It is, startlingly enough, also Monday.

My Kitchen Party post is up - and my last post of the year! The post is, rambling-fashion, about a bunch of stuff, and is in part about this little guy:

I can haz puppie?

Noes. U can not haz puppie.

So head on over and say hi.

A Year Of Blog

Have I ever mentioned how much I loathe the word "blog"? Ick. Anyhow, here's my Year In Review:
January:
BOY, was I ever glad to see the end of 2006. What an AWFUL FREAKING YEAR that was.
I lost one of my favorite cousins. Excuse me while I get all teary-eyed for a moment.
My little Boy turned five. (if you want your heart right in your throat, read the post linked to "My". )
The Girl broke her arm!
I ranted.
It was a dramatic month.

February:
My mom had some scary tests done and I thought that she was going to die and it was ALL ABOUT ME. (that post is pretty good, by the way.)
Great-Grandpa brought us a clock and I ranted about desserts.
Anna Nicole Smith died and it was ALL ABOUT ME.
I wrote a mushy Valentine's Day post about how I eventually ended up being married.
I had a nightmare.

March:
I got sappy about the first of the month.
I wrote about breastfeeding and being pregnant.
I went to the dentist. Whoo!
I wrote about my weight. Sigh.
It was a year after I got very, very sick and came very close to dying.
The Baby got sick and ended up in the hospital, FOR PETE'S SAKE! And then, mercifully, she was all better.
We celebrated St. Patrick's Day.
I made a long, long list of books.
I nearly broke my freaking ankle.
I think I kind of hate March.

April:
I ranted.
It was Easter.
I ranted some more.
My Baby turned all of two.
My dad had the most hilarious birthday cake of all time.
We went away for the weekend.

May:
My Girl turned 8.
My Baby girl was found to be healthy, finally, oh thankyouthankyouthankyou.
It was Queen Victoria's Birthday and I made some fairly awesome cupcakes.
I'd been blogging for a year.
The Baby got into my lipstick.
You know, I'd forgotten how sad I was for much of last spring - what was up with that? Reading through last spring's posts was like reading letters from a complete stranger and a mopey stranger at that.

June:
I went shopping for cattle hoof ointment with my dad.
We found a weird bug outside.
I liked this post.
It was the anniversary of the last time, likely, that I will ever nurse a baby.
Not much happened in June.

July:
Canada Day!
My little Girl had a cancer scare, God help me. And she was fine. Even now, though, I still feel like putting my head down on the desk and hyperventalating just thinking about it.
I had a migraine and then my friend brought over a box of baby rabbits.
Rant.
I wrote about Christian books and have since actually changed my mind somewhat about the state of Christian fiction.

August:
I thought I was pregnant. I wasn't, but it really made me wonder if we are done having kids (there are some pretty rock solid medical reasons for me never to have children again, sadly) or if we would like to have one more child and the answer is... I dunno.
We renovated our office.
The Boy CHOKED ON A FREAKING ICE CUBE.
I turned 35.
August was pretty nice, except for the whole choking thing. The Boy can just cut that the heck out.

September:
We came back from a trip and I was a little bit sad.
Kara Jeanette turned one. And you know how I was so wistful about what a short time Kara was going to have with us? I was so right. I haven't even seen her in months.
The Girl had me post the first of many stories.
THERE WAS A DEAD MOUSE IN THE PLAYROOM AAAAAAAAAAAAH.
And I ranted my FAVORITE RANT EVER. It was excellent.
I wrote about princesses and magical gift bringers.

October:
I wrote about things I don't get. That list could have been much longer.
We visited daycare. And how did the Baby like daycare? Quite a bit, thanks, but she only ended up going about three times, because she had Celiac Disease-related problems for the rest of the week after each visit. I don't know what was up with that, but... We dropped by at naptime to settle up a little bit still owing on our bill, and The Baby instantly took her coat off and said a cheerful "Bye, mama!" so obviously she has fond memories of the place.
My grandma was in the hospital for a while - she's better now - and my baby brother went to Winnipeg and then didn't come back for a month!
I amused myself by writing a partial list of my pre-parenting thoughts.
It was Halloween!
I like October.

November:
Peg Bracken died and it was all about me.
I wrote about friends, good and bad.
It was Remembrance Day and I was feeling mighty wistful. And then my kids were their school's representatives at the Legion's wreath-laying ceremony.
I reposted my snowflake instructions and then never made them myself this year.
November was nice.

December:
I got sappy on the first of December and posted my very, very favorite picture of The Boy.
It was St. Nicholas Day!
I was alternately amused, horrified and proud of my son.
There was a TREE in my living room COVERED IN STUFF! It's TRUE! (and it's still here, of course, it not yet being Epiphany.)
My kids were pretty magical at their Christmas concert, with the exception of The Baby, who was just loud.
And then it was Christmas and Santa brought my eight year old child some booze. I think the strain might be getting to him.
December was lovely and I'm perfectly happy to head into another year. Tomorrow, we're making tons of appetizers and playing board games and wearing stupid hats and watching old home movies and just being happy to be with these people, my favorite people ever.

