Deep Thoughts With The Chicken Lady

A bunch of randomness:

I love living in a small town.  It means that people know you, and care about you, and even people who don't know you care about you.  Like friends who bring you soup and hot Kool Aid when you're sick.  Or friends who come over with "fun drinks" and molten chocolate cakes to celebrate your birthday.  Or random employees who show up at your door with the driver's license you left on the counter after getting something notarized.  Small towns ROCK.  We might not have a Target.  Or a Starbucks.  Or really anything for that matter.  But we have love and that's all that matters.  Oh, and we have sunrises that continue to make me so thankful I don't live in the city anymore.

View out my back door circa way too early.

Today was the Feast of the Holy Family.  We joked all day that we are a "Family Trying-to-Be-Holy."  We went out for breakfast with our nasty colds because the cleaners were coming and we had to be out of the house.  The food tasted really delicious because I didn't have to make it.   And I was happy there was another kid there who sounded like he was hacking up a lung, so I didn't have to worry about us getting HIM sick.  Then we ran to the orchard, where the girls had an impromptu date with the playground there, and Ken and I stole some moments of peace.  (We've been cooped up in the house with the girls pretty much non-stop since Christmas, so it was a welcome outing.)  The fresh air felt delightful.

After nap time, we watched "Little Women."  You'd be horrified to know that I have never read the book.  There, I admit it.  But my daughter has read it twice now (overachiever!) and has been begging to watch it.  I ordered it on Netflix, and it came in perfect time this week, with all these sick cranky children around.  And it arrived...cracked! (Anyone else starting to think Netflix is a total scam??  Every time we get a movie, it's either cracked, scratched, or skips at least once!)  On Demand saved the day, though, and we had a lovely afternoon.  I've seen the movie at least five times, and for the first time, am no longer a member of "Team Laurie."  I have been converted to "Team Friedrich" but I won't lie, it still does prick me that Jo refuses Laurie's marriage proposal.  (And does it bother anyone else that then he marries AMY?  Come ON!)  And I cried again when Beth got the piano.  And I cried again when she died.  Such a good, good movie, and it was so awesome to get to watch it with my own little women.

Christian Bale!

I'm really looking forward to January.  I like making New Year's Resolutions...even though they are usually over and done with by February.  I have special plans for 2012, but I'll post more about that later.  I also really love two saints whose feasts we celebrate in January: John Bosco and Elizabeth Ann Seton.  As a former teacher, both of these "educator" saints really speak to me.  I also love the fact that we live where Elizabeth Ann Seton walked and prayed and taught.  She was a wife, a mother, a teacher, and perhaps one saint I feel like I have something in common with on those fronts.  We will probably field-trip-it over to her Shrine this week and do the whole movie/tour thing.  It's quite awesome.  We'll also get "A Time for Miracles" from Netflix.  (Ughg, I can't tear myself away from them!)  And I just like John Bosco...not really for any particular reason, but I just love a saint that can take mean, nasty street boys and turn them around and teach them about God.  Because who would want to do that really?  A saint, that's who.

The "holy conversation" at dinner was whether the movie "Little Women" was better than the book or not (clearly a one-sided argument since only one person, aged 8.75, has experienced both) and whether your own floaters in your drink are really that bad.  I mean, they are your floaters, after all, not someone else's.  Keepin' it classy over here.

 

It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over...

I'm sure for many folks, Christmas is over and the holiday clean-up has begun.  For us, in a way, it's kinda just beginning.  We do a "twelve days of Christmas" tradition at our house, which I started when Caeley and Meara were younger and have tried to keep up, in various forms, since then.  In practical terms, it means that we give the girls their presents from us on the days following Christmas, up to and including Epiphany, when they get their "best" gift.  (Since we have both sets of grandparents within an hour drive, and see then both for Christmas, the girls get plenty of gifts on the actual holiday!)  But in spirit it means that I try to spend a little more effort living "Christmas" in our home for the entire liturgical season, not just the one day that our society celebrates it.

