A... Deer?

So you're just coming up the driveway, and do a double-take. Is that a deer? :gasp: And it's a stag! 

And you come to a stop. Wait. Is it moving or no? Why haven't I scared it off yet? You roll down the window. Is that even real? 

(In a very disappointed voice) No. It's not. 

But this little guy has fooled many folks! You're not the only one that he's duped. Our neighbor put this up a while ago, we all had our moment of trying to figure out if it's real or not. We all had a good laugh, and the deer remained. From the kitchen and the dining room table, we have an excellent view of the comings and goings of everyone, so we got to see the show of people slowing, stopping, getting out of their cars, taking pictures, and laughing as they go on. 

Then, on Christmas Eve, someone Santa-bombed the deer. How do we know when this happened? We saw our neighbor's reaction(s) to the holiday-decked deer from our dining room table (I guess it's the perfect place to spy on everyone). 

He looks like he partied too much. 

Photo courtesy of our neighbors

Christmas Sewing: Colossal Squid

Sorry for the radio silence lately, I told myself that I would try to resume a more regular blogging schedule after Christmas. Between Christmas trees, Christmas sewing, Christmas scheming, Christmas shopping, well, I guess I could just sum all that up as Christmas... Ahem, with all the Christmas-ing going on, I needed to limit my computer time to maximize productivity time and direct mental energy towards things that jumped higher up on the priority list. 

I much prefer a home-made Christmas. Something about turning your back on commercialism and consumerism and making things yourself just makes me feel freer. I'm weird that way. I'll step into a craft or fabric store any day, but when it comes to actual 'shopping,' I'll run the other way. 

Now to fill you in on what I've been working on - 

Between paper-piecing and pj sewing, I made a giant squid. Not joking. This sucker's probably over 7 ft tall! 

The inspiration and directions came from something I saw on Pinterest. Big surprise there. You can check out the tutorial for yourself here. I drew out the pattern pieces, cut everything out, and, with the help of Emi, sewed the silly squid together. We put the last stitched in on Christmas Eve.  

The thought of trying to wrap something of that size was daunting. So I skipped that step. After the mini-man went to bed and fell asleep, I crept into his room with the squid in tow, and gently put it right next to his head so he'd wake up with a colossal squid looking at him. The next morning, all I heard was, 'Wha...? WHOA!' And then he ran around the house showing everyone his monster plushie. 

Even when I was working on it, it was obvious that it wasn't a 'normal' project for me. Where would you hide such monstrosity? If I told you where I stashed it, I couldn't hide things there anymore. :P 

Deck the Halls!

This year's Christmas decorating ideas are brought to you by Pinterest. 

This was the tree that was on the front porch. But come the first strong gust... well, let's just say that it was quickly brought into the house. ;) Perfect size for the porch, a bit big for the living room. 

Our solution for displaying Christmas cards. :) 

We even got a hand-signed by all the employees Christmas card from our local farm store. Does that tell you how often we go there? :D

Our neighbor brought over arm-loads of holly. It ended up in just about every corner we could cram it in. ;) Then we shared the rest with some friends. There was that much holly. 

If you go through the pinterest board, you'll see inspiration for this. ;) 

And the cat helped too. He supervised. 

That tree. I want to climb it. 

"My brother is guessing his presents." -Eli's self-caption.

Christmas Decorating

I don't know why, but I'm excited for Christmas this year. I was rip-roaring ready to go before Thanksgiving, but Mom wouldn't let us play any Christmas music before the grand turkey day. Needless to say, we played it anyway to irk her. We're such loving children. Maybe it was all the nostalgic Christmas pictures starting to make the rounds on Pinterest. Maybe it's because we didn't really get to decorate for the season last year (we had some good friends with their many minions staying with us - I'll take them over decorations any day). Maybe it's because I actually feel like I have energy to do Christmas-y stuff; last year all I wanted for Christmas was a chance to hibernate. 

Needless to say, we've started to decorate.

And what a better place to start than the front porch! 

Yes, there's a tree on the porch. 

With lots of bells. 

And berry garland

The decorative bird house even got trimmed. 

I found this little beauty at the same antique store that I got the dulcimer. 

Does somebody want in? You're quite subtle. I must be cold out.

This wreath is what started it all. Once we set it on the front door, we knew what sort of 'feel' we wanted to have. 

On a random side note...

Do you know how hard it is to find Christmas decorations without glitter plastered all over?

Rescue

Living on a Christmas tree farm, you'd think that we'd bring the biggest, fattest, tallest tree in the field into the house. That is an urban myth. It is my duty now to dispel of such thoughts. Last year, we didn't even have a tree. This year, we have a rescue. 

