Merry Midwinter! December 24, 2008

Sunset at 4 P.M. - December 21st

The cold weather of last week has continued and become even more extreme.  The thermometer finally hit -40 two nights ago, and then sagged a little below that.  There is a big difference between -40 and -25 C.  The cold bites; stings; takes your breath away.  I don’t want to go out.  I put off as long as possible opening the door and getting a piece of wood.  Our house has stayed quite cozy, thanks to Nick getting up and stoking the fire in the night.  Physical activity has been limited to yoga mat (me), and wrestling games (Nick and the kids).  When all else fails, we get a big pile of blankets and pillows and build a “house”.

Back of our House and Various Abandoned Buildings

The days, though short, have been clear and bright.  The sun woke up sleepily on the the shortest day of the year.  It finally decided to peek over the edge of the hill at 10:35 am, December 21st.  We were glad to see it even though it didn’t warm things up very much.  It LOOKED warm, anyway!  We had a cozy day inside preparing for a Winter Solstice party, as the Smith family was invited over for an evening of food and fun.  The fire was roaring; candles and lamps were lit giving the place a warm glow.  Hot apple cider simmered on the wood stove, and spicy Mexican coffee as well for later on.  When it is that cold outside, there’s really not much better to do than eat, drink, talk, and play games.

Nutcrackers Guarding the Nuts

Nick, Alex, and Allison built several hot air balloons with dry cleaner bags, straws, and birthday candles, and at the end of the evening, we all bundled up and went outside to watch the ascent.  Nick lit the 64 birthday candles with steady fingers… and we watched the four balloons take off into inky black sky until they were only  four bright planets, bobbing and weaving somewhere below Orion’s belt.  Then, we ran for the warm house!

Here’s to the days getting longer. Even though we have that to look forward to, we still have the coldest months of the year ahead of us.  I got out and took some pictures just as the sun set, about 3:58.  I hope you appreciate them, because my fingers sure were cold.

Lyra Making Sugar Cookies

To Cut a Tree December 16, 2008

Three frosty people and a very big tree

Lyra has been begging us to get a Christmas tree for several weeks now.  She can’t wait to decorate.  She was temporarily appeased with a thick pine bough which she propped against the window and decorated quite beautifully.  Marley thought we should cut one of the four pines in our yard.  Nick was deathly ill last week-end with some kind of flu which only he contracted.  This week-end would have to be it.  However, the thermometer read -22 C this morning (-7 F); kind of chilly to be tromping around in the woods with two little ones.  “This is supposed to be a fun experience for them,” said Nick, not a character building exercise.”

He had a point.  Still, this was our chance, so we layered up and headed outside.  The kids were so hot by the time we had them ready, they were glad to escape outside where the sun was shining through a haze of frost hanging in the air.  We left the road, and trudged through a field where the wind had made a crust on the foot or so of snow.  Nick found a tree right away, but I wasn’t happy with it.  It seemed way too big, though it was nice and full.  Shouldn’t we look around a little first?

An hour later, Nick decided we should stop at camp to warm up.  Marley was stomping along, waving a blade of grass and loudly singing a wordless tune, but Lyra did not seem to be enjoying herself.  A cup of hot chocolate warmed the hands and cheered everyone up.  We decided to cut Nick’s tree and head home.  I made Lyra and Marley a seat in the snow with the lowest branches, and Nick set to work on the tree with our little hatchet.  The children cheered when the tree slowly fell to the ground, and each grabbed hold as we carried it through the drifted snow to the road.  That was a heavy tree!  “Mom, look at the beautiful trail it makes,” cried Lyra, as the branches brushed the ground.  The tree, loaded into our little plastic sled, swept a trail along the road the entire way home, as the children “helped” me pull.

Once we got the tree home and trimmed it to size, it looked perfect.  Certainly better than some of the sparse spruces I had been eyeing.   Perhaps I thought that my northern upbringing made me a better judge of northern trees that my southwest husband.  In the matter of Christmas trees, he is far more experienced than I.  It only took a couple of hours walking in deep snow at -20 C to make me realize that!

Marley shoveled the driveway with Nick’s big shovel, carried extra pine boughs to the woodshed and made himself a bed, then sat in a snowbank and watched us trim the tree.  He had been out for several hours by the time I called him in, and he wasn’t cold at all – not even his hands – but his cheeks were red as cherries.  They are both taking a most amazing nap right now.  Hmmm… that sounds good.

