I finally got out those knitting needles! Warning: Don't look Grace and Sarah

All fall I've been admiring the work of my knitting blogging friends such as Joy -so many beautiful hats, sweaters, etc... out there to drool over. Finally, I got out the knitting needles to make this little pig for one of my nieces for Christmas. Her name is Sophie and I think all she needs now to be complete is a scarf. The only decision left to make is which niece to give her to!

Later this evening:

That's better. She was complaining of the cold. I forgot to tell you, Sophie's an Irish pig and she's not accustomed to these frigid Vermont winters.

My all-time favorite Christmas book

I have very fond memories of my mom reading stories from this book to me and my two sisters when I was a child. I loved seeing the animals at the farm snug in their beds waiting for Christmas, the little bear who had a golden heart and wanted more than anything a golden sled, the polar bear who gave up his fur to make beards for Santa's helpers . But, my absolute favorite story was that of The Christmas Tree Lamb. The lamb that had spent many Christmases on trees and being played with by little girls. He was a well-loved lamb and through the years had become shabby, had lost a couple of legs, an eye and his bell. Well, I always thought that we had that lamb. We also had a sweet little shabby lamb that came out each Christmas. I miss that lamb!

The last few years we've had our own little Christmas lamb that I'm hoping will be as well loved as the lamb I had as a child. This book has made its way into the hearts of my children while bringing back so many memories of childhood. Of course, I don't think anyone can read these stories quite like my sweet Irish mom but I'm sure giving it my best shot! I hope you're having a wonderful holiday season full of warmth and tradition.

Our Saint Nicholas Day celebration

I didn't grow up celebrating Saint Nicholas Day. In fact I only heard about Saint Nicholas Day when J started kindergarten at the Waldorf school where they would leave out a slipper and on Saint Nicholas Day they would receive a little gift.
The last couple of years we've been leaving out our shoes by the hearth and in the morning the kids would find little gifts such as clementines or gnomes in their shoes. This year I was more prepared as I had found a website with great ideas about celebrating Saint Nicholas Day. Last night we read about Saint Nicholas and learned about his great generosity and how he especially looked after children. I also took The Baker's Dozen: A Saint Nicholas Tale out from the library. It is a wonderful tale about generosity and the illustrations are beautiful!

Last night J and B left their shoes by the hearth.

This is what they found in them in the morning.

I'm so glad we've added Saint Nicholas Day to our list of celebrations. I hope you have a wonderful day. We're off this afternoon to cut down our Christmas tree!

So much goodness

Do you ever feel so full of happiness that you think you just may burst? Well, that's how I feel right now. Life is good. Very good. I love this time of year. . . the celebration of loved ones, the Christmas scents and the holiday fairs. Here's a little look at some of the happiness that's been going on.

B and J making birthday cards for their Papa who is celebrating his birthday tomorrow. J is very excited about her creation.

A few days ago we had a hard day. J decided that it really should have snowed by now and she bombarded me with questions of this sort:

When is it going to snow?

Why hasn't it snowed yet?

Will it ever snow this year?

And statements such as:

It's never going to snow.

I don't like this warm weather.

I want it to snow!!!


I told them we just had to make the best of it and I went inside and made them smoothies. Things seemed to turn around after that.

We tried to make lip balm. The kitchen was filled with the scent of beeswax and coconut oil. Mmmmmmm. The lip balm turned out too waxy and I need to add olive oil and sweet almond oil but it didn't phase me. It was fun making them anyway. I'll try again in the next couple of days.

I took J out last night to the International Festival . We had a lot of fun looking at the various crafts, listening to music and watching the belly dancers. J also got a maple crepe with whipped cream and sprinkles for dinner. You can't beat that!

These are a couple of pictures J took last night with her camera.

This morning I got to have another date with my daughter. We went to two craft fairs. First we went to a fair at the elementary school in the neighboring town. J played musical numbers. When the music stopped she had to stand on a number and if your number was picked you won a cake. She played twice and she won on her second try. This is the cake she picked out. She was VERY excited.

I picked up these cinnamon vanilla candles. Don't they look nice? Well, I guess they don't look that pretty but they sure smell good!

Next, we headed across the street to the Waldorf School's fair. Julia went to kindergarten there and it was fun to take a little walk down memory lane.

Here she is decorating a gingerbread star. That didn't last long.

She also made an angel to hang on the tree (we should be getting that tomorrow).

Lots and lots of goodness. Goodbye for now!

A festive sort of day. . .

Today we met some home schooling friends at the local skating rink to do some skating to some festive holiday tunes. J and B haven't been on skates since last winter and they were very excited to strap them on. They both did really well out there. Later in the day we made some gifts and decorations. J made some soap for her Earth Scout friends while I tried out making beeswax ornaments for the first time.

I was pleased with the result. The hardest part was waiting for the beeswax to melt. I can be quite impatient-just ask my sister!

I also read to them from The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden and the kids watched a Rudolph video. Now, we just need some snow!

The holiday season has begun. . .

We kicked off the holiday season with my birthday the day before Thanksgiving. It was a nice birthday spent with my family at Plimoth Plantation and the Mayflower 2 at Plymouth, MA. Unfortunately my uncle in Northern Ireland died right before Thanksgiving and my Mom had to rush off to be with my aunt. My parents' house wasn't the same without my Mom there.

Here are Jeff, J and B on board the Mayflower. 102 passengers slept below deck-it must have been very stinky!

We also checked out Plymouth rock. Not too exciting. It is, after all, a rock.On to Plimoth Plantation. . . Here the museum staff pretends to be living at the time of the Pilgrims. It's always very interesting and amusing.

The day after Thanksgiving we made a quick stop at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. And when I say quick, I mean quick. I think we spent longer at the cafeteria than we did at the exhibits! Our goal was to check out the mummies and the Impressionists before the kids dragged us out of the museum and we did accomplish that. I was there with my sister and her two small children (ages 3 and 5). My 3 year old niece was not impressed with the mummies-she was afraid they would give her nightmares.

Here is a dog and a cat mummy.

Renoir.

So, now Thanksgiving is past and we're on to Christmas. I threw together this Advent calendar last night while the kids watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas. It was inspired by this blog.

And here's the back of it. Made with toilet paper tubes and an Amazon box.

We've also been celebrating advent with our homemade advent wreath.

It's been a very nice start to the holiday season. Hope you're enjoying the holidays too!

19th century farm life

Today we took a field trip to Shelburne Farms to learn about life on a Vermont farm in the early 1800's. Our day started off with a little play.

This woman was waking up on a farm in the 1800's:

This woman was waking up in her room in 2009:

The kids learned about all the chores that were done on a farm in that time period. One chore was making butter. So, we made butter while singing a song to pass the time.




Next, it was off to visit the animals.

The goats enjoyed the brown November leaves.

We headed back into the barn to grind up some corn for the chickens.

And then enjoyed feeding the chickens, picking them up and collecting eggs.

B almost picked one up-maybe next time!

After lunch we made beeswax candles. J and B took their candle making very seriously and ended up with perfectly tapered straight candles. They smell so good!

Here they are with their finished candles.

We also carded wool and spun it into yarn. A perfect November day! Oh, and did you see that the coats were off while we were outside? It was almost 60 degrees and sunny here in VT.