When an oven decides to smell of electrical burning, Mom sends everyone outside so that we don't breathe in the stench. We finished our chores. We really couldn't think of anything else to do. Then someone suggested that we go find our tree! Brilliant idea, I say! So off we went a-tromping through the field. We found several trees that sort of met the strict criteria, and we couldn't agree on any single tree (of course). Then, as we were headed back to home base, there it was - a lonely, slain tree sitting out there in the middle of the field severed from its life source. Someone must have cut it and found a better one, poor thing. There was only one thing to do with it. Give it some love and bring it into the house. We trimmed off the lower branches, gave the tree a shake, took fifteen minutes to cut an inch off the stump, and stood the tree up in it's stand. 

It looked pathetic. It couldn't decide if it would be a Charlie Brown tree or a Dr. Seuss tree. And my sister hated it from the get-go. She now hates me for bringing it into the house. Maybe she'll hate her Christmas present just as much. :P

Meanwhile, my brother, who has the highest standard that a Christmas tree can attain, was away at college classes. He had no clue what we were doing. His facial expression when he walked in the door was priceless. Appalled. Sheer shock. He also hated the poor tree. 

Despite the vocalizations of dislike, we strung lights up and decorated it. It didn't look as bad, but the top was still on the funky side. 

Oh well!  

At least we have a tree this year. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

A Mini Christmas Tree

Kids. Ya gotta love 'em. They have very different ideas about things than what you (the adult) could even begin to imagine. 

Case in point:

Today, as a family was getting out of their vehicle, one of the kids was begging for a mini Christmas tree. My dad offered the parents a killer deal for a small second tree, and they agreed. They successfully slayed the first tree and began hunting for the next. As they were tromping through the field the child picked up one of the sheared off tree tops and declared that he had found the perfect mini Christmas tree. The 'tree' was just the over-achieving efforts of a tree to be tall that was taken off. It really was just a stick covered with some needles and some stem buds, perfectly straight. Smaller than a Christmas tree seedling. Not even big enough to consider a Charlie Brown tree. But it was perfect. The little boy came back skipping and ever so happy about finding the perfect mini-tree. 

I will most certainly have more tales to tell from the Christmas tree farm adventures. Stay tuned. 

The 12th Night Ball - 2011

I say this is the best way to bring in the new year - with a ball! :D

Can't you tell that they're identical twins? :)

They didn't all plan on wearing red, but they did!

I rarely post pictures of myself, so here's one!

See? Home schoolers do socialize! :P

It's always so sweet when big brother's dance with their little sisters. :)

And that is all that I will leave you with. My day was fairly uneventful (unlike the last ball), although I did get all ready in less than 45 min! I think I set a record...

~*SG*~

Christmas this Year - 2010

December is a crazy month for my family and me - living on a Christmas tree farm will do that. On top of the merry bustling around, we bring an integral part to many people's Christmas celebrations and traditions.

But for my family, we've been learning that everything is not about tradition - in fact, when we try to keep some of the more "traditional" traditions, God shows us that there is more to it than that. For Thanksgiving, all attempts to get a family get-together were thwarted, even simpler Plan B got sick.

For Christmas this year, we didn't have a tree. Yes, the shoe-maker's children were barefoot. Almost as soon as we brought in the fresh, fragrant garland and greenery into the house, my youngest sister and brother started showing signs of allergies.

So we were without a Christmas tree. But it doesn't stop there. ;)

My cousin also developed horrible allergies to the fir. So, on Christmas Eve, his older sister laid out a blanket and left a note:

Dear Santa,

We can't have a Christmas tree because of allergies.

Please leave the presents on the blanket.

Despite the sad lack of a tree in the house, Christmas was simply joyous. On Christmas Eve, my siblings and I exchanged the gifts for the person we drew ealier in December. I must admit, it was entertaining watching my sisters shopping for each other in the same stores at the same time. I figured out that Jake had drawn me; I predicted that I would get a Joann's gift card. Guess what I got? I was right. :) Little Eli shopped for himself while selecting his big brother's gift. The final choice? A nurf gun set with two guns - one for each of them. I think Eli was more excited than Jake when we exchanged gifts.

Christmas morning was simply wonderful. I think getting to sleep in 'til 8:30 helped. As I was waking up, the beautiful melody of 'O Holy Night' drifted through the house as my sister graced us with her piano playing. Doing animal chores seemed less tedious than usual - I also had to gather fresh eggs for the eggnong. Once I finished making the eggnog, everyone was up. Commence the breakfast making! Scrumptious bacon, broccoli, and mushrooms all went into the scrambled eggs. We also had fresh squeezed orange juice along with banana bread our neighbor had made for us.

We didn't get to the presents until almost noon, and that didn't bother us one bit. Ever since we were little, our parents instilled in us that Christmas was not about presents, but of the birth of our Savior. For as long as I can remember, before even touching the gifts, we have always read the New Testament account abotu the greatest gift given to man. It really doesn't matter what everyone received as under the 'Christmas tree', but we were together. It was also the first Christmas with Oma living on this side of the country. We played games, ate cookies, drank eggnog, enjoyed each other's company, and rested from a crazy December.

I hope that all Christmases will be this wonderful for years to come. Merry Christmas to everyone!

~*S*~