December 9, 2012

Busy as Elves










It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Things are busy, busy, busy . . . and the snow arrived Friday night to add an extra dash of holiday spirit. I rallied everyone out of the house with a trip to Dairy Queen for ice cream and a drive around the neighborhood to look at all the Christmas lights. We opened the front door and found a full-on blizzard outside. The short drive to Dairy Queen was quite an adventure — large drifts, cars cautiously navigating unplowed streets. At one point it was blizzarding sideways. Just a solid whiteout heading from West to East. I loved it.

All of the houses in our neighborhood are gussied up with lights and wreaths and some have those crazyhuge blow-up things — 10-foot tall Santa balloons and whathaveyou. It's fun to see all the different styles and tastes in lighting and decor.

After that little adventure we hunkered down for most of the weekend, only venturing out when necessary, although the girls did gather their friends for a lot of sledding and snow play. Being one who isn't too fond of the cold, I was waiting indoors (where it was cozy), prepared with hot chocolate when they came piling back inside.

The polymer clay snowmen I made are now standing in my Christmas village. I am pretty proud of how they turned out. They stand about 1-1/2 inches tall and have real twig arms from the spirea bush out front.

Kate got bit by the creativity bug today and got busy melting chocolate and crushing candy canes (results in marshmallow photo above). She hummed Christmas songs while she worked — sweet girl.

And Izzy? Well she just follows me all around the house asking "Now what are we doing?" "Where are we going now?" "Can I eat some of that too?" "Should we take a nap together?" Oh, that FACE.

December 6, 2012

Happy Saint Nicholas Day









December 2, 2012

Tree hunt









Some years we're bundled up like Randy in "A Christmas Story," plodding along through two feet of snow. This year the snow is still up too high so we clomped through the rainy forest, searching for our 2012 Christmas tree.

True to tradition, Gary couldn't settle for any tree less than the perfection he was envisioning. The girls and I couldn't feel our toes. And there was a brief period of time where Gary forged ahead and we thought he'd gotten lost. It wouldn't feel right without any of these elements.

In the end, he found the ultimate tree.

Tonight we're digging out the boxes of ornaments and putting on Sinatra's "White Christmas." Time to deck the halls.