I haven’t had much to say lately, which is nice in a way. Nice in that my life has slowed down enough for me to start really thinking. Christmas and New Year’s feel like a package deal to me, and I like the reflection in looking back over the year and thinking of the one to come.

Dh came home last Friday. The dutchkid missed him terribly and I’m already dreading the day in the coming year where I will have to try to explain that he’s not coming home for a long, long time.

But I don’t really want to think about that now. The presents are wrapped, the gifts for family made it to Michigan, most of the cards are sent, gifts for teachers and friends are made (I decided to change it up and make caramel corn this year, via Orangette. It’s fantastic). It’s time to relax and let the big day finally get here.

Are you ready?

I don’t think I’ve really made cookies with the dutchkid before. Certainly not sugar cookies, mostly because I get really irritated at how sticky the dough is (what can I say, I’m not a very patient baker).

Watching her put the sprinkles on was the best part. She’s going to love helping me with the Jan Hagel. Next time we do sugar cookies I think I’m just going to make several giant ones and let her go to town on the decorations (I just spread them with plain white frosting and then she did the rest). I think this might be the first thing I’ve baked here that has actually turned out! There might be hope for me after all, thanks to the Pie in the Sky high altitude cookbook.

The deployment gremlins.

Or Murphy, whatever name you like to call the phenomena of things going wrong when your spouse is gone.

Mine is only gone for a few days, a minor TDY, but obviously it was too much temptation for the gremlins to ignore. I was ripe for the picking, a military spouse whose husband has been home for well over a year.

I dropped the dh off at the airport, and then someone rear-ended me at a stop light on the way home. And then she drove off instead of meeting me in the nearby parking lot as I’d asked.

We’re fine, my car is fine other than a minor dent and scratches. It could’ve been worse. I’m feeling deliciously vindictive thinking of ways of how the universe could punish you, lady in the white SUV with too much eyeliner. Perhaps the gremlins will come and visit you.

We woke up this morning to a frozen pipe in our upstairs bathroom. We were very, very lucky and it must have only partially frozen, it didn’t burst (it was just the hot water pipe, so we didn’t have hot water in the shower).

Which brings me to another thing. Say what you want about the crack business, but I love me a good plumber. I’m putting the one we found here on speed dial for the dh’s next deployment (we’ve called him before for something else, so now he’s proven himself twice).

Other than that, today was a beautiful day… the sun was shining with not a cloud in the sky (and the road melted to being drivable and I escaped the house, hurray!) I hope those of you who are next in the storm’s path stay nice and warm!

We’re on day two of some serious snow around here. I have cabin fever, so I’m going to ramble on for a bit. Since the weather here started getting wintry, we’ve had some trouble keeping our house warm. I love my house, and we have more sliding glass doors, skylights and windows than you could ever want… but it sure makes for a house that’s difficult to keep nice and cozy. The other night I actually went to sleep in long underwear with fleece pants and a hat on. I’m scared to see what our heating bill is going to be.

This morning my dh got up and was puttering around, when he realized that he couldn’t find one of our labs (the older one). When he finally located him, he called me downstairs to witness it. That poor old dog had gotten up on the couch to snuggle with a blanket and was still asleep (the dogs are NOT allowed on the furniture, and they know it). He didn’t even budge when confronted by dh and I, standing there. Not even a repentant look, just a “I’m old, and to heck with you people, it’s freezing in here.” I think I need to make us some fleece curtains.

Today I had a music theory final to turn in and tonight was supposed to be our big concert… but everything is canceled because of the weather. I’m ambivalent about that. I don’t know that they’ll cancel the concert entirely, they’ll probably just reschedule it and I’ve been looking forward to getting it over with. I know my piece (Nouvelle Etude in Aflat by Chopin) but after the last screw up I’m pretty anxious about it. I know I need to get back on the proverbial horse. It’s sort of a weird combo of wanting to do it because I’ve been working and preparing, but relief that I’ve got a reprieve. Thank you snow… I think.

Maybe the dutchkid and I will sled our way to the grocery store down the street in order to get out of the house today. And besides I’m out of staples (ie, my diet coke).

I don’t think I’m that bad about keeping secrets, but I am a terrible gift giver because I always want to ensure that the person will like it… which usually means that I ask them first.

But this is for my niece, and since she can’t read, I can spoil the surprise for her mom can’t I?

