Tuesday 13 December 2011

Christmas Preparations

December just wouldn't be December, if Sean and the boys didn't spend every night the first week of the month delivering wreaths and poinsettias to people who ordered them. First we helped unload 400 poinsettas, and 600 wreaths into trucks, and then unloaded them into the scoutmaster's garage.

The McMullins took 5 dozen items home, and started spreading the holiday cheer around town. (Sean is a very good sport for tackling this fundraiser with the boys.)

Christmas starts for Sylvia when we bring out the nativity set. She immediately starts arranging the pieces in the oddest places.

Baking plays a big role. Here is Sylvia "Queen of the Sprinkles" hard at work with some sugar cookies. Her motto: "You can never have enough sprinkles!"

Mattias is getting well known for his Polish cookies, Kolocky. The dough has cream cheese to make it soft, and then he puts poppy seed filling in them. He made a giant quadruple batch to bring to the church Christmas party.

At the church Christmas party, I sang Scandinavian Christmas songs with ladies from Sweden, Norway, and Denmark. Asher played the viola, and Mattias played the piano. Sylvia dazzled the crowd with her Santa Lucia entrance.

The party ended with Santa Clause. Sylvia was not sure if she wanted to go anywhere near this jolly elf, but she did take the chocolate he gave her, and ate it all before she went to bed!

Sean is our own private baking elf. For 3rd Advent, he made a massive pile of Swedish cardamon bullar, with pearl sugar on top. It is a good thing we took this picture, because within minutes of letting the crowd loose to devour the bullar... there was nary a crumb left.

My favorite part of the Christmas season is Advent. For those of you that are not Advent celebrators, it is the four Sunday evenings before Christmas day. We have some tasty snack (like gingerbread men or bullar) with hot chocolate, and light the advent candles.

When everyone's mouth is empty, we sing Christmas carols a capella. It is really beautiful, with just the light of the candles flickering and the touching music. The boys have learned to sing the tenor and alto parts this year... so it sounds amazing. I love Advent with my family!

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Thanksgiving 2011

We kept Sylvia busy until the big Thanksgiving dinner with more craft ideas from my sisters blog. Everybody joined in coloring the pilgrims for the Mayflower.

They may look a little strange, because the older kids started making them look like cartoon characters from the show Avatar. If you are familiar with the show, you understand why there is flying white bison above the Mayflower.

We tried to do some pioneer games and crafts this year. Sylvia was very excited to make butter, by shaking a jar full of cream. I had read on the internet, that it goes faster if you put a marble into the jar, along with the cream.



This is a very bad idea. While Sean was having a turn shaking the jar, his powerful muscles helped the marble to shatter the bottom off the jar. Leaving cream and glass all over the living room floor.

It was a memorable activity. Luckily, I had a little more cream in the fridge, and we tried it again (without the marble). Sylvia patted the fresh butter into rose-shaped candy molds. We chilled them, and were able to each have our own pat of fresh butter for Thanksgiving dinner.

The big hit of the day was an Native American game we had read about. You throw spears at a moving target. Our "buffalo" was a hoola hoop.


It was a fun challenge for all ages. We would roll the hoop, bounce the hoop, and throw it in the air for variety.
Asher was born to be a javelin thrower.


Here is the whole tribe of buffalo hunters, with the buffalo (at Asher's side).

When it got dark, we went inside and played Blind Mans Bluff, a game we read the pilgrims had played. Sylvia was an addict! She would've played for hours. Luckily, we had a pinata that needed smashing. It was the only reason we are not still playing Blind Man's Bluff.

Sylvia and Noel made the turkey pinata out of a paper bag this year. Mattias made the home-made fudge that we filled it with. Yum!



Below is the video requested by one of my sisters. It shows the final moments of the pinata. Everybody had gotten several chances at hitting the bag, but it simply wouldn't break, so Asher took matters into his own hands. (And yes, Sylvia does get some candy.)


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