The Pagan Mom Blog

So I got LOTS of little projects done this week. First I got the baby blanket finished and I am very happy with the end result.

So then I thought how about some washcloths. Ok really it was Alex wanted me to make him something and what yarn I have isn’t enough to do a large project. So I made some Fleur De Lis Washcloths

I don’t like the orange one much. I did a tighter stitch (which isn’t normal for me) and I don’t think you can see the design as well. Of course that might be because of the color. Claire has claimed the orange one and Alex nabbed the blue. Then Molly wanted one lol.

I like this pattern. I am saving it to make some more washcloths (maybe from bamboo) for teachers next Christmas. After getting her washcloth done I got bored. So I went looking around and decided to make a headband.

It has a button enclosure on the base of it that you cannot see. The lacy pattern made like an automatic button hole. She loves it and has been wearing it all day. I wasn’t sure if she would like it since there is pink in it but she wanted it. Now I need to figure out how to make it thinner and shorter so Claire can have one.

But I wasn’t finished yet. I am currently trying to finish up some acrylic yarn I have and make some ribbon candy Christmas ornaments.

I got some red, green, and white to make a more Christmasy type one. This particular one I need to run yarn through it so it gathers up like the candy and add a ribbon to hang it with. I am thinking I might attach these to gifts next year. And I want to keep one for me. And make one for each of the kids. Thankfully I can knit one in two hours LOL!

My next big project is a market bag featuring needles I haven’t used before, double pointed and circulars. I am actually starting that Monday when I go and buy what I need and head on over to a group of us gals gathering for a knit in. A couple ladies there can help me learn the new stuff and I am excited. I just hope I don’t get bored with the ribbon candy ornaments in the meantime lol!

When I was a kid, my mom would wake us up at 12:01 am on Christmas Day to open presents. When I had my own I decided I was not going that route. We usually wake up at a more normal hour, like 6 am. Then the kids get up and tear into their stockings while we wait for Daddy who takes 20 min to go pee and brush his teeth. Things were different this year.

In the hubs family each person takes a turn to open all their gifts.  And at his aunts she seperated kid time from adult time. The kids presents all went under a tree in the informal living room. The hubs played Santa.

Once he passed around all the gifts, it became chaotic lol!

It actually took longer than I thought, although Molly (whom takes after her mother in regards to gift opening) was done in 10 minutes. The other kids actually showed off each and every gift. Once they were open my own kids started digging in.
Alex decided to start off with a truck set he got.

Claire had a specific book (Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days) that she really wanted and that is what she started with first.

Molly also got a book that taught how to write stories (she is always writing stories!) and that is where she started.

Meanwhile the adults went to the formal living room to begin their present opening. One cousin went first, then Aunt Doodle went. Now Aunt Doodle has a lot of friends (she is VERY social) and all of her friends sent over gifts. Aunt Doodle will not open these gifts until Christmas Day when everyone is sitting by the tree. So she had about 40 more presents than everyone else. And she is in her 70’s. And every gift has a story. And sometimes she makes phone calls while opening gifts. Long story short, we took a break for brunch as soon as she was done with her pile. I had been warned that it would take a few hours but being warned and actually sitting through it is quite different. It wasn’t even that I wanted to open mine, I just had a sore spot on my butt from sitting there lol. Anywho the kids were itching to get in the pool so during brunch the hubs got it worked out to where he would go next so he could watch the kids in the pool. So we head back. Well we had alot of mutual gifts. So after he opened his 4 gifts just for him everyone encouraged him to stick around and we open our mutual gifts. Then he escaped and everyone decided it was my turn. No matter how many times I have done this I still get uneasy with all eyes on me as I open gifts. I am a fast gift opener. I rip wrapping paper, look at it, hold it up, make a “how cute” or “omg I love this” comment and move on. No stories. Nothing. It isn’t that I don’t appreciate what I got it’s just the eyes. I can feel them and it’s not pleasant. One thing that did cause me to really react was my nutcracker this year. Aunt Doodle has been getting nutcrackers for me the last couple of years and I really hope she keeps it up. I LOVE NUTCRACKERS! My great grandmother (who was german) used to have them everywhere and to have that tradition going again just thrills me. And this years nutcracker made me just about pee my pants.

It’s a PIRATE!! I love pirates!

Another super special gift didn’t come from family. It actually came from the Festival of Trees. Not sure if this happens everywhere but here when you lose a family member to cancer you can have their name added to a tree at the holidays. I remember making the donation and requesting my brother in laws name added. Well we received an angel ornament.