FIIIIVE GOOOOLDEN RINNNGS!

And how was your Christmas? Mine was dandy, thanks, even though 3/5 of the household had a feverish, snotty cold and the other 2/5 - me and The Girl - weren't feeling all that splendid either.

On Christmas Eve/Christmas morning, I heard the Boy and The Girl wake up excitedly and attempting to wake up their baby sister, who was sleeping heavily since it was 12:30 at night and all. So we tucked them back into bed. And then for the rest of the night, The Boy would call into me every half hour, asking if it was time that he could get up yet. I gave in at 5:30 and the older two dashed happily into the hallway and grabbed their stockings and ran back into their room. Lounging in bed, I overheard the following conversation:

The Boy: I GOT THE CASHEWS I ASKED SANTA FOR!
The Girl: (slightly less thrilled) I got cashews too.
The Boy: I GOT A GIANT CANDY CANE!
The Girl: I got a tube of candy... filled with BAILEYS?!
The Boy: I GOT A SET OF LEGOS!
The Girl: (in a tone of utter shock) I got A BOTTLE OF BAILEYS?!
... at which point I heaved myself out of bed and checked the stockings in the hallway and yep, Santa had filled the wrong one. She had her Daddy's stocking.

So THAT was pretty funny. Then we spent the next several days opening presents and eating and now we're just relaxing and/or putting in new bookshelves. My husband hasn't had this much time off since we had The Baby, so it's very pleasant having him around all the time. And here's some of what we've been up to:

A really fun online colouring site from Crayola.
Science experiments! Lots of 'em! My kids LOOOVE science experiments, the little weirdos. The Girl got a box of explosive experiments from Santa and spent the next couple of days in chortling, devious delight.
My kids have NO idea who the Muppets are - in fact, they find them creepy - but they spent quite a long time yesterday chortling and attempting to shoot Gonzo from a cannon into a pool of water.
Blobber.
Playing online slot carts. Endlessly. With The Boy.
Printing these toys out and putting them together.
And that oughta do it. Hope everyone is having a relaxing, joyous week.

It's Christmas Eve!

And my Kitchen Party post is up - this week, I have a REALLY EASY fudge recipe, in case you want to make something last minute AND a picture of The Baby where she's SMILING. SHOCKING!

Merry Christmas to you!

Even in the middle of this imperfect, frequently sad life - even when my Christmas tree is in a litter pail and my picture frames hang crooked - it's still so sweet and life is short and Christmas more so, so I'm going to be absent from blogland for the next bit while I enjoy the holidays with my loved ones.

Let me leave you with this, the most radiantly joyous thought I know:

I salute you. I am your friend and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you which you have not got. But there is much, very much, that while I cannot give it, you can take. No heaven can come to us unless our
hearts find rest in today. Take heaven!

No peace lies in the future which is not hidden in this present little instance. Take peace!

The gloom of the world is but a shadow. Behind it, yet within our reach, is joy. Take joy!

Life is so full of meaning and purpose, so full of beauty . . . that you will find earth but cloaks your heaven. Courage then to claim it, that is all! . . . And so I greet you,
with profound esteem and with the prayer that for you, now and forever, the day
breaks and the shadows flee away.
"Letter to a Friend" by Fra Giovanni, 1513

And should that not put you into the Christmas spirit, here is a merry little elf who is obviously just FULL of good cheer:

Merry Christmas and love to all of you. Thank you so much for your friendship and kind words.

Three Kids, One Concert

I've always been pretty smug about how well-behaved my kids are - obviously I'm a fantastic mother to have toddlers that I could bring anywhere without embarrassment. The mothers with kids running around in public were Bad Mothers, obviously, and perhaps needed some gentle lessons in Good Parenting from moi. And obviously my prideful hubris hath caused me to be smoted.

A certain Bad Little Girl was the big ham at the Christmas concert yesterday, yelling advice to kids on stage, screaming "It's dark!" whenever the lights went down, hauling Bonnie's little guy around by his hand while he wept in terror and attempting to get up on the stage with her big brother. She was hilariously awful and I ended up watching the rest of the concert from the hallway, horrified and rather amused.

The Boy's class spelled out Christmas - he's the first S - and the little guy next to him suddenly froze up, unable to speak in front of such a big group. The Boy whispered his line to him and when that didn't work, announced that "I is For Icicle" and patted his shy classmate reassuringly on the shoulder, before going on to announce that S is for Santa or Snow, I can't remember which. All I know is that my heart did that sudden too-big-for-my-body thing, this feeling that I always have for my tall, kind Boy.

The Girl went to school with a clutch of presents for her friends - fancy notepads with matching pens, courtesy of the dollar store - and had gleefully wrapped one for herself as well, with Great Big Plans to write a story in hers about her friends opening their presents. As her friends happily unwrapped their presents, another girl happened by and noticed, sadly. This girl and The Girl have had a rough relationship for their entire school career and they're certainly not friends, but The Girl handed her the wrapped present she had brought for herself and told her that it was for her and "Merry Christmas, I hope you like it."

