A Christmas Storey

Hope that all of you are having a wonderful Christmas Eve. We sang Christmas carols, munched on cookies and wished our friends a merry Christmas. At the end of the night we watched this adorable little video entitled "The Christmas Story". You must watch it!!!!!!!!! It will melt your heart :0)

 

Love Jocelyn

All decked out for Christmas

Christmas is such a beautiful time of year and so much fun to prepare for. I thought I would give you a little peek at how I like to decorate my home for the holidays. Enjoy!

 

A tiered tray waiting for  Christmas goodies. This year I made buckets of gingerbread, butter tarts and almond rocca.

 

The garland I made last year with some stamps, craft paper and yarn.

 

 

There is a lot of red and white under my tree this year. I can't help it, I am drawn to the classic colors of Christmas.

Love this image of my childhood rocking horse nestled up against the tree and stockings.

 

With the leftover evergreens from my wreath making party, I plumped up my fake dollar store garland. It was super easy, and looks great (in my humble opinion) :0)  It smells SOOO good!

 

I just love my snowflake pillow. I made it with a place mat I found at a dollar store a couple of years ago.

I am happy to say that I have checked off everything on my December bucket list.

 

The girls and I purchased a little tree from value village and decked it out with white lights,  sparkly pink butterflies, vintage balls, and handmade ornaments. It is adorable!

 

Hopefully my hubby will mount these antlers on the wall in the new year. They serve as a great place to hang coats and dry mittens.These are by far my favorite antlers. I love their organic structure. The garland has since been been hung over my kitchen window. My stars have found a home over Nathaniel's aquarium.

A little Christmas on the bathroom window sill.

A simple ikea garland over my bedroom window.

My bedroom has been the most neglected room in our home so far, but my hubby is building me the most magnificent headboard and bed frame for Christmas. Sooooo excited!!!!!!

 

The snowy view from my craft room window.

Hope you enjoyed the little tour. Have a Merry Christmas!

Evergreens and chocolate!

 For the past couple of years I have enjoyed making myself evergreen wreaths. When I lived in the Chilcotin my wreaths consisted entirely of juniper since it was the only material I had to work with. Now that I live on the coast, and have access to dozens of varieties of evergreens, I went a little crazy. With Nathaniel's help I harvested loads of cedar, juniper, pine, blue spruce, Douglas fir, sequoia, salal, ivy, and holly.

 

 

 This year, I thought that it would be fun to get together with a few girlfriends and make wreaths together. I purchased a few extra wreath frames from a local nursery, and some florist wire, rummaged through my husbands' shop for a few tools and welcomed my girlfriends over for an evening of creativity.

 

 I made a few little treats. Some chocolate truffles rolled them in coconut, crushed almonds, cocoa powder and icing sugar. They were a little too sweet for me. I also made something called hot chocolate on a stick which I enjoyed quiet a bit. I have loads left, so if anyone wants to try some, come on over!

 

 

 

 

Everyone made such beautiful unique wreaths!

 

My little sprouts....

 

My blog has been pretty quiet lately. While I have longed to write, I just haven't been able to. It feels as though every spare minute has been consumed with nursing my girls back to health, writing Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, baking naughty things, and when I have had a bit of extra time, working on my December daily album. I hope it doesn't sound like I am complaining, because I am as happy as a pig in the mud. Even when my girls were miserable, I saw it as opportunity to stay in my pj's all day, and get extra cuddles.  I realize that it has been a long time since I have written about my little sprouts. They are so full of life, laughter, challenges and fun these days. Here is a little update....

 

 

After what feels like years of reminding, Amelia is finally starting to say "please", "thank you" and "excuse me".  It just makes me beam! Sometimes she is even says "beautiful princess mommy, may I please......"  It is hilarious!

