She let the rest of the family know that we were coming and before the  night was over my parents and all of my siblings had arrived for an impromptu party!

Not only was impromptu – it was short. We had just 24 hours together.

Do you have any idea how much fun a bunch of cousins can cram into 24 hours? Especially when they don’t sleep?

They put Angel Girl behind the camera and  filmed an epic movie – complete with costumes and a rap.

They played hilarious games, did some wild singing, and laughed at all their inside jokes.

There was a lot of dancing – both with Dance Central and then some line dancing in the basement, followed by some swing dancing and a little “Hunting the Fox”.

Then there was the great deer head adventure. One of the uncles had hit a deer with his van and it was still laying in the ditch. The kids decided to go and rescue the antlers for him. The only problem was – they couldn’t get the antlers off.

So they brought him the whole head.

I know he appreciated it!

They had a midnight toast with homemade ice cream, ate cold pizza at 2 AM and consumed lots of Christmas goodies between times.

But most of all – they just loved being together! (And yes – there is a cousin hidden in the wolf costume!)

Now that was 24 hours of fun and excitement!

It will be time to take down the calendar that has graced my refrigerator for the last 365 days – with its curled corners, loose pages and food stains.

For the past year it has recorded important birthdays, visits, and trips. It has reminded us of appointments, kept us organized, and recorded our days.

Days that were full of activity.

Laughter.

Tears.

Excitement.

Uncertainty.

Joy.

Pain.

In it’s place I’ll hang our brand new – spotless – calendar. It’s pages empty and waiting.

What will those pages record?

What will the next 366 days bring?

Whatever comes our way in 2012, I can rest assured that God is still in control.

Just as He was in the last 365 days.

Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, so that we may apply our hearts to wisdom.”

Wishing you all a blessed and Happy New Year!

The very best Christmas story ever is the very first Christmas story ever…

The story of a tiny baby born in a stable in Bethlehem who grew to be the Savior of the world.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth…” John 1:13-15

May the glory of Christmas live in your hearts this Christmas!

Merry Christmas from my home to yours.

Photo courtesy of Nils Fretwurst.

1. If you eat a Christmas cookie fresh out of the oven, it has no calories because everyone knows that the first cookie is the test and thus calorie free.

2. If you drink a diet soda after eating your second cookie, it also has no calories because the diet soda cancels out the cookie calories.

3. If a friend comes over while you’re making your Christmas cookies and needs to sample, you must sample with your friend. Because your friend’s first cookie is calorie free, (rule #1) yours is also. It would be rude to let your friend sample alone and, being the friend that you are, that makes your cookie calorie free.

4. Any cookie calories consumed while walking around will fall to your feet and eventually fall off as you move. This is due to gravity and the density of the caloric mass.

5. Any calories consumed during the frosting of the Christmas cookies will be used up because it takes many calories to lick excess frosting from a knife without cutting your tongue.

6. Cookies colored red or green have very few calories. Red ones have three and green ones have five – one calorie for each letter. Make more red ones!

7. Cookies eaten while watching “Miracle on 34th Street” have no calories because they are part of the entertainment package and not part of one’s personal fuel.

8. As always, cookie pieces contain no calories because the process of breaking causes calorie leakage.

9. Any cookies consumed from someone else’s plate have no calories since the calories rightfully belong to the other person and will cling to their plate. We all know how calories like to CLING!

10. Any cookies consumed while feeling stressed have no calories because cookies used for medicinal purposes NEVER have calories. It’s a rule!

Now – go enjoy those goodies guilt -free!

The year was 1940.

Jan’s dad, or Poppa as the kids call him, was ten years old and growing up in tiny Kensington, Minnesota.

The school children were in state of great excitement as Christmas approached. Poppa was no exception.

Part of their excitement was the upcoming Christmas pageant. This was back in the days when shepherds,  angels and baby Jesus were an integral part of the school program, and Poppa had been chosen to read the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke.

It was quite an honor.

To add to the excitement, the pageant was to be held downtown at Kensington Hall. The hall was large and boasted a real stage and two sets of curtains – the plush red velvet and an inner curtain of mesh that the angel choir stood behind – all adding to the drama.

For weeks the students practiced and prepared during school hours, as the excitement mounted for the big event!

Finally the evening had come for the performance.

The students all came dressed in their Christmas finery. Poppa was wearing his best suit and his hair was slicked back just right.

The program began on time and seemed to go without a hitch. The angel choir looked angelic behind their mesh curtain as one by one the students performed, building up to the climax – the reading of Luke 2.

Poppa stood in the wings nervously waiting his turn. He opened his Bible to look at the passage one more time and suddenly realized that it was pitch black!

They had only practiced during  school hours – when the sunlight streamed in the large auditorium windows.  With all the house lights off, he couldn’t read a word!

He frantically told the nearby teacher, who frantically told the next one, who frantically wrung her hands in panic.

Finally, the primary teacher, Miss Bovem,  suggested a flashlight. She said she would stand on the other side of the curtain and hold it through the crack so that Poppa could read.

A flashlight was found.

