Olympic Torch

Yesterday joined our community in welcoming the Olympic torch as it made its way through. What an impressive afternoon! There was music, entertainers, giveaways, flags, tambourines, and lots of people! We were really close to the torch's path, before it went to light the cauldron. It was a beautiful afternoon, another spark in getting us even more excited about the Olympics.

Season's Winter Exchange

It was such fun participating in the Harvest exchange that I was so excited to join in with the Winter one which focused on the theme light. I had lots of ideas of what I could include in a package for my partner at Leaning Apple Garden. The exchange date being so close to the holidays gave it that extra challenge, but I did it and was excited about what I made.

I sent a garland which was a combination of the things we decorate our house with; some dried orange slices and twig stars, strung with twine. I needle felted a little king winter, holding a lantern, topped with a beaded crown. There was some beeswax snowflake ornaments, an embroidered dove and a window star.

We were thrilled to have received a very beautiful package just before Christmas. They have been busy with beeswax as well, including an adorable beehive and night sky ornaments, a hand dipped candle that was made by shared hands- just for us. A treasured card, beautiful fabric, a delicate and tiny felted advent wreath was beautiful on our nature table. The gift we all treasured the most was a carved and hand painted elf. Such bounty!

Thank you Pennie and family!

Gifts

I am excited to share some of the gifts we have made this year, and some very special ones that we received. Such talented, loving people in my life. Creating their own special gifts for all their relatives has been the norm for my kids. As they get older they need little to no guidance as to what they want to make for a gift, I may open the door to the craft supplies or thread a needle here and there but generally I have been weeded out of the process. Christmas morning it is often as much of a surprise for me as to what is being given.

Everyone was really excited to give this year, in fact we needed to be patient waiting our turn!

The thoughtfulness and love that went in to the perfect gifts were so much a part. Elias' gift for Ben was one such example. He worked with his dad to find a chart online listing the fish species in the lakes nearby. Next he searched out and printed a picture of each of the fish listed on the chart, with the name of the fish on the back. The chart and each of the fishes were lamented and hole punched. He put the collection on a ring, for Ben to clip to his bait box. Now Ben, who loves to fish, can identify what fish he has caught with ease, or choose a certain lake to fish as because of the fish the lake homes.

How clever is that? useful yet incredibly thoughtful!

Celebrating

We enjoyed a beautiful three days with our families celebrating Christmas. Often our visits are crammed solid, rushed and tiring. This past week was a real gift. We had the chance to catch up with family, connect, spend time. It was very much a celebration. We left feeling thankful for such a wonderful family.

Christmas Day Together

A beautiful Christmas day, just the six of us. We were up early enough to watch a gorgeous sunrise with radiant colours. There was lots of playing, excitement, wood working (with new tools!), secrets revealed, pizza made together and early to bed!

Merry Christmas

They are in their new Christmas Eve pj's, having already put out the cookies and carrots, read our stack of favorites and stockings put out. They were ready. Except for sleep. This year they out did themselves by staying awake until after three and waking up at six. Thankfully all was merry and bright!

The Gift of a Walk

We decided to take a break from the holiday preparations, the crafting, the baking, the tidying and go for a walk. Sometimes the most progress can be made by walking away. With snow shoes on we headed into the deep snow and enjoyed the beautiful trees and the river. The tubing hill was also open and it was great to fly (literally) down the hill a few times. In those moments of awe at the beauty and the amazing feeling of laughing and having fun with my special 'gang', the to do list was put back into perspective.

These are the moments I cherish during the holidays.

Traditions

There are so many Christmas traditions I cherish. Some of those traditions fell into place on their own without any guidance from me. Others were very intentional. When Chris and I were first married I bought a book about the Nativity story. While the story telling is simple and the pictures are beautiful, I wouldn't say its an exceptional book in any way. We have since added other books telling the Christmas story I enjoy much more.
We read from this very classic version every year. But the tradition that accompanies the book which we really cherish it, is the writing we add to it. Every year we add a few sentences inside its covers with the highlights of that years holidays; new babes, no power, the loss of a loved one, mountains of snow, the different homes and provinces we have been in. We read through the history each Christmas eve, remembering holidays past and the memories which each hold of those days. Its a beautiful way to capture the warmth of the season.

