6th Day of Christmas

Yesterday was candy; well, today was cookies. Both of which will be placed on plates and delivered to neighbors tomorrow. Twirly Girl and Silly Boy were in charge of mixing up the batter in the morning; all six kids took turns rolling and cutting after lunch. They finished just as I needed to start making pizza, so they still need to frost them tomorrow morning. This is the same sugar cookie recipe I shared several years ago (although I now use 1/4 cup butter in the frosting rather than the combination of butter and shortening).

5th Day of Christmas

Today we made candy. . .which didn’t work out quite as well as I had planned, in that not everyone ended up helping. sigh But we only had two bags of chocolate chips which meant we could only try two new recipes, both from Elana’s Pantry. Happily, both are yummy.

Twirly Girl made Orange Chocolate Coconut Clusters. This was her first time to melt chocolate in a double boiler (a makeshift one, but I digress) and also to toast nuts.

Drama Boy and I made a double batch of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge. We substituted honey for xylitol and used half creamy/half crunchy peanut butter. I think I would prefer all creamy, but Drama Boy wanted to use some crunchy so we did. As you can see, he reached for Baby Boy at the same time as I reached for my camera.

The vultures. . .well. . .they all helped in their usual way.

Pink twirly skirt

Sometime this past summer I stumbled upon a can’t-resist wool sale at fabric.com. I ordered a tiny pink houndstooth suiting for Twirly Girl, and some red crepe for myself. I haven’t quite decided on a dress pattern for my wool. But I manage to sew up the pink houndstooth in time for Christmas services.

Twirly Girl was away at camp during the sale, so I ordered enough to make either a jumper or a skirt and vest. She chose skirt and vest. She decided right away that I should use her recently drafted circle skirt pattern, but it took longer to find a suitable vest pattern.

Finally we found Ottobre 5/2006 #17. Technically, a boy’s vest, but as you can see here, very easily made into a girl’s vest. The only real change I made (beyond reversing buttons and holes) was to lower the neckline a bit as we only had three buttons. I did use wool instead of lining for the vest back since we had enough, and ribbon for the back tie just because.

4th Day of Christmas

Can you guess what we did on the fourth day of Christmas?

3rd Day of Christmas

Today has been a quiet day at home. . .this morning’s red envelope contained a recipe for salt dough.

Twirly Girl and Boy Genius mixed up the first batch. She made gifts for everyone she’s ever met; he made pieces to assemble a “chain reaction.” (My guess? He’s still thinking about this video we watched yesterday.)

Drama Boy decided to pass, so I mixed up some more dough after lunch for the three little boys. I’m not sure what they made as Twirly Girl helped them while Larry and I took the van to the mechanic. Both cookie sheets are still in the oven as I write this at 5pm, so I imagine the painting will have to wait for tomorrow.

Spiffy

On Christmas Eve, the little boys got it into their heads to dress up more than usual. This meant I had to find suitably sized sport coats for all three boys–thanks to generous hand me downs from a parishioner back in Iowa, I was able to do this! And it also meant a certain amount of shuffling to make sure that everyone had a suitably sized necktie.

Which meant that Bouncy Boy ended up with a regular tie, not a clip on tie or a zipper tie. Larry was already at church, so he pulled out his Cub Scout book from last year for reference and got to work.

Yes. He’s sitting on top of his dresser. I didn’t ask him, so don’t bother asking me.

And no, he didn’t quite manage to get it tied on his own. He knew how to make the knot but couldn’t quite get the ends the proper length. We ended up tying it together, with him talking me through the steps.

2nd Day of Christmas

No turtledoves here, just a single red envelope on the breakfast table. Baby Boy was chosen to open it, and he did it with great care.

And the envelope contained. . .some free movie passes and pizza coupons for the next town over. The Chipmunk movie was playing, and while I don’t particularly recommend the movie, I do recommend spending an evening with your family doing something outside your ordinary routine.

Christmas Day 2011

This year it was Silly Boy’s turn to put baby Jesus in the manger.

Following our youngest-to-oldest tradition, Baby Boy opens his gift from Bouncy Boy: “PLAYNOBEEEEEL!”

Next was Boy Genius’s gift to Silly Boy: some Cars 2 matchbox cars, and a small Vikings quilt for his stuffed dog (note to self: take better picture of quilt).

Silly Boy happily watches Bouncy Boy open the gift he gave him, which turned out to be pieces to a toy he doesn’t own. Yet. Oops.

Drama Boy ordered a copy of Noel Streatfeild’s Dancing Shoes right off Twirly Girl’s wishlist, and included a handmade bookmark.

Meanwhile, Twirly Girl gave Boy Genius a roll of duct tape and some orange parachute cord.

And finally, Baby Boy had chosen a Hex Bug habitat for Drama Boy (which I suspect will mostly be used by his younger brothers).

When the box from Dad and Mom arrived, the little boys were rather disappointed that the three of them would have to share a single package from Papaw and Mimi and Great-Mimi. However, they were all quite excited when they opened the package yesterday and found about a bazillion pieces of Playmobil Top Agents!

I confess to being spoiled. Larry ordered a couple items from my Etsy wishlist and also picked up the vintage utensil crock I had admired at the thrift store. Here though I was opening the chocolates (and handmade bookmark) from Drama Boy.

Great Mimi sent Drama Boy a new dress shirt. . .this is in lieu of the picture I forgot to take of him opening the very loud necktie Papaw and Mimi sent to wear with the shirt. (second note to self: take modeled picture on Sunday)

Merry Christmas!

(Sorry about the blurry photo. . .sigh!)

Smile

(Go ahead. . .I dare you to watch without smiling!)

And then when you’re done, be sure to look at more videos by the Piano Guys–the kids especially like their Star Wars parody, Cello Wars.