Our family’s holiday tradition

Some couples seem to have no problem merging their holiday traditions together and everyone is happy. Not to say that we aren’t happy here (oh because, yes, that’s ALWAYS the case ;-)), but it’s been a challenge to provide our kids with a regular holiday tradition for our own little family as our plans change every other year. Good, bad or otherwise, I wanted to find some way for our kids to have a tradition to remember that was just “us” four.

And thus, our expanded Advent Calendar tradition began. As a kid I remember the fun little paper calendars with pictures behind the little doors, or sometimes the ones with the waxy chocolates inside. I think I ate that chocolate then, but even then knew it wasn’t “good” chocolate. No our new Advent tradition calendars are less waxy chocolate and MORE activity and togetherness (in theory)! I think I started this either the year after we moved here or the following. There are TONS of resources on the internet for this kind of activity. One of the early years, I just used paper chain rings and the kids could pull one off each day to find out what the activity or item of the day was. We’ve been lucky to crossover our tradition with good friends here as well so some days involve activities that build in our friends as well.

In one of his better gift shopping moments, my husband picked up this fun “Santa’s Stockings” Advent Calendar on a Christmas Eve shopping trip with my Dad at Bekah Kate’s. (That’s one of their traditions together too!) Since then, we’ve used it every year.

Want more great Advent Activity Calendar ideas, check out Skip to My Lou for more.

Generally, I plan out the activities for the whole 24 days in advance. Yet, it starts tomorrow and I’ve only gotten so far as to hang up the Advent Calendar and not fill it with anything yet so this might be a “midnight the night before” kind of year, I guess. Either way, the kids look forward to it and honestly, so do I! You know what I’ll be up to late tonight after I return from Zumba class.

May the spirit of the season and all the little things about it fill you with joy!

Here’s a real nutjob

or “the meaning of unconditional love”

or “top reasons I’m a Halloween Scrooge”

or “My application for mother of the year”

I’m not quite sure what to title this post, but I thought I would share my son’s Halloween costume. As a UW-Madison Alum and Badger fan, I had to cringe a few times as I crafted his costume request. Yes, it’s true, my husband has modeled the behavior and the boy has followed. He’s an OSU fan, at least for football. (They’re not hockey converts!!)

All that considered though, I was relatively happy with our “Brutus the Buckeye” costume result. AND, I’m positive this took FAR less time than the piece of toast costume from a few years back. I’m also very grateful for the fact that I only had to craft ONE costume and the “tooth fairy” was pulled together from stuff we had in the dress up box. Love that girl too!

Here’s the “how-to” since I tried desperately to find one when I was crafting Brutus. I’m sure you’ll all be clamoring to make one of these sometime soon 😉

Brutus’ head: I started with a paper lantern that I was thrilled to find on clearance at World Market. We squished it with duct tape to start, but who knew duct tape was super stinky?! We ended up ripping off ALL of the duct tape so he could stand to put his head inside this thing without it smelling so awful. We also had to trim off the bottom wire so it was an opening large enough to fit his head into. Then, I shaped it a bit, stuffed it with newspaper and lined that with soft fleece.

Then, we wrapped the outside with fleece. Now, if I were doing this again, I would probably have been a bit more careful about this and actually sewn the seams in, but I was (of course) doing this on Saturday and cramming. So, it’s taped and glued and the folds are apt to come undone, but it’s there for now!

Time to add a spot for the face.

An aside, while I was crafting this costume, a post came through on the Smitten Kitchen blog that I follow about “Buckeyes”, the candy. The ones that look like the photo above but MUCH smaller and chocolatey-er and filled with peanut butter. Oh, how I really wished I were making (and eating) those while instead I was crafting this inedible nut that’s not really a nut. Did you know? Buckeye nuts are A) not actually nuts but the fruit of the Buckeye tree that is actually a capsule that holds 2-3 nut-like seeds and B) they are thought to be poisonous for cattle and most likely humans too. I guess that’s why you are supposed to fear the Buckeye.

Creating the face: I think the actual mascot probably “sees” out of it’s mouth, but we had to figure a way for the eyes to “sort of” line up. It’s best if you don’t look at our Brutus from the back side as it looks a bit lopsided, but from the front we were able to make it line up. We used some tulle and colored it black (as I didn’t have any in black). That was the mesh for the eyes that were created out of white foam and glued down.

We are fully aware that Brutus’ hat is actually gray, but this was the hat we had on hand that we were willing to modify to work for this purpose. We did cover up the bill with red and I found a block “O” applique for 29 cents.

We decided that the towel would make the outfit a little more clear as we are not amidst a sea of Buckeye fans here, most people were probably going to wonder what the heck he was!

I also wasn’t able to find a red and gray striped rugby shirt so we whipped up this creation with duct tape. Ever watched the show “Red Green” on PBS? That’s all I could think of while completing this stage.

And….

drum roll…

script Ohio…

O – H -…

I – O…

14 pints of raspberries, 2 pies, jam, and pepper jelly

Whew! That was a lot and sure makes me appreciate the fact that I can run to the store in January and pick out whatever I need in a pinch instead of frantically canning ALL August and September when the harvest is bountiful.

It also makes me appreciate my friend, Marci, who is cleaning tomatoes as if she had a magic tomato plant in her kitchen that won’t stop producing! If you need some delicious salsa, though, she’s the one to check with! Marcelina’s Salsa is coming soon:-)

Yesterday, we couldn’t decide what to do for sure but the kids eventually voted on heading to Lapacek’s Orchard to pick raspberries. After that decision was made, half the family ended up staying home for a nap. So it was a Mommy – Son date. We picked 7 pints of raspberries and packed up for home to make jam and pie. At 10pm we finished filling the pies and put them in the oven and then he was able to make his own little “tarts” out of the leftover pie crust. That was the kiddos’ breakfast today. They must have been OK, despite his choosing not to add any extra sugar, because the request was can we please go pick MORE raspberries and make more tarts today.

So, back to Lapacek’s we went for another 7 pints. We did share a few:-) I had hoped to hit the Craftacular show in Madison, but that didn’t happen. We also tried a short boat ride with friends on Lake Wisconsin but the choppy waters were not cooperative. So it was back home to make pepper jelly.

I should probably be freezing the 6 pints of raspberries left in my fridge right now, or making jam that actually sets up instead of the “sauce-like” stuff I made yesterday. However, I’m moving on to something else for now:-) Or, maybe I should go workout to counteract all the eating I’ve been doing while making this stuff!

Bling and things…

A few new links of note and some odds and ends…

A dear friend and kindred spirit in Southern Minnesota shared her new web site and business with me http://wyffelscreations.webs.com/ and I think I have another kindred spirit for her to meet as Julia has been crafting vintage stuff for some time now too. I posted some photos of Julia’s fun work before the sale at Lapacek’s last fall. Fun stuff and fun women!

And just outside of town, my friend Deb, is blogging about her life of farming and living as much off-the-grid as she can. You can find her at dancingapronfarmer.blogspot.com.  We’ll get her back to Zumba to really make her apron dance soon:-)

Our first ever Zumbathon in Portage was a success as we packed St. Mary’s gym with well more than 100 people for two hours of dancing that raised $2300 for the UW Carbone Cancer Center. You can see some of that at zumbawithkari.com.

And to cap off a busy weekend last week, the Dells Blades Mites team had the opportunity to be Bucky’s Mighty Mites for the UW v. UAA men’s hockey game.

I asked for his game face...

Making the final save of the 3-minute game...

Looking all grown up headed back to the locker room.