Merry Christmas from the McBlockheads

Love your sense of humour guys!

White or Green Xmas?

IDec 21, 2015

It is snowing at the moment, appropriate on the first day of winter, but rare this fall. 

We have had above freezing weather and rain virtually all fall rather than the usual cooler weather accompanied by snow. 

It seems very strange to all of us, the prospect of a green Christmas, but historically is it not as uncommon as I thought.

Update: 

Dec 24, 2015: 18 degrees Celcius - t-shirt weather on Christmas Eve.

The lake is wide open, no snow left.

CP Holiday Train 2015

Darcy and I went to Beaconsfield to see the holiday train tonight. There was no snow, but the bright flashing lights and Christmas carols really helped put us in the Christmas mood!

We even got to see Santa!!

Here is a link to a video:

http://youtu.be/ej4lNGhhgQY

Easter 2015

I tried dying eggs using silk with lovely results. I wasn't sure it would work, so I used hard boiled eggs instead of emptied eggs, so I had to throw them out after Easter.

Here are some webpages with instructions:

http://www.marthastewart.com/269788/silk-tie-easter-eggs

http://mommyknows.com/silk-tie-dye-easter-eggs-tutorial/

It says you can eat them, but some sites I looked up said the dye can leach into the egg through the shell. I cracked open one of my eggs and sure enough the egg white was slightly blue, so we did not eat any of them. 

I emptied some eggs shells (blown eggs) for Darcy to decorate so she could keep them after. I followed these instructions:

http://m.wikihow.com/Blow-Out-Eggs

The one thing I did not do  exactly the same was to blow the eggs with my mouth directly on the egg, not through a straw. Well I have learned my lesson!!! I emptied the eggs the Monday night before Easter and 24 hours later the gurgling started. I pretty much missed all of the 4-day Easter weekend. So be warned: even the outside of the egg shell, washed (which I did) carries Salmonella!!!

True to form, the symptoms were gone after 7 days...and 5 pounds were gone, too. 

Darcy's Journal for Easter 2015:

http://tiggeric.blogspot.ca/2015/05/easter-2015.html

Bookclub Christmas Party 2014

Good company, delectable food and fun games...oh and a few books :-)

Jingle bells game:

In this challenge, the Christmas tradition of shaking presents to figure out what's inside was turned into a game. you must arrange 7 gift boxes filled with different quantities of jingle bells in ascending order from 5 bells to 35 bells. (Photo bottom, right above)

Name that tune quiz:

http://www.partygamesnow.com/christmas-song-quiz/

Christmas trivia quiz:

http://lilluna.com/free-christmas-trivia-game/

Christmas Ball game

I modified this game:

http://shauna-naner.blogspot.ca/2013/01/candy-ball-game.html

I wrapped candy canes and other small gifts in layers of wrapping paper and box tape. The participant tried to unwrap a layer while the person left is trying to roll doubles. As soon as doubles are rolled the ball moves the left and the next person rolls. You get to keep whatever you unwrap.

Christmas Artist:

http://sheilasdotsanddaisies.blogspot.ca/2013/11/christmas-party-games.html

I used plain paper plates as the canvas. (Scroll down the webpage to Christmas Artist)

Blindfolded make a Christmas Tree game:

http://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/2013/12/3-fun-game-ideas-to-liven-up-your-holiday-parties.html

More ideas here:

http://zachandcallie.blogspot.ca/2011/12/minute-to-win-it-christmas-party-part-1.html

Handmade - homemade Christmas REVISED

I was spoiled rotten last year at Christmas, in fact so much so I was moved to tears. I wanted one thing, an iPad, and I got it (and lots of other things)!!! I love it and I use my iPad everyday! Plus, with my laptop on the fritz since August, I don't know how I would have survived without it, so it is not only desirable, but practical. I bank online, communicate with friends, family and colleagues by email, even get my jobs by internet.

At Christmas I love to surprise people (I would spoil everyone if I could!). I especially love to get things for the kids. Despite my joy with my own gifts and feeling good about doing everything I could to stretch a small budget, somehow managing to get the kids pretty much exactly what they wanted, I felt a little let down. The gifts seemed unappreciated (e.g. left aside, unopened i.e. still shrink wrapped for weeks, even months...)

It has come to my attention that in my attempt to be diplomatic and therefore fair to both children, I have inadvertently been unfair!! While trying not to point a finger, I may have generalized too much. 

Darcy (6) is a sweet, appreciative, kind little girl and she finds something wonderful in the most mundane of gifts. She'll put on that hat she just got or place a second hand item gingerly on the table so as not to break it. (Perhaps she actually prefers these one-of-a-kind gifts to the big box plastic toys and there is where I go wrong.) Christmas can be overwhelming and she sometimes appears to not care about those oh-so-hard-to-obtain gifts. However, in her day-to-day life she seems very disorganized, but she actually knows where everything is. With my "everything in its place" way of thinking, I think I overlook her system and see what I described, things appearing left aside, when in fact it is where she wants it to be.

Update: Darcy LOVES her hand made clothes, her sock bear and her purse and I couldn't be happier.

