It was a wonderful holiday this year, full of smiles and laughter and togetherness. Wyatt was so excited about everything, and that makes it so much more fun, the anticipation and excitement.
The days leading up to Christmas we spent baking and wrapping and cleaning (me). Wyatt also wrote Santa a letter and we mailed it from the big mailbox downtown in our city, the mailbox that has direct delivery to the North Pole. And would you believe it? Santa wrote Wyatt back!
Christmas Eve we spent the afternoon with Billy’s mom and dad, then later in the evening went to a small gathering with my mom and brother’s family and my sister-in-law’s mom. This group of five people is our regular bubble, we are like a little team. It was a low key night, with a bit of excitement when both kids decided to pillow attack Devin. This was followed up with Devin reading the kids a book, which was good to calm them back down before heading home to Christmas pajamas and cookies and milk. And no, he didn’t read The Night Before Christmas, but Pete the Cat Rides the Bus, a request from Wyatt.
My little baby is such a big little kid now!
Sunday we spent at my dad’s, to celebrate with him and my stepmom. The kids were once again showered in gifts, to their delight, and to the delight of the grandparents. These kids certainly do not want for anything. Wyatt has so many books, games, painting kits, a pottery wheel, and science kits for growing crystals as well as toys now to keep him busy for a long while. He is currently obsessed with mail carriers (do all kids have weird phases?) and was thrilled with his mail carrier dress up stuff. He also wanted to open his painting kit from my mom at bedtime last night. We settled for giving his dog Bowser a bath.
The adults had a good holiday as well. Besides seeing my family, I had wrens visit my bird feeder on Christmas day! I also feel pretty spoiled, with all the new books and journals and other things I got – included cozy warm slippers! Billy also got me a “Raised by boooooks” shirt with a wolf howling on it, and a “Be Kind to Bugs” hoodie, which I have pretty much lived in the past two days.
We had a great few days! We are looking forward to this slow week ahead of us, reading and writing and playing. Billy is off work for the week so I am hoping to get a hike or two in as well.
Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season if you celebrate! Things were good around here, and my kiddo was very into the magic of Christmas this year (more about that tomorrow).
I had a very dark reading year this year! Not all of my favorites are on the spookier, scarier side, but..it appears many are. I also had a really rough reading year. I had so many books I didn’t finish, times I just couldn’t get into reading, it was very weird for me. I was just a little off my reading game. However, there are some books that I just loved.
Fire Keeper’s Daughter was my absolute favorite read this year. I learned from it, was entertained by it, and completely devoured it. I also love that it was written by a Michigan author!
Hmmmm…maybe I spoke too soon. Maybe World of Wonders is my favorite book this year. Ok. This is my favorite nonfiction read of the year. I ran around telling everyone to read it. I loved the connection to nature, the throwbacks to her childhood, which while on some level were relatable to me, also were very far from my own experience.
Small Favors – just so good. I never quite knew where this story would go and I had a few surprises. I read this obsessively and I love everything Erin A. Craig writes so far. Also, another Michigan author!
The Final Girl Support Group and Bunny – both such good books, such crazy. Bunny was a trip and a half. And The Final Girl Support Group spoke to the part of me that grew up watching horror movies, Freddy and Jason and Michael Myers.
The Family Plot – Another dark, crazy read. But I completely loved it and my mom and I could not stop talking about it. I mean, a book that involves true crime? I am there.
The Box in the Woods is another one that I really enjoyed. I really love the Truly Devious series and I thought it was a bit cheeky of Johnson to have a murder mystery set at a summer camp. Perfect, right?
And finally, A Solitude of Wolverines. A mystery about a wildlife biologist who gets mixed up in a bit of a situation, one that could prove to be deadly. I have been waiting so long to read the next book in this series – next month! I decided January would be a good month to read a book about polar bears…
I wonder what roads my reading will take me down next year? I can’t wait to find out!
