You may have noticed that I never got around to the promised description of our St. Martin celebration. Time got away from me and eventually so much time had passed that it just seemed rather silly to post about it. However, fear not, I will post about St. Nicholas and as it happens, the two celebrations are fairly similar, at least at our house.

Where we live, St. Martin is traditionally celebrated by the Protestant population and St. Nicholas by the Catholics. As I am a child of a mixed-denomination family (if that is what you call it) I was always in the lucky position to get treats on both days. And who am I to deny my kids the same advantage?
When the boys were still quite little, I made each of them a small burlap bag with a picture of St. Martin/St. Nick (they look fairly similar) on it.

I remember when I was little the Saint would come when it was dark, leave the treats and knock on the door. By the time I felt brave enough to open the door (both saints carry a switch to punish misbehaving children) he would of course be gone. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to figure out a way to surreptitiously get the treats outside in the bag and knock without the boys noticing. So for now, we do an easier (though somewhat less exciting) version: The boys hang the bags outside the door the night before and the bags are magically filled by morning time.

The typical treats are candy, apples and tangerines. However, I usually put in only a couple pieces of candy and add in some other presents. This year each of the boys received a small jigsaw puzzle and a Christmas-themed picture book.

B. received The Beautiful Christmas Tree and really liked it. It tells the story of a man who moves into a rundown house and who uses loving care to turn the building and a small whithered tree he plants into something special. It is neither too long nor too difficult for a three year old and the gentle story suits his personality.

J.’s book was The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey. It tells of a gloomy woodcarver whose live has been bereft of joy since the death of his wife and child. It isn’t until a widow and her young son ask him to carve the figures for a manger scene that things change. When I first saw the book I felt a bit uncertain whether it would be right for my six-year old. The story is quite long and there is enough tragedy in the backstory that I feared J. might not care for it. However, I couldn’t have been more mistaken. He absolutely loves it. And I am truly astonished by J’s understanding of the more complex/less obvious aspects of the story. All in all, I would say this year’s St. Nicholas’ books were a big success.

Another family tradition is to make a gingerbread house on St. Nicholas. We did get one started but it isn’t finished yet. Like all great constructions it will take a while. However, today we have assembled the walls so all that is left to do is decorate it (which is of course the most important part). Hopefully, we will get to that tomorrow and I will post a picture of our creation (before the boys start sneaking the candy).

For this week’s entry to Shannon’s WFMW blog carnival at Rocks in my dryer I wanted to share a special Christmas tradition our family enjoys very much. It is short, easy, and - at least for us - provides a good opportunity to feel the Christmas spirit in the middle of all the hustle and bustle.

Every night, right before bedtime, we have a short Christmas song sing-a-long. It is only one song, but the kids look forward to it all day - probably because the sing-a-long includes that wonderful secret ingredient, a candle with an open flame. Anyway, the process is simple enough:

1. Every night each one of us (me, J., B.) has a special job. The jobs rotate through. (Don’t forget whose turn it is to do what or the pleasant ritual will turn into a major fight - I know whereof I speak!)
2. The first one up gets to light the candle.
3. The second person gets to choose a song (no matter if big brother HATES “Jingle Bells” or if we had it three days in a row) and we all sing it together (just be glad you don’t have to listen!)
4. The third person gets to blow out the candle.

That’s it. Very easy, fast (no more than five minutes) and still something Christmasy to look forward to at the end of the day.

We’ve been waiting for the longest time and today it is finally here - the first day of snow. When we got up this morning (WAY too early for a Saturday morninig thanks to B) there were a good three inches of snow lying on the ground. Hurrah!
It wasn’t really a surprise as the weather forecasts had predicted this - they are so much more accurate now than they used to be when I was a child. I remember them being completely wrong all the time when I was little (as in floods of rain when the prediction called for “nice and sunny”). Luckily, the forecasts are more reliable now. Which means I was able to buy all the ingredients for our special “First Day of Snow Lunch” yesterday and we don’t have to rush out this morning to get it.
Do you have a special meal you like to serve the day of the first snowfall (if you live in a snowy climate that is)? We usually prepare Chili, one of our favorite dishes.

