to sleep, however. Thank goodness. Too many errands and running around like a crazy person for me.

December 21st

The pinworm cleaning episode lasted two days in addition to generally feeling stressed and crummy.
So instead of baking more cookies in addition to those we did not bake the day before, we hung out, slept in, watched movies, and generally wasted time. Oh, and I spent the day making two recycled plastic bag bags for my sisters' gifts.

December 20th

Having gone to Archbold and come back the day previous, we weren't too ramped up about having another activity on the 20th.
And while the envelope announced that we were to bake holiday cookies, I felt that the chocolate chip cookies we'd baked earlier in the month would have to suffice for now.
Besides, we had other things to tackle on the 20th. For instance, the threat that pinworms might still be hanging about our house. I am usually quite the stringent housekeeper, and when I'd found out we had worms, I did my best to dust and sweep and wash tons and tons of laundry. I did figure that I could let some things go - washing the toys for instance, but when by the 20th there were still symptoms despite medication, we decided to give getting rid of any and all eggs our best shot. So we did this:
We washed all the toys. First, we started with the Lego, which seemed the most obvious culprit, but then we decided might as well make absolutely sure. So while nearly every fabric item we own went through a hot wash, the toys went for a soak. This is really not the best way to treat your wooden toys at all. It would like be better to take a cloth and some vinegar spray to eat and every one of them instead. But this saves time. Unfortunately, it also strips paint, so our marble run looks suddenly quite aged. Most things fared well enough and I doubt we'll have to do such nonsense again. In fact, I'm relying on it for the life of our toys.

It was ridiculous. I don't recommend it. Also, it turned out we did not still have pinworms after all. Hopefully we managed to suck the life out of anything else though.

December 19th

I'm so behind! On blogging about the things we did, primarily, but I also got a bit behind and lost in our Countdown... Ah well. Catching up is in order and will likely be slower than I'd like.

On the 19th, we sent Aleks off to get his envelope quite early despite staying up far too late doing quite unimportant things as adults. This was mainly to stop the thrashing about in bed that tends to happen as Aleks and Bastian wake up and wake each other up and begin playing and fighting on top of my resting body. This results in elbows to stomachs and the clenching of teeth and sometimes a bit of growling. I won't say who does the growling.I like Christmas food on my envelopes. It looks so much lovelier than the actual food we prepare. I don't usually dress my chickens with lavender sprigs though. I wonder what that would taste like...I had intended that we go to something called Celebration of Light at Shaker Lakes which involved some sort of walk in the woods or something. Unfortunately, Jon instead made plans for the 19th that we go visit his Baba. Since Aleks can't read, when we were asked to read this activity, we simply said, "Go visit Baba." Okay, I know that's lying, but I think it's pretty innocent in order to avoid a fight. It's just a holiday drive to Archbold instead of a holiday walk. So for the sake of humoring me and my husband's inability to check with me before making plans, pretend that this says, "Go visit Baba." And visit Baba we did. And I forgot the camera. I was told I would be receiving an email with photos in it, at which time I will add them to this, but for now everyone will just have to take my word for it that we went to visit the boys' last living great-grandparent. Uncle Sam, Aunt Katie, and Jon's cousins Leda and Greg were also visiting from California. They said some nice things about Aleks and Bastian, who were a bit wild, but very well behaved. They like Greg quite a bit - something about gentle older boys (by older I mean, um, 23 in this case). We also had the opportunity to see Jon's Uncle Denny, his wife Karen and their three daughters. It is rare that we see this side of the family at all. The last time we were all together with all of Jon's other uncles and aunts and Dad was when his Gedo died three years ago. We'll have to try for another visit this summer.

December 18th

Things are getting crazy now. The pressure on me to finish shopping and wrapping and getting all the bits of things I need to get before the big day or before the varying deadlines is upon me like something awful and smothering. To combat the pressing frenzy, I tend to languish for hours, doing nothing at all, like the great procrastinator I know myself so well to be. Which is exactly what I did the first few hours I was awake, knowing that there were marshmallows yet to package, things left to knit, a house run amok, laundry to do, errands to run, and the day's activity yet to execute...Another catalog picture - the lovely shots of Waldorfy children playing in the pages of Nova Natural. Such environmentally-friendly, imaginative, open-ended, completely privileged children living out the middle-class fantasy in true BoBo fashion. Naturally, I too aspire to live such a dream...
Which becomes totally clear by the activity for the day...
Having complained that there was no place to put the nature table on a local mama message board as all my surfaces are filled, I was inspired by a friend's suggestion that I clear off a shelf. Well, all my shelves were full too, but I discovered a bit of space in the dining room built-in by removing a piece of junk. The kids dove right into the task. Literally.
We did not venture out for winter nature, but borrowed some pine cones from our nature tray. We used cotton balls and white and blue fabric for the setting. Then we placed our pocket gnomes and farm animals amongst it.
Then the boys played pretend with the animals and gnomes for awhile.
The gnomes were shoved in a bit willy-nilly.
Then everyone fought for awhile, making appropriately Steiner-esque bombing and gunshot sounds before screaming and dying.
Aleks also wore a Darth Vader mask the whole time, which is a bit of a departure from elf hats and playsilk capes, admittedly.