This week has been full but fun! We have really been enjoying our Jan Brett book focus for language arts this month, (We read Gingerbread Baby and First Dog the previous two weeks) but this one has been our favorite so far. I have a whole bunch waiting in our book basket for the next few days leading up to Christmas and I am super excited to read them to Wyatt.
This week I tried to turn what we had to do into more fun versions for the holidays. We played with word families, by adding the reindeer for each word family to the correct sleigh (ex. red went into the -ed sleigh) and Wyatt loved this! I am going to have to figure out more ways to do something similar throughout the rest of the year. We did journal and copywork for The Wild Christmas Reindeer, and imagined what it would be like to have a pet reindeer. Then we read a brand new to us book, Santa’s Story which we both really loved. I am pretty sure it has become Wyatt’s favorite Christmas book this year. We also retold the story using little stick puppets and then did some story mapping.
For math, we used some Forest Friends printables that I bought, which is adorable. It is a framework with little forest animals that you can use for adding and subtracting manipulatives, and since it is not Christmasy only wintry we can continue to use it alongside our regular math this winter. Science and nature was well, all about reindeer themselves. Diagramming a reindeer, experiments and lessons on how they communicate, what they eat, their life cycle, how they eat, how they see, etc, which ended with making a reindeer castanet to simulate the sound of reindeer’s hooves, and a mossy reindeer ornament after a reindeer’s diet. We also talked about herd migration, which was tricky since Wyatt is a Santa believer and in his magic reindeer. I told him that all other reindeer walk, unless they are one of Santa’s reindeer. Today we have a few painting projects left but I am waiting until later in the afternoon to do them, as Wyatt generally needs a bath after.
And now, we are on break! We try to follow the same schedule as my niece in public school, so today is our first day off for two weeks! Wyatt and I both definitely need one. We finished strong and with a bit of holiday magic to get us to the end, and now we can relax for a bit. Or at least, he can. I can relax once Christmas is over…
I am never on time for this blog event! And I love to participate because Leslie is such a sweet soul. Anyway, better late than never?
DECORATING, TRADITIONS AND FAMILY RECIPES
In what ways do you decorate for the winter holiday season? Do you use traditional colors or have your own color scheme? Is there a theme to your decorating? Since Wyatt has been born, I have found myself actually becoming more minimalist in our decorations. I am not sure why, exactly. I am trying to be more mindful, and put out our very favorites. We do use traditional colors, lots of reds and greens and plaids, because I love plaid. And we do try to keep to a nature type theme when we can. Our tree is actually all wildlife/nature themed ornaments except for a few that Wyatt was given as gifts, like Daniel Tiger. And a smurf leftover from my ornaments as a child. I do have all my own childhood ornaments boxed up in the basement but we are trying to start a tree that is all new for Wyatt to keep as his own keepsakes one day, with a few old ones as well. Wyatt also has a little tree in his room that has all of his own ornaments on it.
A story about our tree. When Wyatt was born, it was not under the easiest of circumstances. A total of 12 weeks in the hospital between the two of us, and Billy missed a lot of work. Money was very tight, bills were late. We didn’t know how we were going to do Christmas honestly, and planned a very small, modest Christmas, with a gift or two for Wyatt, socks for each other, and a tabletop tree (the one in his room now actually) And then came Faye. An angel of a person, a family friend of my mom and aunt’s my whole life. She gave me my first job, then made it easy on me. I have so many Faye stories. Anyway, that Christmas she sent us $200, a total surprise, out of the goodness of her heart. I remember standing in my living room crying. We went and bought a tree, some lights, and gifts for Wyatt. That year Father Christmas was named Faye and I will never forget.
Share a family holiday tradition or recipe. Is there something new you plan to try this year? Hmm.. our family loves to make Empire Biscuits and Coconut Tarts at Christmas. We actually have two camps, Team Empire Biscuit vs. Team Coconut Tarts. My grandma used to make them, then my uncle..now my cousin’s wife and my sister-in-law generally make Empire Biscuits and I will make coconut tarts. Because I am team coconut tart, all the way. I did a post on them here!
