mamaroots

reviewing

Before I start moving into the New Year, I thought it would be fun to share some of the Christmas gifties we made and received.  Our family presents were a really fun combination from all of us.  It was some homemade gingerbreads, boy designed Yeti ornaments, homemade Elderberry jelly, and some delicious homemade bread in a handmade bread bag.

I took a que from Soulemama with making the bread bags, and I tracked down a vintage linen calendar towel from a significant year for each family.  Might have been an anniversary or birthday.  The hardest part was tracking down the towels, and when I say hard I actually mean super fun!  I then just put in a quick seam for the tie, stitched around the edges, added some quilt binding tape for the ribbon tie and that was that!

Now I have a purpose for some rescued tea towels in the future!

tomten winner

Lucky #2- Sue is the winner for the Tomten- Sue if you could e-mail me with your snail mail address I will send Mr. Tomten out to you- thank you so much everyone for your fun comments! 

A reminder that I will be putting the shop on vacation on Jan 1 to start the testing process, but will have some lovely groundhogs coming in natural black walnut wood,  au naturel (with the french accent)!  These will be coming the second week of January.

 

herbal goodness

Herbal goodness time!  Be sure to sign up for a chance to win the January issue of Herbal Roots Zine.  If you have not had a chance to subscripe to this really fantastic learning zine for your family here is a chance to try it out.  You can get a month at a time or subscribe and get it straight in your inbox each month. Here is a link to see the upcoming issues that Kristine has planned.  You can also still get the back issues here.

This will be Kristine's 4th year for Herbal Roots Zine, it is quite a lovely thing!  So here is your chance to give it a try if you have not had the pleasure yet.  Leave a comment here between now and Friday at midnight and I will draw a person's name and e-mail it to you on Saturday.  The January issue is kelp!  Tell me your favorite herb from 2011!  

There are a couple different ways to get a bonus entry:

1- follow me at facebook

2- follow me at twitter

3- follow Herbal Roots Zine at facebook

Good luck and don't forget to stop by Herbal Roots ZIne for a chance to win on of my wood critters- a pygmy possum from the Clover issue!  Enjoy!

have a merry Yeti holiday!

leave out the porridge

Merry Christmas Eve- I will be taking the rest of the weekend off and be back to this space on Monday after the holiday, but before I do some book recommendations, a little give-away, and of course some crafty well wishes to you.

Many of you know the classic Tomten book by Astrid Lindgren.  It is based on this old poem by Viktor Rydberg.  We love this book and have had it on so many winter night reading.  Still probably my favorite. This year another Tomten book came onto the market, The Tomtes' Christmas Porridge by Sven Nordquist.

The boys definitely enjoyed the fun details in all of the drawings, and it is an elaboration of leaving out a bowl of porridge for the tomtens on Christmas Eve to thank them for all their hard work on the farm, I am still a purist to the Astrid Lindgren version.  I did really like all these Scandinavian/Swedish elements that are all over- I think you will have fun looking at them too.  Worth having in your library, but not a replacement for the classic for me!

My Christmas present is a little give-away.  I have enjoyed making different versions of Tomten so much over the past year that I thought I would give-away one of the original versions of Tomten and his bowl. Just leave me a comment between now and Wednesday at midnight and I will announce the winner Thursday.  

Bonus points:

*share the give-away on your blog, twitter, or facebook

*follow me on facebook

*follow me on twitter

Merry Christmas everyone, and be sure to remember to leave out that bowl of porridge for your own little tomten tonight!

the longest night

Probably one of my favorite solstice days in years!

*waking to Tangle (our resident fairy) presents that my little one has toted around most of the day.  This year is was a sweet bear and moose!

*rice pudding and pineapple for breakfast

*bike rides and nature walks on a chilly first day of winter

*late season family photos

*feasts by candlelight

*bonfires to release our solstice bundle of wishes

Many blessings to you on this longest night- 

the tea party

You know how sometimes a cup of a tea is just what you need.  It is sweet, warm, always there when you need it.  Last weekend I had the pleasure of having a special crafty mama gathering.   It was slumber party style and so much fun.  We celebrated one of my dear friend's birthday, crafted until the wee hours of the morning and enjoyed a delicious breakfast in the morning.

It was truely a Time to Embrace And enjoy.  I am honored to have such a lovely circle of women as friends. A circle of laughter, crying, crafting and tea drinking mamas.  So what better way to gift them then to search down each one a tea cup all of their own.  I had so much gifting them these vintage cups.  And yes I had quite a good time hunting down the cups too!  Also these incredible edible butterflies were the perfect addition for my friend's birthday that is very connected to butterflies.  Check out all these goodies from Sugar Robot.

I don't ever doubt that when women gather we can bring about change.  So this was a tea party of the different political type.  We are powerful when we gather, when we share story, when we mother and when we create.  And us liberal types will still share a cup of tea with someone who shares a different opinion than us, we just may give them an extra lump of sugar!

I will be back in this space later tonight after I share a solstice day with my boys- we are off for a nature walk and then will be creating a ceremony for me and the boys tonight.  I am moved by this Mother of All Release Ceremony call that is happening world wide tonight.  We will be creating our bundle after our nature walk, bonfire, and celebration Feast!  Happy Solstice everyone!

weaving

The needle, thread, fabric, yarn, and dust, dust, dust are weaving and flying throughtout the house.  The week before the holidays is a big crunch time for finishing up the merry making.  This is mixed in with some ebbing and flowing with some family health issues have taken me to place of understanding and growing in the way in which the universe is woven and my place as a mother.  

But I figured there are other last minute merry makers out there so I made a Once Upon Table Project for you this week.  If you enjoyed the Spider Ornament that I did for Rhythm of the Home, I thought you might like maybe just one more- this time with a little walnut influence.  

May the holidays weave peace and magic around your family.  I highly recommend the book The Christmas Spider's Miracle to go with this tutorial.  The spiders are so cute on the tree let me know how you like it!

Download Christmas Spider

check it off

Almost ready to check it off the list, the Christmas cards!  I recently heard in a retail meeting that cards, you know the classic paper, lick the envelope and add a stamp kind of cards are up.  The e-cards are winding down.  Hmmm maybe we are still retaining some lovely slow human touches!

How about you- do you send cards?

growing boys

We made it to the farm last weekend, walked and for the first time we, okay "I" found the tall skinny tree I have been wanting for years.  It seems that we always find these trees with such girth.  It took some sweet talking and promises of Amish fudge on the way home and more hot chocolate once we got home to decorate, but mama got the final say on the tree this year.

 

I must say it is a beauty!  I know the delimma with cutting down a tree just for decoration, but I was reminded by this local company that it is an eco choice for the holidays, good for the air when it it growing, a tree or two is planted for everyone tree that is cut, and it is supporting a farmer.  

I kinda like the way each holiday it looks a little different since the tree is never the same.  I am still working on some more winter walks to add more greenery to the house.  I did get a couple bags full from my ma and pa's house.  It is such a simple way to make it really green.  Still hunting down some dried sumac- it is gorgeous too!

So as we continue to support real trees, local farmers, each year we are continuing to grow our boys.  More pictures are here of our adventures.