December 17th

Aleks is so into the idea of Christmas thanks to this daily reminder (amongst all the others, like advertisements, lights, etc) that he has written about seven thousand letters to Santa, started drawing his monsters and pseudo-mythical creatures inside wreaths, and learned how to subtract by counting the number of days left until Christmas and carefully marking them off each day on the calendar. Oh what greed will do for learning!
More Christmasy models. And sexy, sexy knees. Dangerous. Beechy even (that's an Amish joke).Finally! Time to make homemade marshmallows! And here I was convinced it was set for the first week. I did get my thinking right that it was for Wednesday, however. Wednesdays usually involve very little, which made it a good candidate for marshmallow making. This evening, however, I agreed to meet friends for a writer's group (in which I did not write, but rather knit for Christmas). Turns out, marshmallows don't take too long to prepare.
So how on earth does one go about making homemade marshmallows? I'd never done it before, so it's not like I knew. I just bought the ingredients and stored them in the cupboard until this day popped up. I read on an unschoolers list somewhere about making them and one of the moms had posted about it on her blog. Reading the recipe when the time came for to use it, I decided to google for a recipe to see if maybe there was something a little more specific out there. Sure enough, food genius (or as Jon prefers, culinary control freak) Alton Brown came through for me. Even better, his version only used 3 packets of plain gelatin instead of 4, which was good because the kids saw the desserts on the package and emptied one expecting to find something yummy.

As it turns out, marshmallows are essentially composed of sugar, sugar, and sugar. And gelatin. 3 packets, plain.
The recipe specifically states "small saucepan" for the boiling of sugar and water and corn syrup. We discovered that "medium saucepan" might have been more appropriate when this mixture bubbled over and our entire house smelled like burning sugar. Bubbling sugar water does not behave in the same way as say, boiling pasta, where you can simply blow on the top or turn the heat ever so slightly down in order to end the overflow. I discovered the only thing for it was to stir for the 7 or 8 minutes that it was to take to get our sugar to 240°. We do not ordinarily make candy or randomly boil sugar, and thus do not own a candy thermometer, so we just boiled for 8 minutes, assuming that would work.
Another excellent variation in the Alton Brown recipe was the 12-15 minutes of whipping versus 28 minutes in the unshooler variety. I sought to borrow a stand mixer from a friend, but couldn't swing it in time. Our old Dormey worked beautifully, however, even if the mixing fell primarily to me.
Ultimately, I did most of the work and the children fell to the role of supervising and testing. I think it all looked okay, though.
I also got powdered sugar all over me. Which is the surprising bit of news from marshmallow making - that soft, powdery exterior? Equal parts cornstarch and powdered sugar, which look, feel, and behave nearly identically.
I will say this about making marshmallows - it is incredibly sticky work.
Aleks got all sticky too. But loved it.
The next day, cutting these things was a feat. There's no good way of doing it. The insides are all sticky and no kinda knife gets through that without sticking. So my edges turned out all sorts of uneven, as did the shapes and sizes of 'em. But it's amazing what a little creative photography'll do for that.
I am in love with my new vintage platter from the thrift store. I'm all plattered out now, though, and need to work on bowls.
We wrapped some up in ribbon and wax paper to give as gifts. If we can get it together, which we probably can't, we'll gift these with a hot chocolate mix (Jon's specialty with chili powder). Most likely, we'll just say, "Here! Homemade marshmallows!" And everyone will be amazed and say things like, "I didn't think one could make marshmallows at home," and look confused. Everyone will be convinced, as I once was, that marshmallow fluff was born of laboratories and giant stainless steel vats, little cloth-footed workers monitoring lights and buttons on control panels...And we will prove how very wrong they are.

December 16th

Aleks forgot about the envelope again this morning, in all likelihood because he only slept about 8 hours last night, which is simply not enough for someone so little. Then he faulted me for forgetting about the envelope. I told him I didn't forget, I just failed to remind him. It was only a little while after we both got up for the day though. Not all was lost at all.

More Christmas catalogs? No, photo spread for stupid women's magazine borrowed from a waiting room somewhere. Unless my mother actually purchased this stupid magazine, in which case, it must have been for the recipes and most certainly not for the fashion taste. Everything looked like it came directly from Talbots: very momish, not at all my style. But it looked warm and Christmasy contrasted with the grass.
I was worried that these activities would start to grow beyond me, having forgotten most of what I wrote. Thankfully, it was not beyond my ability at all.
So I cut up a bunch of fancy paper I got for Christmas cards, but decided not to use into thin little strips using my paper cutter (which I love). At first we tried taping them, but the cardstock was too thick and flippy, so out came the stapler.
Aleks shackled Bastian when I tried to leave them to it on their own.
Bastian could get the paper through, but not quite hold it in place and affix it with the springiness of the fancy paper, so I had to help.
They seemed to enjoy it well enough.
Aleks grew weary of the monotony, so we made a race out of it. Then we affixed the two chains together and used up all the paper I'd cut to make it longer than the serpent we saw at the zoo (Aleks' choice of measurement).
Instead of placing the chain on the tree, which is quite full with all our thrifted goodies, we hung the chain in the dining room, which is not nearly festive enough anyway.

December 15th

So I skipped right over posting December 15th somehow, right? Well, voila. Christmas catalogs have such lovely Christmasy colors and chocolate and cookies even twisted and inverted into confusing configurations is always a welcome sight. Especially for those of us cutting down on our sugar intake...
I wanted to leave this one up to Jon, but wasn't sure he'd do it. I don't usually do bedtime, as I loathe it. We don't enforce bedtimes, but do have a bit of a routine. At some point we usually just announce that it's time, especially if one or more of the boys is getting grumpy. They're very willing to go usually, so there's no coersion. Sometimes there's a bit of convincing, as it were, but they very much enjoy being read to at night. Often, they're the initiators of storytime. Bastian is particularly gung-ho about stories and will stack piles and piles of books on the bed, wanting to read all of them. They fight over who gets to lay where and anymore whichever parent is reading must lay in the middle of the bed so everyone gets a mama or papa snuggle and a good view for seeing the pictures.
But bedtime plans went awry anyway. Papa went out to spend time grading papers in the evening and I was busy trying to get all the things I'm always trying to get done, done. Including ordering calendars for holiday gifts for the Grandpas to insure that they were made and shipped in time. This was especially time consuming this year as Jon removed all the digital pictures from the desktop and put them on the external hard drive. Which is a good idea, in theory, but which slows me down just enough to complicate getting my lists checked off.