FAVORITE HOLIDAY BOOKS, MOVIES, SONG OR SHOWS
Do you have a favorite Christmas book, movie, song or TV show? Why is it special to you? Is there a popular holiday book, program or movie you have never seen? So so so many!!! Christmas movies: Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas, a favorite of mine from childhood that I still watch every year, A Muppet Christmas Carol, Charlie Brown Christmas, and Chevy Chase’s Christmas Vacation. I think they are just tradition now to watch!
KEEPER CALM
How do you handle the stress of the holidays? Do you have some go-to for restoring calm to your life when things get crazy? I have found that starting really early with my Christmas shopping so I am practically done by December helps so much! I have also started to cut down on the activities – we try to do some things, but we don’t need to do everything!
SPARKLE AND SHINE
What will you wear over the holidays? Do you dress up for New Year’s Eve? I don’t really dress up much for the holidays. I did buy a fancier top from Amazon this year to wear Christmas day, with jeans. It is green with lace detail and almost swiss dots. And short sleeved because for some reason our holidays are always so hot. Lol. As for New Years, not anymore. We do a “Noon Years Eve” with my cousin, his kids, my brother and niece and sister-in-law, where we do a countdown and have fun stuff for the kids. This year my cousin is going to make us winter champagne cocktails too, for the adults. We will probably have a pretty quiet evening and go to bed early. Lol. I have never liked or enjoyed New Years Eve. It always makes me sad and melancholy. So I don’t mind missing it.
How do you feel about snow? What are the chances you will see a white Christmas? Do you enjoy any snow day activities? What will the weather be like where you live in this last month of the year? I love love love snow!! Living in Michigan it is just part of our life. This year however the forecast doesn’t call for snow until the 26th. Which bums me out!
‘TIS BETTER TO GIVE
Do you have a gift-giving budget? For how many people do you buy gifts? Do you buy for the postman, your hair dresser, nail tech, children’s teachers? When do you open gifts? Who is the hardest person you buy for? My family buys for just the kids these days, and sometimes one of us gets wild and makes gifts for the adults, like jam or soap or something like that. And we buy for our parents. So I guess we just don’t buy for siblings. Lol. I used to buy for Wyatt’s entire team, which was like 6 therapists, a teacher, an aide, and a nurse – now with homeschooling I just buy for one therapist! The hardest gift – my dad and stepmom. I never know what to do for them!
If you could give a kind of impossible gift to someone, what would it be? Perhaps something beyond your price range? Or something you can’t buy. Something intangible. Oh man. So many things. Some so personal I can’t really say. I will say instead..that everyone could be happy for at least one day, all together.
FAREWELL 2021, WISHES FOR 2022
As we bid farewell to 2021, what was your biggest success this year? Will you be making goals or resolutions or plans for 2022? If so, what will some of them be? My biggest success – my monarchs. That was such a fun project that Wyatt and I did together. I always make resolutions, but I don’t get down on myself if I don’t achieve them. You’ll have to check back at the beginning of the year for mine.
Describe 2021 in 3 words. Name 3 things you wish for in 2022. Keep on moving. And three things I wish for 2021… I am going to just stick with smallish things here. Nothing noble. So lots of picnics, good books to read, and moments of laughter with loved ones.
I have seen these giant woodland trolls in so many photos – they are all over the world! I was so excited when I read that there were some near us – or sort of near, if you call three hours away near. So we planned a road trip, and we could not have picked a better day.
First, a little background. Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist who creates work of art from salvaged and recycled materials, from these giant trolls that can be found all over the world to birdhouse installations and even happy walls. You can find photos of his work and read more here.
