Love Love Love

Treated the girls to a day of heart shaped cuisine. It was fun!

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:


Dessert:


Hope there is Love Love Love wherever you go (soo bummed I couldn't embed this video for you.)

Noah and the Whale - 5 Year's Time

Happy Valentine's Day!

Christmas Cookie Round-up

Gingerbread stars with pearl sugar

Finished them today. Chocolate thumbprints & gingerbread cookies; the only two Christmas cookie varieties that I'm loyal to. I got a recipe for Eggnog Cookies from a friend and decided to try it out. I do love eggnog (mostly just a splash in my coffee.) These cookies are delicious and will definitely be made again. I'm not adding them to my loyalty list. I'm just saying these are some pretty damn good cookies. I used treacle instead of molasses in the gingerbread. The cookies are much richer and darker with a much more intense flavor. I think they are quite delicious.

Gingerbread trees

Eggnog Cookies

Chocolate Thumbprints (Audrey calls them fingerprints!)

Here are the gingerbread men the girls made. I just love them! Audrey's are the ones LOADED with candy. Eva's are with the pink and white pearl candies. What are we going to do with these darling monstrosities? I managed to decorate one. Can you find it?

What are your favorite Christmas cookies?

Child Drawn Christmas Ornaments

I love these ornaments! I hope you do too. So simple to make and backed in darling Japanese Christmas fabric. I cut the fabric into 4.5 inch squares, sewed almost around the perimeter (1/4 of an inch away from the edge,) tucked in a bit of trim for the hanger, left an opening for stuffing and then let the kids have at it. Oh, I cut the edges with pinking shears since they were unfinished.

After the kids were finished with their drawing and stuffing I quickly sewed up the opening on the sewing machine. Easy peasey lemon squeezey.

Materials:
White cotton fabric
Totally cute backing fabric (or any piece will do)
poly-fill aka stuffing
Random bits of trim
Pinking Shears
fabric markers

We were able to have our ornament party today! I'll post a few pictures as well as some helpful hints about hosting one.

Ornament Afternoon

Biting off more than I can chew? Perhaps, but that is what the holidays are all about, right? I'm hosting a little ornament party for my girls and a few of their friends. I have supplies for 5 different ornaments. Possibly too many, but that's okay is we don't get to all of them. I think it sounds festive and fun! I really hope the girls feel the same way. I'm nearly done prepping all the materials. I'll show you tomorrow or Sunday how I plan on organizing this whole shebang. Here are links to 3 of the ornaments we're going to make. I'll share the other 2 with you this weekend.

Darling Christmas fabric is from Jo in Japan. Terribly excited to use it!

And since we're on the subject of biting off more than we can chew, let me confess that we're hosting an Open House next week too. Yes, it is a lot of work, but I'm very much looking forward to it. I love the visiting, the nibbling, and, yes, I like the holiday cheer. I'll be back next week for some "what should I make" advice.

So tell me, what have you bitten off? If you're just sitting back in your clean house sipping egg nog, laughing at us crazy types, reveal yourselves anyway!

Random P.S.
Since we can't get pandora over here, I've been listening to Christmas music play lists on Youtube. The girls have been enjoying this one.

Christmas Book

Since we've been in Luxembourg we've given the girls a new Christmas book to add to our collection. The first year here it was Gingerbread Friends. Last year it was Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree. This year I intentionally searched Amazon.uk for an English Christmas story. I'm taking full advantage of having access (aka no shipping charges) to so many wonderful books that are new to us. I thought Musgrove and Father Christmas sounded perfect!

Musgrove, a large and apparently friendly, rat is nanny to Hermione. Their adventures together have formed a series of Musgrove books. In this one Musgrove and Hermione search for the perfect Christmas tree. One that smells of Christmas. In the end it is Father Christmas himself who supplies the perfect tree, smell and all. It is a charming book with an feel of days gone by. Written in script and accompanied by sweet illustrations, it was the perfect addition to our Christmas collection this year.

Here are a few of our other Christmas book favorites. What are yours?

St. Nicholas Day

It's coming up, ya know, on December 6th. Here is a fun little craft to help put St. Nicholas on the map (for those of us who have been staunch Santa supporters.) St. Nicholas is his own guy, after all. Not Santa Claus. He rides in on a donkey, not a sleigh. And, as you already know, his helpers are not cute little elves; quite the contrary. He doesn't work on December 25th. He's not fat and jolly. Different guy. Here's the craft.

St. Nicholas Spoon Guy

Materials
Red Felt
Wooden Spoons
Cotton Balls
Googly Eyes
Gold Glitter Pen
Gold (or yellow) Pipe Cleaner
Scissors
Fabric Glue, Glue Gun or any non washable White Glue
Black pen


Steps:
1) Create a template for the robe (it's not a gown or a dress, folks) and hat. I would have provided you with a pdf with the shapes had I known how to. Apologies.