The Girl survived being a big fat snowman, although she gave a rather listless performance - although she really belted out We Wish You A Merry Christmas. (she's sitting down on the far right.) And I did feel merry yesterday - merry and joyous, glad for these three children and the trouble and happiness they bring us.

A brief anecdote, a question and a tutorial.

My kids are having their school Christmas concert this afternoon. The Girl is BEYOND disgusted because her class is singing Rocking Around The Christmas Tree and she has to wear a big fat snowman costume. My husband can't make it, but he did just email me and begged me to tape our daughter on stage, looking like the world's most disgruntled Frosty. It's going to be EXCELLENT.

I was just sketching out my Christmas dinner menu - we're currently at 12 people - and realized that I'm drawing a big blank when it comes to Interesting Christmas Side Dishes. I'm doing the standard Christmas menu - turkey, stuffing (one standard, one gluten-free), gravy, these mashed potatoes, glazed sweet potatoes, homemade rolls, my notorious asparagus salad (I'll try and get the recipe for the posted at my food site by the end of the day) and a jell-o salad, as is required.....

BUT......

I don't know what to make for the REST of the meal. There should be, I think, 2 other side dishes, vegetable-y things and I can't think of WHAT they should be. Do you have a fantastic recipe for me? Either let me know in the comments, or email me: beckfrogandtoad at gmail.com. I'm serious! Help me get some good ideas! I'll post everything at my food site, too. Everything's coming up side dishes!

(underlining things turned out to be REALLY early. If you're in blogger, go to "edit html", and do the following: little triangular brackets around"strike" word you want to strike through < / strike >
and this will happen
Just remove all the spaces, and voila.)

SANTA! I KNOW HIM!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Mostly wrapping paper. Lumpy things get stuffed into bags, though.

2. Real tree or artificial?
REAL. And monsterous.

3. When do you put up the tree?
About two weeks before Christmas, although it's hard to hold out the long with my children wailing about how hard done by they are with no tree and all.

4. When do you take the tree down?
We try to hold out until the first week in January and properly acknowledge the whole length of the Christmas season, all the way to Epiphany. Of course, the tree has few needles left by that time but it's still plenty festive.

5. Do you like eggnog?
Sometimes yes and sometimes it is a big cup full of chilled phlegm.

6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hmmmm. One year I got a lovely black haired doll named Cathy. She had a pink dress and she was beautiful.

7. Do you have a nativity scene?
I do indeed. I got in on sale last year at the hardware store and my children think it is beautiful.

8. Hardest person to buy for?
My mother-in-law - she doesn't WANT anything and she gets her feelings hurt if she doesn't love her present.

9. Easiest person to buy for?
Everyone else on my list is really easy.

10. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
Someone gave me a crimping iron three years in a row RECENTLY and not back in 1987.

11. Mail or email Christmas cards?
I mail over 50 handmade Christmas cards every year and those who don't are not trying hard enough. Heh.

12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
Miracle on 34th Street


It's A Wonderful Life


Elf


A Charlie Brown Christmas



13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
I start ordering things online in Septmeber. Given that, you'd think I could just sit back and relax right now, eh? Oh noooo.

14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Nope. I sell things we don't need at our yard sale or donate them.

15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Yes.

16. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Coloured lights. White lights are for communists.

17. What is your favorite Christmas song?
Am I feeling reverent?


Am I feeling giddy?

.... and a ton of other stuff which I'm too lazy to search for.

18. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
Stay home - and yet that never happens.

19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Of course I am. See above, RE: not a communist.

20. Angel on the tree top or a star?
This year? Both.

21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
WE open pajamas on Christmas Eve after church, which is mainly so we'll all look cute in the morning. Everything else gets opened in the morning.

22. What I love most about Christmas?
All of it, HELLO!

A mystery SOLVED and The Baby tells you stuff

It was Kyla! I was tagged by someone in the past two days with a Christmas meme. I thought "spiffy!", made a mental note and then promptly forgot. Who were you, phantom tagger? (and whoo! I figured out how to cross things out! I am an amazing genius!)

And further back, about a week and a half ago, a first-time commentor tagged me with the Seven Things Meme. I've done that one a lot, but I'd still like to comment at your place and I can't find you. If you're still out there, comment again please!

Lotus's Braden James tagged The Baby with the 8 Things About Me meme. One of the fun things about The Baby is that she will go on at length when asked questions, so I just asked her to tell me some things about herself and voila!
1. I has a jacket that goes here (points to torso) and it zips up! It is a winter coat.

2. A little boy was mean to me and a puppy was mean to me. They both were mean to me. (editorial note: Oh, that little boy was SO not mean to her! When she went to daycare for a morning a week, there was one little guy - 18 months old - who cried ALL THE TIME, ALL DAY, and followed her around and annoyed her. She eventually took to yelling at Weepy whenever he came near her, at one point shrieking "Get away from me, you stupid little boy!" Anyhow, we gave up on her morning-a-week and so he's not being mean to her anymore.)