Additionally, I have come to realize how much I wish I had a digital SLR camera. I have a nice little point and shoot digital that seems to work quite nicely - as long as there is light. And here is my problem. All the photos from December are dark and yellow-y and don't necessarily have my children in them - thus were not good candidates for the calendar. I'm a hobby photographer, in a way. I have film cameras that are nice - several in fact - but lack the funds to get a Nikon D60 or some such thing with a detachable flash I can bounce off the ceiling to give the impression of daylight in my dim kitchen with its west-facing windows that open onto gray Ohio skies, darkened too much already by three in the afternoon.

In the end, I had to take all the shades off the lamps to hold an endlessly frustrating photo session with the boys that ended in tears for all of us (why do I do this?!?!) and resulted in this being the only decent photograph. And Aleks' face is still blurry. It'll do.
The exhaustion of this endeavor and the intense irritation we all suffered due to it, meant that without Jon at home, I lacked the energy or the motivation to do anything more than put a movie on for the boys and veg out. Bastian ultimately passed out, practically where he was standing:

So I thought it was a failure. Jon got home and read Aleks to sleep, but since Bastian was already out and I was in no mood for anything, I didn't push the puppet idea. The next day I mentioned needing to do the puppet story to Jon and come to find out that Aleks enforced the idea! They did it after all though no one thought to mention it to me. I asked what the story was about, but Jon claimed to not remember anything more than they had a conversation with puppets and suggested I ask Aleks what the story was about. All I got out of him though was the following: "Papa nearly gave me a heart attack! He nearly gave me an infection!" When pressed further, he said that Papa made the T-Rex bite him and this was why he nearly had a heart attack and an infection. And that was all. That's the whole story.

December 14th

Again, in my morning stupor, Aleks brought the envelope to me to read. I did manage to at least remember what it said, though I did not recognize the image until I got a better look at it much later on.
This was from some free magazine about going green and depicted two girls getting ready for serious urban farming, but who were likely just models dressed in cutoff jean shorts and bandannas. It was appropriate, I thought when I added the activity, that this particular envelope encase it, purely for dramatic irony, of course. I'm not sure Aleks really understood what it meant when I read it, yawning, aloud.
We figured it out though. It being Sunday, I really just wanted to be in my pajamas all day (as opposed to all those weekdays I sit in my pajamas all day), and aptly, Bastian did not change from his pjs at all, though he did add to them.
Jon didn't really want to cook either, so we had a simple meal of spaghetti and garlic bread. My children have an interesting interpretation on "fancy dress." This was true when we attended our friend Lavinia's fourth birthday party as well. It was a fancy dress tea party, but Aleks insisted that dressing fancy was lame and came as Darth Vader. I wore a pink 1950s prom dress, high black leather boots, and a rhinestone tiara, much to the birthday girl's delight. Again, Aleks thinks fancy could mean anything and wore a sarong and wizard's hat from the costume basket.
I donned a dress, heals, and all the rhinestone jewelry I could find, including the tiara Lavinia so adored. In fact, my boys were quite in awe of it as well and wanted to try it on. We never got the opportunity to though. Aleks wanted it to go in his costume box, but I do treasure it and it's getting a bit shaky. I threw all this together quite quickly as dinner was done sooner than I'd anticipated.
Jon threw on a suit jacket and a cowboy hat, much appreciating the boys' idea of "fancy." I broke out the crystal candelabras and a table cloth, as well as a platter. Normally we just serve straight out of pots as we are lazy and do not wish to wash any more dishes than are necessary. The boys loved this whole concept and we all sat together at the table for some time longer than we ordinarily manage. It may have just been the pesto though. They both love pesto.
We'll have to do this fancy dress thing again. Aleks told me this morning that it was incredibly silly.
Later, when I was doing laundry, still dressed up, I ran into our housemates in the outer hallway. The first, who had seen me wearing the boys' "pink bunny monster costume" the other day (which is in fact a bizarre pink rabbit-fur poncho I found at the thrift store), merely said, "No comment." I then explained that it was fancy dress at dinner night. The second neighbor also giggled at me and I explained again.

They really shoulda seen Bastian though.
After dinner and much laundry, the boys and I made chocolate chip cookies. I think the tiara gives me supermom powers or something.
It must. How else can I explain this ridiculous 1950s housewifey shenanigans?

Aleks the Chef, Bastian the Thief

For lunch, we had breakfast. Pancakes and local chicken sausage. Delish! Aleks helped. Bastian ate.

December 13th

Aleks got back to getting the envelope as soon as he woke up.


Only to discover that the day's task was impossible. I spent the day cleaning the house and the boys played games and continued to work on their lengthy and ever-changing Christmas lists.

The weather was cold and wet and our yard had zero snow in it.

December 12th

For the first time, I had to remind Aleks to open his envelope as he didn't jump out of bed and immediately begin ripping it open. I think it was a couple of hours before I said anything. I kept waiting for him to say something until finally I reminded him of the envelope. Very strange. See, this is how you deal with all the Christmas catalogs you won't ever order from. Christmas pears!
Which is fitting for this culinary endeavor:
I bought pine cones at the thrift store when I couldn't manage the time to find good pine trees with appropriately sized cones and didn't want to sacrifice the ones that have been in the nature tray for three years. I like those quite nicely. One of the cones in the bag was GIANT! Must be from a Sequoia or something. I thought maybe it was fake at first, but upon closer inspection found it to be quite real with all sorts of organic fibrous connections holding the whole together. Looking at pinecones.com (oh the limitless variety of the interwebs!), I can't be sure which variety of cone it is. Perhaps the Jeffrey Pine.

