O Tannenbaum

O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!
Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit
Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut!
O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum!
Du kannst mir sehr gefallen!

Hubby is finally home for the holidays so we all hopped into the truck and headed out into the forest in search of the perfect Christmas tree :)

As we drove we climbed higher and higher up the mountain and our view overlooking the lake below became more beautiful...

and we even found some snow *grin*.

We finally picked the perfect tree and the children each took a turn sawing through its trunk and off home we went with our tannenbaum :) We've set it outside the front door for the night to dry off a bit and tomorrow it will make its way into our family room where we can get it all decorated up just in time for Christmas eve!

Sunday saw us light our fourth candle for advent and you should have heard the squeals of delight as the youngest two realized that we were only days from Christmas :) We made our last trip into the city this morning to pick up a few last minute things we needed and now we're ready to snuggle down in our home for the rest of the holidays.

Hubby is home until the day after boxing day and I couldn't have wished for a better Christmas present! We're all together and what a special time we will have :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Halloween Fun and Sewing

The Halloween fun was in full swing here today :)

I had been putting off carving the pumpkins we had picked because we have a rogue bear on our property again right now and I didn't want to take a chance that we would carve them and he would eat them! But with Halloween already tomorrow we couldn't wait any longer so I set up an outdoor carving station for the children this year :) We dragged out a couple of saw horses and an old table top I keep for crafting and put them in the backyard where they could muck about as they cleaned their pumpkins, making as much mess as they like and I didn't have to worry about it getting stuck to the kitchen carpet *grin*.

So much ooey gooey fun!

While they scooped I picked out all of the seeds. I can't wait to roast them tomorrow in the oven with a little bit of sea salt and olive oil. Yummy.

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With all of the messy scooping finished we moved back indoors where it was much warmer and finished carving their faces. I can't help but giggle every time I see this one that my 5 year old did :) Those eyes are hilarious! I can't wait to show you the one my oldest son did this year to, but he has asked me to wait as it's surprise for the rest of our family and he doesn't want to take a chance that someone will see it on here ahead of time :)

A couple of years ago we started making Halloween gingerbread houses and they are so much fun to build. Who says gingerbread is only for Christmas!

Of course you can never have enough candy corn for this sort of project. Just don't eat to many of them. Those little triangles of sugar are SO sweet. I had to count out just a few for each of the children or I knew they would free range in the bowl and I didn't want them to eat to many :)

After all the pasting of the icing, sticking gum drops, licking fingers and squabbling over who used to many sprinkles we had one great Halloween house.

All three of my children asked for hooded cloaks this year so I spent most of today repurposing old fabric that we found at the salvation army into hooded cloaks :) We don't go out trick or treating but we do like to dress up so usually I just go and buy them some fun costumes after Halloween is over and they are on super discount but this year they wanted to dress up for our party so mama had some sewing to do.

All of the pieces of fabric were different sizes and weights and I didn't have a pattern so we did a lot of cutting and measuring while each one laid on top of their material *grin*. I just love this heavy brocade with it's greens and golds that L picked out. It is heavy and silky and it just seemed like the perfect material for a cloak. Unfortunately there wasn't quite enough to make it ankle length but I think it turned out well just below the knee :)

And I love the hood! Oh my, I think I need one to *grin*. Her tiny head just gets swallowed up in it as she peers out and she loves it :)

I had hoped to get some of my party food prepared today but no such luck :) So tomorrow I will be a slave to the kitchen until time to unveil my horrific creations LOL. What are you doing for Halloween?

Hugs,
Rosina

Trying To Slow Things Down

The closer we get to Christmas the faster our days seem to be going despite my attempts of slowing things down. Hubby finally made it home for the holidays yesterday which is wonderful as that gives him a handful of precious days for family time and squeezing in any shopping or visiting before he heads back out on his tug the day after boxing day.

The children have been busy little bees making last minute gifts for each other and this year they decided that they would make coupon books for everyone. The little drawings are so cute, depicting chores such as helping with the weeding in the garden, housework, packing firewood, feeding the cows and the 'good for anything' coupon! Hubby was teasing them because that coupon was sort of like writing a blank check and who knows what it could be used for *grin*.

I've made great headway on my handmade gifts to :)

K finished the construction of the fairy house today and actually added a balcony accessible through a little round door and I got all of the little crocheted rugs finished along with a lacey tablecloth and am waiting for the glue to dry on the little hanging chandelier. My little gnome snack mats are finished and wrapped and I have a couple pairs of felted sweater slippers just waiting to have their tops crocheted so it's looking like I'm going to finish everything on time after all *grin*.

We've been enjoying our cookie stash in the freezer and our little gingerbread houses perched on our mugs of hot cocoa and I am so looking forward to Christmas eve. That is the night that we open our gifts, spend time with my mom, dad, sister and her husband and just relax enjoying one anothers company. The snow has began to fall again and it looks like were definitely going to have a white Christmas this year :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Gingerbread Love

Remember those adorable mini gingerbread houses I linked to a while back? Well I finally got a chance to make them and they are even cuter than I imagined!!

I must have spent a good portion of my morning hand cutting all of the doors, walls and roofs but it was surprisingly enjoyable *grin*. And the house smelled amazing with the scent of ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Those have to be some of the most festive holiday scents along with fresh cut cedar boughs :)

Even though some of my pieces were not exactly square the completed houses went together perfectly with the aid of the royal icing. Gotta love that stuff! It's so thick that you can mold it like putty and with the heat of the woodstove blazing beside us they dried within minutes :)

It was to late tonight for us to perch them on a hot mug of cocoa and nibble on their candy roofs as it was nearly bedtime but we sure are going to enjoy munching on a few of these this weekend :)

Did you get a chance to make some to? I'd love to have a peek at how you decorated yours :)

Hugs,
Rosina

Happy Halloween

Our Halloween festivities were a smashing success! We decorated cookies, licked our fill of icing off of our fingers and made a Halloween gingerbread house. Who said gingerbread houses are only for Christmas! *grin*

It had never occurred to me to make a little haunted house. The kids did all of the decorating themselves but I just couldn't resist adding a skeleton to the grave :)

Of course we had our monstrous candy apples.

And talk about perfect, a 'mummy' for the mommy! LOL

I am totally thrilled with my finished brain to. It turned out awesome!! The jelly covering oozed & dripped like blood and the parts that fell off gave the perfect effect of blood that was congealing or clotting. It was a perfect treat for Halloween!

I hope everyone had a happy Halloween :)

~ Rosina

Sugar Plum Fairies

Well the kids are all tucked into their beds and they are definitely dreaming of sugar plum fairies dancing in their heads :) The gingerbread house is finished, the presents are wrapped and the secret Santa gift is hidden away in the china cabinet for tomorrow night. We follow my dad's European tradition of opening our presents on Christmas eve just like I did when I was a little girl, but my husband always opened his Christmas morning so we always have one special gift for all 3 of them that I tuck underneath the tree after they are fast asleep :) And the snow is still falling here so we are going to have a very white Christmas this year. This evening we went sledding after dark out behind our home and the kids had a blast! We had a spotlight set up for light and they climbed up the hill for a good 2 hours at least. We were all worn out after that. LOL.

~ Rosina