Christmas Traditions December 15, 2008

Moonrise at 4 pm

My parents are untradional.  I mean that they are not ones to follow or create traditions, preferring to try something new than repeat something.  We did not have any Christmas traditions that I can remember, except perhaps a Christmas trifle which was always made the way my English grandmother prepared it:  sponge cake, raspberry jam, Bird’s custard, Jello, fruit, and whipping cream.  I still make trifle at Christmastime, though I have my preferred recipe now (as do the rest of my siblings, and when we get together, we disagree in a mostly friendly way about it).  Ok, since we’re on the topic of trifle, I can’t resist telling you MY way!  I spread sponge cake with raspberry jam, and soak it in marsala or cream sherry, cover it in homemade custard or creme patisserie, over that a layer of raspberries, usually frozen, drained and mixed with a little sugar, then heaps of whipped cream with toasted slivered almonds scattered on top.   Mmmm…

The nice thing about an untraditional family is that there are few expectations.  If I get a big box sent off to my siblings, or if it is just a Christmas card; it is not a big deal.  Now that there are nieces and nephews, I like to send them something, but there were many years I didn’t send packages to my family at all.  Nick’s and my first few Christmases together were cozy, and fun, but we didn’t do anything in particular.  I usually worked holidays, so we mostly relaxed.  When the children came along, then grew a little, started looking around them and taking it all in;  that’s when we wanted to start a few traditions of our own.  Because I love nature, I wanted to bring it into our home.  The last couple years my friend MaryAlice and I, along with our children,  set out into the woods in early December to gather boughs and vines.  We found yellow juniper, dark green pinon pine, and a very prickly bush which looks like holly but is called mahonia.  We brought them home and made wreaths for our front doors.  These wreaths were not something you could find at a florist shop, or at Costco.  Nothing so uniform.  But with a bright bow, they were festive, and for the kids, it meant an outing in the woods, and a very noisy playtime afterwards while MaryAlice and I worked and visited above the din.

Megan and Allison building their gingerbread house

This year, the kids and I gathered willow from the edge of the river; spruce, and Jack pine from the woods.  We made wreaths – lots of wreaths.  We have made paper snowflakes, corn husk angels, rosehip chains, gingerbread men, and  gingerbread houses with Megan and Allison.  I cut Lyra some Christmas stencils, and as she decorated cards and envelopes, we talked.  A conversation could go something like this:

L – This angel is wearing red lipstick and her prettiest necklace.  She is going to a ball with the Nutcracker tonight.

Me – (laughing).  Angels don’t go to balls.  Maybe she is going to sit up on a cloud with the Nutcracker.

L – Why can’t they go to balls?  How do you know what they look like?  And what do angels do?

Me – We don’t know what they look like, Lyra.  Very few people have seen an angel, so everyone has their own idea of what they look like.  But we do know that some angels are messangers, and some are fighters.

L – What do they fight?

and so on…

We’ve had some very special conversations about the birth of Jesus, as she has colored or cut or drawn a Christmas picture.  Also, I have overheard her and Marley talking several times about Santa Claus, and their concern that he not come down OUR chimney(too hot).  As a child, I was told “the truth” about Santa Claus.  Yet, belief is such a natural state for children at this age, and lasts such a short time.  Who are we to tell them what’s real when so much of their life right now is lived in the imagination?  They will learn as they grow, and ask the questions when they are ready to know the answers.  Angels, Santa Claus, fairies, baby Jesus:  these all have fantastic, magical, and spiritual elements which children have no difficulty believing.  If only it were so easy for us.

Last Christmas, Nick’s family decided to give mostly handmade presents.  We also made our own wrapping paper, or used recycled paper.  It was a very special, and simple Christmas.  Nick’s mom made aprons for all the girls in the family(including Lyra).  Nick’s sister sewed bags from Christmas flannel, and embroidered names on them.  I kept ours of course, and will reuse them again this year.  I really love the tradition of handmade presents, and though it may not be possible to your make gifts every year, still it is a challenge to be creative and an incentive to keep Christmas simple, which for us is a key to a joyful Christmas.

I can’t really say what we made for Christmas gifts this year as it would spoil the surprises in several boxes bound for destinations in Canada and the Southwest.  I CAN say however that my English Christmas Cake turned out even better than last year.   One more year, and I will have the recipe just right.  Surely achieving perfection on some level is a good reason to repeat things.

Many times Christmas traditions evolve in a natural way.  Do any of you have Christmas traditions which have evolved over the years?

Gingerbread house with just a few pieces missing