Cameron (10) is a thoughtful and sensitive boy, despite his often blank expression. Still waters run deep. When he is particularly thrilled about something you know it and it's wonderful to see him smile, be happy and rejoice. By the same token I think he shows his disappointment or disinterest in something by simply saying nothing. Perhaps it is an attempt to be polite. (If you have nothing nice to say, say nothing...) Yes, he does tend to put things aside and not give them a second glance for weeks, even months sometimes, and that is what frustrates me, but I must remind myself that a month to me is really only 2 weeks to him, as he is only here 50% of the time.) 

Update: Cameron was thrilled with his handmade Minecraft quilt!!! 

I think in my vagueness, I made an undeserved blanket statement. I just wanted to set that straight..

I know they are young children and I don't expect them to understand our choices and our financial struggles, nor do I think it should be their concern, but I do think they should have some appreciation for their gifts. Even if the gift is not what you wanted, or turns out not to be what you thought it would be, thank you's should be said and they should at least be put away, not left lying on living room floor for x amount of time.

So I vowed that the next Christmas would be about the true spirit of Christmas, not about cold, hard, expensive pieces of plastic.

This year I had an even smaller budget than last year, so that combined with my thoughts from Christmas past, I decided to spend a lot of TIME on my gifts this year, not a lot of MONEY. 

I made quilts, rugs, purses, pouches, teddy bears, a wreath, votive candle holders, cookies, dresses, toques, Christmas decorations, an elf, a book, and framed artwork and photos. I also provided some services, like fixing a phone. Yes, I bought some things, I can't make everything! 

I barely slept from Halloween to Christmas, but I enjoyed designing, researching, learning and making the items. I was how they would be received, but I have had great feedback. Personally I LOVE handmade things and love receiving them as gifts, but not everyone is like me. I was worried they would be seen as cheap, not cool, old fashioned...instead of thoughtful and unique.

My helper

I realized I had my own perceptions of DIY / homemade things despite often making things. Let me dispel some notions:

DIY is not easy. 

First you have to come up with the idea or identify a want or need you are trying to fill and figure out how to do that. Once you have the idea, you have to figure out how to make it. I spent hours online and reading books and magazines researching techniques, looking for patterns and troubleshooting. As an added difficulty, since I don't have a computer anymore I can't print anything, so I had to trace patterns off the ipad, which made them quite inaccurate. The zipper pouches, although small and a simple design, proved to be very difficult.

DIY is not cheap.

For some items I was able to re-use, or upcycle, old items and sometimes that was the point, like the sweater purses. I was also able to re-use 2nd-hand items for most of the quilts, but I still had to go out and buy the 2nd-hand t-shirts, jeans, hoodies, and sweaters to use for material, the thread (don't sew with old thread!) the needles (I broke some), the pins (I bent a lot) and the batting. I also had to wash all the 2nd-hand material. Some projects, like the pom-pom rugs took way more materials than I expected and at a higher cost than I expected! Even glue sticks for the hot glue gun add up fast!

DIY takes a lot more time than you think

Quilts take about the equivalent of the average work week to create. (25-35 hours)

Pom-pom rugs...I lost count of the hours.  I spent days and days and days making pom-poms, attached them all to the base, realized I didn't have enough and spent another couple of days making pom-poms! 

Sock teddy bears take about 2 hours each.

Elf: 4.5 hours.

Sweater purses: a few hours for the felting process, including wait times, only about 30 minutes to actually make the purse, then about 2-3 hours cutting, sewing and attaching decorative flowers.

Tuques: After felting process, fast! :-) 

Dresses: about 6 hours

Hand-made doesn't have to be old-fashioned!

Cam's quilt has characters from his favorite video game on it!

Somethings, like a teddy bear, are just timeless :-)

I've gone through just a few spools of thread...

DIY is messy!!!

Everything made a mess...LOL!!!

bookclub Christmas Party 2012

This was the tray I used for a memory game. I loaded it with 10 Christmas items, allowed everyone to look for a few minutes, then they had 1 minute to remember as many of them as possible. I gotta hand it to them, they all got high scores!

We also played the Wright Family Christmas. In this game every other person holds a small gift. While I read the "Wright Family" story the gifts have to be passed to the left or right everytime I say "left" or "right". It's usually confusing and funny!

We all had a really good time!

 MENU

Brandy or rum and eggnog

Appetizers: Cheese ball and crackers
Cheese, grapes and pate plate

Spicy meatballs
Brie with cranberries and maple syrup
Bacon-wrapped water chestnuts
Spinach dip in loaf

Crudites

Dips

Salads: Tossed baby greens with balsamic dressing

Main Course: Layered Mediterranean Pie
Homemade tortiere
Ham and sweet potato casserole
Chicken casserole

scalloped potatoes

Baked beans

Homemade dinner rolls and pickles
Wine

Desserts: Lemon meringue pie
Assorted baked goodies

Tea   Coffee  Bailey's   Port

Mom's Xmas Decorating 2012

 Mantle with Nativity Scene and lights.

Little shelf over the kitchen table.

Porch

Orch table.

Watching A Christmas Story!

Porch