I finished Miss Ragdoll up yesterday, and I’m pretty happy with how she turned out. Although I had to put that movie Coraline out of my mind, particularly as I sewed on her button eyes (creeeeepy!). I used a pattern from Amy Karol’s (aka Angry Chicken) shop. My niece is just a little peanut, so I suppose this isn’t the most age appropriate gift, but hopefully she will enjoy chewing on her hair (it’s wool felt, so it’s nice and thick) as long as she doesn’t manage to get the buttons off. The dutchkid is insanely jealous, so I’ll probably make her one too at some point. Maybe with multi-colored hair? Ooooh, the possibilities…

This year, since the dutchkid just seems so much more “aware” of Santa and Christmas and the whole bit, I decided to introduce Sinterklaas. I’m always interested in learning about different traditions, and I remember hearing about Sinterklaas as a child.

Sinterklaas is nothing more than the Dutch version of Saint Nicholas. It is believed that this name was the source of the name “Santa Claus”, when Dutch settlers came to the Hudson Valley. The tradition varies from Santa Claus a fair amount, no North Pole and elves, but it is very similar to the way that St. Nicholas is celebrated in many parts of the world.

I looked high and low for a children’s story about Sinterklaas, to sort of introduce the idea, but I could only find one in Dutch. Which was slightly problematic, since we don’t speak it! So I decided to write a little book myself, based on a little booklet that my mom and step-dad sent to me from where else? Dutch Village.

Here’s a little excerpt for you: “On the evening before St. Nicholas Day, all children leave their shoes on the doorstep with carrots for Sinterklaas’ white horse to eat. That night, Sinterklaas and his helper, Zwarte Piet, ride across the rooftops to listen down every chimney for good children. If the children have been good, Sinterklaas sends Zwarte Piet to leave candy, gold coins and special ginger cookies called “pepernoten” in their shoes. Most importantly, Sinterklaas comes to remind everyone that it is better to give than to receive.”

She was so excited about putting out the carrots! I did find a recipe for the pepernoten, (just a side note, pepernoten are supposed to be shaped like a ball, and as you can see mine are flat. I’m blaming the altitude here, which is my standard answer for why nothing I try to bake turns out). We’ll see what she thinks of them. Undoubtedly she’ll be all over the candy in her shoe.

Happy St. Nicholas Day to you!

I spent the day today fighting a computer virus that very nearly had me resorting to just throwing the laptop out the window (well, almost). I’m still not 100% sure I have it beat, but I’m writing this on it so I guess that stands for something, right?

And while I was in the middle of gnashing my teeth and cursing those evil virus designers, my darling child decided to tell me, “It hurts my feelings when you tell me I can’t have everything I see on TV.” Material girl, age 3. I’m not sure I can handle raising Madonna.

But on the good side of things, the snow here on WordPress is back! I think I have my final project for one of my theory classes finished (composing a short piece), and I got started on a present for my niece today. I can’t wait to show it to you because I think it’s going to be adorable. Hopefully I’ll be able to get it done and in the mail to her before Christmas. Which reminds me, the sewing machine calls.

I hope your December got off to a better start than mine did!

I can’t believe I made it through NaBloPoMo! Total happy dance! I’ll be honest, I am ready to not have the pressure to blog every single day. And my family is too, my poor dh is starting to feel neglected. Every night he would head off to bed and there I would be, sitting in front of the laptop racking my brain as to what I could possibly write about. The curse of being a night owl.

Thanks for sticking with me, it never ceases to amaze me that you don’t get bored (or if you do you’re kind enough not to tell me!).

I’m sure I’ll find things to write about this month with all the goings-on… I’ll be around.

I really do love Christmas. While the commercialism gets to me (as it does to everyone I think), I still love the rituals surrounding the season. I think that might be because while the secular aspects of Christmas are widespread, the celebration of Advent itself remains a uniquely Christian thing. It must be part of my almost-Catholic leanings, but lighting the candles each evening gives me a moment of quiet…a sense of the sacred mystery that comes with Advent. Light coming into darkness.

We started observing Advent with the wreath last year, and it really helped to remind me where my focus should be. I definitely get over-involved in cards, decorations and gifts.

This year I decided to go more traditional with the candles for our wreath. I had to do some searching, since it turned out to be more difficult than I thought to find several purple candles that would be large enough to last until Epiphany. The purple symbolizes repentance, but each of the candles have a different meaning. Today on the first Sunday, it is Hope. Our fourth candle is pink to represent Joy. While traditionally the Christ candle (the middle one) is white, I decided to go ahead and use ours from last year because I like that continuity.

This is definitely one of those traditions that I started “for the dutchkid”, but now I do it for me. In the midst of the holiday scramble, I hope you find some moments of peace and reflection this Advent season.