First, I tied yarn around the cones in order to hang them outside.
Then the boys started spreading peanut butter on.
Bastian loves peanut butter. Yes, I really did use organic peanut butter for this project.
Then we rolled the cones in bird seed on a cookie sheet lines with wax paper. I, of course, did not have this all set up ahead of time and was running around sticky with peanut butter collecting things. The boys also lost interest and I finished up the cones. We only made three, which, with the ginormous cone, I think is just fine for our neighborhood birds and squirrels.
Aleks refused to come outside to help hang the cones as it was really quite chilly. Bastian came out briefly, wearing two different rainboots and a coat I bought at the thrift store only to realize we had hand-me-downs from Aleks, but then his hands were too cold and he retreated to the indoors before I could get a proper photo of him supervising me.
At last, with quite chilled fingers, I got them strung around the branches of our tiny tree in the tree lawn. Interestingly, we've hung suet before, which these resemble, and had no luck attracting birds that actually eat suet, but I figure the squirrels can get to them.
I was right about the squirrels - I think. By the next morning, there were no cones in the tree. Our giant cone was in the gutter and the others were gone completely. Our theory is that the squirrels knocked them down and ran off with what they could carry, abandoning what they could not (as the Jeffery cone is bigger and heavier than a squirrel, I bet). I placed the giant one on top of the dying zapotec tomato vine in our small garden patch expecting that by spring it will be picked clean and can go in the holiday box for safekeeping until next year.

Potential Things to do for Christmas Countdown

Rachel mentioned in a comment that she was wondering what all to do for this Christmas Countdown thing. I stole simple ideas from all over. I'd cite, but these are from several places - message boards, other blogs, etc. I've already linked the blogs in my first post about this. So, some ideas if you wanna do this too (from here on out or next year, even). I picked and chose from this list and maybe added a couple of things of my own:

Make paper snowflakes and decorate the windows

Buy a gift for a family in need via World Vision {we chose Heifer International as it’s secular}

Paint everyone’s toenails

Buy a toy to take to toy donation site.

Pick some puppets and mum will make up a bedtime story

Pick out a really nice Christmas tree (but don’t squish any elves that may be hiding in the branches!)

Decorate the tree and drink eggnog

Go tobogganing

Go to a city lights festival {they have these everywhere}

It’s family game night!

Make a paper chain for the tree

Dance and sing to Christmas music

Candlelit bubble bath

Make Christmas cards for family and friends

Is the sky clear? Get out the telescope for some star gazing, if not, go for a nighttime walk with your lanterns.

Let’s go ice skating today!

Bake a batch of Christmas cookies.

Bake another batch of Christmas cookies and share with neighbors.

Fancy dress for dinnertime

Make a list of ten things you are thankful for. Hang it where you can see it every day.

Make and hang edible gifts for the birds and squirrels.

Watch a Christmas movie in the fold out bed!

Breakfast in bed!

Check out the Christmas lights downtown. Don’t forget the hot chocolate!

Unwrap one present after dinner (mum and dad get to pick which one)

It’s Christmas Day. Remember you have a family who loves you. And that’s the most important gift of all.

Make a snowman. (weather dependent)

Watch "Stranger in the Woods".

Read a Solstice Book.

Make popcorn strands for the tree.

Make cinnamon/applesauce ornaments with cookie cutters

Make a tin can lantern (for those old enough)- Fill a clean empty can with water and freeze it. Punch holes with a hammer and nails to create a pattern or design. Melt ice and put in a votive candle.

Drive to see a neighborhood full of lights.

Do a puzzle together.

Look at christmas cards together and talk about the family/friends who sent them.

Make a "snack tree". Hang treats for the kids to eat on a small decorated branch in a pot.

Go to a school holiday performance.

Listen to holiday music and set up a nature table for the season.

Go on a walk and find "treasures" to add to your nature table.

Decorate outside (Trees, porch, front door).

Make mulled apple cider together.

Play along to holiday music with homemade instruments. Make some if the kids want to.

Celebrate St. Nicholas Day with the reading of the various legends, and putting out our shoes the night before (December 5th). They are filled with the traditional coins (chocolate), fruit, nuts, and a small trinket gift.

Make a paper chain with the various weeks being purple and pink, respectively, and a star at the end.

We also feed the animals during a walk on Solstice and again on Christmas Eve when we get home from all the festivities.

Go see and participate in the group Handel's "Messiah" at a church.

Trip to the zoo or the Natural History museum.

Visit Candyland.

Let each child pick out a special ornament that gets their name and date on it, you could make those as well.

Begin decorating the house

Go ice skating

Put up outside lights and sing Christmas carols.

Church & Sunday dinner lighting the advent wreath and putting up the nativity

Sleigh ride

Go to Christmas party at nursing home

Fill a shoe box with gifts for soldiers or overseas children.

Go to the Christmas tree farm to cut our tree

Take a drive to look at Christmas lights

Go sledding

Wrap presents

Make chocolates for gifts

Take a walk singing Christmas carols.

Bake more cookies, candies, and breads.

Last minute Christmas shopping.

Christmas play at church followed by extravagant shrimp buffet at home.

Have breakfast with Santa {lots of places do these}

Watch "A Christmas Story".

Make ginger bread houses.

Visit a live nativity scene.

