December 30, 2015 by Jaclyn

Christmas 2015

Another milestone down – sniff – Nugget’s first Christmas! I think that both of the kids had a good one. Christmas is my favorite holiday, and it just seems to get better and better, with so many fun things to do and experience through the kids’ eyes.

On Christmas Eve, their school was closed, so I took the day off and Steve worked from home, and we took the kids out for some fun (maybe) morning Christmas activities. We started with a Polar Express story hour at a local children’s bookstore that I’d never visited before – and oh, my, GOODNESS, was it a gorgeous store. I picked up a few more things on Santa’s behalf (post about the kids’ book haul coming next week) and then we enjoyed the story. After the story hour, we headed to the mall to meet Santa. Steve and I were both a bit skeptical that it would go well, but Peanut had been talking about meeting Santa for weeks, and she promised – promised – that she would sit on his lap and not raise a ruckus. Of course she got performance anxiety as we waited in line and we ended up with the world’s worst Santa photo. Peanut is crying (see the tiny tear?), Nugget looks like he’s about to punch someone, and Santa is the unhappiest of all. (I couldn’t really blame Peanut – this Santa seemed really unfriendly. But seriously, what a waste of time and $25.00. We’re never doing this again – I don’t care how much Peanut begs next year. She’s all talk and I am not falling for that again.)

After the Santa drama, we all needed a bit of a break. We headed home for lunch, and Peanut took a nap. (Nugget did not, of course.) Later that evening, we hosted Auntie Em and Aunt Grace and their respective boyfriends for drinks and snacks. I made gluhwein and we all enjoyed the combination of alcohol and sugar. Can’t beat it.

We were up at zero dark hundred on Christmas morning and Peanut went tearing downstairs and into the family room, where she spent a good five minutes jumping up and down and shrieking “PRESENTS! PRESENTS! I’M JUMPING! LOOK AT ME JUMPING!” Nugget was impressed with his sister…

…But even more impressed with his new fire truck.

(He really likes hard plastic and wooden toys – trucks, cars, blocks – and has very little use for anything soft or snuggly. So he got exactly what he likes from Santa: a fleet of trucks, cars and planes, a giant bag of Mega Bloks, and some new things to chew on.)

After the gifts were opened, we got dressed up and ready to head to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner. But first, I gave myself a present: a picture of the kids together on Christmas Day. All together now: awwwww.

And then this little tableau took place:

Poor Nugget. The kid can’t call a toy his own. (His face just slays me.)

But things were looking up once we got to the grandparents’ house. After a delicious turkey dinner and a gift exchange we were all revived. Especially Nugget. Nothing cures a heart broken by the loss of a Mega Blok like some new wrapping paper to eat.

On Boxing Day, we headed out for a family hike at Tifft Nature Preserve – the final hike of our twelve months’ project (recaps of November and December, and then the whole project, coming in January). It was a crisp, cloudy day and we had the park almost to ourselves. Then we headed home to wait for Nana and Grandad to arrive… and with them came…

A new gown for Princess Peanut. Oh, brother.

Merry Christmas one more time, my friends! I hope your days were filled with warmth, joy, family and friends, and that no one stole your Mega Bloks.

December 25, 2015 by Jaclyn

On Christmas Day In The Morning

I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And who was on those ships all three
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
And who was on those ships all three
But Joseph and his Lady.

And he did whistle and she did sing
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And he did whistle and she did sing
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And all the bells on Earth shall ring
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day.
And all the bells on Earth shall ring
On Christmas Day in the morning.

And children throughout the world shall sing
On Christmas Day, on Christmas Day
And children throughout the world shall sing
On Christmas Day in the morning.

To my friends who are celebrating today, I hope you have a joyous day. And on Earth, peace, goodwill toward men.

December 23, 2015 by Jaclyn

What It’s About

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising god, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:9-14).

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. 2015 is almost behind us, and I don’t think many people will be too sorry to see it go. Our fellow Americans are being murdered at prayer meetings and at office holiday parties, our friends in Paris were savagely attacked, little children are being driven from their homes in faraway countries, and a candidate for the highest office in our own country has proposed barring the gates to people based on their religion. (Oh, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are turning over in their graves on that last one.) In many ways, it’s been a crummy second half of the year – there couldn’t be further from peace on Earth, and as for good will toward men, well, we’ve got precious little of that going around too.

But tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I’ll be busily wrapping up the last of the gifts, and taking my kids to see Santa (because Peanut requested to go this year – last year she was terrified of poor old Kris Kringle). But I’ll also be hoping that a little of the spirit of Christmas, what it’s really about (and that’s not sugar, reindeer or the new play kitchen that Peanut will be finding under the tree on Friday morning) will trickle down and infuse the coming year. We need some of the spirit of Christmas to last us a little bit longer in 2016.

So, tomorrow is Christmas Eve. And Friday is Christmas. Which is a day about hope and peace and loving our neighbor. Let’s go be Christmas, all year long.

December 21, 2015 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 21, 2015)

December 21st – wow, we’re almost there. I know I’m not the only one to feel that Christmas snuck up on me, because everyone else I’ve talked to recently has said the same thing. I feel perpetually behind the eight ball this year. I just got my Christmas cards out on Friday (so if you’re expecting one from me, you should be seeing it appear in your mailboxes soon) – a far cry from last year’s lifetime record of December 8th. I’m still not done with my Christmas shopping, and I haven’t wrapped a thing. And that’s with my decision to give myself a break and not drag out all of the decorations or force myself to bake cookies – even with taking it easy, so to speak, I’m still way behind. I think that for me, it was a combination of a few factors: Thanksgiving being late (it was late, wasn’t it?) and being in Colorado until December 1st (usually we’d get our decorations up and Christmas photos taken, and cards ordered, on the weekend after Thanksgiving), being swamped at work, and having two kids to shop and wrap for instead of just one. All that’s to say, I’m crazed. And I really hope that things slow down over the course of this week, because I would like to, you know, savor and soak in sweet Nugget’s first Christmas. If I can sit down long enough.

This past weekend was the rare weekend in which I did almost no reading. Instead I did running (the Caroler 5K in East Aurora), Christmas shopping (checked off about half of my list, which is better than nothing), hosting (Zan and Paul came over for our annual Buffalo Bills elimination game viewing) and more elf-ing (making a special gift for one of the grandparents, who reads here and therefore shall remain nameless). I read a little bit of The Givenness of Things, Marilynne Robinson’s most recent book of essays, on the way to my 5K, but that’s actually all the reading I did.

Despite the lack of bookishness this weekend, it was a decently productive reading week overall. I finished Sisters In Law, the new biography of Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg and their careers leading up to, and then on, the Supreme Court. Definitely wouldn’t be a subject that interests everyone, but as a female lawyer it was my speed for sure. It got me thinking about equality feminism as opposed to difference feminism, and where I feel the movement has fallen short (or maybe, just, still needs a bit of work). Then I blew through the first volume of the new Black Widow in one sitting (didn’t entirely understand it, but that seems to be par for the course, because comics). And then turned my attention to Robinson and have been making my way very slowly through her essays, reading a few a day (other than this weekend) for several days now. They’re gorgeously written and absolutely brilliant, and they require time and attention and close reading, which are a bit beyond my capabilities most days lately. But I’m loving the experience of digging in and thinking hard about the intersections of history, theology and current events. (Not that I’m not intellectually challenged in my day job – but it’s nice to give serious thought to something other than law sometimes. And it probably makes me a better lawyer, come to think of it.)

On the agenda for this week, I’ve got the rest of The Givenness of Things, and then I think I’m going to read some fiction – The Hundred Year House, by Rebecca Makkai, which looks great and which has been languishing on my TBR for long enough now. And with Christmas looming on Friday, and all of the work and then fun that entails, I’m not going to commit to any more reading beyond that.

What are you reading this week, my friends?

December 18, 2015 by Jaclyn

Fall List 2015: Final Update

The twinkly season is upon us, but I can’t let fall go without a final check-in on my to-do list. We had a lovely – albeit extremely busy – season. As Nugget gets older, it’s easier and easier to get out and about as a family, which is wonderful. The more he is able to do, the more I look forward to doing with the kids as they continue to grow. In the meantime, I think we did really well at making the most of fall (my favorite season!).

~~Take the kids apple and pumpkin picking.~~ Done – both! We visited Stonehill Orchards and took home half a bushel of Gala apples in September, and picked out our pumpkins at Kelkenberg Farms in October. (Yes, I did dress the kids in their Halloween costumes for our pumpkin picking excursion. OF COURSE.)

~~Visit my brother and sister-in-law in Colorado.~~ Done! We had a fantastic trip to Colorado for Thanksgiving. We spent a week and a half out there exploring Boulder, Denver, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, and more, and enjoying everything that the mountain west has to offer. Colorado is an incredible state. I knew this, of course. Expect lots of waxing poetic when I get those vacation recaps up starting in the New Year!
~~Drink hot cider from Main Street Coffee Roastery.~~ Done! The Cider Deluxe from Main Street was my Friday treat to myself this fall. I couldn’t get enough.

