It's January. And Cold.

 
After the festivities and frivolities of the December holidays pass, we're left with... well, still winter. And I like winter, truly I do. But the below zero temps and wind chills, cars that are grouchy about starting, and perpetually chapped hands have a way of turning my thoughts toward greener seasons.

Ah, well. It's the circle of the seasons, and I need to remind myself that days when exposed skin can freeze in less than ten minutes just make me appreciate summer all the more! But the kids have been a bit grumpy as of late. Ice skating at the pond was cancelled due to -17 degree wind chills.  Sledding isn't possible without winter gear that would tolerate an arctic trek. And so we bundle up, stay indoors and wait it out.

If you've been feeling the cabin fever lately, it's time to think outside the (ice)box. When television gets a bit boring and you've had all the video games and reading you can handle, muster some creativity and make the most of the indoors!

Cold weather days were made for family game night. Monopoly, checkers, Candyland, Battleship, or any other favorite board game is just waiting to be taken out and played with! Whip up some hot cocoa or Irish coffee and have at it! Surprise the kids and come home with a new family favorite. Most board games can be purchased for $15-20, and that's far cheaper than a night at the movie theater! Or, make it a theme night. Start out by figuring out whodunit as you make your way around the Clue board game, and follow it up with a big bowl of popcorn and a viewing of the spectacularly witty and comedic '80s movie based on the game and brought to life by Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Martin Mull and crew.

Looking for a bit more activity? Leave the kids a note after school challenging them to an evening of XBOX games. Who's better at dancing a bit of B-52's choreography, your husband or your kids?? I suggest having the video camera at the ready.

Cold weather is also a prime time to kick it old school. Puzzles, anyone? They're not just for the grandparents! Cards, Bingo and a host of other oldies but goodies can lead to 'round the table conversation and laughter.

However you beat the winter blues, rest assured that spring is on the way. Consider this a time to slow down a bit and savor time spent in closer quarters with loved ones!

Happy New Year!

 
Welcome to 2013, people!

Yes, it's soooo cliché, but the older I get, the faster time flies. Can we really be turning the calendar page, leaving behind 2012 and setting out to see what 2013 has in store? I still vividly remember sitting in my desk the morning we came back to school after Christmas break when I was in 4th grade and thinking how neat it was that it was 1988. Eights were my favorite number to write at that point in my life. That was a good year. It was also a quarter of a century ago now. Yikes!

I don't know about you, but for me, this past year was a doozie! Superstorm Sandy has us all aghast and worrying about our East Coast neighbors. The presidential election certainly had the country vocal about a handful of issues. The 2012 London Olympics has us cheering on favorites to gold, silver or bronze. And we all held our breath, wondering if we would teeter over the fiscal cliff or not. But that was yesteryear, and I'm excited to see what 2013 holds in store!

The dawning of the New Year is always a fresh start full of new opportunities and provides us with a chance to do things a little better this trip around the sun. And while I can't personally do much about natural disasters or the national debt, I can focus on the things I do have a bit of control over. Finances? We'll make some changes this year to save more. Eating habits? Yep, those will improve.  Carving out more time for friends? Absolutely. I'll write and mail more letters, remember everyone's birthday, and finally get the kids' photos organized. I'm telling myself this year will see less clutter, less pizza, less dipping into savings. I'll read every night with the kids (and hug them more and listen when they have little stories to tell). I'll finally tackle an overhaul of the den and make good on my promise to teach my 8-year-old how to embroider. Family game night won't get cancelled when there's too much to do - it'll be a priority. Here's hoping!

I realize it's easy to get caught up in the renewed mindset of resolutions when January comes calling and we find a bit more time on our hands after the mad dash of the holidays is behind us. And while that excitement might be strong the first few weeks of the year, for many, it begins to wane after a month or two. But consider this your encouragement for the day - keep it up! You're doing great! And pass it on, folks! Offer some support to a friend, coworker, spouse, or neighbor. Changing old habits is a hard thing to do, but far easier with some enthusiastic cheerleaders behind you!

