The Twelve Crafts of Christmas

When I was growing up in the Philippines, we never got our Christmas packages in December, or even January because the shipping took so long. Usually around June and once even as late as September, the whole family would gather in the living room around a battered box that was decorated with little holly sprigs on the mailing label.

With his exacto knife hovering above the tape, my dad would pause, look around at our expectant faces, and slowly ask if we shouldn't just wait until Christmas to open it.
"No, no, open it now!" we would shriek in response. Grinning, he would put on a sham of reluctant compliance. And out would come candy and sweatshirts or roller scates, and if we were very lucky the chocolate would not have melted over everything.
Once, someone sent us Dublin cheese, which is a great idea when you don't live in the topics. The whole box radiated a smell so strong that it kind of felt like it was vibrating inside our nostrils. We took bets on what had died in the box before we even opened it. And everything inside smelled like cheese for a very long time. As I recal, that particular box had penny whistles in it. I remember them because we each got one, and I think it was Erik who finally figured out that you could play them without gagging on the smell-- if you remembered to breathe only through your mouth.
We all look back on those times with great fondness. It has been one of the things I have had to let go of since moving to America, this land of second-day-delivery.

And so, in honor of my upbringing, I want to share with you a very special and early treat:

The Twelve Gifts of Christmas in March!

On the first day of Christmas I made and gave away...
A hand-painted clock for Cole!

On the second day of Christmas I made and gave away...
2 baby sweaters!

On the third day of Christmas I made and gave away...
3 booties (the first "practice one" not pictured!)

On the fourth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
4 leg warmers



On the fifth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
5 Cookie Tins

On the sixth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
6 adult mittens (grey ones for my Grandpa are not pictured here)


On the seventh day of Christmas, as the Lord commanded...
I rested 7 hours in a taxi... and airport.... on the plane... and a car...

On the eighth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
8 green mittens




On the ninth day of Christmas I tied and decorated...
9 seashell ornaments

On the tenth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
10 girlie mittens





On the eleventh day of Christmas I gave and gave away...
11 hubbie kisses

On the twelfth day of Christmas I made and gave away...
12 stone necklaces!

Whew! Wasn't that fun?

MALIGAYANG PASCO!!!!

Sacramental Magic

Last Sunday afternoon a few readers of this book gathered in my home. We had agreed to try out the recipes on our own for a couple months and then meet up again in February to cook a feast together and compare notes about our favorite recipes in it.

MENU for the EVENING

Appetizers~
Baba Ghanouj
Maple Walnut Muffins
Grain of Mustard Seed Bread

Salad~
Caesar Salad with fresh salad dressing and croûtons
Coleslaw

Main Course~
Baked Chicken with Honey Sweetened Barbecue Sauce
Beyond Pasta

Desserts~
The World's Greatest Brownies
Baklava

Drinks~
Ginger Fizz

Almost everyone came a little early to cook together... which turned out to be very cozy in my tiny tiny kitchen!





Someone found an apron and we decided to do a little 1940's advertisement while we were at it!

Here's a picture of all the food. We ended up with enough to feed a small army!

What a meal it was! I just wish there were more left-overs!

Our Birthday

Happy Birthday to Us!
Since our birthdays are so close together, we have usually used it for an excuse to get away for a weekend somewhere. This year we are saving up to be poor seminary students next year, so we bought ourselves some practical presents instead--sheets, pillows and a salt and pepper shaker. But all was not practical in the Marzinke household!

On the first, I woke up to tulips. When I got home that evening my husband was up to his elbows in chocolate cake batter!

I think he looks like the Flash in these pictures.

I even got candles, the song and a wish!



Add to that the serving dishes from my favorite discontinued style, and a pair of lovely silver earrings sent by our parents and I was happy happy happy!

For four short days I caught up to Jonathan in age. Then on the fifth he passed me up to leave his twenties behind forever! I fixed a manly breakfast of sausage and eggs. And he opened his presents from our parents--books and the GoodBook on CD!


We had a few friend over for a birthday supper that evening.

And then ended it all with home made banana cream pie.

HOORAY!!!

Dr. Seuss Dinner

I got a little experimental with our popovers the other night and added about three cups of fresh arugula when I blended them up...

...the vibrant green results made me think of the book by Dr. Seuss about Green Eggs and Ham.

I think he would have about as proud of our colorful dinner as I was!

Snow Shoeing

Abby Caleb, Jonathan and I all went snow shoeing on Jan 5th. We made our own trail through lovely snow covered trees. Then we had lunch under a tree and hiked our way back.
It was Fun Fun Fun!

Some Scary Christmas Fun

Take a look at Santa's finest helpers here.....

The Marzinkes Help Santa

Hope...painting almost done!

Thanksgiving weekend crept up on us about a week earlier than we thought it would be here....and we made no plans! Thank goodness we were saved from turkey abstinence by a last minute invitation to our pastor's home. And then the rest of the weekend was a fabulously unscheduled vacation for us.
I spent three solid days painting. I took pictures when I thought of it, which was pretty much when ever I took a break. I am almost done now...I think. Here's where it started and you can see that by the end of the weekend it was very different.
October 21st

Friday 2:10 pm re-doing the sky

Friday 4:23pm re-doing the sky again

Friday 5:18pm leaves!

Friday 7:0opm one tree becomes two

Friday 7:30pm second tree gets branches

Friday 8:00 leaf detail

Friday 8:00pm texture on pine trees (soon to be regretted)

Saturday 5:59pm pine tree on left taken out...involving lots of sanding and more texture to cover up where it used to be and re-doing sky.

Sunday 4:43pm "oh, it's going to be a birch tree!"

Sunday 7:14 no more log, textured leaves, change path, pine trees change color to balance the birch tree...and a myriad of branches...

There's still some things that are bugging me..and I will fix them soon, but there she is as of today!