December 11th

I noticed this morning that Aleks literally woke up, opened his eyes, got out of bed and brought back the envelope. Which meant that I was a little more awake than usual.
This was my favorite envelope picture. You may recognize it as one of several thousand Magic Cabin catalogs that came this year. The catalog issue, for what it's worth, is interesting to me. Apparently during recession, it is necessary to remind us all five thousand times of all the things we can't afford. I wonder if it actually yields slightly higher sales or not. I'm guessing the benefit is quite debatable.
I had no clue what was in store for today. I thought it had to be something fairly simple as Thursdays usually involve me going out in the evening as well as Aleks having speech therapy at 3 o'clock, meaning that our time to do something was relatively short. But indeed, it was something quite simple.
We went on Heifer International's website to order a flock of something. Aleks thought we should buy something for friend's of ours who don't have much money, but they're not too much worse off than we are for one thing, and I also do not like the idea of setting up a dichotomy of giving and receiving with friends that even remotely victimizes people we know directly. Which is not to say I'm okay with victimizing anyone at all or those we don't know, but rather that I feel that charitable giving is important but stigmatizing the recipients could be a terrible side-effect. I'm not articulating this well.

First we watched a video about what the organization does that was in the beginning just about the point of Heifer International, but then started hawking these classroom kits, so we stopped it. I think they got the gist. Then we spent a bunch of time deciding what to get. I gave the boys the choice between a flock of ducks, geese, or chickens, or honeybees. Eventually we settled on chickens after I showed them pictures of themselves with chickens that looked just like the little boy on the website.



Then they said that they wanted chickens too, but I reminded them of the photos we were just looking at and how they already have chickens in Dayton. Aleks wants some here. I told him it was illegal, which it is, though if we had a house of our own, I'd probably break that law anyway. There's a battle for that going on right now, in fact, and there's an article about it on the cover of our local free magazine. Friends of ours in another city are also having the same battle and are appealing their case now. They only have two chickens and no roosters and live in a really small town. It's kinda silly, really.

Decmber 10th

Yet again, Aleks got the envelope out before I'd fully woken up and I had to re-read our activity when I was legitimately awake. There was beginning to be a pile of these on my nightstand until I cleared them off for photographing today. This page has a beautiful glass ornament as its photo.


December 10th read...

We had bought garland and a wreath the same evening as we picked out the tree, but between decorating the tree and watching the last of The Lord of the Rings, we didn't bother to put them up. So I guess it's good that I wasn't sure if there was a separate "decorate the house" envelope or not and was just lazy about it. I do the mantle like this every year, but it's really fancier than ever before, though it's highly likely that no one can tell why (it's the lights).
And with the tree.
I also hang the garland up outside. Our suncatcher finally melted too. We found the ropes in the bush and the lemons in the dirt. Bastian didn't really help with any of the decorating and Aleks mostly served in an advisory capacity, but we did it, at least. And it's lovely, I think.

December 9th

We began December 9th as any other day - the boys had climbed in my bed sometime in the night. upon waking, they rubbed their tired eyes, started to harass one another about their claim to my snuggles and I shooed them out of the bed, tired of this.

Then I discovered that I was very tired. Admittedly, I don't go to bed at a reasonable hour and neither do the children, but these pinworms must be causing more trouble than I'd expected because I was dragging beyond my usual dragginess. Then the boys proceeded to trash the house beyond what I was emotionally capable of dealing with. Perhaps the pinworms were affecting their moods as well, making them crazed demons instead of their usual normal demon selves. Either way, I reached my breaking point. We did not fair well December 9th. No one did. And we did not make it to Candyland, as the envelope promised.

Fortunately, with some rest and recooperation, we were able to try again on December 10th. We made it - barely. My days are terribly convoluted with the extreme tiredness I am experiencing for whatever reason, though presumably it is illness that's doing it. I am exhausted. Thus I've been staying in bed long past when I usually do and could hardly manage to drag myself and the boys out of the trashed house until late in the afternoon. Candyland closes at 5 though, just like the A Christmas Story House. I got a bit lost on the way as well, so we arrived with but twenty minutes to tour the place. We did find out that they're open until January 4th, so if we're feeling really compelled, we could go back.

Candyland is a lot like the game. They even have sqares and cards so you can play a life-sized version of it, which we did until Aleks started to lose and I suggested they check out what else was there before arguing began and feelings got hurt.

Bastian on yellow amongst the gumdrop mountains.
Lollipop Lane.
Aleks tries to eat the giant gingerbread girl. I'm sure that never happens.

The twenty minute limit actually ended up being a bit of a blessing. Their attention wavered from Candyland itself and took us through the rest of the nature center, where the boys stared at lizards and snails and tiny fish in aquariums. They were able to get in just enough play without it devolving into too much of me chasing them around the place, trying like a lunatic to contain them and hating myself for it.

On the way home, we stopped at the Co-op for green peppers for chilli. I insisted on hand-holding the whole way through. I'm really trying too hard these days to control the children. It's one of those self-doubting phases. I have much to discuss on the matter. Perhaps later on one of the many message boards, though I am tired of being merely told that radical unschooling is right without any sort of contextual questioning or seeming self-doubt. I wish there were answers to parentings infinite questions...

December 8th

Aleks is so into this now, I don't even recall what I've read because I'm always asleep when he opens them. Again, no marshmallows. But, the envelope had lovely brussel sprouts on it. Aleks rips the envelopes open each morning. There's no carefully peeling back my handmade numbered label.
Aleks wish did come true though. Finally we get to decorate the tree.
We just have to acquire a tree first. The last two years, we used Laura's extra fake tree. After learning that the fake trees have lead in them, I decided to go back to real trees. I have always felt weird about cutting down trees, especially since my family buys a tree that they plant every year. They have nearly five acres though and far more disposable income than I.