Whatever your New Year's resolution may be, bear in mind that time does drift by faster than we realize. Remember that the most important things in life aren't things, and that time spent with loved ones and friends is precious. 2012 is behind us. Make this year a stellar one!

We'll revisit this post in April to see if I'm on track with my plans. In the meantime, I wish you all good health, peace, and a good fortune in 2013.

Send Some Holiday Love and Good Cheer!

Amid baths and homework last night I whipped up a few batches of Christmas cookies. No, the caramels aren't done yet and the rosettes might not happen this year, but I had bigger fish to fry. The yearly Christmas card and letter had to get finished, printed, stuffed, licked, stamped, and dropped in the mail today!

I'm a paper fan, and even more so, I'm a huge advocate for receiving items in the mailbox that don't require payments or any other sort of action other than opening and enjoying. So I love the holiday season and making the daily trek to the mailbox to see what tidings of joy and good cheer have been sent to us by friends, family, co-workers, old college roommates and the like. It's a time to catch up, reminisce, share news of your family, and reconnect with everyone - those you see on a daily basis and those you might not, but who still hold a special place in your heart.

Sending Christmas cards has been a tradition since the 1840s when a Londoner designed the first cards, which sold for a shilling each. These early cards wished recipients a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, but depicted warm weather images, such as fairies and flowers. Since then, Christmas cards have become a collection of everything from elaborate and lovely to simple and to the point. One thing hasn't changed, though: holiday cards still serve the purpose of wishing loved ones a festive holiday season and good cheer for the New Year.

Yes, modern technology has evolved. The handwritten letter is on the Endangered Species List and emails, text messages and e-cards have increase in popularity. But despite the cost savings and ease of sending merry wishes through cyberspace, in my humble opinion, it doesn't compare to the anticipation of visiting the mailbox, running one's finger along the envelope flap, and pulling free a cardstock missive conveying merry sentiments for a happy holiday. If it's only once a year, I believe we all should take the time to do things the old fashioned way. It will be appreciated.

Don't believe me? Just imagine if Grandma sent a virtual box of cyber cookies instead of lovingly baking and wrapping up a tin of your favorite Christmas cookies.

Yes, your days are numbered! But if you're worried you missed the boat on sending out Christmas cards, fear not! You still have plenty of time to send out wishes of peace and good fortune for the New Year. I know of a fabulous printing company that offers a jolly-quick turn-around this time of year! Give Carlson Craft a jingle and get your New Year's cards printed and in the mail before the ball drops on 2013.

Happy Holidays!

The Smell of Christmas

Growing up, my mother baked at Christmastime. Not that she didn't bake throughout the rest of the year, but Christmas was a frenzy of flour and powdered sugar and mad dashes on my father's part to the grocery store for more maraschino cherries, Hershey Kisses, or Baker's chocolate. In the end, there was enough cookies to keep us kids on a sugar high until President's Day.

It's a funny thing when you grow up and realize that some of the things you took for granted were all-out hard work and sacrifice for your parents. I can barely keep up with my full-time job, writing, running the kids to and fro, dashing off to piano lessons or choir practice, and keeping the family in clean socks and dry mittens. Then I resort to a little help from a refrigerated tube depicting a Pillsbury Doughboy. I try my best at Christmastime to whip up some memories with the kids, but it pales in comparison to my childhood memories of kitchen activities.

My mom, on the other hand, rallies during the holidays and produces a merry assortment of baked goods. Armed with mixing bowls, spatulas, cookie cutters and a shocking amount of butter (no judging - when you grow up on a dairy farm that's just how you roll!), she mixes, rolls, drops, spritzes, cuts, and bakes pan after pan. Peanut butter blossoms (with Hershey Kisses, not Brach's stars, mind you!), cut-outs, chocolate bon-bons, peppermint meringues, thumbprints, spritz, rosettes, fig pinwheels, almond crescents, fudge, divinity... there's seemingly no end.