2) Trace and cut 2 robes and 2 hats from the red felt


3) Glue the robes onto the stick of the spoon. One on the front, the other on the back. Only glue 2/3 rds of the way down the stick.
4) Glue on cotton ball as beard.

5) Glue on hat - one on the front, one on the back.
6) Glue on eyes. Draw nose and mouth.

7) Cut a 5-6 inch piece of pipe cleaner. Bend the top into a cane or circle shape. Glue onto the robe.
8) With glitter glue, draw a cross on the front of the hat.


9) Let dry over night.

10) Your St. Nicholas Spoon can be poked into a plant or cake with the unglued portion of the spoon stick. With a needle and piece of embroidery floss you can make him into a tree ornament. Just thread your floss through the top of the hat.

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Here are a few Christmas crafts from previous years.

I posted this over at Skip to my Lou for Made by you Monday.

Happy Easter

Wishing you a day filled with family and chocolate (not necessarily in that order)!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day always reminds me of my Grandma as it was her birthday. I remember going to Denny's in Bremerton for her birthday lunch. The adults would get green beer and, much to our delight, Emily and I would get the kids' version; green lemonade. Thinking of this, I made the girls green apple juice this morning. Eva, who obviously has been learning about St. Patrick's Day at school, treated us to a explanation of Leprechauns - They are about this tall and are only, *only* found in Ireland. They dress in a smart, little suit and play tricks. You might think they are nice, but they are tricky!

For Valentine's Day

Were you as taken with these felt, rose clips from Purl as I was? I immediately found a scrap of red felt and tried one out. So cute and pretty easy to make. A bit time consuming, but satisfying in the end. I used a bigger barrette than the pattern called for. Those little ones just don't hold enough hair. It was easy, I just made the pieces that cover the barrette a bit bigger. It did take a few tries to get it right, but it worked out just fine. I made one for each of my nieces and one each for my girls.
While the girls were making their Valentines I made a few as well. I think they are pretty sweet. The doily is actually quite small only 4 inches across or so. The initial is stamped on using the girls' set of alphabet stamps. Now to get them in the mail. They'll be late, of course. That's how it goes with long distance love.
Last year we made this I Love You garland. We still have it up! It has faded quite a bit and lost a few hearts, but we still enjoy looking at it. This year it's all about the Love Note Pillows. I saw another clever use for pants' pockets today. Have a look (scroll down a bit).

Holiday Food

Christmas Eve morning I decided I *must* make my MIL's Christmas Tree bread. It is her thing. (Do you have a thing? Are you the spiced nut gal? Or the rum ball person? I don't have a thing. Maybe I will someday) Each year she makes lots of these trees and delivers them to friends and family. We always eat ours Christmas morning. It's something we look forward to every year.

As I was frantically getting my trees out of the oven so we wouldn't miss our movie, it occurred to me that what we really missed was not just the Christmas Tree Bread. We missed the one that my MIL makes and delivers. I could try and replicate the actual bread but it could never be the same. It wouldn't come on a paper plate covered with plastic wrap with a little gift tag in the corner saying Bryce and Katy. It didn't come from my MIL. It is impossible to separate the food from who made it, the occasion and the feelings surrounding it. Know what I mean?


We ate our bread on Christmas morning. We enjoyed it. Bryce even thanked me for making it. But it didn't give us what we were really looking for - family and the comfort of well worn holiday traditions.

Do you have any holiday foods like that? Ones that will always remind you of the comfort of Christmas? Here are mine: cracked crab, smoked salmon spread, omelets with chantrelle mushrooms, English Bangers, Nanaimo bars, krumkake, cherry coffee cake and Christmas Tree Bread.

Christmas Book Favorites

Ah, back at home. Feels so good. That added ocean crossing definitely added another day of jet-lag to the trip. Yesterday felt almost dream like. Today I'm a bit more conscious. Tomorrow I hope to be human. We're going to the circus tomorrow here in Luxembourg. I'm just as excited as the girls. Last year I was just so blown away by the Christmas Circus we saw in Trier. I can hardly wait to see what this one is like. Sunday we're headed to Trier for the Christmas Market. It is nice to have the in-laws here to share some of the local holiday traditions with them.

Speaking of traditions, our Christmas books are out and we're all really enjoying them. I LOVE the book we added this season. If you're looking for a gift or for a book to add to your own Christmas book stash I highly recommend, Mr. Willoby's Christmas Tree by Robert Barry (first published in 1963.)

The story starts with the delivery of Mr. Willoby's christmas tree. It is perfect in every way except it is too tall. So, Mr. Willoby's butler chops the top off of the tree and gives the top to the maid. The maid sets up the tree top in her house and discovers it too is too tall so she cuts off the top. That top is then given to the gardener. And wouldn't you know, the tree is too tall for his house as well. The story continues on like this until the top finds it's way into a mouse house. The text is a lively rhyme. The illustrations are whimsical pen and ink drawings. This is a must have.