Aleks and I traveled to a local nursery first, wanting to support the local business and find something suitable. Unfortunately, Aleks had designs on a big cut tree, which wouldn't fit in our apartment without losing serious space for sitting and being, not to mention that the stands they had for sale there were 80 dollars - way outside my price range. We looked at the Norfolk pines and some small potted, more traditional pines, but the larger ones were too expensive and none would hold the ornaments I'd purchased at the thrift store the day before (we only really had a few silver glass bulbs).

I decided to leave after much deliberation and Aleks' wandering eye and attention. He liked the very expensive ornaments they had for sale and trying to find the cats that live there. While getting in the car, I thought I might find a cheaper tree stand at the nearby Home Depot (a store I loathe for their support of the GOP and their corporate gigantitude, but which is nonetheless extremely convenient). Lo and behold, not only did they have tree stands for $11.99, but they also had some 3-4 foot fraser firs, which are the perfect size for our shrinking space.

When the line for the cashier was long due to waiting on a price check from lumber, the clerk decided to stop the transaction in front of me to continue waiting and check us out instead. Then we discovered that our tiny tree didn't have a tag, so she just rung the stand up twice rather than lengthen the line further with more waiting and I got both the tree and stand for $25! So I must forgive myself for both the cutting of a tree (which I comfort myself by rationalizing it as a sustaining industry) and the purchase of said tree from the terrible corporate giant, all for our merriment. Typing it out like that is in fact no comfort, however.

We got the tree home and set to work stringing our ancient hand-me-down lights upon its dying limbs and opening up the bags of wooden ornaments I found at the thrift store. We discovered that all the adorable little angels and drums and nutcrackers had Made in China or Made in Taiwan stickers on their undersides which had to be removed lest we look extraordinarily tacky in our decorating. We also discovered to our delight, their near perfect condition and unimaginable cuteness and happily attached them to each little limb. Then I tried to get pictures of the kids for the blog. Then I thought perhaps I'd get a nice Christmas photo for the December page of the calendar we give to my fathers each year. That was a wistful dream. Here are the results:

December 7th

My days are finally getting away from me. I knew it wouldn't last long. With the impending holidays and the hustle and bustle and homeboundness they seem to involve (which I understand contradict one another, but makes perfect sense in terms of what our life actually looks like at the moment), it is impossible to do all the things I need to do and satisfy the Christmasly urges of the kinderlings simultaneously. For that reason, I took a mental health day on Sunday the 7th while Jon handled the event itself.

I thought I'd present the whole of the envelope, since they are all quite lovely and have thus far not been shown.
This depicted candied yams or some such thing, but did not, in fact, involve candy or yams or even sweet potatoes. Or cranberries, for that matter. Lovely colors though, all, and which sufficiently fill up the space.

And finally, we get down to it: Jon took no photos, but rest assured, they did indeed take a candlelit bubble bath. Jon evidently poured wax in the water - I suppose to make the interesting shapes that hot wax makes as it hits water - which I had to then scoop up from the bottom of the tub when I wanted to take a shower the next day. It was green and scented like apple and came from a dollar store, though no one in my house actually purchased it. The crumby bits of said candle were no fun for the wiping, to be sure.

December 6th

Aleks returned to waking me up with the envelopes this morning. It was a bumpy night with a lot of tossing and turning in the bed, thanks to Bastian, so I was quite sleepy when Aleks bounded back in the envelope in hand. I managed to lift my heavy lids and read it though. I seem to think every single day is going to be the make homemade marshmallows day - probably because I still have to gather the supplies for it. Today, however, was another no marshmallow day. Instead it was to involve writing letters to Santa. A simple task, thank goodness, as Jon and I have a date tonight to celebrate a friend's birthday.
I had bought some holiday stickers just for the occasion. I got out all the fancy calligraphy markers and paper for the task and had the letters dictated to me. They both asked for these $130 robotic dinosaurs they saw on television at my mother's house which I don't believe they will actually be receiving (which I feel bad about). Their lists have changed so frequently and really they keep asking for so much that there is no way to get it all and this thing is so not in-line with our values.

Aleks and I talked about stuff yesterday and where stuff goes and how it pollutes the air and water and land. It's a tough situation. I want to indulge the holidays and also I don't. We don't do many gifts at all really and we keep cutting back on the extended family exchanges, but it's still too much. We also emphasize natural and handmade items, but are simultaneously utilizing the time to get the kids some very much wanted items through aunts and grandparents. It feels way too complicated. We're going to try, I think, to continue paring down each year. This year, however, we seem to have done the opposite!
Aleksander drew a picture of the robotic T-Rex, added stickers to the letter, and wrote his name.
It took him awhile to get the address written, mainly because he detoured to draw a person with "cherries" as he called them, which I believe are his interpretation of holly, a wreath, and a reindeer, which he then impersonated.
For a final touch, we added a fleur-de-lis wax seal to the back, just to make it super special. I melted and added the wax and Aleks and I together positioned the seal and pressed. Then he removed it.
We got it perfect on the first try.
Bastian and I had to do his envelope twice to get a complete image, but it still worked quite nicely.
Ready to go, now we just have to get in gear to get out of the house and to the mailbox! We also have to make a stop at two grocery stores for essentials as well as the extra ingredients for the marshmallows, lest they appear in tomorrow's envelope. We're running out of time before the sitter gets here!

December 5th

This morning we waited a bit before opening the day's envelope. When Aleks got around to it, it read:
The sky did not look like it would get clear enough for stargazing. Meanwhile, a friend of mine's life fell apart and I spent the day on the phone. We decided to make the evening simple and fun by watching Lord of the Rings and ordering pizza. Lord of the Rings always feels Christmas-y to me, which doesn't make much sense. I suppose it's just because the original release dates were always right around the holidays.

