Decking the halls

The farm looked like this the day we went to pick out our Christmas tree: Yes, almost every tree covered in mounds of snow, but that didn't stop of from trudging around through the deep, deep snow looking for that perfect one. Finally choosing, we circled round our tree to give thanks before cutting and bringing it home. I love so much the sweet forest scent that now fills the indoor spaces.
And I love the gleam captured on sparkling ornaments.
More little bits to add some holiday flavor:
This one is Ava's.
Here's Rowan's.
The advent garland which I can never seem to get a good photo of, but on most days the kids awake to a little treat tucked inside.
And the little felted bird- an idea stolen from the fabulously crafty Leanne at Homemade Rainbows. I've been admiring the ones she made some time ago for her little one's birthday and have been waiting for the moment to make my own. And now I can't wait to sew a few more.
Hope your holidays preparations are merry and bright!

Winter picnic

Come join us ...we've got heaps of new fallen snow. Everything is frost covered but it's really not too cold. Bring out your sleds and we'll dine at the top of the hill- today's menu: freshly baked potatoes washed down with a mug of hot chocolate.

And now Rowan is six

December 7th- six years ago when we were graced by the arrival of our dear boy. I pulled together a simple birthday celebration beginning with a star path (an idea from The Birthday Book, which I adore).

Rowan awoke with morning's first light to find a trail of golden paper stars laid out on the floor beside the bed. After realizing the trail was meant to be followed by a certain birthday boy, he bounded out of bed and tip-toed his way to discover this at the end of the path:
And the unwrapping and playing with new treasures ensued, with my boy still pajama clad:In the afternoon the kids (all three!) and I ventured out to see a movie . As we so rarely go to the theater, this was indeed a very special something. Rowan guessed that he had only been out to the movies once or twice before... and it was Lilla's theater debut. Considering the intensity of the surround sound, I'm not sure it was such a great idea for the little one's ears. But we went and had a perfectly good time munching popcorn in the darkened theater, laughing a bunch and me crying a little too. Afterwards, we treated ourselves to Rowan's requested pizza dinner and returned home for a bit of carrot cake and the company of my sister and her husband.
Happy Birthday Rowan!

Giving thanks

Last Thursday we celebrated Thanksgiving here, just us. We did not travel to visit family as we normally do and skipped cooking the usual feast to instead eat at a restaurant. All in all a very untraditional holiday, but it is such breaking away from tradition that makes one appreciate it all the more. Too often, amidst life's busy-ness and responsibilities, I forget to feel gratitude for the joy and wonder that surrounds. At this time of the year, I am reminded to pause and reflect on all the happiness in my life: family, friends, the peace and comfort of home, nature's beauty and the bounty of good things to eat. In honor of this holiday, we made a Gratitude Tree using our watercolor leaves painted a few weeks ago and took turns writing what we are thankful for on the back of each leaf.
While the word family was written more than once on our leaves, I was grateful for Saturday afternoon when  I stayed home alone to putter around (very novel indeed!) I even had a chance to play around with the new sewing machine  and paint a bit of my boy's bedroom. And when the kids returned, I was ready to receive them...for a break was just what this Mama needed to feel all the more thankful for these loves of my life.

Happy December 1st!

Outside and in again

After my complaining of the cold and snow flurries last week, we were gifted with one more golden day. Since we had had our fill of tinkering around the house, tea drinking and cozying up to books, we eagerly flung open doors and made an afternoon dash to the park. This two mile city park loop is just ideal for a mama, a stroller, a biking boy and a dog tagging along. Giant turtles...there is a fantastic Children's Garden here.
The last of the fall's burnished glory:
After our joyful day out, the weather has returned to that more typical of November. And I'm returning to cocooning tasks, revamping my indoor spaces for the coming months and trying (this is hard for the pack rat in me) to de-clutter a bit. And for the stuff I can't seem to part with yet, I'm re-purposing with a few little projects here and there... like turning this antique mirror frame into a blackboard. The mirror was long gone when I scooped up this old frame. I had intended to replace the missing mirror, but this pretty thing has just been gathering dust in the basement. I painted the wooden backing with some blackboard paint (I'm a little addicted to that stuff all of a sudden) and now it has a new life in our school area.
And when my children and sewing machine cooperate, I'm playing around with fabric and ideas. Some pillows for lounging- made from an old barkcloth(?) daybed cover:
And there is gift making in the air. But for now I'm keeping those things to myself. Hope you're having a lovely week.

Carrying light

To celebrate Martinmas. The festivities were much the same as last year. Even the menu was alike: curried lentils with baked potatoes. The kids and I also made up some parathas to go with it- whole wheat Indian flatbread- flaky and stuffed with scallions. Rowan and Ava were quite the experts in rolling out the dough. And we had fun sharing the food around the table- symbolically breaking our bread and potatoes in half to share with the person next to us. After the meal, out came the simple lanterns we had made earlier from glass jars covered in tissue paper with handles formed from florist wire. Even Lilla got into the gluing action. And again we carried our lanterns out into the night while singing songs to push back darkness and make way for light.

Nature gifts

Found and gathered:

And steeped to make little jars of sunshine for healing all year long: I like to make a calendula salve to have on hand for cuts, scrapes, and dry or chapped skin. Back at the end of September the calendula blossoms were plucked from the garden and set in a jar to infuse in olive oil for several weeks. Then the good healing oil was strained and squeezed out from the plant matter and placed in a small pan over very low heat. As the oil begins to warm, bits of beeswax are added and stirred in until melted. I never really measure this out, but just add enough wax so the final salve has a good consistency- so it melts into the skin without being overly drippy. If I don't get the consistency right the first time, I just re-melt and add a bit more wax or oil as needed.

We also gathered black walnuts to make an ink and clothing dye. With gloves on, I ripped off the hulls from 20-30+ walnuts, set them in a cloth and tied it off. I put the little sack filled with the hulls into a big canning pot, covered with water and let it sit for three days. Then I boiled up the brown looking soup (hulls still in the pot) and let it sit again over night. The liquid then gets strained out. I use a fine mesh just in case any walnut bits escape from the cloth. Much of the liquid I used to dye some clothes. The verdict is still out on the results of these.

One jar full of the liquid was saved for ink. Here's my boy trying out the walnut ink, using a feather found at his old nursery school: