Our Lazy Christmas

I'm pregnant.

And tired.

And T has like two weeks off school.

Which means that I'm scrambling to find care for him while I work, get the holidays together, and figure everything out.

Plus, we got home from our vacation when half of December was over, so my usual crafting just didn't happen.

We tried to drive up to Sebastopol to cut down our own tree, see a petting zoo, and drink hot cider.  By the time we got there T was asleep and refused to get out of the car - so we came home treeless.

Ended up at Home Depot.


 This year


Last Year


Two Years Ago

Stopped at Target and picked up some ornaments until I could get my groove on with my spray paint and pinecones.

But it was raining.

And the pinecones were wet.

So I bought some at Walgreens.

Then our tree stand broke and T learned a new word repeated over and over again as the tree almost fell on him.

Then the LED lights we bought so our house didn't fall down were blinding us.

So we unwound them and put on our old lights - housefire be damned.

My project started - spray painting pinecones, and I got about 5 on the tree before I got bored.

And our tree has sat half done for weeks.



But we like it.

Last Year's Tree:


Year Before:


Mellow Christmas Eve at a friend's house with cioppino and way too garlic-y garlic bread.

And a teensy Christmas dinner at our place with Steamed Dungeness crab, garlic bread, artichokes, and a gingerbread pear trifle (yum).

I was not prepared for Easter

We aren't doing Santa, so I think that pretty much means we won't do the Easter Bunny. A few days ago the weather started feeling like Spring and I got in the mood for Easter. This surprised the heck of out me. I LOVE Christmas, but Easter? Wha?

I bought flowers and decorated my new windowsill (installed with the 'remodel') with fennel from our CSA box.






(what you don't eat popcorn dipped in applesauce?)

We took Turner and his little friend to a farm to look at a baby lamb


Love blossomed


This might have been the coolest thing we saw


Easter for us, when I was a kid, was driving all over at least three hours in the car in fancy dresses and looking for quarters scotch taped on eggs at our Nonni's house.

In an attempt to start our own traditions, I decided we would do Easter.

I bought a Lamb Leg (my new favorite food) and a ham (which I hate, but thought we should have because its Easter?).

Fresh strawberries, pound cake, whipped cream for dessert, leg of lamb, roasted vegis, and scalloped potatoes.

Yesterday I put food coloring in mugs, googled "how to dye easter eggs" (rookie), took off all of T's clothes and set him loose.

He LOVED ploping the eggs in the dye. Which splattered my kitchen. Awesome.



I LOVED the stains it left on my table - inspiration to FINALLY do something about the hideous Formica top.

After one of the worst nights we've had in a long long time, we woke up and Daddy had hidden the eggs.

Turner and I were curled up together and Daddy came in.

"Turner, a magical bunny came and hid eggs all over the house."

"um, daddy, what about our no lying thing?"

"oh, um, a Pretend magical bunny came to our house."

Great.

So the hunt began.

And T couldn't have cared less!

He was too lazy to bend over to get the eggs and when he did, he just wanted to dump them from his basket. When he would find one, we would exclaim, "wow! you found one! Do you want to put it in your basket?" T would say, "no, eat." And proceed to put the egg in his mouth. Then smash it in his fist.

So far, we've had a loverly spring day. Mama cooked, T and daddy had adventures. Cousins are coming over for an afternoon at the beach and then we eat.

Making Jams for the Whole Family

I have this idea that for Christmas, T will get a few things each year.

1) a book
2) a toy or fun gift
3) a new pair of pajamas to open on Christmas Eve

Starting this year.

I made pajamas for the whole family.

I'll start this off by saying I have MINIMAL sewing skills. I don't really care about details.

This project takes about 30 minutes.

The fabric I chose was from the scrap bin from the discount fabric store around the corner. I should have ordered some cute stuff online, but didn't and ran out of time.

So this is what we got.

The legs don't match because the scraps were too small :)

Take a pair of pants that fit well. Fold them in half.

Fold your fabric in half with the "bad" side facing out (the side without the pattern on it).

Place the pants on the fabric and cut around the pants leaving a 3" border. Repeat.

You should now have four panels that look like this:



Take two of the panels, put them together so they match up ("bad" side out).

1) Sew the short (curvy) ends together first (labeled "A" and "B" in the above picture). This will create two pieces - the front of the pants and the back.

2)Put those two pieces together with the "bad" sides facing out. Sew the outside of the pants together

3) Folding the middle seams down flat, sew the inside of the legs together.

4) Fold up the bottom of the legs (about two inches) and making sure not to sew them closed, sew the hem on both feet.

5) Fold the waist down (about three inches) and making sure not to sew it closed, sew the hem on the top stopping with about an inch still open.



Don't forget to fold down the seams or it will be really bumpy.


Fold the pants right side out!



Measure your waist or where you want the pants to sit. Cut a piece of elastic about 3-4 inches shorter than your measurement.

Attach a safety pin to one end and feed the safety pin through the 1" hole you left in the top hem. push the safety pin in as far as it will go, bunching up the fabric, then pulling the fabric back...move it forward again, until you have it all the way through.



Remove the safety pin and do a BUNCH of stitches through the ends to make it a complete circle.

Sew up that last 1" of the waist that you left un-sewed before.

VOILA!



Things you can do differently to have WAY better results:

1) Buy enough fabric

2) Use thread that either matches or contrasts in a cute way

3) Take your time so your stitches aren't totally crooked

4) Order your fabric in advance so you aren't stuck looking like your kid is from the 80's.

But - I think they are cute, and next year I'll learn from my mistakes.

Overall this took about 40 minutes and $5.00.

Xmas day you'll get photos of them on the boy!

Our Driftwood Christmas Tree

Our driftwood tree had a hard time finding a home this year in our new house.

He's not too sturdy, so he had to be away from toddler hands.

And, he's too tall for the dining room table and most other surfaces in the house.

He lives on the piano - and we like him there.

No Santa for Us.

I've bought T his gifts.

A radio flyer wagon off craigslist (the ATV version with a trailer and cooler attachment),

A pair of mittens and hat (edited 12/21 -oops gave it to him this morning because we were going for a job and it was cold),

And,

An Elmo Stuffed Animal.

It KILLS me to wait until Christmas because I know he's going to freak over the Elmo.

I also have an urge to do the Santa thing. The magic of it all. To see the sparkle in my boy's eyes. And for the memory for ME.

But, we're not going to lie to him.

I'm not quite sure how we're going to deal with it yet, but we will.

I'm of the mindset that I'll teach my child to ask questions and offer him information about a lot of ideas and let him pick. But I won't lie to him.

My sister posted an amazing post on this very thing (and that Elf book thing everyone's doing).

She's hilarious.

Thanksgiving Weekend All Rolled into One Post

We may have had the most scenic Thanksgiving ever


(yes, that is the golden gate bridge peeking up over there).

Some "big boy" cousins made a butter turkey


Our contribution to the pot luck Thanksgiving was frying two turkeys


With our electric fryer they only take 45 minutes each - and they are SO amazing. We've tried to out roast them and will challenge anyone to a Turkey cook off to see if they can beat the perfection of the fried brined turkey. Last year I did a fancy brine/herb butter rub/flipping the bird upsidedown to try to beat it and no dice. This year my mom thought hers would beat it out, but the winner was by far the fried birds.

Here is T yelling "HI HI HI"




"A boo!"


T played "HI" (hide) with his Bibi at the table and for the first time in a long time, I got to sit and enjoy my dinner and wine (dumol pinot - YUM). T had enough cousins in the VERY babyproofed house, that I didn't have to worry and he was plenty entertained.

Well, until someone left the baby gate open (See Bubbs running from across the room?)...