The weather was almost perfect for a December Sunday. Highs in the upper 40s and sunny? A fabulous day to explore! We hit the road, loaded up with snacks and beverages and music on the radio, and then drove through most of Ohio. The sun was shining and the traffic light, and it was a straight shot down 75, so an easy peasy kind of drive.
Then we were there! Aullwood Audubon Center, and we piled out of the car, and geared up. When we hike now I wear Wyatt in a Kinderpack, which goes up to 60 pounds. Hopefully one day he will be hiking along with us but for now this is what we do. And it works! Billy used to wear Wyatt but we are in search of a better hiking carrier that works for Billy and Wyatt; mine won’t work for them because it would require Wyatt’s legs to stretch farther than would be comfortable. Nevertheless, it keeps me strong, and makes my son happy, which makes me happy.
And this was quite an adventure!! It was exciting for all of us to turn a corner on the trail and see a troll looming off in the distance!
The first one we found was Bibbi in her Prairie tower, getting ready to soar!
Bibbi was Wyatt’s favorite, and she was really cool. It looks like I am just checking my phone but I was trying to open my camera to take a photo. Lol. Billy grabbed this one of us though, and I love it.
Next up was Bodil. Billy and I loved Bodil the best. He was plunked down on a little hill his feet in a stream. The artistry is amazing right?
You are encouraged to hug the trolls, but not climb on them. Unfortunately the group in front of us had been climbing all over poor Bodil, so I hope not many other people did that.
There was a nest that we backtracked too, but didn’t get close enough. The mud in that area was so thick and deep and literally tried to suck the boots off of my feet. With Wyatt on my back I didn’t want to take any chances so we turned back.
The third troll was at the other end of the trail, and it was starting to get late. We had already been hiking two hours so instead of traveling farther up the trail, we took the shortcut of heading back to our car and driving around to the other end. We didn’t want to get trapped in there, as they close the gates promptly at 5 and we were already at 4 pm at the other other end of the trail. It would be a three mile hike round trip from where we were still so driving to the other end seemed like a smarter choice. Plus it gave Wyatt a break from the carrier as well.
This third troll is Bo! The gas canisters are supposed to be eggs, as this exhibition is called The Troll that Hatched an Egg. Billy thought it would be hysterical for Wyatt to pick this troll’s nose….
A short walk back to the car and we were done. Tired but a happy tired. One that comes from hiking for hours outside, enjoying time together. We sat in the back of the car a few minutes, kicking our legs out, and eating gingerbread cookies, before heading home. And one of us took a little nap on the drive home, through a dusky sky that soon turned to that deep December darkness.
A little last note regarding accessibility and disabilities for this trail. As the mother of a child with cerebral palsy and a mobility disability , this is always important to me and I want to share my experience so others can learn too. Especially if someone who is disabled or is the parent of a disabled child wants to visit. In my opinion, this would be a very tough if not impossible trail to access any other way besides how we did it. It had many steep hills to climb, and was trail not a walkway. And when we visited the trail was also extremely muddy. This was probably the most difficult hike I’ve done carrying Wyatt, and I did get some help from Billy, who advised me to stand up straight while walking uphill and not lean over. He told me this would crunch me up too much, making it difficult to breathe and he was totally right. Posture was super important. He also held my hand through the very muddy parts and stream crossings. I just wanted to share this for anyone going who may need this information; I would hate for anyone to get there and find out too late and be disappointed. The website also states that the trail takes three hours to view all the trolls and the nest, and is three miles round trip. In fact, when we were at the end viewing the third troll, there was an older gentleman arranging for an Uber to take him back to the other end of trail. Just some things to consider when going. It’s not a difficult hike unless maybe there is someone in your party that has special circumstances.
That being said, we had a fantastic day and loved every second of it.
We’ve been hunkered down pretty good lately, which was my plan for December. A quiet month of cozy times. Lots of baking and music and comfort foods; cuddles with cats and watching movies under my favorite quilt. Soon we will be emerging from this little cocoon to celebrate the holidays but for now, we are enjoying the quiet.