Chili

Ingredients

• 1 Onion
• 1/2 green pepper (optional), some garlic
• 1 lb of ground meat
• 1 small can of beans
• pureed tomatoes or tomato paste
• paprika, cumin, salt, pepper, hot sauce
• balsamic vinegar (really)

Instructions

1. Chop onion (and pepper if used) in small pieces and sautee in a little bit of oil until they turn slightly brown.
2. Add in the meat and continue cooking until meat is browned.
3. Pour in some balsamic vinegar until you can smell it in the skillet.
4. Add in a good teaspoon of paprika, 1/2 tsp of cumin, hot sauce, salt and pepper to taste. (Sorry, but I can’t really tell you how much to use as it depends on how you like it. We eat our chili really, really spicy). Mix well and cook a minute or two.
5. Pour in the pureed tomatoes (or tomato paste mixed with water) and cook for about twenty minutes.
6. Drain the kidney beans well and put into the skillet. Add water to give the chili the right consistency. Cook another 10 minutes or so.
7. Tasty!

The chili is extra tasty with freshly baked cornmuffins!
Oops, I didn’t get to post it on Saturday (getting the photos put in always takes me forever - the main reason I have those boring, picture-less posts in between or I would never get to post at all), but better late than never, I say (that’s what I should have called my blog).

Christmas is really coming close now. I can’t believe St. Martin’s (November 11 th) is right around the corner. High time to start making our St. Martin’s lanterns for this year.
One of the nicest traditions here is the annual St. Martin’s parade that takes place right around the Saint’s special day. Usually organized by nursery schools or churches, the observance consists of some sort of family service (with the story of the Saint), followed by a lantern-lit parade through the dark neighborhood and often concludes with some sort of snack/treat.
I guess you could reuse your lantern year after year (if you don’t have a couple of boys who are likely to destroy it the first time around and if you can find it again next year). However, here most preschools/playgroups make one every year. My boys’ preschool never makes St. Martin lanterns. That’s just fine with me as making the lantern is a great activity for Family Moment Monday.

This year J. decided he wanted a Star Lantern. Instead of getting instructions and following a template we just came up with our own version:

All you need to make one of these is some stiff posterboard, transparent paper in various colors, and one of the round cardboard thingies you see in the pictures below.
And here are the instructions:

Cut out two star shapes from the posterboard big enough to cover the round paper thingies. J. was a bit impatient so his stars are a bit small - doesn’t really matter though.

Cut holes into the star shapes.

Cover the holes with transparent paper. Cut a hole in the bottom cardboard circle so that you basically end up with two “rims”. Cut a long piece of cardboard (about 2 to 3 inches wide).

Glue one star on each rim. Use a glue gun to attach the length of cardboard to the two rims (I know, I know - you have no idea what I mean by that. That’s why I have added in the pictures. Take a look at the finished lantern and you’ll see what I am talking about). Make sure to leave a space to put the light through.

And there you go, one cool St. Martin lantern. I will post later this week about our St. Martin’s celebration on Tuesday and the lantern walk which is scheduled for next Sunday.

Today, September 29, is the day we celebrate Michaelmas. It is traditionally the day to honor St. Michael (and the other archangels). The boys have mixed feelings about this day. Legend has it that the devil fell into a blackberry bush when he was thrown out of heaven. Satan cursed the brambles, and for that reason, blackberries traditionally should not be eaten after Michaelmas. The kids will miss eating those juicy black treats (which are mostly gone by now anyway). For the most part the boys love Michaelmas though because we go on our very own dragon hunt, a great idea for Family Moment Monday.

For some reason, St. Michael is connected to the stories about St. George. I can’t quite understand the reasoning behind it, but it is all to the good because we haven’t got a book about St. Michael. Instead, we always read St. George and the dragon. This book has a very fierce dragon and the text is a bit too long and difficult for very small children. However, we like to look at it and I shorten/simplify the story according to the boys’ ages. I am thinking that in a year or two we can go ahead and read the book in its entirety.

Though the boys enjoy reading the book, the real highlight of the day is of course the dragon hunt. For that we first bake a dragon:
Ingredients:

• Puff pastry
• Two apples
• Raisins, sugar, cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Peel the apples and cut into small pieces. Mix with some raisins and sugar/cinnamon to taste.
2. I cut shapes out of the pastry dough that will then be assembled to make a dragon shape. A long, slightly triangular piece serves as the tummy, two more pieces as the sides and back. No template necessary, just make it look a bit like a dragon.