This is one ornament that will have a special place up front, near the top, so it’s easy to find every year.

Some other gifts I got were:

All in all, it was a very good holiday!

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post. Today we will talk about hanging out in Homestead, Florida. Still going to attempt to avoid discussing Christmas Day because that really is going to be a long post!

After arriving we didn’t really stay up late. Mostly sat and chatted. Christmas Eve I set about exploring the decorations. I have always LOVED holiday decorating and I love to check out what people have on their tree….but only if they  don’t do a themed tree. No offense but themed trees just aren’t adventurous enough for me. However, Kyle’s aunt did do a themed tree of sorts.

This small tree was decorated with handmade and hand decorated sugar cookies. It is freaking adorable! She makes this every year and as her many visitors stop by (and I am serious when I say she should install a revolving door at the front of the house) they can take a cookie or two with them. She let the 5 children take as many as they wanted when they left lol. I asked her if it was ok if I borrowed her idea and did the same here at home. She was absolutely tickled and said no one had made an effort to carry on that tradition and she would be honored. Warms the heart doesn’t it? The tree in the background I could not get a good shot of. It is well over 10′ tall and covered in an eclectic array of ornaments. I think I spent an hour staring at all of the ornaments and still didn’t see them all.

One of the other cute little items she had out was her Christmas Flamingo.

The flamingo has been a family joke and she has grown to love her flamingo. This one was a gift she received many years ago. I personally want to steal it. But now I can’t because I just incriminated myself

We spent our days relaxing. I got quite a bit of knitting done. The kids went swimming both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Although it is hot outside the water is quite cold. Colder than I expected. I didn’t jump in until Christmas Day when the water hit 70 degrees and outside temps were 85. The hubs spent all the time he could with the kids in the pool. They loved it and I think out of the entire trip that is the one thing they can’t wait to tell their schoolmates about.

We also watched lots of tv specials.

And eating alot. OMG did we eat alot of wonderful good food. Christmas Eve we had Oyster Stew and a Seafood Stew. I am not a fan of oysters so Seafood Stew was what I opted for. YUM! Christmas Day was “roast beast”. My mother in law made shrimp just for me, she also made me some cheesy eggs one morning so I didn’t have to eat the egg casserole that had sausage in it. I had informed her she didn’t have to cook special food for me but she reminded me that I went out of the way to make her a chicken for Thanksgiving dinner (she is allergic to turkey). I thanked her and kept quiet after that. I still don’t see it the same. I am just making dietary changes, it’s not like I am allergic to red meat and pork lol. But anyway it was sweet and my digestive system appreciated it. The one thing we ate that I really loved was the hubs cousins’ homemade pesto with pinenuts. Oh. My. Gawd. Even my kids loved it and they really don’t like anything!

And while we were visiting we squeezed in a trip to the Everglades. We discovered that our $10 fee to get in is good for 6 days. So now we are talking about taking a trip down for a week so we can spend more than a day at the park. It is awesome seeing all of the alligators, birds, and turtles.

Last night we had a gathering of friends at the house. I trimmed our guest list and not many showed up from that. Which was fine, I was pretty grateful it was just a few of us. As much as I like being a wannabe-socialite, sometimes intimate parties are best!

In the morning we went to the inlaws for breakfast. Mr. P’s “Belgium brother” (he was an exchange student in high school and has been adopted so to speak) was in town but had to leave yesterday. So we rushed out to squeeze in a visit. While there my mother in law sent me home with an angel she made.

Isn’t she darling???? Her robe is a knitted washcloth and the body is a cone peice of styrofoam with a small ball for the head. I absolutely love her and will pack her carefully at the end of the month. I like the simplicity of putting her together and I plan on making some witches just like this for Halloween/Samhain.  I think my mother in law plans on  making more in the future but with her older granddaughters.

Once we rushed home (a wee bit late than planned) we set about getting the house prepped for guests. One of the things I needed to do was decorate my yule log. SInce we usually have a live tree, I will use some branches that are removed from bottom and top to decorate with. But this time I don’t have that option. So while at Big Lots the other day I picked up some fake christmas floral peices for $1. I then took them apart and hotglued the peices into the ridge Mr. P had made for me.

I wasn’t sure about using blue and gold with a red candle but I don’t always use a red candle. The blue I was stuck on since it makes me think of cold weather. The gold I like for wealth. And once I got it together it really seemed to work. Some of you may be wondering why I have a yule log like that instead of a traditional one. Well, I don’t have a fireplace. I have contemplated doing something outside with a yule log but I don’t really feel drawn to that idea. With this I get the fire through the candle and I can light it for 12 days. No worries about a rampant fire running for 12 days in the yard either.  So if you are someone who doesn’t have a fireplace but wants a yule log, I would recommend doing something like this.