Poppa nervously stepped between the velvet curtains, cleared his voice, opened his Bible and waited for Miss Bovem to turn the flashlight on, reach her arm through the curtains and illuminate the passage.

The light appeared and he started to read the familiar words, growing more confident with each verse.

Meanwhile, behind that heavy velvet curtain, Miss Bovem’s arm was getting tired. She supported it with her other arm and leaned slightly into the curtain.

Still Poppa read.

Then suddenly – without warning – the flashlight flew across the stage as a very startled Miss Bovem crashed through the curtain, landing in a heap on the floor!

The startled audience gasped – and then a few seconds later – a titter of laughter was heard. Soon, the entire hall was doubled over in laughter!

Poppa’s big part was a smashing success!

By the way – Miss Bovem was uninjured in the fall, and later married Corkie Windell and lived a long and happy life. But I’m sure she never again volunteered for the Christmas program!

This year’s program takes place in Bible times – which means we needed period costumes for all the kids.

Dagmar decided it was time to retire the motley collection of plaid bathrobes that had served as costumes for several decades – and step things up a little.

But that wasn’t going to be cheap. Have you seen fabric prices lately?!

There was no way we were spending hundreds of dollars on costumes that would be used once a year for a couple of hours – especially when they are children in the world going to bed hungry tonight!

It was time to get creative!

We did find a great costume pattern with multiple looks and sizes on sale at Michael’s – then we started the hunt for material. Trust me – we left no stone unturned!

We raided Nana Shirley’s cupboards which yielded a few nice pieces and some great trims! Lorine, our resident seamstress at church, also found us some good stuff.

Then we started shopping garage sales, thrift stores and bargain bins.
Our best bargain? The plain white cotton sheet. They were cheap and pretty easy to find – and a little Rit dye turned them into whatever colored we needed!

A shiny plaid piece from a garage sale made a great costume for King Herod, especially when topped with a vest made from a fake red velvet bed spread we found for a dollar at the local thrift store!

The shepherds were really fun! A ratty old blanket turned into a great vest and an old bathroom rug with a hole in the middle became a sheepskin to throw over a shoulder.

We used sheets, blankets, table cloths, curtains, table runners and even bed skirts to find the material we needed.

When she ran out of trims, Dagmar started used contrasting threads and played with the fancy stitches on the sewing machine to finish off the edges.

Aunt Julie came for a weekend to help her sew and put the finishing touches on everything.

The final result?

Some great looking and versatile costumes for a little bit of money.

And that works for me!

I’ve linked this post with Works For Me Wednesday at We Are That Family.

What child doesn’t love the excitement of Christmas Eve?!

Do you remember how hard it was to sleep after hanging your stockings?

Every year I would toss and turn in bed, trying to stay awake so that I could hear when those mysterious presents appeared under the tree.

I wasn’t the only one. My siblings were the same way.

One year in particular my brother, sister and I made an elaborate plan.

We would stay up until the presents appeared – and then we would sneak downstairs and check them out!

We lived in a big old farmhouse in rural Iowa. I was about 10 years old, which would make Sandy, 9 and Tim, 12.

We obediently went to bed when we were told and waited anxiously until all was quiet in the house. Then Sandy and I very quietly slipped out of bed and headed to Tim’s room at the top of the stairs.

He was waiting and ready with our secret stash of pilfered chocolate chips and dry Tang. We sat feasting in the light of our flashlights, trying not to giggle while we waited for the perfect time to make our foray downstairs.

When we were sure that everyone in the house was asleep – or maybe it was when we ran out of chocolate chips – we began our descent down the stairs.

Now remember – this is an older farm house and the stairs were pretty creaky. But my brother had been testing them for weeks. He knew exactly where each step creaked and had the pattern memorized so that we could sneak down those stairs without a sound.

Right side on the first step.

Middle on the second.

Back to the right on the third.

The fourth step is bad, skip it totally and go on to the left side of the fifth.

Step by step he silently led us down the stairs, my sister and I stepping exactly where he stepped.

We didn’t make a sound.

At the bottom of the stairs there were 2 doors. One opened into the living room with the tree and the stockings and all the gifts. The other opened into the newer addition which included a bathroom, utility room, and kitchen.

The door into the living room was closed and it creaked, but the bathroom door was open. The plan was to quietly go through the bathroom, out the other door to the utility room, circle around through the kitchen, and enter the living room where we would use our flashlights to scope out our presents.

The three of us were in line. Tim, in the lead, noiselessly slipped through the first bathroom door like a hunter stalking his prey. I was close behind, followed by Sandy.

Now that we were in the newer part of the house the floors didn’t creak. We were close now! Our excitement surged and Tim picked up speed. He took the next bathroom door at a semi-run with me right at his heels. We had just about rounded the utility room when we heard the loud crash!

We looked back in horror to see Sandy in a heap on the floor – she had gone too fast and tripped on the bathroom rug!

It took a second for the reality of the situation to hit – we were out of bed at midnight on Christmas Eve with flashlights and the smell of pilfered chocolate chips on our breath!

And we had just made enough noise in the quiet house to wake the dead!

We turned tail and took the stairs three at a time. We jumped into bed, pulling the covers up over our heads.

