Feast Day: St. Nicholas and a big step on our Advent journey to Christmas

We love St. Nicholas' Feast Day!  This is a big step on our Advent journey toward Christmas.  This is the day that the good Saint fills children's shoes and hearts with the love and spirit of giving of the Christmas Season!

Now, this is how we do things around here [and please understand that this is what works for us and altho I enjoy your suggestions, please don't "dis" my way of doing things]:

On St. Nick's Eve (that would be last night) the family each put out a shoe (the bigger the better the younger you are) and a note to St. Nick.  The note details what the wishes are for Christmas ... and the older ones do a bit of an examination of conscience since only the good Saint will see the letter.  This is a good chance for all of us to think about how we can empty ourselves of the bad and re-fill with the good before the coming of the Christ Child. 
The next morning (that would be today) the letters are gone and the shoes are filled with some gold-covered chocolate coins (in rememberance of St. Nick's helping of the dowerless girls), a candy cane (to represent the Bishop Nicholas' crook), and a book -- either a push-the-limits reading book, an activity book, or a religious book.  This year the good Saint included:

• Pope Benedict's Church Fathers: From Clement of Rose to Augustine (for dh)
• A Japanese knitting stitch-pattern book (for me) -- yes, Japanese ... but the patterns are graphically shown so it doesn't matter that I don't read a word of Japanese!
• the first in a new excellent "boy reading" series --
  Sir Kendrick and the Castle of Bel Lione (for Lego Maniac) -- I am anxiously waiting for him to finish Sir Quinlan (which is the 5th book and that's how we stumbled on this wonderful Christian lit for boys) so I can read it!
• a wonderful paper doll "primer" for String Bean -- The Black Apple's Paper Doll Primer:Activities and Amusements for the Curious Paper Artist is a brand new book that includes lots of activities, great ideas, and absolutely gorgeous paper dolls!  String Bean loves crafting with paper and still has a great affinity for dolls -- so this is perfect.  The text is also a reading stretch for my struggling reader so this is all good.
• the 2010 Guiness Book of World Records for BamBam who loves all that trivia and statistics and facts.  This will also help him with his reading skills!

St. Nicholas is WELL-LOVED around here.  He is also our Santa ... yes, we do still believe in Santa around here and would hope that all well-meaning adults and precocious children who think they know "the truth" would be sure and not tell our kids otherwise. 

See, we believe in the magic of the season ... that St. Nicholas is a model of goodness and charity and self-giving ... that St. Nicholas is the one who fulfilled the needs of the dowerless girls, the almost-lost-at-sea sailors, the nearly killed boys in the barrel ... and that he continues to bring goodness and charity at this time of year.  So yes, the family writes letters asking for Wiis or dolls or cameras or whatever ... and yes, on Christmas morning there will be surprises that engender comments like "no way, Mom and Dad got us that!"   This is all part of the Christmas Magic that I've always believed in ... and will continue to encourage in my own children. 

Now, obviously, as the kids get older, they "know" ... but they get into the spirit of the season and don't ruin it for their younger siblings.  And it truly is amazing to see the surprises that often end up under the tree ... or come during the season .... things that "no way we could afford" but would REALLY like ...

So, believe in the magic and celebrate St. Nicholas and his spirit with us from now thru the Christmas season!

BTW, we'll be making St. Nicholas Soup for dinner (thanks to Twelve Months of Monastery Soups), homemade crusty bread, and finishing off with St. Nicholas Purse Cookies and tea.  What more could you want on a blustery, early Winter evening? 

CHRISTMAS!

It usually takes so long to get to the day of finally celebrating Christ's birth!  Maybe because of the snow earlier this week (that threw all our plans katywampus) or because Kotch is home and helping so much or just because I'm getting older: for whatever reason, Christmas came "early" this year!

And, boy did we have fun:

Up for Midnight Mass at our parish ....

treats left out for Santa in case he came while we were gone ...

gift opening when we got home (and found that Santa had left the family a Wii ... incl a charger base ... smart Santa ... and a Nancy Drew game) 

with gifts from college-aged sister who spoils her siblings:

and hand-knit gifts for each of my loved ones (the boys are wearing the vests I made them):

hats and scarves for the girls ...

 

and wool slipper-socks for the guys (dh also got a cozy hat to keep his hair-challenged head warm in our chilly 65-degree house).