3. A turtle kicked me in the butt and he bothered me. He was mean. (Dad, do you know anything about this story?)

4.I'm a big girl and I can pee on my big girl potty. Then I'll be grown-ups me.

5. I want a toy horn. I want lots of them. From Santa. Please? Right now, okay?

6. I ate a potato at Grandma's house. But not a lemon. No way. The potato was soup.

7. I want to sit on the couch and not here. The compooter is stupid.

8. I like to play the pee pee game on the compooter. Get off the compooter right now, mama. I want to play it.

Baby out.

Have you commented on my Kitchen Party post yet? No?

Stupid marshmallows

Hey, want to hear about my morning's trauma?(hint: I thought The Boy was going to need stitches.) SURRRE you do. It's over at the Kitchen Party.

The severe storm that is battering southern Ontario and the north-eastern States is not affecting where I live. There are flurries today, though (a different storm system altogether!), and our special church service (White Gift Sunday - referring to the white shopping bags that hold stuff for the food bank) was held out of town. We bundled the kids up, loaded them into the car, hit the highway - and then promptly turned around. The driving was AWFUL. So the kids weren't in the Christmas pageant this year. :(

Okay, and here's a further sad, sad tale: I made a batch of peppermint marshmallows (they're easy! Try them!) and sat them on the dishwasher. I then left the room.
My husband came into the kitchen and saw that the dishwasher was ready to run, so he rolled it across the room (my dishwasher is AWESOME!) and the dish of marshmallows fell unto the floor and cracked. At first I thought I was mad, so I was hanging out in the washroom putting on my church makeup and thinking "Stupid husband!" and then I walked into the kitchen and he was still there, looking like he'd just killed my dog. And with that, any bit of madness went away - I told him that they were super easy to make and the pan was easily replaced and it was not worth him feeling bad about it at ALL. And as soon as I said it, I meant it.

The kids' church buddy just dropped them off a present - a set of child-sized green and ivory tea cups and a copy of The Best Christmas Pagant Ever. So this afternoon, I'm going to make another batch of marshmallows and THIS time, I'm going to make certain that they're someplace safe. Then I'll make some of my good, good hot chocolate and we can all cuddle up and read our new Christmas book, which sounds like just the most perfect thing to do when there's only 8 more sleeps till Christmas.

My friend Bonnie wrote about one of the perks of Littletown life today: modest houses but HUGE yards. It's TRUE! My house is sort of a derelict hobo house, but it's on nearly a quarter of an acre of land right in town, this mammoth, endless yard. If I turn my back, I can pretend quite nicely that I'm living in the forest, nothing but trees and rocks stretching on forever. And then I turn back again and hey! it's the town! If y'all lived closer, I'd have a big Northern bonfire and invite everyone over. But since most of you are very, very far away, just imagine a snowy yard and a warm fire and lots and lots of hot chocolate. Oh, and booze. This IS Northern Ontario, after all.

To Be Jolly

Thank you ALL so much for your help yesterday! I'll post a picture next weekend, pre-party.

My husband and I are going to take a day for ourselves and finish up the Christmas shopping. My children are off for a day at my parent's farm, where they will be spoiled and cossetted and The Girl will be allowed to bake anything her little heart desires.

It's always funny to suddenly recognize something of yourself in your children. The Girl is very much her father's daughter - shy, artistic, talented, reserved - and so I'm always startled when she shows that she is just as much my child, in her subtle way. She already has her own impressive cookbook collection and her own steadfast ideas about food, which I find charmingly dopplegangerish. Right now, she's playing Mad Scientist with her siblings, which involves many little jars of coloured water, and I find THAT charmingly bizarre. Mostly I'm just charmed by her - what a good kid she is.

I've read a lot of stuff recently by people who are just tired of presents. They don't want anymore, their kids have too much, and yeaaaah, I know what they're saying - my children have more toys than any other children I've ever met, enough to stock their own formidably well-stocked toy store. And yet.... last year, a friend came running up my driveway, pulling her children on a sled and they were laughing and snow was falling and her little kids came dashing up to my door, a present for me in their hands and they were SO delighted and excited, jumping around while I opened it and who could ever get tired of that, this feeling of being loved? And so last night, while I was going through the box that holds the still-unwrapped presents for my kids, I felt this rush of wild delight - like a child jumping in snow, this joy that I could place something delightful into my children's hands, this symbol of my love for them.

And now - anti-climactically enough - I am going to go have a bowl of cereal. Have a good day, everyone.

Help Me, Interweb! (Christmas Edition)

Remember last summer when I asked for help finding a dress for a wedding? That was kind of fun. THIS time, I need help finding a blouse to wear to several dressy occasions (none attended by the same people, handily enough) over the Christmas season.

