American Lussekatter

I might as well say "Lucy Cats" since there is nothing Swedish about my bread. I saw lots of talk about St. Lucia day, and since I love an excuse to make shaped bread, AND I loved Kirsten as a kid (and in fact have her tucked away in the attic. Shhh! I don't want to tell the girls I have her until they finally sit through one of the books!) I thought we should have a little last minute St. Lucia day celebration, too. 

At first, I dreamed of the girls letting me sleep in, and then waking me, dressed in pretty gowns and bearing fresh-from-the-oven sweet bread and hot coffee, to serve me breakfast in bed.

But then I woke up and decided a tea party was a better idea.

Unfortunately, I had already started mixing the ingredients before I learned of the vital (and rare and expensive) ingredient saffron. Even more unfortunately, I realized too late that I didn't actually have enough flour to turn this batter into bread. So I stuck the goopy mess in the refrigerator. Yes, this is how I roll.

The next day, I added some flour and cinnamon and a few other entirely non-Swedish-tradition ingredients and braided up this bread.  I intended to shape them all into the cat shapes (sort of a cross made of 2 S's), but it was messy and the kids were yelling, and so I quickly braided the rest into a Lucia crown, and threw them in the oven. 

It was quite ill-planned - nevertheless, we sat down to our tea party with sweet bread, cocoa, candles and a little reading from the end of the Kirsten book. (spoiler! It's St. Lucia day and guess who gets to be St. Lucia!) The girls loved the story and (surprisingly) the bread, although the cocoa was a touch too hot. It's amazing how sticking a candle into your food can get everyone in a festive mood, and plenty of sugar glaze will keep everyone quietly licking their fingers while you read. Yes, it was a good time. 

Herod in His Raging

I'm overwhelmed by sadness today.  I had never heard this beautiful Christmas hymn until yesterday, which tells of the innocent children Herod killed in his search for Christ. It is unfortunately so fitting. Peace to you all.  

Lully, lullay, Thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Lullay, thou little tiny Child,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

O sisters too, how may we do,

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling for whom we do sing

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Herod, the king, in his raging,

Charged he hath this day

His men of might, in his own sight,

All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor Child for Thee!

And ever mourn and sigh,

For thy parting neither say nor sing,

Bye, bye, lully, lullay.

Space Stations, and Meteorites and Holy Nights

We've enjoyed being outside with the girls and especially watching the sky with them. Its very dark at our new house since we are far from any street lights, which makes the star gazing absolutely amazing. Seriously.

This week has been especially fun, with all the organizing credit going to John (okay, and the folks at NASA, too). John signed up for Spot the Station, a free program by NASA that will send you text or email alerts telling you when the International Space Station is visible in your area. John has been spotting the ISS for a few months now, but this week the timing was at the perfect time in the evening when we could all bundle up and sit outside together. It was very cool to see and to think about the astronauts on board (the NASA website is also very cool). Space stuff is always a little mind boggling to me in all of its paradoxes: far away but visible, empty but infinite.

Left to Right: Windows, Space Station, Jupiter

I know you're amazed at my crazy photography skills. Yes, that dot of light is impressive. But seriously, it's fun to watch and it passes over fairly quickly, so check it out if you can.

Last night, we bundled up for another adventure - watching a meteor shower! The peak time was at 3:00 AM, but there was no moon or clouds, so they were visible for most of the night. We took the girls out from 7-8PM and made a cozy bed in the back of the truck and watched patiently. We probably saw two dozen shooting stars, and the girls were thrilled with each sighting. You can keep up with what you can see in the sky each night at EarthSky, although John says sometimes you have to google around for meteor showers and comet sights. He got up again at 3 to watch at the peak time, and said he saw 75 shooting stars that were brilliant! I'd say that was worth losing sleep.

It seems fitting to marvel at the stars during the Christmas season.  It reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas Carols, O Holy Night. I prefer the version with the coffee commercial, but I couldn't find it, so here's one with a scene from the Nativity Story. Happy star gazing to all!

Yummy Yummy Vegetables

I've been plugging away on the Rose Creek Farms CSA blog, with 2 recipes each week. I'm learning so much about vegetables, and we are eating new foods each week. If you're wondering what to do with your kale, turnips, cauliflower or kohlrabi - be sure to check out my recipes. I've been wondering the same thing! Come check out my recipes, but please share your favorites, too.