A little later guests arrived. We had mac and cheese’s, bread and a couple desserts. I made a turkey, stuffing, and my homemade cranberry sauce.

This is my infamous brown bag turkey. Does it not look yummy???? I changed things up a bit and stuffed it with onions and pears. We forgot about that creating a lot of juices and we got juice everywhere taking it out of the oven lol.

One friend came by with spirits. Budweiser, scotch, and vodka. I had some Cranberry Sierra Mist on hand….add vodka and YUM!

All in all a nice night. I got pleasantly buzzed and fell asleep quickly. Come January we are going to have a movie night with pizza. Can’t wait!

It began over at Lizzie’s Logic, the Christmas Tag. Then Moontides tagged me! The rules are as follows:

 ~Copy and paste the questions to your blog

~Then Tag 5 or more of your favorite blogs and leave them a comment telling them they have been tagged.

~When you post your blog, please spread some Holiday Cheer, and leave a link back to Heather’s Blog as well as the one to the blog of the person who tagged you.

The Questions:


1.) Have you started your christmas shopping?  Yep, I shop all year. Now I am just picking up or making extended family items and stocking stuffers.


2.) Tell me one of your special traditions. The cookie baking is one. Because of some of my family history, I am looking to make new traditions that extend our celebrations the entire month instead of focusing on one day. Last year we incorporated stringing cranberries and popcorn. This year we are adding handmaking pretzel wreaths (blog post about that coming soon!) to hang on the tree that we can eat Christmas Day or on Winter Solstice. Not sure when we will yet lol.


3.) Are you a “Black Friday” shopper? absolutely not! I don’t know why people think pushing and shoving over items is part of Christmas/Yule cheer.


4.) When do you put up your tree? We get our tree on Dec 6th, my oldest’s birthday. Since she has a Dec bday we try to celebrate her first and then set out as a family to go pick one out. Depending on what day her birthday falls on and how late it is will depend on if we decorate that night.


5.) Do you travel for Christmas or just stay home? We usually stay home but this year we are traveling 15 hrs to Homestead Florida. Kinda excited about it but I am not happy about not having a tree. And since we won’t be here, it didn’t seem right to go out and buy one.


6.) What is your funniest Christmas memory? The year my hubs put my present in a tampon box. I seriously thought he bought and wrapped some dang tampons! If I remember correctly, it was a glass reindeer to put on our table.


7.) What is my most favorite christmas show of all time? The original Grinch. Best story EVER!


8.) Do you do your own baking? yes!


9.) Fake or real tree? Real. Grew up with fake trees and it wasn’t fun to set one up. Plus after reading up on fake trees, they cause ALOT of damage to our earth. At least real trees can be purchased with roots for planting or if you get a traditional cut one, it can be recycled into mulch and firewood.


10. What day (as a mom) does the actual panic set in to get it all done? I usually don’t panic. This year I am though because we have to have everything done before we go out of town and some changes were made to how we are exchanging gifts and we didn’t find out until recently. It will all get worked out though.

 
11.) Are you still wrapping presents on Christmas eve? No. Might be this year, but I am shooting to have it done before I leave.


12.) What is your favorite family fun time at Christmas? Eating. Yea, I totally look forward to chowing down on Christmas goodies, turkey (no ham for me cause it’s gross and stuff), and all the trimmings.


13.) What is my favorite christmas craft? Ya know, I don’t think I have one favorite lol. I like finding new ones each year. Mostly things like making mini christmas/yule soaps, christmas/yule candles,  making snowflakes out of construction paper, and even garland from construction paper.


14.) Christmas music? Yes or No? If so, whats your favorite song? Yes. My fave is Carol of the Bells.


15.) When do you hope to finish all your christmas shopping? I should be done by the 21st. I really don’t want to have to shop as soon as  I get to Homestead!

Instead of tagging, if you read it…..do it!

Ok so technically it began on the 1st but really we are starting to feel it. The kids are enjoying their advent calendars. Cracks me up because it used to be a battle to get them up in the morning. Now they wake me up with their elephant-like running to the dining room to get their small peice of chocolate. In previous years I had to take it away by now because the boy would tear into all of it. Not just his either, he tore apart his sisters’ too just to get the candy. But this year he really gets the significance of counting down. Yesterday he mistakenly opened the 22 instead of the 2. Hey, he got the 2 part right lol. But he gently put the candy back, found the correct one, then apologized to me ever so sweetly.