We have a wonderful collection of holiday books we love reading through the season. A few of the more non traditional ones we cherish are
listening to Stuart McLean's stories of Dave and his zany holidays
reading allowed (and bringing me to tears every year!) The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Gifts in a Jar

Gift giving traditions with my extended family has gone through lots of changes over the years. There were lots of years ,even as a kid, everyone exchanged a gift. As the families grew we started to draw names, each giving just one gift. There were also few years we each brought a neutral gift that we used played games with for the exchange. The games have been one of the parts of the exchange I have enjoyed the most, they have often been a gift in themselves. There have been lots of games over time; family trivia, the lucky draw, cards, Karaoke (which I loved!), auctions.

This year we decided on something we haven't tried before. First adults picking a name from the adult pool and the kids picking a name from the kid pool. The gifts couldn't cost more than $10, and they could be handmade or up cycled. The catch was the gift was to be put in a jar. A jar for a few reasons. It eliminates wrapping, bags, waste and instead is a re usable container. This twist requires you to be a little bit more creative and think outside your box....or in a jar!

We had a lot of fun with these gifts. We have been in a bit of a gifting slump with this particular exchange the last few years. We don't often see most of these family members any other time of the year, new partners come and therefore don't know them all extremely well to think of a personal gift. These new requirements breathed enough life into for us. We felt really successful in creating gifts we are joy filled in giving and that are also personal.

So since there are six of us, there were six gifts to give. I thought I would share what we did.

For my 3 yo nephew who loves super heroes we made some super hero accessories. We had recently made him a cape, so we built on that with wrist bands, a belt and a mask. A cool collection of tattoos topped it up.

My 9 yo cousin is receiving a bag made of jean with some funky embroidery. We covered the outside of the jar with hair accessories and some personal embroidered felt magnets.

Her 16 year old sister we made a hat from a felt sweater and a matching fleece scarf - which I just loved!

My 18 yo cousin is deciding what the next year will hold for her. We though it was fitting to give a flag banner with the word believe on it.

My cousin is also getting a hat made from a felted sweater, and in his jar is also some homemade hot chocolate mix and peppermint candy cane white chocolate bark. Cause really who doesn't like those!

My Aunt was originally getting a very different gift, but I ran into some sewing issues which needed me to walk away. Thankfully I found an even better replacement idea. She has a coffee mug cozy, a beautiful silk scarf with sequins I made and an embroidered broach.

Each of the gifts also have ornaments ; beeswax, salt dough or lavender filled birds and a small sweet treat we made.

I am excited to see the fun everyone else has been having making theirs and even more to see what games we decide on!

Winter Solstice

It was a clear, crisp night, a sky filled with stars. Friends joined us, their first solstice celebration. We joined together for a dinner of hot chili, bread and salad. The tree spirits were awoken, the earth thanked. Gifts for the animals were strung in the tree. The sleds were pulled with kids piled in. It was a beautiful night.
The next morning I went to take pictures in the daylight. Alas, I was too late. Everything, everything, was eaten!

Fencing

My two older boys have been participating in a fencing class this fall and absolutely loving it. They begin each lesson with a variety of games revolving around a fencing skill. They have been introduced and used different types of equipment and swords. They have had the opportunity to dual the different members of the class ranging in age from 9 to 13 years old, both boys and girls, ranging greatly in height.

At first it was a little intimidating to challenge an opponent, following through with the sword. I think because they didn't know their classmates well enough at that point. It wasn't long before they were taking charge on the court. They practiced their skills at home and while sword fighting is no where near a new activity in the house, the foot work, the set of rules that fencing has introduced has brought it to a new level.

This week was their last class. It ended with a two hour tournament session. Each of the kids dueled each other, but points went towards a team score. The two people who were fencing wore their regular fencing gear; helmet, glove, protective padded shirt and then jacket. For this tournament they also wore a electric jacket and had a foil which had a tether connected to a computerized scoring machine. It allowed the kids to move all over the court freely but let the referee know who was hit first and whether it was a valid hit. There were lots of rules I learned just watching.

Despite being the smallest and youngest Ben came out of the tournament having earned the most points by hits. Elias was second. They attribute their years of sword fighting to their success! They even got the chance to have a match against each other, each getting five points on the other. I have a feeling fencing foils might be in the making soon!

Female sabre fencing champion

olympic fencing

Canadian Fencing Federation

fencing equipement

Door to Door

I love crafting, baking, creating, gifting. I am so thankful that I don't get lost in my craft room. For the seasonal- just because visits are so warming. The other day we were visiting the family we were celebrating. The kids played on the trampoline in mounds of snow, wonderful chat time, nuts and hot chocolate. We brought a little treat for the horses and donkeys which they happily recieved!

Even getting stuck in a ditch didn't dampen things!