(Christmas) Tree Huggers

Selecting a tree:


Hauling home:


Sawing the base:


The challenge of setup:


Satisfied for now:


On to decorating!

The Ceremony of Decoration

Every holiday has a set of reminders of things that are supposed to be considered during that season. I think that we need these traditions and ceremonies to help us move beyond the mundane activities (such as going to work, cooking dinner, folding laundry, etc.) that must go on despite the celebrations. The visual elements are among the simplest of these traditions both to implement and enjoy.

Starting with this:


I love the way that fresh greenery makes the house smell festive.

Creating welcome:



My family has given ornaments to each child every year. For a number of years these were themed around the instruments that each of us played. I therefore have a whole collection of violin-playing angels. As Jonathan's family also give an ornament each year, we did not have the problem of a bare tree that many newlyweds have. Sometimes I have to find other ways to display the extra ornaments.


In lieu of a mantel, I decorate the top of the piano. One of these years I will find a nativity scene to sit in the center and remind us more explicitly of whom we are celebrating.


Something new this year--twiggy garland over the doorway:

The angel doll in the red apron was made for me to carry in my aunt's wedding when I was eighteen months old. The cream silk is the same as that used for her dress. Afterwards, my mom refurbished her into a Christmas angel and she has been brought out with the other angels every year. I was allowed to take her when I left to form my own home.

Every available surface can be used:


Beautiful tree!


Everything stays up through the twelve days of Christmas (until January 6th or Epiphany) and then must come down all at once. This stretches out the fun without having the tree dry out too much or having too many fir needles dropping off everywhere.

Snow, Snow, Snow...

I love snow. Even the winters that I spent outside of Chicago didn't cure me of the childlike sheer delight in the fluffy falling flakes and the satisfying whish and crunch of tramping through fresh snow. I hope every year that there will be enough to make snow angels and build a snowman (or lady).
So far this year we have gotten the best possible type of snow (at least for adults)--beauty with minimal accumulation.

December 1st:



December 9th:


And best of all, Christmas morning:

Advent Wreath

I try to make an Advent wreath every year both to decorate our home and observe the time of preparation for Christmas. I was a week late this year but we caught up on the second Sunday.

Branches courtesy of Hunter Tree Farms. We have bought a tree from them most years and they are graciously willing to let us glean the torn branches off of the ground and around the trunk trimming area.



Step one--assembling the wreath with the help of some florist's wire.



Enhancing with cedar bits and berry sprays.



Finished wreath on the table on Christmas day. We took turns reading the collects for each Sunday from the Book of Common Prayer as we lit each candle. Next year we will choose from the Family Prayer Book that I made for Jonathan this year.

Tiptoe through the Toadstools

We had our very own mushroom show in our yard due to the consistently moist conditions this fall. There were probably a dozen different varieties altogether. These three were just outside the front door.


These black and grey mushrooms are actually rather common although this is the first time that we have noticed them in our yard.

Presents Nice (and Finished)

Judah's afghan turned out beautifully. The blocking was a little off but a few more washings will help it find its shape.


This purse for my mom, Mrs. B. was completed in the nick of time. It is encouraging to look at the stitching on this piece compared to those that I did last year and see the improvement.

Peace

Mary's Peace

Peace to hear the change in plans.
Peace when all misunderstand.
Peace to stand through fear and shame.
Peace to never be the same.

Peace to bear the pain, unheard.
Peace to only trust His Word,
when years go by the same old way.
Peace to hope in each new day.

Peace to feel you're thrust aside.
Peace to have your pride decried.
Peace to whisper at the cross
"Peace, my soul, all is not lost."

Peace to see the bigger plan.
Peace to hold the Father's hand.
Peace to say goodbye to tears,
welcome in a brand new year,

When Peace shall reign in every heart,

when joy and faith will not depart.

When all will bow and say, "Your will,"
in Christ, all dreams and love fulfilled.

NB '07

Fall Smoke (Bush)

Can you see the angel peeking out from under the bush? I like my yard art to be as subtle as possible and I can just barely see her when I look out my kitchen window.


This little cluster of Oregon grape reminds me of the more mature bushes at my grandparents' house. My sister and I would crush the berries to use in "medicines" and various forms of paint, ink and dye for Paldontian projects and crafts. It was so disappointing that the juice oxidized to brown rather than staying the beautifully purple-blue color of the berries.

Blessed be the Lord of the Harvest

A sampling of the goodness from our garden.

We had a plethora of green onions. Next year we will be planting them in shifts so that we aren't overwhelmed with them all at once.