3. Fill the inside of the dragon with the apple/raisin mixture.
4. Depending on your own artistic talent and your kids expectations, add on extra features with the dough (wings, feet, ears etc.). Put on raisins for eyes and almond slices etc for scales.
5. You might want to use something (eg. aluminum foil) to hold up the dragon’s head while baking.
6. Bake according to the pastry instructions.

Once the dragon has finished baking (and has cooled a bit), I “hide” him somewhere in the house. The boys and I then go on a dragon hunt to look for it. Once it is found, the kids get to “kill” the dragon with a knife or stick. Then, of course, comes the best part: Eating it all up.

Fall is still in the air and we are not done with our apple project yet. Today we went to Grandpa’s garden to pick apples. Unfortunately, there weren’t that many apples this year (presumably for the same reason as the dearth of plums?). Still, there were plenty for two little boys to pick (and what could be better than being told to climb up on the trees?).

Picking apples (or harvesting anything for that matter) is a great activity for the whole family to enjoy together. Not only does it help the kids to get a better understanding of where food comes from, but it is also plain fun. If you don’t have a garden (or at least none with apple trees), don’t despair. There are plenty of farms around that will let you choose and pick your own apples. Just be prepared for quite a crowd if you go during a sunny Sunday afternoon! Of course, this is also a great activity for Family Moment Monday.

We used our apples to bake a tasty apple pie:

Ingredients:

• Pastry dough for 9-inch pie
• 4 to 5 medium apples
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 11/2 TB flour
• cinnamon and nutmeg to taste
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/3 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar

Preparation:

1. Peel apples and cut into small pieces. Mix 1/2 cup sugar, 11/2 TB flour and spices together. Mix in apple pieces and raisins and toss until fruit is coated with flour-sugar mixture.
2. Roll out pastry dough and line pie plate with it. Fill in apple mixture.
3. Use 1/2 cup flour, 1/2 cup ground almonds, 3/4 cups sugar and 1/3 cups butter to make a crumble and spread it on top of pie.
4. Bake 50 minutes to a hour at 375° until filling is bubbly.

We used another apple-themed book for read-aloud today. Somewhat to my surprise, The Seasons of Arnold’s Apple Tree is a favorite at our house. Personally, I am not a hundred percent crazy about the illustrations. Probably because I am a fan of very detailed pictures (like you see in our book about Johnny Appleseed). By comparison, Arnold’s Apple Tree has very simple illustrations. However, it is a great book to talk about the changes in nature that take place over the course of a year (The tree blooms in the spring, carries fruit, is harvested, looses its leaves and lives through a snowy winter). It also gives lots of fun ideas for things to do with apple trees (and apples, of course): Apple pie, apple cider, decorating apples, playing with apples, building a tree house etc.). Definitely a good book to use for any sort of apple project!

The air is starting to feel like fall, and that means it is about time to start our apple projects again. For some reason, apples just provide many great project opportunities. The first thing we did for our apple season project this year was to take a trip to the local grocery store. There we chose one apple each of every different variety offered. We ended up with eight different kinds.

.

The best apple of all!

Once the taste test was complete, we sat there with eight partly eaten apples. Because Benjamin is the only one of us who truly loves apples (and even he can’t eat eight at once), I took four of them to make apple crumble. It turned out delicious. Apple crumble is definitely one of my all time favorite desserts, and so easy to make:

1. Cut four midsized apples into pieces and put in a casserole dish.
2. Mix 1 cup flour, 2/3 cups sugar, 1/2 cup butter and some cinammon until you have a crumbly mass. Pour on top of the apples.
3. Bake at 180° for about 30 minutes.
4. Enjoy!

Tasty, tasty

While the apple crumble was baking, we sat down and read one of our favorite apple-themed books: Johnny Appleseed. I really enjoy the colors and the style of the pictures in this book. I enjoy quilting and like the quilt patterns used for borders. The kids love to look at the detailed pictures which give lots of opportunities for discussions and questions. What I like most about the book though is the way Johnny Appleseed is portrayed: as a gentle man who loves nature, people, and God (and apples of course). Somehow, the rhymed text really works for me. This is definitely a book I - and the boys - would recommend.