The cookies, cakes, candies and chocolate barks are fine indeed. The crusted roasts still pink and tender inside cozied up to potatoes layered with cheese and bathed in cream satisfy deeply. I will never deny a leftover piece of gently spiced pie for breakfast – pumpkin is a vegetable after all, but the holidays offer so much more for our senses than just taste.

The faintest scent of cinnamon and clove instantly stirs in me memories of Christmas’ past. The ones in which I begged to sleep in front of the tree, guarding our dear parcels with as much fury as my little body could muster. The sharp, cooling burst of peppermint reminds me our first Christmas together. That year we went with Gabe’s parents to get our tree. Theirs was majestic and grand, ours was charming, only slightly more lush than Charlie Brown’s and yet perfect for us and our tiny first home.

Of course there are more smells that exist beyond the edible ones; the pungent pine perfume from a newly acquired tree and the sharp contrast of a wood burning fireplace against the chilling breeze that hits the moment you step outside.

This is only the beginning. I have yet to mention the lights that cause an infectious joy in my children, the continuous hum of Christmas music that create the soundtrack of this season, and the touch of Winter’s first snow – a feeling we are still waiting for this year.

Each year I become joyfully overwhelmed with all the projects – cooking and otherwise – that make up my to-do list. Many of them exist for the purpose of building memories and traditions and trying to instill the same excitement that I remember from my childhood.

I wanted to share with you a few things we’ve been doing around our home to awaken our senses to the season.

I get so excited when I come across a project that is both visually appealing and easy enough to get the kids involved. I saw these snowflakes on Pinterest and immediately broke out our popscicle sticks. With a bit of glue and spray paint our windows were suddenly festive.

In the middle of our popsicle flakes I created a photo wreath (again the idea came from Pinterest) using prints from our iPhone and polaroid. I may never take this wreath down. I never grow tired of seeing their smiling faces and sweet memories from the previous year.

To create the wreath I cut out a cardboard frame, attached a string then covered the frame with photos. I carried the same idea into our bedroom with a heart shape frame.

One of my favorite parts of this season is coming home. We all rush inside trying to escape the cold and are welcomed with warmth and the lingering sweet smells of citrus and spices – and quite often butter. A lot of butter moves through the house this time of year.

More often than not you’ll find a simmering pot of citrus slices, cloves, and cinnamon sticks sitting on the stove. As if this wasn’t enough I decided to dry some orange slices as well.

1/4″ inch slices line a sheet tray then sit in an oven on its lowest setting. About 4-5 hours the slices are completely dry and ready to be strung as ornaments, laid in a bowl to sweeten a room, or packaged with cinnamon and cloves and given away.

Our craft time turned into snack time as my little “helper” kept eating our project. It’s a good thing I work quickly and a good thing she’s so darn cute.

Then of course there’s hot chocolate. You know by now that this year is the year of hot chocolate for me. I’ve introduced you to my fresh mint version but now there is another.

Maple hot cocoa. While I love the richness that comes from hot chocolate made from a base of ganache (chocolate and cream), there is just something about a cocoa mix that satisfies in a way that no other can.

This is a slightly elevated version of what I drank as a child. While there aren’t any dehydrated mini marshmallows in this mix, the subtle maple sweetness and the rich cocoa flavor make up for it.

I’ve been gifting this mix as well. I love the way the ingredients look layered in the jar especially with a vanilla bean tucked in there just slightly disrupting the perfect layers. With or without a side of marshmallows, this is a perfect holiday gift that can be made in minutes. Just be sure to assign a jar for yourself so you won’t feel guilty when you inevitably break into to one of the gift-destined jars.

I really do encourage you to seek out the maple sugar for this recipe. It’s an ingredient that I haven’t used much and am realizing that I have a lot of lost time to make up for.

It smells of syrup, as it is the crystalized version, but in this application it provides enough sweetness without having to use a lot of sugar. Most hot chocolate mixes call for 1 part cocoa to 2 parts sugar. This is 2:1. The cocoa flavor prevails as you are drinking it but there is a depth that suddenly makes this mix seem more grown up.

Just over one week until Christmas and I have nearly every moment of each day planned with holiday activities. There are more lights to see, more cinnamon to simmer, and more carols to sing to my baby girl as she falls asleep in my arms. All the while making sure to leave plenty of time for hot cocoa drinking, of course.

Maple Hot Cocoa Mix

You can find maple sugar online or at many grocery stores. It’s worth the search, I assure you.

2 cups cocoa

1 cup maple sugar

3 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 vanilla bean (optional)

In a large jar layer the ingredients. Tuck the vanilla bean down the side.