We left on time. Which never happens. We left while the party was still going, but the boy wasn't out of control from exhaustion and we weren't too tired to debrief about the evening over a glass of wine.

Earlier that morning, Turner and I had started some Pumpkin Cinnamon Rolls.

(don't worry cousins, we used a different stick of butter).

Friday morning we rolled the dough out (super easy), put the gooey sugary amazingness in it, rolled it, cut it, and gave it one more rise.

Here they are in the moments before the magic happened...

And.

Once again.

I TOTALLY forgot to take pictures before we ate them.

The cousins came over...Mostly grownups, but some kids too.

The grownups talked and the kids played quietly (YAY) in the bedroom.

I think this was right before the moment where T started spitting in his cousins faces.





Cousin party ended at nap time.

We installed T's new Wee-Ride Kangaroo Bike seat (BIG HIT).

And.

We had a blissful ride around Lake Merced.

The boy LOVED his new bike. He sat without fighting with the helmet.

He rode with his hands on his knees and waved at the people as they jogged by.


Then we chased ducks and had stale rice cakes as a snack.


Against our better judgement we went to the Christmas tree parking lot. Yup, welcome to the city. An empty city lot with Christmas trees.

Turner didn't seem to care about all the trees.

But did love picking up the hay and putting it in the "enty" (empty) Christmas tree bowls.






2011 Christmas Tree Photo

2010 Christmas Tree Photo

How many years can we do the picture on his dad's shoulders?

You think we can still do it when he's like 15?

Saturday we lazied and did laundry and decorated the tree.

I came to the conclusion that we shouldn't have jobs. And everyone gets to stay home all the time. And play. And make turkey soup.

Toddler Safe Easy DIY Christmas Ornaments

This was our tree last year.




T was JUST about to start crawling, so the tree was safe.

My fantastically vintage gold glass ornaments could be at all levels.
Plus, our more classic house called for a classic tree. All neutrals = gold and glass.



But...

This boy


Turned into THIS boy

(aren't leftovers great?)

There was no way I was going to chance 30+ glass balls (his favorite toy) with this monster around.

side note: every year bubbs and I argue over if the word is "bulbs" or "balls".

At my sister's party last week, I wanted to try this pinterest find:

Source: juicy-bits.typepad.com via Mama on Pinterest

I didn't get around to it in time, but got to thinking they would be really cool ornaments for the tree.

After visiting Michael's in a HELLISH Black Friday rush (I never go out on Black Friday, but really wanted a tree early this year), I came home with Elmer's glue, three colors of yarn, and a Christmas Tree (okay, the tree was from a lot).

So, the project.

Supplies Needed:
Yarn
*I think the less fluffy/thinner yarn looks WAY better than the thicker more "yarny" yarn
20 balloons
elmer's glue
shallow pan
string/rope/ribbon
something to hang them on
newspaper
wax paper
clothes pins

Steps:

1) Blow up balloons.



I should have gotten smaller balloons. The ones we got worked, but they were a little smushy and I think that created some problems. Anyway...

2) Cut up a TON of 3ft (1 yd) pieces of yarn.

3) Mix 1:1 ratio of water and glue.

4) Stir up your strings and get 'em nice and goopy.





5) Start layering them on the balloons.

Tighter is better and more is better. I wish I had done a TON more yarn. I was rushing and next year when I do it again, I'll do twice as much.

6) Hang your balloons with clothespins



Lesson Learned: glue goes through wax paper. Layer something else under the wax paper so you don't end up scrubbing glue off your dining room table.

7) Allow to dry overnight

8) With a sewing needle, pop the balloons.

9) Get super freaked out because it looks like your ornaments are dying.


10) Feel better because they pop mostly back into shape.


11) Once the balloon is all the way deflated, pull it out through one of the holes.

This is my favorite one :)


12) Attach ornament hooks and hang from tree






Last step: Learn to take better pictures of the tree