Billy and I got this Santa 21 years ago when we were married, as a gift from a family friend. Wyatt for some reason has really taken a liking to it, and drags it all over the house with him. It cracks me up – until he leaves it somewhere and it scares me in the middle of the night.
Read Last Week:
My progress on this book has been slow, although not due to lack of interest. My darn Kindle charger is being wonky and charging super slowly! It took literally 24 hours for it to charge to 78%. I bought a new charger and cord, and I just put it on to charge again just now, so hopefully this one does the trick. I am halfway through and I am really loving this story.
Reading the rest of the month:
I will probably read from these three the rest of the month, depending on which I am in the mood for- romance, middle grade, or nonfiction. And of course, after I finish Mistletoe and Mr. Right.
Still Brokenwood Mysteries! It was pretty good the first three seasons, but season four has been really fantastic. We don’t know if the show hit its stride or what, but lately the shows have been crazy good. We are also still watching Wheel of Time. As for movies, our list has included Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, and Ice Age Christmas. I am hoping so hard for snow! I need snow to feel complete at Christmas time. I don’t need a lot, but enough so it feels like winter. I have a hard time completely enjoying my favorite Christmas movies without it – I am sure if I grew up somewhere warm, or lived somewhere warm I would be used to it, but for me Christmas needs some snow, darn it.
This week just sort of evolved organically. We are reading all Jan Brett this month for language arts, and when I remembered The First Dog, I thought about Sunset of the Sabertooth, and we just leapt from there. This was a very fun week!
Since our language arts revolves around Jan Brett this month, most of our reading/literature work centered around her book The First Dog. This is such a cute book! We discussed whether we thought Kip should have befriended Dog or not (yes of course), characters, setting, and vocabulary. We also learned about the different ice age animals that pop up throughout the story – sabertooth cats, woolly mammoths, cave bears – which were also present in the Magic Tree House book we were reading as well. Wyatt diagrammed each animal, we read books about them, and watched a few videos about them as well.
Wyatt’s favorite part of the week was the cave painting he did. It was very messy but sometimes being creative is messy. This kid loves to paint, no matter how. We found some Native American flute music to listen to while he painted; Sunset of the Sabertooth focused on a flute and that was as close as I could get. We both really enjoyed it. Wyatt’s second favorite thing is music.
Science this week actually sort of meshed well. We were learning about weathering, erosion, and metamorphic rocks. I had a bunch of experiments lined up for Wyatt that I thought for sure he would love, but he seemed sort of ambivalent about them. Lol. Our science curriculum gives a few different options – the book basket crew, outdoor crew, the tabletop demo crowd, and arts and crafts crowd. I switch it up all the time, but it seems Wyatt is definitely in the arts and crafts camp pretty solidly, so if I do switch it up, we will also do the arts and crafts project as well.
And for a fun finish, tonight we are going to watch Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas.
It’s the holiday season, and I tend to go overboard with the holiday books every December. I am constantly at the library, picking up and returning huge piles of books. But, we both love books and it’s Christmas time and..why not?
This is a list of what we have read together so far…I feel a part two might be coming closer to Christmas…
It’s been fun reading for the most part! Gingerbread Baby and Tough Cookie we read during our week of gingerbread; of the two, we both liked Tough Cookie a bit more. And, I like gingerbread more than the story, I have decided – don’t you think the Gingerbread Boy is sort of obnoxious? Lol.
Finding Christmas is a sweet little tale of kindness, with the cutest little illustrations. Little Mole’s Christmas Gift is similar, with the idea of giving what you want to someone who is more in need. Plus, how adorable is that cover and mushroom? The whole book has spectacular illustrations.
Little Blue Truck is always a favorite of Wyatt, for years. And I have to admit, I think they are pretty darn cute too. In this one Little Blue Truck is trundling about delivering the perfect tree to each of his friends.