Here are a few of our other favorites, mentioned last year.

The Gingerbread man retold by Barbara McClintock

Santa's Book of Names by David McPhail

A Firefly in a Firtree by Hilary Knight

A Reason to be Thankful

Our Thanksgiving didn't go as planned. Not by a long shot. Eva came down with the flu on Tuesday and came down hard. We had to cancel our big Thanksgiving dinner. We let our friends know on Thursday. They completely understood and were so great about it. Yesterday Audrey got it too. It's nasty - high temperatures and an ugly cough. Poor babies. I'm happy to report that Eva was fever free today. I'm guessing Audrey has 2 more feverish days to go.
Since we had a turkey and most of the fixins we decided to have Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday anyway, just the 4 of us. It was an abbreviated version of what I was planning, but festive enough for us. Eva set the table, made the place cards and "helped" with dinner as Audrey watched from her bed on the couch. Just as Bryce was carving the turkey we received a phone call. It was my sister. She had the baby. He was happy and healthy and "the most beautiful newborn" ever.

Thanksgiving

We're hosting Thanksgiving dinner. On Saturday. For 11 people. This will be the *first* time Bryce and I have ever done this. Yes, I'm totally freaking out. But I'm getting some help. However, instead of planning the menu, checking my linens, looking up recipes or breathing deeply, I decided to put together an activity book for the kids that will be here on Saturday. There will be 4 of them from age 3 to 7. They are all girls and they get very silly, giggly and a bit wild when they're together. I thought, maybe, just maybe an activity book would keep them calmer therefore keeping me calmer. It's a long shot, I know.

Anyhoo, here are the pages I printed. Some are a bit smaller than I'd like and some will be cut and pasted to make one page. It's off to the copy center I go. . . assuming I can find one. I'm also going to try and get our knives sharpened tomorrow. Cross your fingers on that one for me too.

here
here*
here
here* there are some cool vintage-y pictures here
here*
here*
here*
here
here

* My fav finds.

Fête Saint -Nicholas

Thank you for all the birthday wishes! It was a really great day.

As I mentioned in my last post we went on the St. Nicholas Train yesterday afternoon. It was suggested by some fellow expats as a fun thing to do with the kiddos. But other than being "fun" we really didn't know what this St. Nicolas Train experience would entail.

We boarded a train, headed by a steam engine in Petange, Luxembourg. We weren't sure if the train ride was the experience or if there was a destination. After a 20 minute train ride we stopped at an old train station and we all got off the train. As we walked to the station we could see St. Nicolas himself emerge from the train.
The station was filled with large tables and benches, bratwurst vendors and a beverage counter where coffee, beer, cremant, and juice were available for purchase. At the far end, St. Nicolas had his own private grotto to greet children. There was also a miniature train set up for viewing. And it was a mad house. Did I mention that? It was packed with families who had arrived on the previous train. And a train load of families from the train we'd arrived on.
We grabbed a table and then made a mad dash to the queue to visit St. Nicolas. As you can see only 1 child was willing to visit. This was due to St. Nicolas' helpers, Black Peter(s). They were quite terrifying and Audrey wanted nothing to do with them. {More on Black Peter in my next post.} Eva was more than willing after she saw the goodie bag she would receive from St. Nicholas. I told the girls it was more like a shopping bag of treats not a goodie bag. Sheesh.

After greeting St. Nicholas we visited with friends while the girls consumed mass quanitites of chocolate. Then we got on the train and returned to Petange. It was a great experience. Something new. Something that was carried out in a way that wouldn't be found in the U.S. I loved it. The girls did too!

Raspberry & Lemon Goodness

I think this dish just screams spring and Easter. It is called, Lemon-Raspberry French Toast Strata. I found it on epicurious. It comes together in no time and can even be made ahead. Can't beat that.

One of the things I like about epicurious is reading the comments at the end of the recipes. I find they give me a more honest and realistic description of the dish. The comments tend to be short, practical and not pretentious. They also are filled with suggestions and substitutions to try. I followed a few of the suggestions for this recipe, like adding the zest of a whole lemon instead of just 1 teaspoon and adding some vanilla extract. I also let it soak for a few hours before baking. Here is the recipe from epicurious including the additions I made:

Lemon Raspberry French Toast Strata

2/3 cup maple syrup plus more for serving
6 cups (12 ounces) day old french bread, cut into 1 inch pieces (use the crust too)
1 pint fresh raspberries
6 eggs
4 cups whole milk
zest of one lemon
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt

Butter a 9x13 inch dish. Pour maple syrup in the bottom. Scatter bread cubes and raspberries on top of the syrup.

Whisk together: eggs, milk, lemon zest, vanilla, and salt. Pour over bread mixture. Put in fridge for a few hours or overnight (or just put into the oven)

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1.5 hours. Let cool for 20 minutes before serving.

Dust with powdered sugar to make it prettier and serve with maple syrup.