Before preparing a cup of cocoa shake the ingredients together. Add 2 heaping tablespoons mix to 6 ounces hot milk – that is, if you like it good and rich, as I do.

Supplies:

Weck Jars

Popsicle sticks

baker’s twine

Maple sugar

Pernigotti Cocoa

Vanilla Beans

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So as promised, here is our lego/pirate party.

Lego juice boxes made with construction paper. Muslin hand-painted table cloth.

The pinata is homemade (I’m sure you could have guessed that by the smudges and crinkles). Easiest pinata ever. I took a box (square, rectangle – whatever you have) and attached paper cups that I had cut down to about 2 inches tall. I hot glued those to the box. Then I spray painted it royal blue. It took about three coats to cover the amazon logo. Once it was dry and no longer smelled of spray paint, we loaded it with candy and taped it up. My husband put a hole in the top of the box and inserted a hanger with the top loop poking through. I attached it to the rope and pinched the hanger loop closed. It worked like a charm.

The pennant banners are a no-sew project. The week before I had the boys go crazy on a large sheet of muslin with blue, yellow and gray paints. Once that was dry I cut out the triangles and hot glued that to twine. I loved seeing their art hanging over the party. The muslin also made a nice table cloth for the beverage area. (See photo above)

Snickerdoodle popcorn (melted butter mixed with a little bit of sugar and cinnamon, add salt too, of course), chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with caramel pudding and vanilla bean buttercream, little cupcake liners filled with banana gumballs and little sugary candy balls – I don’t know what they were but I liked the color.

don’t stop, there’s more!

Dinner was delightfully simple. Banh mi, peanut butter and jelly for the kids who didn’t want to venture into Vietnamese food, fresh vegetables in take out boxes with a creamy herb dip, and fresh fruit in wafer cones.

Bouncy house, pinata, room to run, and candy. Sounds like a party to me. And yes, that is my daughter trying to walk. Please make her STOP.

photo by gabe

How sweet is that face?! Sheer delight over the impending bite. Oh my goodness I love that boy.

photo by gabe

And this one too. Eeeek! those cheeks.

The giant balloons were from PartyRoom

The tissue paper (used for streamers and other miscellaneous pops of color) were from Petals & Pulp.

The paper straws were from HeyYoYo

The colored candy, cupcake liners and striped bags (that held the popcorn) were from Baker’s Bling

Most of the party favors were found on Amazon. Everything else I found at Display and Costume and Home Cake Decorating Supply.

Phew. It was such a joy to be able to create this party for my boys. They had such a wonderful time with their (11!!) cousins and felt very loved. But I must say I’m a bit relieved that birthday season is over (for a few months, until Ivy’s).

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Baron is creative. Sensitive and tender. A raised voice causes him to crumble, a gentle touch is worth its weight in gold to my little artist. Give him paper, glue, and a scissors and he has entered his own world of make believe and imagination. Some sort of costume is always a part of his attire. Sitting next to me on the couch right now he is adorned in a cape complete with a skull and crossbones across the back. One day he might wake up and insist that we call him Pirate Captain Baron. The next day he is the Lone Ranger. Everyday he is my sweet boy, stopping everything to give his sister a snuggle and randomly interjecting an “I love you mom.” I melt.

To love Baron is to spend one-on-one time with him. He longs for my undivided attention, not wanting to share that time with anyone. Chocolate is also the way to this boy’s heart.

Roman is active. He never. stops. moving. He is a tornado, destroying nearly everything that gets in his way. Then suddenly he’ll stop, grab his blanket, and demand a snuggle. Ever joyful and excited, he never ceases to make me smile. He is independent and determined. When a 24 piece puzzle wasn’t enough, I graduated him to 60 piece, then 100 and now we’re working on 200. He is determined, disciplined and doesn’t understand no.

To love Roman is to wrestle with him. To throw him up into the air and tackle him to the ground. When the match is over, grab his blanket and snuggle up on the couch – he loves that.

Sister baby Ivy is the princess of the house. All activity stops when Ivy is awake. Her brothers dote on her, offering up toys and kisses. She takes it all in and returns the favor with an unending supply of smiles. She doesn’t want to miss out on anything even if it means giving up sleep.

To love Ivy is to give her attention. Snuggle her, hold her, kiss her and look deep into her chocolate-brown eyes. None of which is hard to do.

During this Valentine season I am reminded to love each one of my children as the individual they are. To listen to their needs, stop fretting over the laundry that needs folding, or dreaming of the book I’d rather be reading, or thinking about all the things I need to accomplish once they are in bed and I finally get a quiet moment. My job is to love them and to do so effectively which is to know them and speak love to them the way they will best hear it. My job is to also seek their forgiveness when I have failed to love them in the way I should – this happens often.

