time to put up the advent stockings

I just finished my christmas shopping. Now I just need to keep going with my handmade gifts. There is a christmas tree up in the children's room, and Ella and I are going to the Nutcracker tomorrow night.

32 pound bird

How can I post about Thanksgiving without a picture? I still haven't found my camera. I took some at my brother's house with their camera, but I haven't gotten them yet. All in all, we had a nice time. My brother completely stressed out about the gigantic bird and did some last minute indoor/ outdoor cooking. It was perfect and delicious. Ruby put her face down in her plate several times to lick up some glazed tomatoes and then the caramel apple pie.

We spent the night with Grandmarie and then headed north for a weekend with Granny and Grampy and the big Keller Williams show. We drank good coffee and ate pho. The traffic was treacherous and I am very thankful to be home.

thankskgiving 2006

family, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

Thanksgiving 2005

Triangle Man, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

thanksgiving 2009

thanksgiving 2009, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

thanksgiving 2007

thanksgiving 2007, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I can't find my camera at the moment so I'll just post this one. The mushroom gravy is made, the tofu is marinating and will go on the grill tomorrow, and the dressing just came out of the oven. We are going over the river and through the woods in the morning.

'Tis a gift to be simple

thanksgiving feast, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

John's class sang and signed the Shaker hymn "Tis the Gift to be Simple" at the school's Thanksgiving celebration. Ella's class wrote a poem called Happiness. She wrote, "happiness is the love of my family".

poem

Old Smoothing Iron

Often I watched her lift it
from where its compact wedge
rode the back of the stove
like a tug at anchor

To test its heat she'd stare
and spit in its iron face
or hold it up next her cheek
to divine the stored danger.

Soft thumps on the ironing board
Her dimpled angled elbow
and intent stoop
as she aimed the smoothing iron

like a plane into linen,
like the resentment of women.
To work, her dumb lunge says,
is to move a certain mass

through a certain distance,
is to pull your weight and feel
exact and equal to it.
Feel dragged upon. And buoyant.

Seamus Heaney

yarn

yarn, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I love yarn much more than I know what to do with it, so I finally took a class at a local yarnshop. I've always wanted to take a knitting class. I saw this scarf and took a one hour class in how to make it. It is very simple, but I learned a lot, and I think it is very pretty. It takes one hank of Malbrigo merino worsted wool or Malbrigo Aquarella.

I can knit. I can purl. I just need to learn to follow directions. Ah, life.

martinmas

martinmas, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

ella and our lanterns

ella and our lanterns, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

St. Martin's Day, also known as Martinmas, the Feast of St Martin of Tours or Martin le Misércordieux, is a time for feasting celebrations, and traditionally food is served that can be cut in half. The feast day, is November 11, the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, who started out as a Roman soldier. He was baptized as an adult and became a monk. It is understood that he was a kind man who led a quiet and simple life. The most famous legend of his life is that he once cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar during a snowstorm, to save the beggar from dying of the cold. That night he dreamed that Jesus was wearing the half-cloak Martin had given away. Martin heard Jesus say to the angels: "Here is Martin, the Roman soldier who is not baptised; he has clothed me."

John and Ruby fell asleep in the car tonight, so after they were tucked in their beds, Ella and I made paper lanterns with paper that we had painted. We walked around in our front yard with our candlelit lanterns. Martinmas is often a day for giving, so she took a child's coat in to the donation box at our school.

watercolor

ruby paints, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

paints

paints, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

wizard

wizard, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

I did my holiday shopping tonight. I have many little projects to make, but I made my lists and checked them twice. A rock tumbler is headed our way as well as a magical kingdom with knights and dragons and princesses.

Ruby is getting the little red wooden banjo that I forgot last year, and I'm making her a Princess and the Pea playset with a waldorf style doll and a stack of colorful patterned mattresses and a twig ladder. John wants loop de loop cars, and I've just learned that those are called Hot Wheels; I'm going to go get my sweet baby some Hot Wheels.

A dear friend got us tickets for the Moscow ballet on December first, the day that we put up our advent stockings. After Christmas last year I got the kids all of the Jan Brett Holiday books, and I'm going to give them one a day for the first week of December. I'm looking forward to the Advent Garden Celebration with the Unitarian Congregation on December 4th. We'll spend some time at the Christmas tree farm making wreaths for our school and pick out our tree. What do I really want for the season? Peace. Quiet. Candles. Bonfires. The smell of evergreens. I want to watch Fanny and Alexander and make Italian seafood stew. I want to knit. Bake. Be.

The wizard is for Ella's stocking.

fall

fall, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

john's lunch

john's lunch, originally uploaded by ellajohn.

wet felting with ruby

wet felting with ruby, originally uploaded by ellajohn.