And on the subject of trees.. The Christmas Eve Tree. Hmm. What can I say about this one? Neither of us really liked it. Wyatt kept looking at me like “What are you reading to me Mom?”. I understand where this book was going and the point it was trying to make, but it was just depressing. Marguerite’s Christmas was actually a wonderful picture book, but I think the message is a bit deep for kids. I always preread Wyatt’s book, not with the intent to censor ever, but just so I am familiar. This one I ended up not reading to him – but I did give it to my mom to read. I thought it was a beautiful book but I thought the message would be lost on Wyatt a bit.
Norman the Slug Who Saved Christmas is a favorite around here. This was a gift to Wyatt from his aunt and uncle, and it is so darn cute. Maybe we are biased because we like all the creepy crawly things like snails and bugs, but this book is just so fun. Little Witch Hazel is one we are adding to our library. It contains four stories centered around the seasons, and is so enchanting. The illustrations are gorgeous and magical and the stories so sweet.
These last two were my personal favorites- Babushka and A Simple Christmas on the Farm. I think both of these are beautiful stories, of coming together, helping others, the beauty of Christmas. The illustrations in Babushka are amazing, colorful and whimsical, and the illustrations in A Simple Christmas on the Farm warm and cozy. These two were hands down my favorite. Little Blue Truck and Tough Cookie were Wyatt’s favorites, but he did like these two as well.
I’m still on the lookout for new and different titles to add to our holiday reading! It is only the 10th of December after all. We have two weeks of holiday reading still left to do! If you have a suggestion, let me know!
I feel like last week flew by! Just a week ago I had my mom over for dinner, a cold weather favorite of mine Chickpea Dumpling Soup, then we drove around looking at Christmas lights. And now it is Sunday all over again. We had a pretty good week in our homeschool; we are focusing on Jan Brett books this month and we started with The Gingerbread Baby and finished the week with baking gingerbread! I have had numerous friends and family in the hospital with various ailments so that was stressful, and I always throw myself into projects when I am stressed. They are all doing much better now though, so I am relieved and thankful. This weekend I just totally let go and had fun with my family. We went for a sunny December walk around the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, then donated some things to the animal shelter as part of our Wolfenoot celebrations from November. And let myself relax.
That photo of us with Henry Ford’s statue cracks me up. And I also joked with Billy that my reflection in the glass makes me look sort of like Santa Claus! The actual estate is closed for renovation right now but once it is open again I can’t wait to tour it. It is one of my favorite local sites to visit.
Anywhoo..
Read Last Week:
I love reading middle grade around the holidays for some reason, and this one was so good. A cozy British mystery set in the 1930s on the Cambridge campus at Christmas time…a more perfect setting for me couldn’t be found, I am sure. I really enjoyed this book, and I will probably read more in the series at some point.
Reading This Week:
I read book one in this series, The Tourist Attraction, last year and figured I would save this one for this Christmas. I really enjoyed The Tourist Attraction so I am hoping that this one is just as good. We are also reading The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe together as a family this month, before bedtime.
Billy and I are watching Wheel of Time, which I am really enjoying. We are also watching the Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn, which is pretty good! We have started adding in Christmas movies too, with our first family Christmas movie Friday night, Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas.
As for listening, Spotify had their yearly wrap up the other day – and I was shocked to see that I had listened to so.much.Taylor.Swift. That being said, her Folklore and Evermore albums are really good. (Interesting fact: She grew up on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania)
Here are some highlights from my Spotify Wrapped…
I am skeptical about the Joni Mitchell, considering I don’t really like her. I skip her when she comes on. So often in fact, that Wyatt can instantly recognize her voice and tells me to skip her too. So, either Spotify or Joni Mitchell is trolling me. And no offense to Joni Mitchell or her fans, her music just makes me sad.
Aaaaaannnddd that is it from our little burrow! I hope all is well with you!
Still Life, With Cracker Crumbs.. 