Royal Chantenay carrots. Very flavorful but also very fat--thinning for optimal growth was essential.


Acorn squash and our very own pumpkin.


Purple potatoes.


Freshly scrubbed Chantenay and Purple Haze carrots. The purple carrots lagged behind for a while but when I finally harvested them all there turned out to be far more. This will be a repeat planting!


A sampling, including the butternut squash.


This is what we did with much of the grand harvest of patty pan squash. See link to recipe here. I included the last of the peas in the stuffing as well.

Tasty Baking

I love to bake. Unfortunately, I am generally more successful at other sorts of cooking due to my apparent inability to avoid tinkering with recipes. Baking does not lend itself to this as easily. I therefore appreciate recipes that are simple enough that my inner urge to invent new variations is either unaroused or, if awakened, not detrimental. My scone recipe is a notable example.

This recipe for whole wheat bread, courtesy of a friend, will be familiar to most of my readers but this is a fabulous bread recipe which meets these requirements.

1/2 cup honey
1 cup milk
2 cups boiling water
2 tbsp yeast
2 tbsp oil
4 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt

Mix together honey, milk and water until dissolved. Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit until bubbly. Add oil, salt and half of the flour. Gradually mix in the remaining flour. Knead and let rise 1 hour. Punch down and reshape into pans. Let rise until double. Bake at 350 degrees 30-35 minutes.

I make this in my bread machine so I halve the recipe and bake it in the oven. So if some of the instructions don't make sense to some of the more experienced bread makers out there, that is why. I plan on adding wheat germ or cooked barley next.

Autumn Beauty

I love asters.

Man's Best Friend

Since the beginning of our marriage, Jonathan has been our dishwasher. Most of the time this is not too onerous a job but, like every other chore, it can build up into a real mess if not taken care of every day.
So now Jonathan has a new best friend.



And I have a (nearly) clean kitchen.

Office Prank

This post talks about how to change the readout on HP printers. While I am not endorsing the kinds of pranks that can get you fired, the stories here sounded really funny.

Progress

An afghan that I am making for my younger nephew.

Big Ball of Yarn from Joanns. Missy was hanging around hoping that some of the yarn was for her.

I don't always roll the yarn for projects but as the only way to make the skein small enough to carry around with me (which is the only way I ever get anything done) was to roll it into three balls. The yarn is also variegated so the next challenge was to remember to use the balls in the right sequence in order to maintain the striping that started developing. It hasn't turned out perfectly as I have switched skeins but
no one seems to be able to tell but me.

Work in progress. And the cat.

PSMS Annual Mushroom Show

We don't do dates like normal people.

Some weeks ago, we went to the Puget Sound Mycological Society's annual mushroom show. There were hundreds of specimens, all neatly categorized by spore type and species, which were collected with an 150-mile radius of Seattle.



There was a table to touch and smell some of the more interesting types, including one that had a strong potato scent and another that was reminiscent of almonds, vanilla and maraschino cherries. There was also one that is so strongly scented of caramel and maple that is used to flavor desserts.


These are edible mushrooms that are quite flavorful when young but as they age turn into a black goo--earning them the name inky caps. This goo can be used as paint or ink.


I expressed interest in this phenomenon and was given a box of leftovers from the cooking demonstration to take home. They are now nicely deliquesed and sitting in the fridge waiting to be played with.


This photo doesn't do justice to the exquisite range of color in the interior of the cap and stem--from delicate pink to greying purple to chocolately brown to charcoal.

Update:

Well, I waited too long to deal with the mushrooms. They became a horrible, stinky goo which did not thicken properly when heated and were useless. Out to the compost pile!

Pumpkin Pi

We decided to carve the pumpkin that we grew this year for display on Hallowe'en. There was much discussion over what sort of design would be both appropriate and feasible. In the end we chose to memorialize one of our favorite things.

This is the first time that I have used one of those pumpkin carving tools. It is remarkable how much easier it made the process-especially since there were curves involved.

We took turns in order to share the fun of getting goopy hands while pulling out the innards.



Carving:



Nearly finished:



Of course, we needed to include another favorite (and appropriate) part of fall in our area. I think that Jonathan would be pleased if they offered these all year.

Beryl's pillow cover

My youngest sister is amazing in many ways. Not only does she have a warmth and generosity toward others, she is stunningly beautiful and has exquisitely artistic taste in everything from designing drawings to clothes. As she prepared to take on a position of responsibility in her dorm, she asked for things to make the couch in her room more cozy and welcoming.
My contribution:

This was an attempt at a new technique and new materials--organza ribbon embroidery on felted fleece.