Later, while the boys were all cuddled up with Papa, watching the first half of The Fellowship of the Ring, I realized the sky had actually cleared up, but it was quite late and I didn't want to interrupt their movie. We decided to try again tomorrow.

Sleepover/Slumber Party

Aleks and Bastian have been camping out on their bedroom floor in sleeping bags the last two nights. Aleks says he's going to continue until Christmas, but I have a feeling it might end if I make their bed. They might as well stay in the bags until the pinworms are done so I don't have to keep washing them.

December 4th

Again, Aleks brought today's envelope to me while I was still in bed. This time I fell back to sleep instead of reading it and dreamed that it said "Pick out a Christmas Tree." As it turned out, that's what Aleks wanted it to say and apparently said this aloud to me as I dozed.

In fact, it read:

This is an activity I found in my "Crafting" bookmark folder a few weeks ago (along with the Holiday Activity Countdown site) and thought looked neat. {You have to scroll down to find it, as there is no functioning permalink} I thought it looked groovy and simple.

I made a run to the library after dinner to figure out why they were saying the books that weren't due until January 5th were "Lost" and why the heck they were trying to charge me $158 for them. While out, I finally gathered some berries and pine boughs from a neighboring bank's landscaping to get this activity right. I have a whole list of things I need for the countdown activities and keep thinking I'm going to get them all "tomorrow," yet repeatedly cannot find enough time to do so or enough energy to get out of my pajamas. The whole pinworm episode didn't help matters at all.

I got back from the library and quickly gathered the boys around to take pictures and arrange shrubbery.

Thus, they did. It's now in the freezer and we'll hang it tomorrow, or whenever I get off my butt to hang it.

Finished, hanging on the porch. Think we used a little too much water as not much sun (not that there is any sun) will come through. Perhaps as it gets melty. If that happens at all.
It smells really good though. The pine with the lemon and orange is nice. I didn't think the citrus would come through all the frozen water, but it did.

December 3rd

Aleks is getting so excited about finding out what we're doing each day that it's the first thing he thinks about in the morning. Today, he jumped out of bed saying, "I'm going to go open the envelope." He brought it to me while I was still trying to sleep so I could read what it said to him. It read: What I hadn't anticipated was that Jon had already promised pancakes for breakfast the night before while I was away (not that I remembered what Day 3 had in store for us anyway - I thought for sure it was make marshmallows and hot chocolate). Papa got up and made pancakes just like he promised before heading off to school. Several times throughout the day I asked about trading envelopes with another day since they'd already had pancakes, but Aleks just kept talking about having breakfast for dinner, which he termed Breakter. So it was. We ate eggs scrambled with cheese, onions, and broccoli, home fries, and used up the remaining pancake batter.
It was yummy!

December 2nd

I planned almost all the activities that involve going somewhere for Tuesdays because I bribed Jon into coming with us (he is usually a fuddy duddy anti-social type) and that's his day off. Thus when Aleks opened Envelope Number Two, it read...

"Visit the Christmas Story house."

Somehow, when reading the A Christmas Story House website, all I saw was that they were open all year from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and failed to notice that they were only open Thursday through Sundays. Ultimately, that didn't matter too much as we got there 13 minutes before 5 anyway.

I asked Jon to look up the location. He said it was in Ohio City before looking up the directions, but did not tell me that he'd discovered it was in Tremont after looking up the directions. I wasn't driving, but for some reason he still went to Tremont via Ohio City, which is rather out of the way for us and missed several simple turns to get to Tremont. He said it was an adventure when I complained. He asked what time they closed as we were pulling up. I told him five and our clock read 4:59, but I reminded him that our clock was for some bizarre reason 12 minutes fast.

Then we noticed that Sebastian had fallen asleep. I wanted to go in to check it out, as did Aleks, but Jon was not that interested. We got out of the car to freezing temperatures and raced across the street to the gate, which read,

"Begin your A Christmas Story House experience by purchasing tickets at our ticket booth and gift shop across the street."

So across the street and down a bit further we went, things looking rather empty and dead. That's when I noticed the CLOSED sign with hours clarifying the Thursday through Sunday schedule. We didn't mind too much since it was so cold, though, and quickly took photos, noticed the mailbox where Ralphie gets his Little Orphan Annie Secret Decoder Ring and the security cameras on the porch (Aleks' observation), and fled the freezing outdoors for the safety of our car, replete with the NPR monotone running. Aleks refused to smile for the photo, due, I think, to the cold.
Then Jon took a wrong turn for the highway and we took a bit of a tour of the Steelyard. He pointed out this massive train car which used to carry molten steel. He once saw four of these lined up being pushed by a train engine, the heat causing ripples in the air, the train engine struggling. He went on a tour of the city as part of a graduate seminar last year and found all these fascinating historical tidbits which he periodically imparts on us (when I can drag him out of the house). He also pointed to The Leader Building downtown, which was the city's Republican newspaper during the 19th century. Jon spoke of reading the old papers for his dissertation. I joked that he knows all this history of a city he never sees.
We drove all through the industrial wasteland, admiring the massive smokestacks and rustbelt architecture.
Stopping at the Co-op on the way home, the boys all stayed in the car while I gathered raw veggies and herbs to treat a lovely case of pinworms. Aleks took this picture while they waited. He also insisted on having Papa put in the "Mizowski" CD (The Big Lebowski soundtrack) so he could listen to his current favorite song The First Edition's Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In), a song about LSD. [sarcasm] I'm so proud our six-year old is already into drug culture. [/sarcasm]

December 1st

Since I knew what was coming, I waited to start the Countdown to make a trip to the craft store for transparent paper. Since I had so many other things to do today, this did not happen until late in the evening. Alas, the craft store did not have transparent paper, so I got metallic paper instead.

