Happy happy. Joy joy!

"Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childish days; 

that can recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth" 

- Charles Dickens, 1836

Wishing you a happy Christmas and joyful New Year. 

May 2012 mean you never miss the opportunity to make snow angels, 

jump in puddles and skip along the flowers. 

May the only fights you ever have be of the pillow and food variety. 

And, oh, may 2012 bring you the fun of chasing rainbows, blowing bubbles, 

cookies with milk, snuggling warm puppies and love. 

LOTS OF IT!

Cookie Decorating Re-visited.

When our kids were little, my sister Karen and I always made it a tradition to make and decorate Christmas cookies. It was a great way to get the kids together and spend some time with each other during the holiday season. As the kids got older, the tradition took a back seat to junior high and high school activities, sports and other distractions. 


Thankfully this year the kids were feeling a bit sentimental and asked us to revive the tradition. The work ethic was slightly different this time (less of the cookies and frosting got ate), it was definitely a lot less messy (though I do miss the faces, fingers and clothes covered in frosting), and the artistic effort was definitely set at a higher standard. (Erin finger painted a combination tie-dye Jackson Pollack effect to her cookies; Jake created an exact replica of the Liberty Bell, including the crack;  and Jake's friend Todd decided we needed "rainbow coalition" designs.


It was a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon. I've missed these moments. They are few and far between these days.

The Mitten Tree.

One of the lasting memories of Christmas with Grandma Phoebe was her mitten tree. Every Christmas you could count on a new pair of mittens hand made by Grandma. There was a special tree of them in her back room, slightly warmed by the old pot belly stove nearby. Sometimes we could pick out the ones we wanted (this sucked if you weren't the first of the 30+ cousins to arrive) and sometimes she would have our names on them. But each year, they were a special gift we looked forward to.

Since, I don't knit, I remember and honor her tradition by adding mittens I crafted from felt, as decorations to my Christmas tree. I also have one pair of her red mittens left from days past, that I use as a tree topper for one of my smaller trees. Each of these trees serve as fond and lasting reminders of this special woman.

Her daughter, Bess, carries on REAL mitten tree tradition in our family. This year she made 85 pairs of them. EIGHTY. FIVE. PAIRS. I asked her how long this takes her. She said she made a some last winter after Christmas, and then finished the remainder up this fall. NO. BIG. DEAL. The picture above is some of those she made. She strung mittens by family for each  great-grandchild of Grandma Phoebe (well each of those great-grand children that are still in grade school K-12 anyway).  I guess even super-knitter Auntie Bess had to draw the line somewhere!