- I'm going to wear it with slim dark jeans
- I'm buxom and kind of fattish right now, so it needs to fit a size 12. (which I don't think is big on other women, by the way, but it's too much weight for my frame to carry.)
- I like v-necks and I'm not really a big fan of blouses that make me feel like a) a Victorian heroine or b) one of those floppy bow-tie wearing corporate climbing 80's women.
- I'm not wild about my upper arms. And also, it's COLD out right now.
- and to answer Sarah's question - no, I can't wear petite sizes. I'm 5'7".

So here's the Sears link - there are three pages of blouses, I think. Your taste HAS to be better than mine, so help a gal out and let me know what you think I should buy.

While you're mulling over my sartorial choices, Veronica Mitchell would like to get as many birthday wishes for her brother - who is in Afghanistan right now - as possible. I know how much I love my brothers and I'd really like her get as many comments for her brother as possible.

Here and there

If you looked outside my house at bedtime last night, you'd have seen a skinny little girl in pajamas and slippers tearing off into the trees around our house, looking for the trimmed-off branches of our Christmas tree, me standing in the doorway and yelling that it was cold and HURRY UP!

She came dashing back into the house frosty and triumphant, bearing a perfect pine branch in her arms - big enough to be a tree for their bedroom. And so The Boy and The Girl gleefully stripped some of the ornaments off the Real Tree and decorated their small tree, falling asleep with it twinkling gently in the corner of their room.

********************************************************
The Baby might not actually be reading, but The Boy certainly is. He trotted over to me yesterday with a novel in his hand and asked me if "The Bogart" would be a good bedtime book. And lo and behold, it WAS The Bogart! So that brings our household literacy rate up to 80%, a big improvement on our dismal prior literacy rate of 60%.
********************************************************
I made some Swedish saffron buns yesterday - traditional for today, which is St. Lucia Day - and I had this dismal moment when I thought that the yeast dough was not going to rise and it had SAFFRON in it and gosh, that's expensive. But they turned out quite nice and everyone but The Girl liked them. (she abstained because I'd befouled them with raisins.) Karen E. has a lovely St. Lucia bread recipe up, should you feel like baking.
*********************************************************
Everyone has a fever and a bit of a stomach bug today, so all three kids are home. The Boy is happily making ornaments out of pinecones and glitterglue, the industrious little soul, and The Girl is directing from the easy chair. The Baby is going to stay The Baby as long as that's what I call her, which right now is looking like the rest of her life, no matter how verbal my munchkin gets.

Who knew she could read?

The Baby just took a candy cane off the tree and had the following conversation with herself: "Oh my, what does this candy cane say? Look here - GLUTEN-FREE and good for babies. My lucky day!"

Canadian Christmas Television Listings

(Now with even MORE Christmas programs listed! Thanks, Jen!)
Mad's comment made me realize that maybe other families are having trouble tracking down when the Christmas specials are going to be on tv, so here you go - I made this list for myself back in late November and it's not perfect, but here is the list I've made of Christmas specials coming on channels available to Canadian television watchers. (and if you have more channels than me, be sure to check the listings for Silver Screen or Turner Classic Movies to find all of the great old Christmas movies, you lucky duck) These are all for MY time zone, so your times may vary. And there are some spaces, so if you have any information about those, let me know and I'll fill them in.

December 11
Robbie The Reindeer 7:30 pm cbc dec 11
Winnie The Pooh And Christmas Too ABC 8:30 (I think?)

December 12
The Forgotten Toys - 7:30 CBC

December 13
Nigella'S Christmas - Food Network Dec 13 - 10pm (okay, you might want to skip this one. But it makes ME feel festive.)
Saturday Night Live: Christmas Special, 9:30 p.m. ET, NBC
The Little Drummer Boy - 7:30 CBC
Aladdin: The Magical Family Musical 8:00 CBC

December 14
It's A wonderful Life - NBC 8 pm
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
Robbie The Reindeer 7:30 CBC
The Santa Clause 8:00 CBC

December 15
8:00pm Rugrats: The Santa Experience ytv (don't watch this. It's crap.)
Angelina Ballerina The Show Must Go On - Treehouse, 2:30 pm
The Fourth King on Treehouse at 4:30pm (Repeats: Wednesday, Dec.19th at 7:55pm and Thursday, Dec.25th at 5:30pm)
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie, 4 p.m. ET, YTV
Home Alone, 8:30 p.m. ET, YTV

December 16
Polar Express, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
A Garfield Christmas Special dec 16 - ytv 6 pm
6:30pm Smurf’s Christmas ytv
7:00pm A Charlie Brown Christmas ytv
7:30pm A Year Without Santa Claus ytv
Franklin's Magic Christmas - 8 am and 7 pm, Treehouse
Eloise at Christmastime, 5 p.m. ET, CBC
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 7 p.m. ET, CBC
An Avonlea Christmas - 7 p.m. CTV

December 17
How the Grinch Stole Christmas Dec 17 8:00 CBC
Dora the Explorer Holiday Special 4:30 Treehouse
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
Frosty the Snowman, 8:30 p.m. ET, CBC
The Legend of Frosty, 9 p.m. ET, CBC
We Need a Little Christmas, 9 p.m. ET, VisionTV
The Warmth of Christmas, 9:30 p.m. ET, VisionTV
Celtic Angels at Christmas, 10 p.m. ET, VisionTV
A Christmas Carol, midnight ET, VisionTV
Mickey's Christmas Carol 7:30 CBC
Mr. Bean Merry Christmas 9:00 CBC (this one is listed for my mom.)