~~Host family and friends for Nugget’s baptism.~~ Done! My parents and my father-in-law joined us – along with Uncle Erik and Aunt Rebecca, Peanut and Nugget’s godparents – to celebrate little Nugget becoming the newest Episcopalian in early November. We had a lovely little family party and I think our sweet boy felt very loved and celebrated.
~~Read some Sarah Vowell.~~ Done! I tore through Vowell’s newest release, Lafayette in the Somewhat United States, and loved it. I really enjoy her smart, witty, slightly snarky takes on history.
~~Bake pear-almond bread.~~ Well, I didn’t do pear-almond bread specifically, but I did make some yummy almond thumbprint cookies recently, so I’m calling this good.
~~Have a zoo playdate with friends.~~ Done! Just this past weekend, but better late than never. We met up with two of Peanut’s little school friends, their moms and their siblings for a morning at the zoo. I have some complicated feelings about zoos, but we had a good time. It’s always nice to get friend time in and let the kids run around, play and enjoy some animals.

~~Take Peanut trick-or-treating (for real!) for the first time EVER.~~ Done! Peanut looooooooved trick-or-treating. Last year, I think, she would have been terrified and miserable, but she’s grown up a lot over the course of a year (who’d have thunk?) and she had a ball this year. The only tears came when we decided that we’d been out long enough, and told her it was time to head home.
Re-read Anne of the Island or Emily of New Moon (or both!).

~~Finish our our year of hiking in a different place every month and take our last seasonal walk through Reinstein Woods Nature Preserve.~~ I’m calling this one done, even though we haven’t gotten our December walk in yet. We’ll be hitting Tifft Nature Preserve within the next few weeks, and that will round out a year of hiking in a different place every month. I’ve still got recaps coming for you (I owe you our fall Reinstein walk – at least, I think I do? – and our November hike is a good one) so keep your eyes open for those.

Not a bad fall! How about you, my friends, did you accomplish everything on your seasonal to-do lists?

December 16, 2015 by Jaclyn

Nugget: Nine Months

This boy. I’ll tell you – guys, he has just stolen my heart. Every smile, every giggle, every sloppy kiss planted on my chin, all make me more and more his, forever. He is just the happiest, sweetest baby and it is such a privilege to watch him grow.

The biggest thing this month was Nugget’s second vacation (seriously, two vacations in nine months – the kid’s doing alright), which involved his first airplane flight and his first Thanksgiving. He did as well as I could possibly have hoped for on the plane. No napping, of course, because Nugget doesn’t do that sort of thing. But I made sure to be feeding him during takeoff and landing, which helped with his ears, and with a full belly he was a happy little traveler for the rest of the flights. He giggled, played with toys, and when he got restless we walked up and down the aisles. I would have loved it if he’d have conked out for an hour or so on at least one of the flights, but of course he didn’t help me out there. No matter – he charmed everyone on the flights and I got lots of compliments about how well-behaved he was. Keeping him happy was a lot of work, and the flights weren’t the most relaxing I’ve ever had, but it was well worth the effort for the smooth flights.

As he was when we went to North Carolina in July, Nugget was a champ all throughout the trip to Colorado. He had a few rough nights as he got adjusted to the altitude, and we were both a bit tired as a result, but he’s such a good baby that I doubt anyone but me noticed that he wasn’t completely himself. He loved checking out the Christmas lights in Boulder and Estes Park and spotting trees and animals in Rocky Mountain National Park.

I know I am a broken record, but I just can’t stop singing the praises of my sweet, good-natured boy. He fits in so well with our family – it’s amazing how complete we feel now that he’s in our lives. He’s just such a joyful, happy little fella.

Nugget at 9 Months

Weight: 16 pounds, 3 ounces – not much gain from last month. He’s under the third percentile for weight – following in big sister’s footsteps, sigh. Why do I make these absurdly tiny children? He’s a good eater, but I think his no-nap policy may be catching up with him. We’re going to bump up the foods we’re offering and see if we can’t pack a couple more pounds on him in the coming months.

Height: 27.25 inches – he didn’t shrink from last month, so clearly my measurement was off. Well, I warned y’all.

Clothing Size: 9 months, quite comfortably. Expect this answer to be the same for awhile.

