Merry Be the Sixth Day of Christmas!

I think most of us have heard the song 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.'  More than just a song, there are in fact twelve days of the liturgical Christmas season, starting on Christmas Day.  I have a friend who makes a point of celebrating Christmas for all twelve days.  She often greets people  with 'Merry be the (insert day) of Christmas!'  A lovely idea, I think.  So, here we are on the sixth day of Christmas, smack in the middle--a good time for a blog post, perhaps.  While I do not have pictures from all our merry making, we have been enjoying the Christmas season.

Charles new colleagues were in a playful spirit after the company Christmas party.  While we did not go to the after party, we saw the snow sculptures when picking up a few things from the office the next morning.

The 21st started off with a little Christmas Pageant rehearsal for Nova, who was an angel on wheels this year.  The rest of the family had a quiet morning at a Cafe around the corner (keeping a 20 month old at a two hour rehearsal would have been kind to no one).  From there we went directly my aunt and uncle's house to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family.  On both my mom's and my dad's side of the family it is getting hard to even say hello to everyone--30+ people will do that I suppose.  We did enjoy visiting  as much as we could.  The kids enjoyed running around with their second cousins and exchanging ornaments with them.  That night was the solstice, and we had intended to go to the solstice service/dance back at church but we were all ready for bed early that longest night of the year.

The Christmas Pageant went off without a hitch the next morning--with a real baby no less.  Nova zoomed around the sanctuary with delight.  The congregation got to call out Christmas Carols to sing and we all enjoyed the candle lighting that spread throughout the pews.  Sunday was also the day of the annual Candy Party, a holiday party of many college friends.  Below, Charlotte and Ariadne check our the pipe organ.  In the balcony above our friend matt was showing Nova and Solomon how to play the ocarina.

Christmas Eve we met my sister's new boyfriend.  We spent the day at my parents' house, all ten of us (or only ten of us, depending on how you think about it).  Brynn was in charge of stockings, her favorite part.  In the afternoon we played board games and watched movies.

Fire from the color pine cone fire starters

Brynn won, as usual

Christmas night we were a couple of tired parents not quite ready to play Santa Claus.  It reminded me in some ways of the first night the kids spent in our house, Christmas eve back in 2008.  We persevered, and before long is was actually fun.  Charles wrapped and I put together stockings and finished decorating the Christmas tree.  The ornaments from the family ornament exchange we much appreciated, since we couldn't find our main ornament box this year.  

After a relaxing morning we were off to my mom's family Christmas celebration.  Again, with the 30+ people, it was impossible to really talk with everyone, but we did catch up with several cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course, my grandparents.  It was a perfect sledding year.  My aunt and uncle have one of the best sledding hills around right out their back door.  This year nearly all the cousins under 25 went.  Brynn and Vadim went sledding, and Aria and I did too (not to mention all the other kids).  My uncle Joe was out photographing.  I'll have to see if I can get any photos from him.  The kids exchanged gifts and the adults played the annual Christmas gift game (sort of like White Elephant, but with better gifts).  Nova, Charlotte and Solomon brought out their instruments and played a little bit.  Afterward my Grandpa told me he recognized the Gavotte Solomon played right away, and that he had played it on piano as a child, and hummed a few bars of the Gossec Gavotte.

Over the holiday we have also watched my favorite Christmas movie, It's a Wonderful Life, made a trip to the emergency room (don't worry, nothing serious it turns out), enjoyed one on one outings, sledding with friends, and hanging out and doing nothing at all.  Merry be the sixth day of Christmas!

Holiday Teacher Gifts

Teacher gifts are a  perennial challenge.  Each school has its own unwritten norms and the only way to learn is watching.  First off is it a thing?  Our kids have had classes where no one gives teacher gifts, and ones where nearly everyone does.  The second issue is timing--end of year, holiday, or both?

Figuring out what to give is easier, but not without challenge.  We've had teachers with dietary issues, making baked goods iffy (not to mention that winter is the cold and flu season).  We want to be sensitive to varied religious backgrounds (but don't always know what they are).  There is the clutter factor--will the gift just become junk shortly after it is unwrapped?  Imagine if the teacher in question got 15 tchotchkes a year for fifteen years?  Would 225 mementos be appreciated?  Price comes into play, of course.  Last but not least, it is always nice if the kids can be involved. 