December 18
OLIVE THE OTHER REINDEER 5 pm teletoon,
Frosty Returns, 7:30 p.m. ET, CBC
The Christmas Shoes, midnight ET, VisionTV
Stuart McClean's A Vinyl Cafe Christmas Pagent 7:30 CBC
Holiday Festival on Ice 8:00 CBC (BLEH!)

December 19
A Year Without Santa Claus, 6 p.m. ET, YTV
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 7 p.m. ET, CBC
Frosty the Snowman, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
Frosty Returns, 8:30 p.m. ET, CBC
World Christmas, 11 p.m. ET, VisionTV
The Santa Clause, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
A Holiday for Love, midnight ET, VisionTV

December 20
The Barra MacNeils’ Celtic Christmas, 11 p.m. ET, VisionTV
A Charlie Brown Christmas, 7 p.m. ET, YTV
A Garfield Christmas, 7:30 p.m. ET, YTV
Miracle on 34th Street, 8 p.m. ET, CBC (I don't know if it's the good one with little baby Natalie Wood or the horrible recent remake.)
I’ll be Home for Christmas, midnight ET, VisionTV

December 21
Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too, 7:30 p.m. ET, CBC
All I Want for Christmas, 4 p.m. ET, YTV
The Santa Clause 2, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
The Man Who Saved Christmas, midnight ET, VisionTV

December 22
Christmas in Connecticut 8 pm tvo
Elf 8 p.m. on CBS
Franklin's Magic Christmas 6:30 p.m. Treehouse
Rudolph & the Island of Misfit Toys 4 pm YTV
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, 11 a.m. ET, YTV
Elmo’s Christmas Countdown, 7:30 p.m. ET, ABC
Borrowed Hearts, 8 p.m. ET, VisionTV

December 23
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation CBC 8pm
How the Grinch Stole Christmas CBC 7pm
Elmo's Christmas Countdown 7 pm Dec 23 abc
The Muppet Christmas Carol, 5 p.m. ET, CBC
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, 8 p.m. ET, CBC
Home Alone, 8 p.m. ET, CMT

December 24
OLIVE THE OTHER REINDEER 11 am/7 pm teletoon
Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, 1 p.m. ET, CBC
It’s a Wonderful Life, 7 p.m. ET, CBC; 8 p.m. ET, NBC
A Holiday Romance, 9 p.m. ET, VisionTV
Sons of Mistletoe, 10 p.m. ET, CMT
A Christmas Carol, 11:30 p.m. ET, CTV
Arthur's Perfect Christmas 11:30 a.m. CBC
The Legend of Frosty 12 CBC

December 25
White Christmas - 4 pm cbc
The Sound of Music Dec 25 8 pm CTV
The Queen's Message - 12:00 CBC (Is watching this a big deal for you guys at Christmas, too?)
Miracle on 34th Street - 4 pm CBC

Why are Christmas trees so horribly hard to photograph? Here I have in my house the prettiest thing that will be in it all year and yet it photographs like a big dull blah. But it's lovely and it's HUGE - we have tall, tall ceilings and still had to lop the top and bottom off the tree to make it fit. My brother Brandon wandered all over the bush to find it and now my house smells like a million tree-shaped car air freshners. Which is to say: very piney.

My husband said, with a hopeful lilt in his voice, that he really hoped I could keep The Baby from playing with the tree today. Hahahahaha! Yes, honey. Every ornament within her reach has been removed, inspected and reinstalled to a new location. It is hard to imagine at this moment that I will ever get tired of the Christmas tree, that I'll get tired of the sharp piney snap of needles underneath my feet, that Christmas will wear out its welcome. The Christmas tree can just stay there all year, a dark looming presence in photos and a cheerful vivid one in real life.

I hate those Christmas trees that they show on home decorating shows - "This year, we're doing our tree in pink roses and muskrats that we've spraypainted gold!" - these matchy-matchy soulless horrors. A Christmas tree SHOULD be a hodge-podge, covered in ornaments made by cheerful little kids and stars crocheted by great aunts and kitschy things picked up on your honeymoon and the Santa from your Grandma's tree. Your Christmas tree shouldn't be there to impress anyone with your ghastly good taste, but should be a reflection of vivid human relationships, of Christmases from your childhood and of your children, the things that make you joyous. And I guess that's my philosophy of life, too, which goes a long way towards explaining why my living room furniture doesn't match. And why my Christmas tree is standing in a pail that once held cat litter.

