The Tree is up

   With a  cat in the house, we decided to be cautious this year and put up the tree and let it sit, undecorated for a while.  The cat paid absolutely no attention to it. As an indoor cat, perhaps she has no idea about the potential for mayhem a decorated Christmas tree can be.  
    Today, after my husband got the last of his grades submitted for the Fall semester, we decorated.  It is a smallish, narrow, artificial tree.  A tree my daughter was scornful of last year, but is slowly coming to grips with.  I just got very tired of the needles which fell as soon as we put it up,  and the high prices for the nasty looking trees that were available when we finally had time to put one up.  You see, in this area, it seems f you want a nice looking tree, you have to cut it yourself -expensive, or buy it the day after Thanksgiving. We have no time until after our Finals are over to decorate, so we have had several Charlie Brown Christmas trees.
    Last year, I put my little foot down (possibly whined a little!) and we went to the home improvement store and got this tree.
Pros: paid for once
         no needles on the carpets
         narrow enough to fit in our tiny living room and still allow us to walk
Cons: no piney smell (Buy candles, I say)
          it looks fake
          we cannot fit all of our ornaments on it.

   This year we have the addition of many of the ornaments from my husband's childhood as we inherited some of his mother's collection.  Our tree would make a decorator cringe, but we have the very special family ornaments from our family, the special ones from my mother-in-law, the home made ones that the kids have made most years, and a few plastic red and silver balls to add sparkle.  No tinsel or garlands.  A star which doesn't light up since the one that does light up is so large it will topple this tree. We normally have one creche under the tree for the kids to play with, as my sisters and I did with  our creche when we were kids.  There is no room under this tree, so it is off to the side.  I am determined that nothing as silly as placement of decorations, or if I get cookies baked is going to stress out this holiday.  We will have enough stress traveling around the Eastern Seaboard later in the holiday, I do not need to start building it up now.
     I must keep working on my Christmas gifts.  Once again I did not start early enough for the number of handmade gifts I want to make to be complete slowly, so I am in my last week rush. Oh, and don't let me forget the teacher gifts!  (I must admit, the adrenaline rush makes it feel more like Christmas to me.)  So with Bing and Perry in the CD player, I  get back to work.  Hope this week is fun for you, too!

feeling Minnesota

   This morning it was 12 degrees - we get this occasionally here in NY, but not usually this early.  It reminds me of the 6 years or so that I spent in Minnesota during graduate school and beyond.  I love it when everything is so cold it tinkles and creaks with the breeze.
   This weather seems appropriate since it is the anniversary of the Roald Amundsen expedition reaching the South Pole.

Birthday fun

  Everyone wishes they could celebrate birthdays like I do - I know it, they do.  My youngest got me up at about 6:30 and we had Cheerios.

It was lightly snowing.

We read, then we played dinosaurs.  I did some laundry, got some dishes washed.

The rest of the family woke up between 9:30 and 10:30.

By noon we were clearing out bins of clothes from the attic - summer, winter - sorting through to find all the clothes the no longer fit anyone but keep migrating back and forth.

We started on dressers - my eldest son had a shirt drawer filled to the brim, but only wears about 5 of the shirts in there - an hour of sorting later we were working on the other children's closets and  dressers.  We have about two garbage bags full of clothing to go to the Salvation Army.

We cleaned the laundry room - well, cleaned is a strong word - we folded, sorted and hung up the contents of the Mt. Vesuvius of clothing that erupts down there every once in a while.

Eventually we ate a lovely dinner with cake and presents.