The girls have started counting down the days until their vacation. They are dying to go shopping as well. Not to mention help me make cookies. Maybe I will let them help with the apple butter too. All I am looking forward to is a Christmas movie each night and some popcorn while snuggling with my babies. That is if I can get them to leave the Christmas Music Box alone.

I will be doing some video soon of our decorations. Probably closer to the 12th when i have to have my house super clean lol!

Latest published articles:
How to Save Money at Christmas
Live Christmas Trees Aren’t Damaging
Visit Santa in Western North Carolina

You know how everyone talks about the things their kids say? That is totally this post today! I do have a page devoted to the things my kids say (see Out Of The Mouths Of Babes) but yesterday deserves its very own post.

We started yesterday with a trip to the barber shop. A friend of mine has one right down the road from my house so Claire and I set off for a morning walk to get our hair trimmed. She needed hers fixed since she decided to chop it herself recently. I needed to get the hair off my neck. We had about an hour wait. Not too bad, made me happy for them since the last couple of months have been dead in their shop. Mr.P had the other two get dressed and pick up the house then they met us at the shop. My hair got done first by Mr. T , the owner. I then sat with Claire until owner’s sister was done with the current kid in the chair. Mr.P and the kids arrived just when Mrs. L got started on Claire. Mrs. L loves to talk and so does Claire. Unfortunatley for me, some of the things Claire wants to talk about have nothing to do with her. Their conversation started out innocent enough, Claire mentioned Mr. P & I took the girls to see New Moon. In the midst of the discussion Claire decided to inform Mrs. L that we sat the girls in the row in front of us so we could make out. My jaw hit the floor. I mean it wasn’t a lie or anything but that she figured it out AND decided to tell her hairdresser just killed me. Mrs. L wasn’t phased, she just said “I am glad to hear your parents are still making out”. LOL!

After that we headed off to lunch at Cici’s Pizza. Yea, we won’t be going back for awhile. I was on the toilet for 30 min last night. I swear I might have passed a kidney or liver or something. Anywho while we were there little man requested he get to see Santa. We have two malls in town. One is the big one and is crowded ALL the time. The other is smaller and at Christmas time is no more crowded than Walmart at 3 am on a Tuesday outside of the holiday season. We totally went with the smaller mall. I was thrilled to go. In the past the girls never had an interest in talking to the big man. Molly downright had fits. So I never made them go. Alex asked to go and I went bonkers with it. When we got to the mall, Santa was on break so we headed over to the bookstore to see what they had. Mr. P has been needing a new book to read for awhile and decided he would get one. The kids started finding stuff left and right that they wanted so I whipped out my phone and took notes. I did find two cute bags on sale, $14.99 at 75% off. We got one each for the girls and they are put up for Christmas. I might give Molly hers for her bday which is in exactly 7 days. We headed on back to Santa and there he was. Just one little girl waiting her turn. YAY! I hate long lines. So we talked with the Elf in charge and she allowed Alex and Claire talk to the big man seperatley but take a picture together.

Aww aren’t they adorable??? Yea, well that was until Alex decided to inform the 6 kids and subsequent parents who got in line behind us that Santa was fake. THEN proceeded to try and take off Santa’s hat and beard. The parents gasped and the kids didnt pay any attention to him. Leave it to my kid!

Hey! Thought I would let you all know that the flu left us as quickly as it hit us and no one else in the house is showing signs of being ill. We were vigilant at keeping others away from us, no easy feat with 5 bodies in a household. I am just glad that it’s gone and looks like it will stay gone. And I feel a need to get a billboard that says “It was flu, we don’t know what strain it was. DO NOT ASSUME H1N1!”. Seriously, you say you got sick and everyone jumps to the piggy flu. I don’t know if it was or not and would appreciate people not going frantic with the piggy flu pandemic. Just saying!

My request…..PLEASE let me know if you grab my blog button! I honestly don’t mind but I am finding blogs with my button whom also have blog buttons up for grabs and I had no clue they ever came by. I want to be able to reciprocate the linky linkage. And if your grabbing my button, I might not have visited you…..encourage me to come by please! So many blogs and it’s hard to find everyone. So don’t think your looking silly or attention seeking. I don’t see it that way at all!

Lastly, we were able to go to the parade this morning. We had fun but little man got tired about halfway through so we left. That was nice cause we beat the traffic. But now he is sad he missed Santa. I promised to take him by the mall so he can even sit on his lap and tell him what he wants. Finally I have a kid who WANTS to sit on Santa’s lap!