Having stared at the Christmas tree all morning, I have decided that it needs a few more strands of lights. I'm going to phone my husband and tell him the happy news. Oh, and that our dryer isn't working. Merry Christmas, honey!
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Suzanne Temple is doing the nicest thing over at her blog - one of her readers, a single mother of four young children, is having terrible financial troubles this Christmas, and so Suzanne is holding a fund-raiser and giving away some terrific prizes. If you want to help spread some Christmas cheer, you could head on over.

Kathryn over at Daring Young Mom has several posts up about the severe flooding in Washington right now, as well as links to places where you can help.

And I'm staring my own organization called "The Committee of People Who Think That The Snowman Should Be Included By Law In Holiday Programming." SO that's TCOPWTTTSSBIBYIHP for short. Who's with me?:

It's Monday

And I wrote a Kitchen Party post today, a rather melancholy baby-hungry one. Poooooor me, I only have three kids, wah wah wah. Don't you want to read it now? SURE you do!

He's Got A Point

The Boy was laughing and singing along while I composed rude new lyrics for the Island Princess Barbie ad song this morning (if you must know "Here on this island, my bum is so bare/I run around looking for clean underwear." I am klassy.) and then shook his head and said "We had better stop singing that before The Baby picks up our vulgarity."

Um, yes.

My house smells like chocolate cake right now, which is baking - oh PLEASE turn out! - as I write. It is my husband's birthday today.

The cake is now out of the oven and it looks fine. There's still a good change that I'll ruin the icing though.

Now I just have to clean the house, have a shower and find something attractive to wear, get all three kids washed and dressed and into nice clothing, frost the cake and wrap my husband's present.

Good thing I like him.
IMPORTANT CAKE UPDATE:
The cake turned out fine, the icing turned out fine - I made a chocolate ganache - and when my back was turned, The Baby upended the whole bowl of glaze and so the tray the cake is on is currently awash in chocolate. Well, of COURSE.
I still have yet to wash my hair.

Final update: The cake was good and my husband had a happy birthday.

THEY ARE LITTLE GREEN CANDIES

St. Nicholas's eyes, I mean.
That is all.

This morning's pancake

Me: all pancake blogging, all the time!
The kids gasped when I brought them their breakfast this morning, which was nice. Good to be appreciated. Tomorrow, we're back to Cream of Wheat.

Three Snapshots of The Boy

Since it's Photography Day or whatever it's called and all.

Picture One:
Monday, my dad came over in his big pick up truck and then took the kids outside and pulled them around wildly on a sled for a while. After a bit, dad decided that he should head out, so he climbed up into his truck, ready to peel out.
The Boy spied something under the truck that he decided he needed and lunged under - head first - just as my dad started the truck up. I was seconds behind him. I lugged him out by his coat and stood him complaining on his feet while pounding on my dad's truck door and then my dad and I stood there looking at each other wide eyed over what had nearly just happened.
My son, The Not Very Smart Guy.

Picture Two:
The kids were off to school and had been gone for a good ten minutes when all of a sudden their chauffeur - my dad, again - was at my door, looking a little bit put out. The Boy had forgotten his lunch. Again.
My son, The Guy Who Forgets His Lunch Nearly Every Day.

Picture Three:
The other night at their evening Christian playgroup thing, The Boy went barrelling into the room full of shrieking, running kids. One of his classmates - not a particular friend, just a waifish little girl with thin wrists sticking out of a faded sweatshirts - was standing quietly against the wall, little arms crossed over her chest, alone. The Boy waved hello at his big gang of male friends bellowing at him to come over with them and instead ran and grabbed the little girl's hand, yelling "Come play with me!" and the two of them flew laughing across the room.
My son, The Best Guy In The World.

St. Nicholas Day (almost)

A splendid, splendid article on Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy has been posted again at First Things, if you're interested. It's well worth reading.

And now on to our St. Nicholas Day celebration.

We started celebrating St. Nicholas Day back when we were first parents, although I can't place exactly WHEN - was it when The Girl was a baby or was it a few years later? It has the feeling, though, of something that we've always done and it's a BIG deal with our kids. BIG. It feels like something deeply rooted for us - my husband's grandmother is from Holland and many of his cousins have always celebrated St. Nicholas Day - and it adds a spark of joy to early Advent for the kids.

We start on St. Nicholas Eve - the evening of December 5th. The kids clean their boots and we have a small family party with fancy hot chocolate (my Carnation recipe, topped with whipped cream and sprinkles), speculass (there's a recipe, although I just buy mine because I like them fancy), and decorated sugar cookies (which I get to roll out today, oh lucky me.). There's also different kinds of traditional cakes although I tend not to make any because my husband's birthday is on the 7th and there are only so many days we need cake in one week. I MAY make some little gluten-free gingerbread cakes this year, although I MAY not. And then we sing Christmas carols, help the kids write letters promising that they have been good in the past year and will continue to be so, and then the children are off to bed.