While she still has epic meltdowns from time to time, they are becoming less frequent and less intense. I feel like I am just beginning to have a grasp of this thing called parenting. I *think*.  A couple of months ago I attended a parenting course at our church and I feel that it has helped me tremendously. I love watching her take ownership of her behaviour, make wise choices and use self control. She is becoming more and more articulate and I doing what I can to expand her vocabulary. She insists on calling the elevator an "alligator" and calls preschool "pretty school". Funny girl! Amelia will be turning four this March. At the moment  her favorite things include: hunting with her daddy, wearing princess dresses, playing with her stuffed animals, wrestling, singing, baking, going to strong start, visiting with her friends, and watching "frosty the snowman" on YouTube.  I love hearing her observations about life and singing with her at bedtime. She continually amazes me.

 

 

Claire will be two this fall and has only recently discovered the word "no"! She also recently learned to bite when she gets frustrated. I was the recipient of that behaviour at least five times today. I am not entirely sure how to handle it, so if any one has any suggestions, please help! Other than that, she is extremely sweet, intelligent, and fun. She adores spending time with Amelia and follows her around the house like a puppy. She LOVES dollies, real babies and anything that has to do with babies. She is sleeping consistently through the night, napping 2-3 hours each afternoon and is finally weaned from breastfeeding. She is tiny but extremely capable and has amazing reflexes. She LOVES chocolate and does the funniest little happy dance when she gets some. She hates potatoes, yams and most diary products but loves pomegranates, meat and frozen blueberries. She is much more cuddlier than her older sister ever was, and much more quiet. She makes my womb long for another baby.

 

Well, my girls are now sound asleep so I going to finish writing in my Christmas cards, scrub my floors, and then hopefully scrapbook for the remainder of the evening.

You now you are Dutch when.....

A couple of years ago a girlfriend of mine gave me a long a long list entitled "You Know You are Dutch When......" . While the original list is much longer than the one I included, these are the ones that I experienced growing up in a Dutch family. Honestly, aside from the cheese slicer, and the chocolate letters at Christmas, I thought most of these practices were unique to my family. Much to my amusement, they are not. If you are Dutch or knows anyone who is Dutch you will enjoy this :0)

 

1. The temp is so low in your house that two sweaters is a bare minimum if you want to be remotely warm

2. During the winter it is warmer outside than it is inside

3. You open the freezer and are excited to find a container of ice cream, only to open it and discover it is full of homemade soup.

4.When looking in the fridge, you never trust that the yogurt containers contain what the label says.

5.You have a pair of wooden shoes in your house.

6.You have eaten oliebollen at New Years.

7. You enjoy chocolate sprinkle (hagelslag) sandwiches

8. You have cousins who wear size 14 shoes and are over 6'4.

9. You wash and reuse plastic cups and cutlery.

10. You have soup and open faced sandwiches for Sunday lunch

11. The most frequent phrase uttered growing up was "turn off the lights"!

12. You get a chocolate letter every year at Christmas

13. All your tables in your house are covered with table clothes

14. You like croquettes

15. Your Oma had a calender hanging  on the bathroom wall with every one's birthdays and anniversary's on it.

16. You have been known to recycle aluminium foil. And Ziploc bags.

17. You own a special utensil that is only used for cutting cheese.

18.You know that Gouda is the best cheese ever!

19. You reuse teabags

20. You eat sandwiches open faced.

21. You rarely  have both meat and cheese on the same sandwhich.

22. You have never met half the relatives at your family reunion.

23. You put a little water into the jar of tomato sauce and shake it to make sure you got it all out.

24.You make the bed in your hotel room.

25. you have a front room nobody sits in (it is only used for special occasions). 

26.You eat apple stroop. (Something that looks like roof tar).

27. Your fridge is always stocked with leftovers. Throw out food? Never!

28. You have pictures of windmills around your house.

28.Everything is Do-It-Yourself -its cheaper than hiring someone.

29. You use "washandjes" (faceclothes that you can put your hand into).

30. You're laughing along with this list because you can relate to most of it!