phases of the moons: Christmas in September

After making a video slideshow of our 2018 Christmas, my family asked for another slideshow for 2019! I don’t blame them...it’s enjoyable to watch. I view it over and over again when I'm feeling lonely for my family. But the blog fodder I gathered this time didn’t lend itself well to video. So please enjoy an old fashioned post with a few expected snarky comments from its author.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST

All good things start with breakfast, Christmas, and cute nieces.

Zania is the happiest, most friendly little girl. She takes NO TIME to warm up to you. She was such a pleasure to be around.

Below: if something is hot, she puts her hand out above it and says “hot.” Now Adam and I do it from time to time.

GIFTING TIME!

As per tradition, the grandgirls line up while Papa hands them a present to be delivered to the lazy adult named on the gift tag. It works out great and the girlies love doing it, the youngest takes her job the most serious.

Later, there was balloon fun to be had. (Remember when Malaika was little and had the balloons all to herself?)

BOOKMARKS

Often some of the best gifts are handmade. Dwynne helped the girls stitch up felt bookmarks on elastic bands for everyone. I thought it was a great idea for a book loving family.

FAMILY DINING

Things didn’t align for us to follow our usual themed dinner. But Mom DID dig out the little candles that clip to each dining plate and we ate by candle light. We used to do this every Christmas growing up. But I think Mom hated cleaning up the wax so that tradition was vehemently axed for a while.

(Back in the 80s when big curly bangs were fashionable for girls, my cousin Marie bent down to lick her plate and accidentally fried her bangs on her candle! We laughed and laughed.)

Of course Mom made her famous sourdough dinner rolls. I will always remember her using a mason jar ring to cut them out.

For New Year dinner, Hayden’s parents usually join us. I don’t remember what dinner was,

I THINK it was supposed to be turkey, but Adam failed us in that regard...

but I do remember how pretty and delicious the dessert looked! This my friends is filled with Nutella. Did you just melt in your seat? Yeah, me too.

NO TURKEY, AGAIN

The turkeys who were brave enough to show up this year were GORGEOUS. Adam flipped on his turkey call again and lured them closer...

and MISSED! (He’s lucky that fence was there or he would have lost his arrow in the neighbor’s yard.)

Tap the image below for a video.

Good grief! And that’s why we didn’t have a delicious turkey dinner for the New Year. He’s hoping to redeem himself in 2020.

Everyone learned how to use the crossbow and we were all pretty good shots. Maybe Adam should let one of us handle the turkey dinner next time. I mean, how hard can it be to hit a turkey when it's closer than this target!?

ACTIVITY: GINGERBREAD

Michael and Hayden brought candy supplies for a house building activity. (Someone should tell Natalie that this is supposed to be FUN. Khee hee.)

Below: Michael and Hayden

Zuki

Malaika

Mo?

Anna and Adam

Mom and Dad. Do you see the purple door? Where did they get the idea for that I wonder?

ACTIVITY: DOWN THE TRACK

For this family activity, Mom and Dad gave us all the same supplies (tape, candies, paperclips) and instructed us to create something to go down a track. We had to use EVERYTHING they’d given us.

Here are our creations:

Each team tried to keep the construction a secret so there would be no copycats. Mom and Dad were especially secretive. With their backs to the group, they seemed to be having a good time making their vehicle.

And we each took a turn sending our vehicle down the track to see whose was the most successful.

Then, with glee Dad pulled his and Mom’s creation out to send down the track. TRICKY TRICKY! It was the plan all along! We could have wrapped everything in the tape! But we all fell for it as planned! Of course there were no hard feelings, because the carts were edible. Candy makes loosing worthwhile.

ACTIVITY: QUILT SHOW

How many quilts did Mom make this year? Oh, I loose count. 16? Here are a few.

On top of all the quilt making, Mom makes hot pads to sell and give as gifts. She also donates handmade pillow cases to a foster children’s group, and place matts for Meals on Wheels. I recently received a letter from Mom telling me she’d donated over 20 quilts to her quilt guild for charity. Um, WOW. Did anyone contact the local newspaper to brag on her a bit? She just LOVES sewing! Even more amazing is that she uses ALL scraps, and hasn’t purchased fabric for her projects in in years. People discover what she does and they GIVE her bags of scraps. Her motto: No scrap left unused. Good motto. And a fantastic example of up-cycling!

RANDOM IMAGES

It’s nice to have a brother who's into smoking. Meat that is. I didn’t get to partake this year...but it sure smelled good. And everyone ate what was on their plate so hopefully Michael will keep doing it. If he keeps this up, He and Hayden will have to move to Texas. It’s where good smokers belong.

Below: Dad and his lemon tree. The previous year, the deer had completely decimated the tree and eaten all the green unripe lemons right off it. (Idiot deer, don’t they have taste buds?) Glad to see it has recovered. I love this image of my Dad and his tree. I might frame it.

Zania invited me to watch Moana with her and pointed out what was happening from time to time. Sweet little girl.

Zania pulling Mo down the street.

END WITH CLEANUP

Working in my parent’s yard is something I yearn for every year. The “grounds” are beautiful and calm, plus I like that kind of work. It feels like I’m helping the earth breathe and giving the plants a chance to fulfill their potential while also filling my own.

Two years ago Adam and I started hacking away at the over grown wisteria at the front of the house. We were able to get most of it out and piled it up to burn later, but we left the vines in the tree so they could die and get brittle for easier removal.

So this year Adam climbed up into the tree and took a chainsaw to it. We were able to pull the rest of the wisteria down. It made a huge pile in addition to the ones we’d made the year before. In the end we had THREE burn piles going with the help of siblings, neices, and in-laws to get it all cleaned up. I don’t know if it’s legal to have that many piles burning, but it sure sped things up. Dwynne grabbed smore’s supplies for an end-of-the-day treat.