The kids wake up in the morning to find chocolate coins, Kindersurprises and tiny treats (St. Nicholas appears to be partial to those little Dover sticker books and new mittens) in their boots. Chocolate letters or Dutch candy would also be appropriate, but Dutch Great-Grandma gives chocolate letters for Christmas and St. Nicholas is a thoughtful fellow and doesn't want to steal any of her thunder.

Then I make this for breakfast:

(here's a link to the pancake-making instructions, although I just make my own pancakes and proceed from there.)

This year, we're going to make these lovely clay pot St. Nicholas figures, and send The Girl off with a package of Dutch cookies and treats for her piano teacher. The St. Nicholas Center has some more ideas for home celebrations. (and if your family celebrates, please let me know how in my comments or at your blog.)

So that's what we do. It's funny - we started celebrating St. Nicholas Day on a whim, and it's ended up being one of our favorite parts of the Christmas season, the reversal of the sad event in childhood when you suddenly understood that Santa was not real. Now we understand that Santa IS real, that he was a good, brave Christian of such kindness that even now the memory of him inspires adults to delight young children on an early December morning, a magical early joy in a season of such great joy and a gift that I never expected to find in adulthood. And there's a movie being made about him!


Will this be the most AWESOME MOVIE EVER? Maybe. I hope so.

And here's a picture of The Baby wading through the snow in our backyard yesterday:

HAHAHAHA. I hate winter. But I lovelovelove Chistmas.

Hey!

It's Monday, so my post is up at the Kitchen Party today. And no, I did not get another mixer this week but my kids DO have an unplanned day off and I'm going a little bit crazy. Go, read, comment. Thanks!

Three Christmasy Questions

Yesterday, Veronica Mitchell asked:

So what do you think of Advent calendars that count down the days of December
instead of actual Advent? It seems like something you would have an opinion on.

One exists as a way of marking the liturgical passage through the Christmas season and the other exists as a way to keep one's children from driving one insane by asking how much longer there is until Christmas every five minutes. So I don't actually have an opinion, I guess.

Today is the first Sunday in Advent and thus the beginning of the Christmas season. My kids' started opening their gifts in their homemade Advent calendars yesterday. The kids made Advent wreaths in church today and ours turned out QUITE ugly. Tonight at supper, we'll light the first candle (or a stand-in for the one in the wreath - the wreath is too flamable.). And this week sees us celebrating St. Nicholas AND my husband's birthday. A busy week.

Lisa B asked:

Speaking of, how is that book of holidays and magical celebrations through the
year coming along.

Sigh. The book ended up being WAY more work than I thought it was going to be and this time of year is too crazily busy to take on such a big project. I started it and it really was a big dull thud of a thing. I'm sorry.

Kgirl asked:

i'd love to see a list of your favourite xmas songs.

Okely dokely.
I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - Burl Ives
That Was The Worst Christmas Ever! - Sufjan Stevens
O Come, O Come Emmanual
Jesus Christ The Apple Tree - preferably sung by one of those British choirs of high-voiced little boys
Old Toy Trains - Raffi
Winter Wonderland - Ella Fitzerald
Any song from A Charlie Brown Christmas
Christmas is Coming - John Denver and the Muppets
Emmylou Harris's Light of the Stable CD
and the greatest Christmas song of all time:
Mary's Boy Child by Boney M

The First of December!

Hurray! I woke up this morning and all of the Christmas music stations were there! I was pretty sick of all of my Christmas music, since I've been playing it non-stop since October.

Two summers ago, we took the kids down to Santa's Village in Bracebridge and I suddenly became radiantly aware that I would absolutely love to live in... well, not the Santa's Village theme park because that would get annoying, but you know, at Santa's house. I would wear an apron and bustle around in the kitchen with everything looking all Tyrolean and festive and listening non-stop Christmas carols. It would be AMAZING... for about a week.

And I would have cheerful elves to help me in the kitchen:
And boy oh boy, there's nothing quite like the painful nostalgia of looking at pictures from just two summers ago and realizing how much everyone has changed. That particular elf looks NOTHING like that anymore! Exclamation mark. Actually, it makes me sad. Oh boo hoo, my children are getting bigger.

And The Baby actually was a baby two summers ago:

That particular elf is now a long haired mouthy kid, barely even still a toddler. I am out of babies.

And this is probably my favorite picture of The Boy - or my favorite taken that day, at least. He was so happy!

Boing.

Yep, they're all older and bigger now. They're still pretty cute, and they're GOOD kids - exactly the kind I would have picked out from the Kid Catalogue, were there such a thing. And they're having as happy a childhood as we can give them, which feels quite nice, a smiling Mrs. Claus sort of feeling. The Girl is right on the cusp of a certain sad realization (or has already realized and is faking - entirely possible) about a certain jolly old elf and I hope that when she figures everything out, she will see her own parents smiling and besotted and loving her at all of her ages, this child that we always wanted.