We finally all were abed by 3:00 a.m.  Dh and LegoManiac were up for 9:00 Mass (LM served) and then we attempted taking a family Christmas picture:

The girls got tired of the boys' attitudes and decided to have a picture with Big Z in lieu of their two brothers ...

then we made Almond Kringle (recipe to follow)

and roasted chesnuts (just because we could ...):

and playing Wii and making Miis for all the family ... fun!

A very blessed and happy Christmas to one and all and prayers for a holy, healthy and happy 2010

from our house to yours ...

 

Here's the recipe for the Almond Kringle:

Almond Kringle (from the Solo Foods website)

(NOTE:  I halved the recipe to make just one cake; my changes for one are below but you can click the link to get the recipe for doing two)

1 tbls dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tbls granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
1/2 can Solo almond filling (or about 1 cup of almond paste; the filling is so easy to use, but some folks are purists -- I'm NOT!)

Optional:  powdered sugar icing = powdered sugar + water

Sprinkle yeast over warm water and stir to dissolve. Let stand 5 to 10 minutes or until foamy. Combine flour, granulated sugar, and salt in large bowl and stir until blended. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat eggs and milk until blended. Add to dry ingredients with yeast mixture and stir just until all particles are moistened. (Dough will be sticky) Cover bowl with plastic wrap and overwrap with aluminum foil. Refrigerate overnight. (dough will rise very slightly)  [this is one thing I really like about this recipe is that I can START it in the evening and cook it hot for breakfast/brunch]

Grease one baking sheets and set aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Sprinkle 1 piece of dough with flour and knead gently 10 to 12 strokes on lightly floured surface. Roll out to 18 x 12-inch rectangle. Spread almond filling in 3-inch strip lengthwise down center of dough. Fold 1 long side of dough over filling and fold other side over. Pinch edge and ends to seal.  Place, seam side down, on prepared baking sheet.Cover with towel and set aside in warm, draft-free place to rise until light, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheet and cool on wire rack.

Finish:  ice with powdered sugar mixed with just enough water to drizzle (once cooled) or dust with powdered sugar.   Serve warm.

Family: we are part of the 21st Century (at last!)

Although I am pretty tech savvy (and dh is pretty good, also), we have avoided some of the latest (as in, the last ten years or so) technological advancements ... Game cube, Wii, iphones, cable tv, HDTV, TIVO, ipod ... well, I think you get the picture.  Some of the deprivations have been purposeful:  we don't want to teach the kids that life is all about entertainment ... that personal entertainment devices (ipods or xbox) are a better substitute for playing games with siblings ... Some of the deprivations have been "just can't afford" issues:  sure is a lot cheaper to have a free cell phone with our contract than to buy the iphone on top of the contract commitment! 

But, since we've settled in rural Virginia (God willing, permanently), we have been getting more and more into the 21st century -- yes, it's paradoxical, but that sort of sums us up!  We have digital cable and can wifi when people come visit!  These are conveniences which really help us ... especially dh as he's able to do his grading/classwork remotely so he's home instead of hanging at school and can bring the laptop into the bedroom and still connect to school.  Digital cable has also allowed us to watch college football as a family (even occasionally getting LSU coverage up here in ACC territory!), great shows on EWTN and even Sherlock Holmes on PBS!  Life is good in the 21st century.

I have even re-activated my Facebook account and am loving it!  Originally, I opened it to keep an eye on my college-bound ... but decided that was a bit creepy, even voyeuristic.  But now I'm finding that Facebook is a GREAT tool for me:

• reconnected with old friends from our various abodes (including far-flung folks from our years in Austria)
• connected to knitting and free-lance writing folks
• ability to talk to family wall-to-wall

How cool is that?  I'm also tapping into a larger world of homeschool folks, good opinion pieces and world-wide news. 

We are in the 21st century!  What else could we possibly need?

Well, it looks like Santa (shhhhhh, don't tell the kids, please!) will be bringing us a Wii (including the Wii Fit Plus with Balance Board).  This is both a social and a financial decision.  We have had so many different families tell us how fun the Wii is for the whole family: bowling, tennis, etc from the comfort of the living room.  This is NOT a personal entertainment device, but rather a family-night boon!  The three littles have been lobbying for this particular Santa-gift for the past year or so ... this year, they've talked dh and I into also signing the Santa letter to, and I quote, "make sure that he knows he only needs to bring us a Wii for the whole family".  Cool huh?  And financially, the Wii is $100 less than it was and we can get other games for Little Christmas and the kids, dh and I will be having a blast throughout Christmas break!

What more could we want?  Isn't the 21st century fun -- now that we're 10 years in?