Christmas Eve 2009

May the PEACE of knowing our LOVING Savior was born fill your hearts with JOY.

Tasty Tuesday

Bekah, this is for you. Sorry there are no pictures as our camera is misbehaving. This may or may not become regular. I make no promises. :o)

This is a variation on a recipe I created for Christmas 2003. I think it's an improvement on the original. Enjoy.

Chocolate Raspberry Truffles

1/2 c. butter (no substitutes)

1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk

2 bags milk chocolate chips

2/3 c. seedless raspberry jam/jelly

1 package of dipping chocolate

Melt the butter in a medium size sauce pan over low heat. Don't brown. Pour in milk and whisk together. Add chip and jam and whisk until chips are melted and the consistency is smooth. Pour into a glass bowl to cool. Cool several hours (or days) until the mixture can be rolled into 1 inch balls (I use my smallest cookie scoop.) Place rolled balls on a wax paper lined baking sheet and freeze until firm (If leaving in freezer for more than 6 hours cover with plastic wrap.). Melt dipping chocolate in a double boiler or in a mini crock pot. Dip each truffle and let set on another wax paper lined baking sheet. To distinguish these from other chocolate candies I drizzled the finished product with some white chocolate tinted pink. Recipe makes about 85 truffles depending on size.

*The original recipe omits with jam and replaces it with 1/4 c. Kahlua. I've also done this recipe with orange marmalade for those who like the chocolate oranges that come out at Christmas.*

Oh, Christmas Tree

Our Christmas tree isn't pretty by many standards. It's not perfect. The ornaments on it are a hodge-podge that have be collected for over 30 years. Tonight as we put it up and decorated together as a family I thought about this tradition of a Christmas tree. It's not really the most religious of the Christmas traditions. I know the thought that Luther started the tradition but really, a tree in the living room doesn't have much to do with our Savior-baby in a manger. That said, it's one of my favorite traditions. For as long as I can remember I've loved putting up the tree. It truly is one of my favorite nights of the year. Now as I shared the tradition with my own children it's even more special to me. As I opened the ornament box and handed things to my kids to be hung on our tree I took the time to remember each ornament. Each one has a story that was shared aloud tonight. Nathan and I both had grandparents who gave us an ornament each Christmas so there are many of those, there are some apple ones from Nathan's teaching, there is a soldier bear from the year Nathan was on active duty, each of the kids hung ones that say "Baby's 1st Christmas." There are special gifts from friends far away in years and miles, there was the one I got from my kindergarten teacher 25 years ago and the one Evan got from his last year There are several from a Christmas wedding shower thrown for us. There is one from our first Christmas in our first house. There is one with a picture of our college, and even a section of paper chain Nathan made for me when I was counting down days till Christmas 9 years ago. There are memories in each ornament that hangs from our tree. But even more there are blessing. Our tree is a blazing picture of a blessed life. We have been loved by grandparents, parents, and friends who have given us tokens to remember that, we have been blessed with schools and learning, we have a home, we have three precious children, we have a strong marriage, we have a Savior. That's what hangs on that tree. Those little ornaments, tokens from the past, are little reminders of blessings every day. That's what makes it the most beautiful tree to me.

Thanksgiving, Really

Over the four day Thanksgiving weekend we spent time with both side of our family. We arrived at Nathan's parents' house Wednesday evening and promptly began the merry making staying up until midnight laughing, playing games, and drinking wine. Thanksgiving Day we followed tradition and it was spent with his extended family at Grandma's house. Friday my sisters-in-law and I headed out for some Black Friday action while Nathan and the kids helped his dad do some burning of brush and miscellaneous fun farm stuff. Saturday most of my family went Christmas tree hunting and then we all had dinner at my parents. Sunday we went to church with my parents, had a quick lunch, and headed home. Busy trip but loads and loads of fun with grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins galore! Laughter, caring, sharing, and cuddling the newest babies on both sides! Do you think either Nathan or I took more than a handful of pictures? Nope. These are the best of the few we have to offer-some of my family dragging Christmas trees at the tree farm and the boys helping my Dad cut down their tree. I guess we were just having too much fun to bother with stopping to take the pictures. Oh, well. We'll try again at Christmas.

November Bonfire

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving we had a beautiful fall day that we wanted to savor for just a little longer. To lengthen our time outside we had a bonfire after dark. We've had bonfires before and we've had beautiful fall days but what I liked best was that it was dark by 5pm. This meant we could have the bonfire after dark and still get the kids bathed and to bed on time. All three kids thought they were getting a treat by staying up late and then Nathan found some sparklers left from 4th of July as a bonus. It's the little things.

Not so little Lyd

This year has brought more changes to our family with Evan in school, Hans heading out the door to kindergarten, and Lydia in preschool twice a week. This means that Lydia has a big chunk of time at home with just Mom. Since she never has had this before she was a bit lost to start the year. Now she's settled into a routine that includes lots of games and playing with Mom. She just seems so big to me. She might be my baby but she's definitely not a baby anymore. Here she's showing off her smile while we played memory and her name which she's working on writing usually on paper but here in blocks.

More Autumn Hiking

If you've been following here for long you've noticed that when possible we love to spend a day, afternoon, or evening hiking. We still miss the Black Hills and all their glory but have enjoyed getting to know High Cliff State Park this fall. Here we are on a sunny afternoon last weekend.

1. Nathan and the kids with a rather large reproduction of Chief Red Bird of the Winnebago tribe overlooking the lake.

2. While seeking a geocache we had to climb a tree. The kids weren't quite tall enough to reach the hiding spot, but they enjoyed the climb.