Then, despite our excitement and all that extra sugar, we fell sound asleep.

Before we knew it – it was Christmas morning and we hadn’t been caught!

We ran down the stairs with sheepish expressions and saw all the gifts that had eluded us the night before.

As far as I can remember, that was our last Christmas Eve mission. We soon grew too old for those midnight raids, but it sure makes a fun memory!

You know – I haven’t had dry Tang in years!

The year was 1936.

Jan’s mom, or Damie as the kids call her, was just five years old.

For the little girl growing up in Minnesota during the Great Depression, it will always be remembered as the year that Grandma died.

Grandma had eleven children, some married with families of their own, others still living at home when she died.

She had been the matriarch of the family and her absence was most keenly felt as Christmas approached.

She did the baking, the decorating,  and – most importantly to a five year old – the gift buying.

The family would gather at the traditional Swedish Christmas Eve Service at midnight, followed by a trip to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for thick black coffee and the Swedish treats that Grandma had spent weeks making.

What would Christmas be like without Grandma?

Grandpa felt the loss most of all, but despite his pain, he knew that he didn’t want his grandchildren to remember this Christmas with sadness. He wanted to make it a special time.

As the cold December days passed, he made a plan. After a trip to the local dime store and then to the barn for the needed supplies, he was ready.

Finally the big day arrived and the family gathered.

The aunts had done the decorating and pulled together hot coffee and a feast of goodies, but grandma’s absence was keenly felt.

Grandpa slipped out of the room and quietly hung a sheet in the doorway.

He came back in holding a fishing pole with a bag attached to the end and called the grandchildren to gather around.

He explained that each one would get a turn to fish in “Grandpa’s Fish Pond” and see what they could catch. Then he quietly slipped behind the sheet.

Their eyes grew large as one by one each grandchild grabbed the pole and lowered the bag over the side of the sheet and pulled it back.

They had each caught a gift!

It wasn’t anything fancy or expensive, it was just a little something from the dime store. But the fun they had “catching” their gift made it extra wonderful!

With shining eyes they held that gift tightly while tucking the memory of that special Christmas into their hearts.

Damie has included a fish pond in our own family Christmas celebration for several years now.

And every year as we watch the shining eyes of the grandchildren “fish” for their gifts, we are reminded of that first Christmas Fish Pond, when Great-Grandpa looked beyond his own grief to make a special Christmas for those he loved.

The kids spent a good part of last weekend cleaning and putting up Christmas decorations. Even the guys helped – although I think they weren’t as excited about the decorating as they were about eating our traditional chocolate fondue while they did it!

To me, decorating for Christmas is a special time when we share the memories of Christmas’s past and pass on traditions.

Traditions like our red Christmas stockings.

When we were born, my siblings and I each received a handmade red Christmas stocking from Grandma Griner.

Since we never had a fireplace mantle to hang them, every year Mom would hang those 5 stockings on the wall until Christmas Eve.

(Okay – something I’ve wondered for years – how in the world did Mom get them to stay on the wall all month?)

Then – just before bed on Christmas Eve – we would take our stockings and safety pin them to the couch – most of the time using diaper pins (you know the ones with little pastel duckies and bunnies on them!)

And we would sit, in order of age, in our handmade jammies, with excited faces, and take a picture.

Every year.

Even the year we had mumps.

Trust me – some of those pictures are really embarrassing! Especially when we got into our teens.

When each of us got married and started our own families, my sister Teresa continued the tradition. She presented each of our children with their very own red Christmas stocking, just like the ones Grandma made.

Since I also don’t have a fireplace to hang them, our stockings get hung on our open staircase until Christmas Eve, when – you guessed it – we take them down and hang them on the couch!

And I bet you’ve figured out what we do next!

That’s right – we sit the kids down in birth order and take a picture of them  – in their jammies with excited faces just before they go to bed.

Every year.

Even the year they all had the head colds and bright red chapped noses.

Trust me – some of these pictures are really embarrassing, too!

Especially now that they are in their teens!

But what a special memory!

It’s a tradition that ties us together, past and present.

A special bond we share together as a family.

And as my kids start leaving the nests to set up their own households, their red Christmas stocking will go with them.

Then, in December when they pull out the Christmas decorations, they will see their bright red Christmas stocking and remember.

It is a little embarrassing.

But at least it went into something really yummy – a chocolate peppermint poke cake.

You remember the original poke cakes made with colorful jello poked into a white cake? This holiday version features a chocolate cake poked with a yummy peppermint simple syrup.

It’s rich and minty and most of all – super easy!

Chocolate Peppermint Poke Cake

1 – 9 x 13 chocolate cake (you can use a mix – or make your own from scratch)
1 cup water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 tub of Cool Whip
1 or 2 crushed candy canes

Bake cake as directed.

While the cake is baking, combine the water and sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture boils. Add the peppermint extract.

Reduce heat and let it simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, use a fork to poke the entire top and slowly pour the peppermint syrup over it all.

Let it cool completely.

Frost with the Cool Whip and garnish with the crushed peppermints.

Refrigerate until you are ready to serve.

The cake just gets more minty as it sits!

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday at Blessed With Grace and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.