In spite of the fact that all the ladies of the house seem to be coming down with a nasty cough/cold, we had a wonderful "day after Christmas" today.  The girls opened their first gifts, we lounged around adorned in new bathrobes and slippers (we never did get dressed), played Uno, played outside with the chickens, enjoyed some hot cocoa and cookies, and tried to savor every moment we have with Daddy home from work.  In the midst of all the special, organic moments, I realized with great humility (and some embarrassment) how little time I spend just goofing around or playing with the girls.  They were so excited that I "played" with them today, helping them set up their new doll house dolls and playing a "westward expansion" scenario.  This afternoon Caeley said, "Mom is REALLY getting into the spirit!" and Meara later asked, "Mom, are you going to play with us next year on the day after Christmas?"  Oh dear...am I really that bad?  There's nothing like having children throw the mirror up to your face and expose all the ways in which you fall short of their ideals and your own ideal!  (Rest assured, this will be on the "new year's resolutions" list, which thankfully I don't have to make yet!)

I'm glad we still have plenty of Christmas left in our house, but I'll leave you with some pictures of the celebrating we've already done.

Really?  You're making me put on this dumb outfit and go outside when I'm not feeling well?

Feeding the ladies sunflower seeds.  Hawks showed up as usual and they had to go back in the coop after about 45 minutes.  

She had a lot of fun chasing chickens!

Our sweet girl Elizabeth likes to hide in our coats.

Cruisin'

The girls in the pageant on Christmas Eve.  (Two shepherds....)

No chimney?  Hang by the stairs with care.

No comment.

So happy to get BOOKS!

Sister helping sister dig in.

My dad being silly.

My favorite gift: Chicken Lady Pants.  Quilted Carhartt Overalls for doing winter gardening, chicken duty, etc.  They are SO comfortable and made the morning chicken rounds so much more enjoyable this morning.  I also wore them this afternoon during our chicken visit.  The best thing about them?  You can throw them on easily over your pjs and not have to worry about getting your clothes or pjs dirty!  And they kinda feel bulletproof, so I feel like a bit of a superhero when I wear them. 

Advent: Weeks 3 and 4

Can you tell life is getting busy?  I'm smooshing our last couple of weeks of celebrating into one post.  Mostly pictures, not so many words.  Gotta get back to wrapping, cleaning, and perhaps consider showering and getting dressed today, which would be an improvement over my day yesterday!

"Planting"

The Jesse Tree is growing as we continue the story of salvation and get ready for Jesus' birth.  We started to add the O Antiphon prayers around the edges on the 17th.

Decorating

Tree all decorated.  I've been doing a "Nutcracker Ballet" themed tree for years now, and finally have enough ornaments to really cover a tree.  

The big girls decorating the sugar cookies with my mom, aka 'Lita

Even with their help, I had about 4 dozen more cookies to decorate the next day.   I really don't like decorating sugar cookies....

 Creating

The girls making a gingerbread house with friends!

Helping to open the kisses for the peanut butter kiss cookies...

Had to include some white striped kisses and caramel kisses because we ran out of the dark chocolate.

Caeley made this felt owl for her baby sister, who LOVES owls.  It turned out really cute!

Special Events

"A Christmas Carol" at the Weinberg Center

 Practicing for the Parish Christmas Eve Pageant

The girls and their friend Isabelle--2 shepherds and an angel!

Las Posadas

Gathering for Christmas Carols after our Mexican feast

Oh how funny.  Our little choir director.

Remembering Not to Work Too Hard

My niece Teaghan had quite enough of that Christmas stuff!

Meara and Ailin snuggle on the ottoman during a Ravens game.

More Advent: Week 2

Our second week of Advent could have the subtitle "Creating,"  as we did a lot of making, creating, and preparing around here.