You wish you celebrated like we do.  Admit it, you do!

looking at December

    I do not think I can say December is my busiest month - although it probably is with finals to grade,  course grades to calculate, all manner of Christmas-y things to prepare, make, view or listen to (I am thinking of my daughter's Christmas concert which is next Thursday).  However, Christmas is my favorite holiday and December my favorite month.  In my family two of my sisters and I are born in Dec., my husband's dad is a Dec. baby, too.  We were married in December, and then of course, we have that big birthday bash on the 25th for Jesus.  We even, occasionally get to go out for New Year's Eve - but not often.  I love all the lights (although my house is rarely decorated in them), the smell of the wreaths and trees, as well as all the compulsory baking for the holidays.  For my sister, who is Wiccan, there are Yule celebrations,  so I keep her on my mind as the days get darker.
    This year, as with most, we will be doing a lot of driving.  To Ocean City, MD to see relatives, to Richmond, VA to see dear friends, to a farm in the northern part of MD to see other friends, possible stop in CT to visit family, and home again.  Nothing light in our Christmas schedule.
    I am  spinning and knitting - but cannot show anything yet as a possible recipient of these activities may be reading this.  Suffice it to say I am pleased with the colour choices, the results of the spinning and the way the project is knitting up. Pictures will happen after it has been unwrapped!

Visiting the Dinosaurs

    My youngest is a nut for dinosaurs.  At age five, he can tell you all their names, which period in the Mesozoic era they lived in,  the length and/or height of many, whether they were theropods, sauropods, carnivorous, herbivorous...well, you get the idea.  This past Friday I thought it would be fun to take our younger two into NYC to the American Museum of Natural History so we could see the amazing array of fossils they have.
    We set out, taking a train and subways - first time for our son to do either. We were lucky with the weather, because the anticipated rain never arrived. When we got to Grand Central Station, we showed him the ceiling first. After the subway trek,  we got to the museum.  First we saw the Ocean creatures,
 since they were on the first floor,

This whale is very large!

 then headed up to the fourth floor to see the dinosaurs.
    Wow!  I had never been to this museum, having always opted for the Met when in NYC.  I was duly impressed.  The number of fossils is very impressive.  I loved watching my son look at the apatosaurus - seeing it is so much more impressive than just reading about how long it is.

 

  The Tyrannosaurus rex was fairly mind boggling as well.

 However, I must admit I was more excited by seeing the parasaurolophus,

 the deinonychus  and his terrible claws

and the triceratops with its amazing solid bone head crest.

  I am not sure who had more fun, my son or me!

checking out the maiasauras

My daughter was crossing her eyes with boredom by the time we got to the room with the pterosaurs.

However, a trip to Rockefeller Center,

 St. Patrick's Cathedral, and even Times Square gave her the diversions she was hoping for.
      I love visiting NYC and often think I would like to live there - but not with kids.  Maybe in my old age, I will chuck this country living and become a city mouse.  Maybe...but I don't really think so!


    

Thanksgiving With the Family

All dressed up and ready to go to grandma's!  Wearing the coat that was his father's  when he was that age!

   Was at my mom's for Thanksgiving along with 2 of my 4 sisters, their kids, my eldest sisters kids and a few of their college friends.  It was a nice weekend.  Too many dishes all washed by my eldest niece and me, but at least we did not have to look at them in the morning.
   It snowed for about 10 minutes, which sent all of the kids racing outdoors - no coats, no shoes on the youngest so the older ones carried him - and they ran around chasing snow flakes with their tongues.

catching snowflakes

daughter in a vintage dress I found

no shoes, no socks - older cousin, so no problem!

godfather and godson catching the snow

Thanksgiving is apples

today =

1. peeling nearly half a bushel of apples  
2. Making approx. 2 gallons of applesauce
3. baking two apple pies
4. getting hubby to bake his amazing pecan pie
5. composting 1/2 bushel of apple peels - okay - the peels from 1/2 a bushel of apples...
6. doing tons of laundry - lost count on loads
7. spinning more yarn for a Christmas project
8. winding 3 center pull balls of yarn from my dried skeins by wrapping it around my hand - no ball winder yet.
9. baking 3 loaves of pumpkin bread
10. chopping dead stalks from Jerusalem artichoke plants
11. wishing I had a few more hours to do a bit more

Wishing all of you a relaxing and very happy Thanksgiving