Where some people may have made a single or double batch, my mom would make 4, 5, or 6 times batches. Sometimes more. Did we need these many cookies? Yes. We did. There were eleven of us. There were a dozen daycare kids. There were cookie platters to send to neighbors and shut-ins. There were holiday parties and potlucks. There were milkmen who would happily grab a cookie or two for the road and mailmen who were tickled to take a gingerbread man or slab of fudge.

When we were little, the smell of cut-outs or thumbprints baking to a gentle golden brown just around the edges had us running to the kitchen. We clambered to help with frosting and decorating. We sat in little groups, dutifully unwrapping Kisses and popping a few in our mouths as we worked through bag after bag. Those of us with stronger throwing arms got the job of chopping nuts in the old hand crank nut chopper.

I was in middle school the December my mom's Sunbeam mixer went kaputt halfway through a three times batch of peanut butter cookies. Horrors! This was a tragedy, to be sure! And so, my father, a hater of shopping and congested retail spaces, made his way to the mall, battling crowds and Minnesota parking lots in December to buy her a new KitchenAid mixer. She was back in business and we breathed a sigh of relief. Yes, there would be peppermint meringue cookies for Christmas Eve!

Tomorrow's plan? Mixing up some spritz and cut-outs with the kids. The colored sugars and cinnamon redhots are at the ready. Bottles of food coloring stand at attention. The butter and flour are good to go. Soon the house will be filled with the heavenly smell of Christmas cookies plumping to a light golden brown. Mmmm.

Whether you live for Christmas cut-outs, anticipate krumkake, look forward to fudge, or celebrate the yearly gingerbread man decorating, I hope you all are able to carve out time this busy holiday season to enjoy the smells and tastes of the season!

Christmas in the City

For a long time, I've dreamed of visiting New York City in early December. I've never been there, but I long to ice skate at the Rockefeller Center's outdoor rink in front of the grand Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. To glide and twirl on the ice set among the surrounding tall buildings of Rockefeller Center while the Christmas lights cast a holiday glow upon the smooth surface of the rink - for some reason that scenario just calls to me.

There's something magical about Christmas in the city, whichever city that just so happens to be. Over the years, I've found myself in downtown Minneapolis or St. Paul for various and sundry holiday events. The coldness and heavy air of the Minnesota winter descend upon the city in a different way, giving it an altogether different feel than being out in the openness of the winter countryside. But I like it. The holiday decorations, lights, red velvet bows, greenery and spruce tops nestled into pots and planters with lights and birch branches... it all serves as a festive show of solidarity to both celebrate the holiday season AND make the best of our cold Midwest winters.

Bundled up shoppers make their way, bags in hand, around downtown in a brisk hustle. Christmas music streams from shops and outdoor speakers. Cozy restaurant patrons can be seen through windows, warming up as they clutch mugs of hot coffee in their chilled hands.

Each year my brother Dave and I take our kids and spouses into downtown for some holiday event or other. Typically, it's the Holidazzle Parade, a nighttime spectacle of floats and characters aglow with strands and strands of holiday lights. Hearty Minnesota children bundle up in snow gear to sit on curbs in downtown Minneapolis, braving the cold to watch the merry glowing floats pass by. Mittens? Check. Tissues? Check. Hot cocoa in a Thermos? Check.

This year, the kids asked to change things up a bit. Rice Park in downtown St. Paul (with the help of some corporate sponsors) hosts a free outdoor skating rink. Aha! Situated right in front of the historic Landmark Center, this venue is nestled in a beautiful little piece of St. Paul. I was secretly excited about this outing. While it wasn't gliding and twirling under the looming heights of skyscrapers in New York City, it was amid a backdrop of historic Eurpoean-inspired architecture. I still love ice skating at an indoor rink or on a makeshift city party rink, but there's something magical about donning skates and gliding on ice set among beautiful, old, majestic buildings on downtown streets. Even the kids felt a little awe-struck gazing up at the stone buildings. Spectators stopped, shopping bags in hand, to smile at the children (and adults) taking advantage of the experience of downtown skating. Park trees twinkled with white lights. Holiday music streamed through the air. The smell of cocoa wafted from the warming house.