Apple and Turnip Pot Pie

Cauliflower Soup

Kohlrabi Quiche

Acorn Squash and Broccoli Rabe Flatbread

Lamb Sausage Balls and Greek Yogurt Dip

I'll admit I get goofy excited about taking these food photos. Plus I get to play with all my fiesta dish colors. Too fun. :)

Updated 12/13/12 to add: Okay, I just realized that Lamb Sausage Balls are not vegetables and so they sorta don't fit here, huh? Nevertheless, the lamb sausage did come from our CSA, and I did post a recipe, so there you have it. 

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

"It's been a long journey from the Fourth Century Bishop of Myra, St. Nicholas, who showed his devotion to God in extraordinary kindness and generosity to those in need, to America's jolly Santa Claus, whose largesse often supplies luxuries to the affluent. However, if you peel back the accretions, he is still Nicholas, Bishop of Myra, whose caring surprises continue to model true giving and faithfulness." - from the Origin of Santa at the St. Nicholas Center

I hope you all have a lovely St. Nicholas Day! Learning about St. Nicholas is a beautiful way to delve into this season with a spirit of giving, and take a step back from the tensions and commercials that can overwhelm us this time of year.

We started the morning with just a few small treats in our shoes - a candy cane for St. Nicholas' staff, gold coins to remind us of his generosity, and a few small stickers just for fun. We read this story of St. Nicholas over breakfast (which was half chocolate coins, I'm afraid), and this afternoon we'll make cookies.

My intentions of making this day one of meaningful charity have fallen through yet again, and I marvel at those like St. Nicholas, for whom charity was a daily activity. Alas, the girls and I will make Christmas cards and cookies to give away, so that we can at least think of others throughout the day.

from the Life of St. Nicholas, at the council of Nicaea

Last year, I shared a picture of the story of St. Nicholas and the dowries from the St. Nicholas center, but this year I'm enjoying reading the stories about St. Nicholas at the council of Nicaea and the role he played in defending the doctrine of the Trinity. One retelling is here: Bishop Nicholas loses his cool.

Theology nerds will enjoy this silly song to the tune of "Supercalafragalisticexpialadocius" about the doctrines formulated at the council:

 [chorus] Superchristological and Homoousiosis Even though the sound of them is something quite atrociousYou can always count on them to anathemize your GnosisSuperchristological and Homoousiosis

One Prosopon, two Ousia are in one Hypostasis.
At Chalcedon this formula gave our faith its basis.
You can argue that you don't know what this means,
But don't you go and try to say there’s a "Physis" in between!

Go the St. Nicholas center to see the full song and the definitions of all the greek words.  And be sure to browse the stories, activities, and recipes. The makers of the St. Nicholas Center have filled it with buckets of information, stories and links. Enjoy!

Make Ready

We do love Christmas, especially the way the warm clothes, cheery music, and little manger scenes seem to soften our hearts. And, boy, do I need my heart softened right about now.  So we're getting ready for Christmas around here. 

No tree yet, but we do have our nativity sets out. The plastic set above (arranged in the Little People barn ala L) is actually pieces from two different plastic sets we've picked up at antique stores pretty cheaply. I love them because they're kitschy, and I don't have to worry about them breaking.

I also convinced John to build us this little manger this year. I saw this idea on Small Things last year and had to give it a try. We keep a jar of straw colored yarn next to the manger, and the girls get to add a piece whenever they do something kind or selfless. It's not very structured, it just sort of works spontaneously, e.g. "That was so kind of you to share your dog with your sister, J! Would you like to put some straw in the manger?" We explained to the children that just as Mary and Joseph made a soft bed for Jesus from the straw, when we are kind to others, we are softening our hearts to make room for Him, too. 

It's nice that we are working together to make something beautiful, rather than being nice in order to get stuff. It's a little hokey, for sure, but it seems to be the kind of thing the girls really understand. There will (hopefully) be a baby Jesus to lay in the manger on Christmas morning, but I haven't figured out how to make him yet. I'll get back to you on that. 

And finally, the girls totally talked me into buying this little ceramic nativity set at goodwill one day. It came with the cheesy homemade stable and everything. I set it up on the mantle with a felt path to count the days to Christmas. Baby Jesus is also hidden away from this set. Am I overdoing it yet?

Next week we'll do some gift making on St. Nicholas Day, bundle up with hot cocoa for our local Christmas Parade, and the girls and I are going get dressed up to see the Nutcracker. So Christmas preparations abound, and we're trying our best to make it a time of joy and love.

