should auld aquaintance be forgot...

Just for fun, here are 12 of my favorite photos from the past year, one for each month. Some have been seen on this blog, most have not.  And while picking them, I realized that there is so much to remember in small moments.  Too often I look back on a year in a path from one birthday to the next holiday to a vacation to another big event.  And in doing so, miss so much that means even more.  Our year truly is made of our days, one day to the next.  I don't know whether anyone but me can find the meaning in these moments that I do, but here they are, a glimpse of 2010 from my camera:

create: : christmas knitting...revealed at last!

 Now that the gifts are given, and presents all unwrapped, here is what has been keeping me busy the last two months or so!

Two garter-stitch scarves made from Lion-brand Homespun.

 A chevron-pattern scarf and matching hat.

And four more hats!  Plus a lovely looped scarf/ cowl that I mailed to my sister-in-law in Italy, but thoughtlessly forgot to photograph! (Perhaps she'll see this and send me a photo...)

All five hats were from the pattern by Amanda Soule, found here as her "Favorite hat" on her SouleMama blog. Thanks, Amanda!

In all, good fun in good knitting.  Already thinking ahead to next year, and I think that the kids and hubby may need some more hand-knits of their own (both kids got hats earlier this year). Happy knitting!

christmas joys

Sunday night after a whirlwind week of preparations and celebrations.  Last minute knitting (finished the final gift on Christmas eve around 4 pm).  Baking and cooking.  And finally, finally, Christmas begins.  For us, it begins with church on Christmas eve, and what a glorious service it was.  Loved seeing my kids dance and sing the carols, and the dear daughter wrote a sweet story while the pastor gave his sermon. The story began,

            "I was dakrating the tree and a liut (light) chowd (showed) up. It wus Jesus! ..."

I will treasure that little booklet more than any of my gifts this year.  Love her sweet heart.  Being at church with my church family was a great joy.  After, we gave the kids their gifts from us (every year, jammies and a book about Christmas) and said goodnight. 

Christmas morning we enjoy the chaos shared by every family with young children...wrapping paper flying, squeals of joy and happiness.  Oh, what fun! And then....

SNOW.

Not a lot, mind you, just a dusting. But enough to just add to the magic and the joy. Our parents and James's sister and brother-in-law joined us for brunch, with our traditional egg casserole, and a new favorite cranberry apple cobbler-type casserole...mmm, yum.  More gifts, and a little down time, and then off to my Aunt and Uncles for more family holiday joy and craziness...more food than we could possibly eat, more gifts, and mostly, more family--my parents, two Aunts, an Uncle, and my cousin and her husband and kids.

And tonight, I found out a dear friend's baby boy was born on Christmas morning. Pure joy!

So when it comes right down to it, this is what Christmas was all about for me: celebrating Christ's coming, with my family. It was joy, it was magical, it was all that Christmas should be.

man in a big red suit

No words are really needed for this one... except perhaps,

From her: "...a friend for Eva (her doll), a unicorn pillow pet, Polly pockets..."
From him: "...a tool bench and a fire engine!"

A merry Christmas will be had by all...

christmas baking, part 2

We spent a wonderful day Saturday making butter cookies with my mom.  The recipe is from my great-grandmother, probably from Germany.  It is like a sugar cookie, but very very thin, and not too sweet.  As my mom says, "Any cookie dough that has a whole pound of butter in it had better be called a 'butter cookie'!"

The kids enjoyed the decorating and the cutting out, of trees and snowmen, stars and holly leaves, dogs, and even turtles (for my dad, who loves turtles!).  And the sprinkling of the sugars is the best part, and one that has to be learned, for each shape has its own traditional sprinkles, not too much, just a little pinch...and beware if you tamper with the color or how many sprinkles to use!

For me, the best part was family...being there with my mom, and my kids, and the memory of my grandmother, Mom-mom, and making cookies in her kitchen.  The smell of cookies almost done in the oven.  And that first taste!

first snow!

Just a few pictures from the walk home from the bus-stop yesterday afternoon. Love seeing the snow through my kids eyes--an inch might as well have been a foot to them.  Beautiful "icing" on our Christmas decorations.

You can see the hat I knit for my beautiful girl this winter! Just a very simple roll-brim in LionBrand Homespun. Perfect colors for my "pink and purple" girl!

you might note this was done on the driveway, there really wasn't enough snow, otherwise!

christmas baking, part 1

 Today we finally began this year's Christmas baking! The little guy and I baked 14 dozen cookies (3 varieties) together this morning, and my daughter and I did another 4 dozen of a fourth variety after school. We did the "easy" ones today:  all drop cookies with chips of one form or another.  Some of the more complicated ones will come later this week, but this was a great feeling to get such a great start on the baking marathon.

Christmas cookie baking is a long standing tradition in my family, with many recipes handed down from generation to generation.  My great-grandmother's butter cookie recipe is the stuff of family legend (more about this later this week), and many other cookies are annual "must haves" from my grandmother's generation.  It seems like we always had at least six or eight types of cookies at my house growing up, and it appears that I am, indeed, my mother's daughter as I carry on these traditions. I love it.

As much as I love many of our traditional cookies,  I have also come to love finding new cookie recipes, adding to our repertoire, tweaking the list from year to year.  Some, like the Chocolate-Studded Dream Cookies, from the Nestle' people, have become annual favorites.  We always make them with mint chips of whatever variety we can find.  And we always include the original Toll House Chocolate Chip cookies, because, well, you don't mess with a good thing.  Made with margarine, not butter, for a little extra lightness.  This year we added Betty Crocker's Mint Chocolate Chip cookies, which are fun because they are green! And mint is oh-so-yummy.

The last recipe for today is one that was passed to us from a former co-worker of my husband.  They are Strawberry Chip Cookies, and such an easy recipe: 

•  Combine the following:  1 Strawberry Boxed Cake Mix (Duncan Hines or Pillsbury), 1 egg, 1/4 c. flour, 1/2 c. vegetable oil, 1/4 c. water, and 1 cup white chocolate chips.
• Drop by teaspoon on ungreased cookie sheet, and bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F. 

I'll leave you with some more photos, and my one favorite cookie baking tip:  Parchment paper lining the cookie sheets.  Miraculous stuff and I don't know how I lived without it. 

The sifter belonged to my grandmother, Mom-mom.

official taste tester

Happy baking! More of our baking adventures, later this week....