For a special time together Baron and I made some “stained glass hearts”. On a clean sheet of waxed paper we scattered crayon shavings evenly around (we used a pencil sharpener to create the shavings). Place another sheet of waxed paper on top and two pieces on craft paper to sandwich the wax paper and crayon shavings. On low heat, iron the pages until the shavings melt and blend into one another. Let cool for a couple minutes then cut into hearts.

We taped ours onto thread and hung them in the window to allow the sunlight to pour through them. You can also use them as a base to write out sweet messages using a black Sharpie.

As we sharpened, ironed, cut and hung his face was beaming and his heart was full. He felt loved.

The more I choose to effectively love my children as individuals the deeper my love and understanding for who they are grows. I fall deeper in love with them – if that’s even possible.

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The thrill of Valentine’s day in elementary school was enough to make me melt into a puddle of candy hearts. I would rip into my store-bought Valentine cards plastered with the faces of Jem, Rainbow, and Strawberry Shortcake on them. Eagerly reading the words from my classmates I would consequently read into the words from the cute boy sitting behind me. “U R Sweet!” “ohmygosh. He thinks I’m sweet! He did sit next to me during quiet reading time. Does this mean we are going out?”

In the sixth grade I had a “boyfriend”.  I avoided him at all cost. I thought he was dreamy but I was far too shy to interact with him. Occasionally we’d glance at one another across the playground and I would quickly turn my head so as to hide my blushing cheeks. We did exchange Valentine’s gifts. I gave him two cd’s. C&C Music Factory and Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff (rejects from my brother who was a member of BMG). He gave me a party-size bag of pink, red and white M&M’s.

I’ve matured a little since then. Now Valentine’s day means more to me than chalky candy hearts and awkward young “love”. February 14 is a gentle reminder for me to slow down, get out the glue and glitter and tell those in my life that I love them and I think they are sweet.

While I look forward to spending time with the love of my life on this overly Hallmarked holiday, I don’t believe Valentine’s day is limited to Eros – romantic love. We all need a little nudge to put our regularly scheduled activities on hold to appreciate dear friends and family that make our lives shiny and sweet.

Now having children of my own I am excited to take this opportunity to teach them the importance of loving one another. This is a lifelong lesson that manifests itself in more ways than pink hearts and should occur more often than once a year. But I appreciate this single day for us to use our hands to create and open our hearts to reflect on who we love and to let those people know.

So this week we are working on a few projects. This first one involves one of my favorite materials. Felt.

Felt envelopes in various colors and designs are a delightful way to give someone a little sweet and a few kind words.

As my oldest and I sit together crafting we talk about who each envelope is for. I ask him why he wants to give it to that person and what makes that individual special. He draws them a picture and lovingly tucks it into their envelope.

I started with a super simple envelope template. You can make one yourself by dissecting an envelope you already have or just Google “envelope template”. Then cut out the template from felt. Hot glue (be careful, it’s hot!) or stitch the sides. Then add bows, hearts, glitter, unicorns, or puppies and kitties. You’ll also want to make some sort of a way for the envelopes to close. Most of them I just attached velcro because it was the easiest.

Next – the really fun part – stuff your little envelopes with candy, notes, drawings, etc. Then give them away and watch the smiles.

Come back for more. There will be crayon shavings and chocolate (not together).

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There’s nothing better than taking something that’s old, haggard and about to end up in the garbage and making it new and exciting all over again. Especially if the project involves crayons!

The other day my boys and I were feeling a little crafty. I have also been feeling a little bit of the nesting bug so was thrilled when we came up with a project that would not only yield a delightful craft but also help momma by cleaning out the scraggly crayon box. That’s what I call a win-win situation.

My four and two year old eagerly helped me pick out the broken crayons. We removed the paper wrapping and assorted them by favorite color combinations in a non-stick cupcake pan.

They stood up at the counter and watched as I chopped up the crayons into little pieces. Their little helping hands scattered the crayon bits into the cups and we slid it into a 150* oven. With the oven-light on, so we could periodically check on the progress, we patiently waited for about 45 minutes until the crayon bits had sufficiently melted.

Don’t be alarmed if they look like one uniform color. Once you reverse them you will see all the beautiful colors that you worked so hard to coordinate.

I carefully removed the crayons from the oven and set it to cool. Being more impatient then my two young boys, I slid the slightly cooled cupcake tin into the freezer to speed up the cooling process.

Out popped our new crayons!

Confession time – I have a weakness for new crayons so really I don’t know who’s more excited about this project me or the boys. Regardless we had a fun making them and have been enjoying coloring with our wacky colored crayons.

Inspired by Martha Stewart Kids Magazine

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