It wasn't quite how I imagined New York will be someday. But it'll certainly do for now!

Getting Geared Up for the Holidays!

 
Yes, it's been a while since my last post. I have no excuse except for the old cliche that I've been soooo busy! Halloween and Thanksgiving came out of nowhere, catching me totally off guard. Luckily, this year the kids wanted simple costumes that could be purchased rather inexpensively. This meant that I did not spend several hours sewing elaborate costumes, such as last year's Renaissance dress my daughter asked for. A black cape, black sweats and some fangs were certainly easier, if a bit less rewarding in the creative arts department. Ah well. Next year might provide me the opportunity to try my sewing hand at a Southern Belle number or perhaps some fairy attire and wings. We'll see!

Thanksgiving came and brought with it two sumptuous feasts and enough pie to warrant an early New Year's diet plan. My mom is the quintessential Midwest farm gal, showing her love through food favorites when the holidays roll around. Where one or two different homemade pies might suffice for some families, she is sure to cover all bases when it comes to everyone's favorite: pumpkin pie for Dave and Tom, lemon meringue for Julie, blueberry for Jane, tripleberry for Mark, apple for my dad, and banana cream for... well, I don't quite remember. I've forgotten which is supposed to be my favorite, so I try a few bites of them all.

Now that we've put the great turkey feast behind us for another year, on to Christmas!

The Friday after Thanksgiving is reserved for the family Christmas tree cutting ceremony. This exercise in family fun involves my husband Ryan and me forcing the kids to trudge through snow and endure cold, blustery winds the find the perfect Tannenbaum. I'm finicky (again, I take after my mother who has blasphemously thrown out a Christmas tree or two after giving up on trying to hide the bald spots and unforgiving shapes before instructing my dad to "give it another try, and this time, do please try to get the Fraser Fir I requested and please leave the crooked, barren-spotted conifers alone!"). And so we walk. And walk. And walk some more. The entire time my husband and children suggesting a Blue Spruce or Scotch Pine. "What about this one?" my son will ask. My daughter just gives up, asking me to hurry up so she can get some free hot cider. My husband is a good sport. He knows that all the careful scrutiny will result in that one glorious moment when we round a bend or crest the top of an evergreen covered knoll and discover a perfectly-shaped, full, lush specimen of Christmas tree grandeur. I proclaim, "That's that one!" and the kids clamber underneath with Dad, asking to take a turn at sawing for a spell to help fell the family Christmas tree.

Our tree is now up. The decorations were placed lovingly on the boughs (if a bit towards the lower half of the tree) by the kids while I handed them each ornament, recalling stories from Christmases past as Perry Como and Bing Crosby crooned in the background. I love these Normal Rockwell moments and hope they make an indelible mark on my kids' Christmas memories.

The wreath is up thanks to my husband's handy knot-tying skills. The porcelain nativity scene is arranged carefully, Mary's superglued hand raised in exclamatory wonder (thanks to a certain curious 2-year-old munchkin a number of Christmases ago who brought me the "pretty lady" and her hand). Greenery and pine cones have been arranged, the embroidered stockings hung, and the outside lights resurrected and put up. Fa la la la la, la la la la!

The Christmas shopping list is nearing completion and I await a few afternoons of freedom to brave the crowds. Grandma's Christmas recipes have been found. The kids can't wait to help mom perch Hershey Kisses atop peanut butter blossoms and employ the cookie cutters and red hots. Ryan has reminded me that the chocolate bon-bon cookies are his favorite, and my mom has hinted at scheduling some rosette making time.