This last picture shows how bad it got after awhile. Yea, rude people blocking the view. Little kids couldn’t see jack! And that person in the red and green elf outfit on the right? Her job was to make sure everyone STAYED ON THE CURB!! Some of the parents with dance troupes and school bands had to do her job for her because she was too busy talking or watching the parade. And others were moving around her to see which caused the problem of the rest of us blocked from view. Thanks lady for doing your job!

Ok end of rant. Despite that, we had a good time. We may need to try a different spot. The website said the park we were sitting at was the performing area and all the performers stopped just before the park (and subsequently blocked from our view by people standing) and we missed the performances. So yea, better spots next year.

I don’t cook often on Thanksgiving, usually we go to the inlaws. I do cook Christmas dinner since we do a dinner with them on Christmas Eve. Although that changes this year with our trip to Homestead. Anywho I love to cook big meals. I usually precook all week long so that I spend the day cooking just a couple of things and reheat the rest (in the oven at that). Anyway I thought I would share a few of my recipes….perhaps you will find one you want to try out.

Easy Turkey – this is by far the best way to make a turkey imho. After the first year I tried to cook a turkey my mother in law shared with me this secret. It really isn’t a secret anymore since I share it with whomever will listen lol. You will need;  2 brown bags from your grocery store, a turkey, turkey pan, heel of a loaf of bread, and some olive oil(or oil of your choice). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put your turkey in your pan and rub down with oil. Season to your liking and place the heel of bread on the breastbone of your turkey. Put the entire pan in the two bags, one on each end of the turkey so that the entire thing is covered with the bags. IMPORTANT!!! The pan MUST be inside the bags. If you put the turkey in the bags and then place in the pan you WILL have a fire! Put the turkey in the oven and cook 20 minutes per pound.  No need to baste. With the bags enclosing the turkey and the heel it will create a self cooking bag. Another note: You will smell the bag as the turkey cooks, don’t be alarmed. Also make sure that your using the lowest rack in your oven. If the bag touches the top you will have another fire.

Green Bean Casserole – You will need:
16 oz pork sausage
1 cup of milk
2 10.75 oz cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic minced
2 16 oz packages of green beans
12.8 oz of fried onions

First brown and crumble the pork sausage.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Coat a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray
Mix everything else except the fried onions and place in baking dish
Bake for 30 minutes
Sprinkle with onions and bake 5-10 minutes longer.

Pecan Pies – this will make 2 pies (great to give one to a neighbor)
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/3 cup butter
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup pecan halves
2 shortbread crusts
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cook sugar, corn syrup, and butter over low heat. Stir constantly until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Cool slightly.
Stir in eggs, vanilla, and salt.
Pour into pie crusts.
Arrange pecans on the top.
Bake for 50-55 minutes.

Peppermint Hot Chocolate – serves 8
3 cups heavy cream
3 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
12 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped.
6 drops peppermint oil
4 cups whipped cream
Chocolate shavings for garnish
In a saucepan, over medium low heat; combine the cream, milk, sugar, and salt. When the cream mixture just begins to steam add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the peppermint oil. Divide the hot chocolate among mugs and top with whipped cream and chocolate shavings.

Enjoy!

Courtesy of one of my peeps on Twitter (I am so bad, I forget who it was and can’t find that tweet!) I found this article on WalMart Easing into Black Friday. As we recall, last year an employee was trampeled until they asphyxiated at a Long Island WalMart. Now if I had my way…..the doors would have been locked right back up with whoever inside as soon as the cops got there. ANY AND ALL customers in the store would be arrested for acting like damned fools. I hope those jerks remember that poor mans family this Christmas as they go out fighting each other over whatever latest gadget is up for grabs. Hope that when they shout “Hurray” for getting it that they also maybe shed a tear for this mans children (if he so had any), mother, and wife (if he was married). I doubt it. Because that is all Christmas is to them, kill whomever just to get a freaking game station or tv

So thank you to those murderers in Long Island, now other employees have to work on Thanksgiving so that they don’t have to worry about you trampling them to get a new BluRay. Sure, you will blame WalMart and their marketing techniques but you know what, YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE THERE AND RUN PEOPLE OVER. I doubt highly that any of the WalMart ads had some sort of subliminal message that says “run people down, trample them, punch them, shoot them, get this *insertitemhere*. It’s NOT WalMart’s fault your more concerned about getting some present and saving 20% then celebrating family.

So now..people have to work on Thanksgiving because of commercialism. Thank you Long Island Murderers! I will be happily at home boycotting Black Friday like I do every year. Can’t go out anymore, people will freaking kill you.