First order of business this week: St. Nicholas!  The homeschool group had our St. Nicholas party, and it went so well.  I helped organize it with two other members of the group, and it turned out exactly as we had planned.  First, the kids watched a short movie about St. Nicholas, for which they sat amazingly still!  Then, we had them make a special project to promote Nicholas' spirit of "random acts of kindness."  Instead of the children getting treat bags to take home from the party, they made treat bags to leave on the doorsteps of strangers on the eve of St. Nicholas' feast day.  In the bag we included a laminated card with Nicholas' picture on one side, and the following words on the other side:

I performed this random act of kindness in the spirit of Saint Nicholas.  Please consider spreading the spirit by performing your own act of kindness and then leaving this card for the recipient of your act.

Then the kids had a snack and played St. Nicholas Symbol bingo with cards we had made based on the St. Nicholas Center website's cards.  That night, which also happened to be the night of our town's Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony, Caeley was so excited to drop her special bag of treats on a doorstep!  We had a wonderful evening with friends, a hay ride through town, Christmas music, a live nativity, and cheer enough to make it the most memorable St. Nick's Eve ever!

Oh Tannenbaum...

This looked a lot prettier in real life!

Let's go for a hay ride, a wonderful hay ride...

This week, we also began to work on the Advent puzzle.  I admit it.  I stole this idea from our house-mate Matt, whose family would do a Christmas puzzle every year together.  I loved the idea so much, and since last year we've been doing an "Advent" puzzle.  For me, it's really nice to see a puzzle unfold, and all the pieces come together, literally, the way Advent is supposed to unfold, little by little, as we approach Christmas.  I've been super impressed that Ailin has not really been a problem (the puzzle IS on the coffee table after all!) and has only knocked a small piece off once during a spat of "almost two" rebellion.

The puzzle B.K.  (Before Ken started working on it.)

The puzzle after B.K.  (You can tell who the puzzle-master is in this house!)

As our puzzle is growing, so too is our Jesse Tree.  Each day we feel it:  We're getting closer.  (Side note:  Is it me or does the Old Testament seem to go on forever with its mess of humanity just waiting for Jesus to come and put things right???  Or perhaps I'm jaded by the length of time my Bible study has spent on Genesis...????!!!)

We've started a minimal amount of baking because my freezer space is limited right now by a huge turkey. I've made Russian Tea Cakes (aka Mexican Wedding Cakes) for our "Christmas Around the World" stop in Russia, a Martha Stewart chocolate/peppermint thumbprint cookie (which I totally modified and butchered), and chocolate chip flax seed cookies.  I won't point fingers, but someone has eaten nearly half the chocolate chip cookies.  We will jump more fully into baking next week, assuming I can eat enough other stuff out of the freezers to make room!

Note to self: just don't modify recipes.  These tasted okay, but the chocolate center was supposed to be melted chocolate chips with peppermint flavoring, and I decided to melt down Hershey's Peppermint Kisses, which don't melt well at all...

Oh. Dear.

Also for our C.A.T.W. Russia stop, we decided to paint Russian Nesting Dolls.  Since it's Advent, we decided to paint them to resemble nativity figures.  I thought it would be a complicated job, taking weeks between paint drying, design, etc.  Turns out that wood soaks up the acrylic paint beautifully, and that they are not as hard as they look.  Granted, I didn't shower or cook dinner the day we made these, but I guess those are the sacrifices we make.  I don't tend to be a very "crafty" person, and certainly not as a homeschooler, but it felt very refreshing and spirit-lifting to work on something so fun and pretty even though I could've been doing a million other things.  (Remember the laundry pile?)  It made me realize how much I would love to spend more time creating things of beauty...whether it's getting back into cross-stitching or learning some other useful skill.  It just made me happy.

Joseph, Mary and Jesus, a King, a Shepherd, and an Angel (wings on the back...)  I love that all of them fit inside the loving protection of Joseph...

And yesterday, the Saturday before Gaudete Sunday, we hunted for and cut down our Christmas tree.  It might look all idyllic in the pictures, but it was COLD, Ailin was strapped to my back crying because the wind kept blowing her hood off, and Ken kept rejecting every tree we picked.  In the end, it worked out, and the big girls had fun getting free cider at the stand afterwards.  I'm so excited for the decorating that will begin in earnest during the third week of Advent.