This weekend's lineup includes: gingerbread house decorating, ice skating and a visit to see Jolly Old St. Nick.

I'm making every effort to get it all done: shopping, baking, drafting the Christmas letter, pulling together a Christmas pictures... 'Tis a busy season. But as time is so fleeting, I'm trying to embrace the holiday month. Like our children's baby years, it'll be gone before we know it!

Whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or New Year, good luck with preparing and enjoying your holidays!

Take a seat!

The decision whether or not to have assigned seating at your wedding reception will surely provide you with a few opportunities for some pondering. What to do with your cousins from Europe who speak minimal English? And which table would make for a good fit for your college roommate, the only single gal at the wedding? And where, oh where, should you seat Great Aunt Agnes, who has a penchant for discussing her medical ailments with anyone within earshot?

While mulling things over and mapping out a plan for seating the medley of personalities that make up your friends and relatives, don’t forget to think about a seating schematic that represents you and your sweetheart. Anyone can number tables sequentially. But throw in a dash of creativity and treat your guests to some interesting tidbits about yourselves.

Important Numbers

If it just makes sense to you to use numbers to designate the tables, shake things up a bit and use numbers that have special meaning to you and your soon-to-be spouse. Be sure to include on the table number a brief description of the significance of the number. For example, if you each have one sibling, note that on table #1's card. Table #10 might explain that your birthdays are only ten days apart. Table #9¾? Perhaps you met waiting in line at the theater for tickets to the latest Harry Potter film!

Destinations

Consider naming tables after cities, parks, restaurants or other destinations that have special meaning for you both. Did you two meet waiting in line at the coffee shop on the corner? Seat your grandparents at the Common Grounds Café table. Maybe he proposed while on your summer trip to Colorado. Have your college buds gather at the Pike’s Peak table. Were you childhood classmates who both attended summer camp together? Your friends will get a kick out of sitting at the Camp Tamakwa table. Again, be sure to offer a printed explanation on each table number card.

Sports Nuts

For fellas who are lucky enough to catch themselves a girl who loves cheering on her favorite football, basketball or hockey team, going the sports theme route is a fun way to go. Pick your sport. Consider using team logos in lieu of numbers. Your guests will have a ball!

Authors or Favorite Books

For the well-read couple, utilizing the names of famous authors or books is a fancy way to designate tables. Looking for a fun way to help your guests pass a little time before the reception starts? Stand the books up on their tables to serve as table markers. Leave cards designed like old library book pocket inserts printed with a short quiz about the book at each place setting on each corresponding table. Who can name Captain Ahab's ship? To which island country did Gulliver travel?

Nature

Trees, national parks, world famous lakes, mountain ranges, regional wild animals, flowers… whatever elements of Mother Nature call to you will make for a down-to-Earth seating plan.

Movies

Are you and your betrothed movie aficionados? His buddies will appreciate being seated at the Rocky or Godfather tables while the bride’s galpals can chat about scenes from movies such as When Harry Met Sally and Pretty Woman. Your parents and grandparents can reminisce about scenes from old gems like Casablanca and Gone with the Wind. Where to seat the groomsmen? They can gather ‘round The Hangover table to rehash the bachelor party!

Hobbies and Interests

Is the groom a car fanatic? Consider naming tables after his favorite autos. Are the bride and groom both teachers? Seat guests at tables named after subjects and classes. Are you real board game lovers? Incorporate your favorites – who wouldn't want to be seated at the "Miss Scarlet" Clue-themed table? (We advise not leaving a lead pipe or revolver on the table, however!)

Whether you opt to go the creative route and have fun with your table names and numbers, or simply rely upon sequential numbers, use your table cards to jazz things up a bit. Photos, clip art, mini chalkboards, festive vases… the possibilities are endless. The day is all about the two of you. Why not make it personal and fun?