Given all that, this year we settled on bath salts.  We got a big bucket of Dead Sea bath salts from a local co-op, along with some one cup mason jars.  Here is Charlotte carefully measuring out the salt.  Ariadne helped screw on the lids.  Nova, Charlotte, and Solomon made decorative labels.  Done!  Only two salt spills and one melt down.      

Maybe next year we will add scent or color or something else to make the salts more personalized, (and the project more involved), but this year, this felt like plenty to do.   

St Lucia Day 2013

Ever have one of those days when nothing goes right?  A day something like the one described in the 1970s children's classic Alexander and the Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day? What about a holiday?

Since the year Charlotte was a baby (2009) we have been celebrating St Lucia Day.  It is a Scandinavian Christmas holiday, celebrating an Italian saint who helped early Christians by bringing them supplies while they hid in the catacombs.  Since her hands were full carrying food and whatnot, she used the ancient equivalent of a head lamp--a wreath (or garland) with candles.   Prettier, isn't it?  As it turns out, 'Lucia' translates to 'light' in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish.  When Scandinavian sailors found out that her birthday was on the winter solstice, they quickly adopted her as a favorite. (Before changing from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1582, December 13th was the Winter Solstice).

Though my family is Norwegian, we never celebrated St Lucia Day when I was a kid.  Our tradition started off when Nova was five and had recently become the middle kid.  I was looking for a way to do something special with just her and remembered reading about the holiday in the American Girl book, Kirsten's Surprise.  It was lots of fun getting it all ready in secret.  My mother made the nightgown/dress, and we made the crown and saffron buns.  Solomon and Charles were completely surprised.

Other years have had their ups and downs.  Some years we have made Cardamom cake (since it turns out not everyone in our family likes saffron).   We have had crowns made of grocery store flowers, and ones made of felt.  Charlotte has gotten in on the action.

Heading up to wake up Dad in 2012

Charles says this is one of his favorite holiday traditions because it always catches him off guard.  He was very happy to be surprised.  

This year it was a total fiasco!  I decided to sew the St Lucia dresses/nightgowns--and promptly lost the foot control for my sewing machine!  I have looked for hours.  It is still missing.  We were able to sew Solomon's pajamas at my parents' (thank you Mom and Dad). Then Charlotte announced that she did not want to do St Lucia Day.  "It is too much work." She said.  "I want them [Solomon and Dad] to wake me up and bring me breakfast."  I checked out Kirsten's Surprise from the library to help inspire Charlotte.  We lost the book after chapter two.  No one was interested in getting wreath materials with me.  I could not find the nightgowns and felt wreaths from last year, so I pushed the holiday out one day, hoping to find them (and so it could fall on the weekend).  The grocery store did not carry cardamom.  I adapted and made cookies instead.  They were completely flat (though tasty).   Solomon woke up earlier than the rest of us (5:00 am) and Charles scheduled a business phone call, even though I'd told him we were getting a Christmas tree that morning in order to save the date.

Seriously thinking about throwing in the towel, I woke Nova at 5:30.  We had just gotten to the kitchen when Ariadne woke up, clingy and tired.  When Aria threw up all over me ten minutes later, Nova said "Mom, you can go back to bed, I'll do the rest."  I was so happy!

Hearing the clinking and clanging from downstairs Charles finally guessed what was going on.  We waited in the dark in happy anticipation talking about how big our Nova had gotten.  When we woke Charlotte she cried--turns out she wanted to be in on the preparations after all.  Hiding under the table with her cookies, she got an unexpected shower when Ariadne spilled (luke-warm) hot chocolate.   It came down through the table leaves onto Charlotte's head.  What made it worse was that it was Charlotte's own hot chocolate that had been spilled.  Thankfully, Solomon was kind enough to give her the rest of his.

Though there we no costumes, the food was anything but traditional, and some of us were already up, it turns out continuing the tradition was worth it.  Ten minutes into breakfast, everyone was having a good time, enjoying a special morning.  Twenty minutes later the kids were having a ball all running around screaming playing some sort of  cookie monster game. It all left me feeling that perseverance good humor, and generosity (than you big kids) can save any fiasco.  Happy St Lucia Day!