Aleks took care to open the envelope...which said...

"Cut out snowflakes to stick on the windows."

I had wanted to make them like these, hence the transparency paper. Maybe I can get the transparency kit for next year. The boys still have trouble cutting so small and fine with scissors, but eventually we'll get there. I did most of the cutting, though they certainly stuck around and gave it a few shots. Then they wrestled on the couch.
Aleks hung up the snowflakes, but I'll have to photograph them tomorrow, when there's light. In the meantime, our coffee table is covered in bits of sparkly paper.

Here are a few of our flakes on the door.

Christmas Countdown

Last year in the mama blogosphere, I came across this idea for creating a calendar of activities for the Countdown to Christmas (in lieu of the traditional "Advent" Calendars). They're all over the internet. In matchbooks. Recycled magazines. Super-fancy sewn and embroidered envelopes. Traditional felt. With a cookie sheet. Ridiculously complicated magnetic tins. And the original place I spotted the idea, in envelopes made of fancy paper. Here's the lovely mama who gave me all those links with her fancy paper envelopes.

So I decided to take a bunch of random spare time I didn't have to make fancy paper envelopes, though not with fancy paper, but rather with magazines. First I made a form with some heavy cardstock from a random brochure in the recycling. I made two identical rectangles from it, and cut one corner to corner to form the properly sized folding sides. I taped those to the edges of the other rectangle and used this as my guide both for cutting and folding. I found pictures that were big enough so there wasn't a collage element to it. It was a handy way to get rid of all the holiday catalogs that have been coming nonstop (even though I swear I took us off those lists).
I folded down all the pointy edges.
Then I wrote out activities (many stolen from others' lists) on bits of paper which I glued inside.
Lastly, I made labels with numbers on them to keep the envelopes sealed.
Now they all await opening. I'm excited for the kids to be excited. I'm awaiting the adventure of it.

Thanksgiving OR Celebrating the Extermination of my Ancestors

My paternal great-grandmother was Apache and my great-grandfather Mexican (whatever that means). He was disappeared and her land was taken because she was a woman, despite the fact that she had 13 kids (the 14th died young). She was a midwife and I hear she lived from 1864 to 1968, though that could be myth (but it's a good myth if so!). So I don't much like Thanksgiving in the historical sense unless you're talking about celebrating the harvest with family and friends and giving thanks for the bounty of this great earth. That, I can get down with. So I do.

We stayed at my mother's through the weekend in order to be in town for my dad's 60th birthday. My younger sisters* were also in from their respective schools. When I was little, my mother got this 1950s wool school uniform from a friend. When she tried it on me, I threw a huge fit and she took a photo of me in it sitting on the edge of the bed, all sullen and tear-streaked. As I got older, I got over hating it. It spent years on a bear until Aleks got to be about one or so and it was passed to me. At age 3, I got a picture of him in it (which is on the external hard drive I don't want to hook up at the moment). Also one where he was crying, though not because I forced him to wear it.

Noticing it in the closet while I was packing, I figured now was good a time as any to make Bastian wear it. He didn't object at all, though he was quite curious about having no pants on. Here he is with his Aunt Natty. Natalie later managed to dress up. On Wednesday, she and her roommate from school decided it was a good idea to drive to Chicago for a show on one of the busiest traveling days of the year (even in a recession). They didn't leave until about 6 o'clock in the evening, but they made the show, which was a French DJ who spun until 4 a.m. They then picked up our other sister, Lilly, and drove back home, arriving at "The Farm" at about 10 a.m. For this reason, Natalie looks like a cracked-out Factory Girl in her little pseudo-60s dress and smeared-from-sleep-deprivation eyeliner. It's really the four-inch heels that make her cracked-out though.
Bastian ran around like such the little man, nibbling on all the bits, licking the pickles, discovering they were sweet and sticking them back in the dish. Here he stares at me with his Great-Step-Aunt Chris.
Natalie, in retaliation for being called a crack whore, took a photo of me. Not a very good one, either. She doesn't know how to work cameras. And my belly is showing. At least it's sort of flat.
Jon with 2 (out of 5) kinds of potatoes! The candied sweet potatoes were ours from the Holiday share of our CSA.
I discovered this little Lego monkey resting atop the candied sweet potato recipe.
Cloverleaf rolls a'risin'.
Aleks is served first. This is his first turkey after years of vegetarianism. He likes chicken legs better, as it turns out. They're a bit easier to handle.
Lilly with her pink and bleached-blond hair that got her severely scolded by her Great Aunt Lucy, who is convinced that these things must look pretty weird to people out walking around in the world. Lilly assured her that no one looks at her twice.
Aleks and Bastian chased chickens for awhile, but Jon didn't get any great shots, which I requested. This one's pretty cute though.


*I thought I'd explain my family really quick-like. When I say "my sisters," I'm almost always referring to my younger half-sisters, Natalie and Lillian, Aleks and Bastian's aunts who are both in college (Natalie is a linguist in her senior year, Lilly is a Junior in film school). They are the daughters of my mother and step-father who have been together since I was about 1 or so. They're 7 and 9 years younger than me. I do have another sister, however, and a brother, who are the children of my step-mother and who are 6 and 9 years older than me. I'll occasionally refer to them as well. Except for my brother and my sisters who are away at college, they all live in the town where I'm from. Including all four of my parents: Mom, Dad, Step-dad, Step-mom. Just to clarify.