The Wood Between the Worlds

 nothing like a hot cocoa and non-religious holiday zoo lights...

meh, I'm glad it was free with our membership.  It was SOOO crowded.

Here are the houses that I make from scratch every year.  It is the one tradition from my childhood that I cannot depart from.  My mom's gingerbread recipe is just TOO delicious to do graham crackers or store bought kits.  I did learn a new trick this year which made them a lot easier to assemble...when the house pieces are fresh and hot out of the oven, take the cookie cutter or whatever template you used for the shapes (I draw up my plans on a paper grocery bag and cut around it with a butter knife) and cut them out again.  The cookie dough spreads as it bakes in the oven making the house pieces all lopsided and difficult to assemble.  Cutting them out again {carefully} makes them easy as plum pudding to assemble!

 Toby and Joshua's decorated houses.  

I *love* the idea of using coconut on the roof to make it look like snow!  These guys are obviously still novice decorators.  One of these days when we don't have any tiny tots, I'll be excited to decorate one too {and make it just the way I want to!}.

12.24.11 Christmas Eve- a British {Dickens-style} Christmas feast!

One of the other traditions that my family grew up with was having a "tasting party" on Christmas Eve.  It started out when our grandmother send us one of those Hickory Farms party packages and we all wanted a taste of everything.  So my mom cut them up into small pieces so we could each taste one.  Each year we would add some new food that we hadn't tried before.  I remember one year we added caviar and it felt all fancy!  {but tasted icky!}  Eventually we decided to choose a different country each year and have a tasting party with foods from that country.  Brent and I have not upheld this tradition, but this year as we were watching "A Christmas Carol" (the new one with Jim Carrey, which I thought was GREAT, by the way) I had the idea to make a British feast for Christmas Eve.  I got some ideas from friends on facebook, and even had a local farmer friend offer to sell me a goose.  My sisters who live in Portland all thought it was a great idea and pitched in with some of the British items.

We had a delicious roast goose with "neeps and tatties" (turnips and potatoes) with apple and currant stuffing, brussel sprouts, Yorkshire puddings (which is like a puffed oven pancake with meat drippings in it), mini mincemeat pies, pasties, and Christmas pudding for dessert.  My sister brought Christmas crackers (which aren't the crackers that you eat...they're like those New Years party poppers that make a loud noise and confetti), which came with our lovely paper crowns that we're all wearing in the pictures.  It was all lovely.

12.25.11 Christmas Day

We spent the day with just our family at home.  We went to church in the morning and had a special time together afterward opening presents and eating all the leftovers.

We had a really great time and had great moments to think about the birth of the small babe in Bethlehem who brings hope and life to all.

God bless us!  Every one!