3. Lydia climbed up to this point and announced it was where she was going to hibernate. Hmm?

4. This was the mother of all leaf piles. The entire picnic area had been cleared of the leaves and the pile was along the edge of the woods. The kids were waist deep in leaves and having so much fun that Nathan and I joined them. While the van was a little messier on the way home the joy of playing in the leaves with three happy kids was worth it.

Fall Bark

Because this is the start of the season of candy and since we didn't have nearly enough sweets in the house after Halloween the kids and I made this delectable treat one evening. We lined a baking sheet with wax paper, covering the paper with fall colored candy (Reese's pieces, candy corn, and candy corn Hersey's kisses), and then drizzled melted chocolate almond bark and vanilla almond bark to glue the mess together. After it hardened we broke it into cookie size pieces. Just so you know we're not complete gluttons here we did send most of the finished project with Nathan to school to share with his classmates (One of which said, "Wow. This candy beat up your candy, spits on it, and walks away". Which I'm taking to mean he liked it.) We are looking forward to making Christmas bark sometime in December.

Leaves a Plenty

Our maple trees dropped their leaves early this month which means (after I raked them) the kids had a great seasonal play ground. November has been nicer than October was so most days after school the kids have been outside enjoying the fresh air and crunchy leaves. Makes you want to join them doesn't it?

a) Laying on the cushion of leaves.

b) Evan givng the leaves a toss.

c) Hans hiding behind the leaves he was picking for a project at school.

Trick-or-Treat

This year was the first year the kids have not coordinated for Halloween (last year we had Tinkerbell, Peter Pan, and Captain Hook for example). Evan has wanted to be Bolt from the Disney movie since he saw it last year in Kindergarten, Hans came up with being a gnome after hearing tales of them from Grandpa Davis, and Lydia latched onto being a skunk while we looked for costume ideas on the Family Fun website.

1. The whole gang.

2. A gnome hiding in the garden.

3. Walking with Dad down our street.

4. "Trick-or-treat!"

Fall Break with Naomi

The last week of October the kids had off of school. (Our school lumps teacher's conferences, parent teacher's conferences, and a faculty in-service day into one week and we LOVE it.) We took advantage of the time and headed to my in-laws for a few days to visit them along with my sister-in-law Kristi and my sweet niece Naomi. The kids filled their days with time playing outside in the yard, "helping" Grandpa in the barn, "helping" ship pigs, and giving lots and lots of love to Naomi. She's the only cousin on this side of the family so far so she gets all the attention she can handle. Not that I can blame them for loving her. She's as sweet as can be and cuter than cute! I appreciated the time chatting with my dearest friend and spending time with my generous in-laws. All around the trip went to quickly but left us all happier than when we started.

1. Loving by Lydia.

2. Evan sharing toys with Naomi.

3. Hans getting his share of cuddles.

4. One proud mom with her smiley babe.

Ghosting

Last Sunday evening we were happily carving our pumpkins when the door bell rang. When the kids ran to answer it there was no on there but simply a bowl of Halloween goodies and a note. The note told us we'd been "ghosted" by someone who wanted to spread some Halloween fun around the neighborhood. Now, to keep the fun moving, we had to choose three people to "ghost." Tuesday we headed out to find some goodies-candy, toys, pencils, straws, and cups-to use in our ghosting adventure. The boys each chose a classmate to ghost and Lydia the neighbors. Then we took turns sneaking to front doors, leaving cups of goodies with notes, knocking really loudly, and running away before being detected. It was a HOOT! The kids loved the whole things from shopping for treats for our friends to whispering the whole way to their houses to running away. We'll certainly try this again next Halloween and maybe even a modified version on May Day.

Fall Adventures

These are a few more pictures from our day at High Cliff SP with Jordan. The kids are always eager for an adventure and the day did not disappoint. 1. Hans was the seeker who found this particular geocache. Treasure! 2. Much of the trail was just above the waters of Lake Winnebago which proved to alluring for Evan. Here he's on his way back up to the top. 3. One of the places the kids explored was a cement bunker that was used as part of the process of turning lime stone into industrial lime over 50 years ago. The only way inside was through these small square holes in the sides or by climbing up a fallen tree over the top of the bunker. The kids ventured in via the holes and the adults just watched. This is Lydia on the way back out to join us. 4. We did several geocaches during our hike and one of them was a virtual cache. For this we had to find answers to several questions and provide a picture proving we were at the specific location. We found the answers on the information sign about the lime stone kiln and here is the picture I took of Nathan to prove we made it!

Uncle Jordan

Over last weekend Jordan (Nathan's youngest brother) spent some time with us. After arriving Thursday evening he spent Friday at school helping me cook hot lunch, playing with Lydia, having lunch with Evan and Hans, and generally impressing the lunch ladies with his willingness to pitch in and help. Saturday, after helping Nathan get the garage ready for the van to live inside again, we wandered around the EAA museum for the afternoon and ended the day with wine and a movie. Sunday we started our day with church and moved on to High Cliff State Park and more hiking and geocaching. With Jordan living 16 hours away it was nice to have a chunk of time to visit, catch up, and just enjoy being together. The kids certainly poured out attention on Uncle Jordan and soaked up what he gave back. Hopefully what we lack in house size we made up in heart size for our guest.

1. Taking time to climb a fallen tree along the trail.

2. Rest stop.

3. Walking on.

4. Last stop: bedtime stories the night before Jordan hit the road.

Misc. Baptism

1. While at James and Holly's after baptism Ethan had the opportunity to show off his playground to five of his big cousins. Thankfully it's big enough for all of them!

2. My sister-in-law Katy and Hannah were checking each other out and liking what they saw.

Four Generations

My Grandma, my Mom, my daughter, and myself.