What are your traditions? I'm pinning ideas and loving expanding our family's traditions. Please share yours with me!

Laptop Messenger Bag

I'm in too much of a rush to say much here today. This seems to be my new normal relationship with the blogosphere. I can't say I'm unhappy about that.

Yet, briefly, I wanted to share this new pattern. I needed a bag to carry my laptop that was professional, but not one of those black ones with a million pockets and zippers that's all boring and busy looking (you know the one).

I put together this bag. It's very simple but uber-functional. I prefer the messenger-style, and this is padded to protect my computer on the go. It has large pockets inside and a pretty lining from Ann Tuck on Spoonflower. I meant to use this fabric for something else ages ago, but life got busy and it seemed a shame not to use it. 

So here it is. I'm very pleased with it, and I think I'll make a few in more colors. I think it will be just right for carrying art supplies also, for painting outside. It makes a nice guy-bag too, since it has no frills. The pattern is available in the shop.

One Eyed Jacks

We're enjoying our hens being out and about, and the eggs are definitely better for it. My latest breakfast craze (why do I get so excited about breakfast food?) are One Eyed Jacks. I'm still trying to figure out the right timing for putting the cheese on, because I feel a one-eyed-jack should have pepper jack cheese. The one pictured above has no cheese, and turned out perfectly with the white fully cooked and the yolk a little runny. I'm pretty good at cooking my eggs unevenly, so a perfectly cooked egg was heaven for me.

Here are a couple of recipes I'm referencing.

The girls thought that was too much for them, and they would not even try the egg in the toast. Which was just fine with me. They ate the toasted circles and regular eggs.

How do you like your eggs? Anyone know when to put the cheese on a one-eyed jack?

Library Books and Flour Dough

Weasel very proudly received her own library card this fall, and as usual, we've been pouring over library books. One of her favorite things to do is recreate scenes and stories that she reads in books. Last week, we made flour dough and made some of our favorite things from our favorite books. We painted them with acrylic craft paint after we baked them, but the paint has not held up very well. I think dying the dough with food dye before making things would certainly hold the color better, and would save me from cleaning up paint. Here are some of our little toys.

Jewelweed, from Fancy Nancy Poison Ivy Expert

An octopus from An Octopus is Amazing

The three ball brothers from Three Magic Balls

Flying Bunny and Bunny Tree from Runaway Bunny 

The frog, from Angel, What do You Hear?

Presence and Dishes and Joy

"Let a joy keep you. Reach out your hands and take it when it runs by."  - Carl Sandburg

To build the house we wanted, a beautiful house of our own design, we had to make some sacrifices to make it affordable. So we sacrificed a few luxuries. Our house is small, with only one bathroom, small closets, and small bedrooms. I've been a fan of the tiny house movement for a long time, so small (not quite tiny) was easy for me to embrace.  Not all of the sacrifices have been easy, though.

Like the dishwasher.

We were given a beautiful cast iron sink from one of John's colleagues. It has big drainboards on either side, and I love it so so much.  Like, if our life were a tv show, the sink would be a main character. But the kitchen is small. So we gave up the dishwasher to make room for the sink. We could squeeze one in if we had to, but giving it up seemed like the right choice.

But here's the thing I'm learning about luxuries - luxuries like dishwashers, dryers, internet, television, and cell phones: We forget what luxuries they are, and we become dependent on them. We make them necessities. Then they start to require things from us: money, maintenance, and most of all, our attention. Something that started out making our lives more convenient, over time begins to put demands on us.

It's not easy to give up some of these things. It's downright counter-cultural at times. But, being independent of these things offers more value than luxury or convenience. It offers presence. Giving up distraction and obligation to appliances, you get to be present in the current moment and involved in the stuff of life, and the people you share it with.

I'm still learning this, of course, reminding myself of it when I'm grumpy about washing the dishes. Most of the time I enjoy it though. I've been printing poems and sheet music, and learning and singing while I wash the dishes. I also just listen to the kids playing around me as a I wash, and watch the birds in the dogwood outside my window. It has become a little joyful time each day that I really look forward to.

I know you know know this, too. I'm sure we seek presence in different ways, and allow different indulgences. What do you give up? How do you stay present?

And because words aren't my strong suit, here are some other insightful, and perhaps more poetic, thoughts on washing the dishes by hand:
On doing dishes
Washing dishes together
Pretty over the kitchen sink
Joy of Washing the Dishes by Hand