Sleep: We continue to have our good nights and bad nights. For most of our vacation, Nugget was back to nursing every two hours, newborn-style. I think it was a combination of the unfamiliar environment (scary when you’re little!) and the high altitude (extra hydration needed) – but he wasn’t the best sleeper on vacation, even for him. Since coming home he’s pretty much snapped back into his usual routine, but with more fussing at bedtime, and the occasional bouts of crying around 10:00 p.m. (that’s new). He’s back to eating pretty much once a night, which is very doable for me at this point. (More than that and I start to fray a little at the edges.) As for naps, he continues to be the world’s worst napper, and even lap naps are getting harder to come by. Dad got a couple in Colorado – so snuggly – and he’s lap-napped for me a few times since, but it’s getting harder and harder to nurse him to sleep and then keep him asleep in the afternoon. Daycare doesn’t try that hard to get him to nap, because he’s so good-natured and easygoing that he will just play happily all day long, without a rest. If he doesn’t start gaining weight a little more quickly, though, we may need to come up with a new plan – but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Likes: Hugs and cuddles from Mom and big sister, dancing to the Laurie Berkner Christmas CD, the way Dad’s “lion noises” ruffle his hair, sneak-watching “Clifford the Big Red Dog” on the iPad (Peanut’s current viewing of choice) during dinner.

Dislikes: I think it’s safe to say he’s not a big fan of his snowsuit.

Favorite Toys: Well, the absolute favorite toy this month isn’t actually Nugget’s toy – it’s Dad’s. Both Peanut and Nugget think that BB-8 is the best thing they have ever seen. (#thisisthedroidyourelookingfor). But leaving BB-8 aside, Nugget has gotten really into playing with the Green Toys school bus – he loves to drive it around the family room floor – and he’s developed a loving relationship with a Crocodile Creek playground ball that looks like the planet Earth. Funnily enough, I bought the ball for Peanut – I thought we could work on learning continents, HA HA – and bought Nugget a different playground ball with a rocket ship design. Peanut has no interest whatsoever in her globe ball, but she stole Nugget’s rocket ship ball immediately; Nugget, meanwhile, couldn’t care less about the rocket ship ball but you can’t pry the globe ball away from him. Who’d have thunk? Well, they’re both enjoying the balls I bought for them, just not exactly as I had pictured.

Milestones: The major milestones, I talked about above – first plane flight, first Thanksgiving. As far as developmental milestones go, he’s soooo close to moving. He’s been doing a fair amount of rolling around to get from one place to the next, and it’s only a matter of time before he either crawls or pulls up and starts cruising. (I’m still predicting that he will skip crawling and go straight to cruising, but I could be wrong. BB-8 is a powerful crawl motivator.) He’s also doing lots of clapping (my heart, my heart, soooooooo cute) and is starting to repeat sounds, even making a few noises that have sounded like words (up, egg and uh-oh) – although I’m not counting them as first words because I don’t believe he knew what he was saying. I think he’s poised to make some big strides in the next few months.

Quirks: Nugget is a lover, not a fighter. Ha, ha, no, really. Especially when it comes to me, he’s actually aggressively affectionate. One evening, while we were out in Boulder, he attacked my face with so much slobbery love that my brother told us to get a room. Ha! He loves his dad and sister, of course, but he saves the really over-the-top affection for me. Fortunately I’m pretty into him, too.

Happy nine months, sweet baby man! I’m so glad you’re here.

December 14, 2015 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 14, 2015)

The weeks keep rolling on by toward the end of the year and things continue to be crazy. My work week settled down, thanks to a postponement on the big event that I had scheduled for the end of the week – whew! Not that it means much of a reprieve – I’m still plugging away at a few projects that must be finished by the end of the year, and then there are all of the holiday tasks on the to-do list. Christmas cards are stuffed and addressed and will go out in today’s mail, so that’s done – but that just means I have to really turn my attention to shopping now. I’ve got all of Peanut’s gifts, but that’s about it – nothing for Steve, nothing for Nugget. Must fix that soon. (Thank goodness for Amazon Prime!)

Despite the craziness of this week, and everything still left on my to-do list, I did manage to get some reading done. (This seems to be a theme, these days. Week is crazy. Kids, work, etc. Still got some reading done, but never enough.) I finished a comic, Batgirl, Vol. 1: The Batgirl of Burnside, and enjoyed it. Abandoned another coming, ODY-C, Vol. 1: Off to Far Ithicaa, because it was just too weird for me. (So disappointing: I was really excited about that one. The Odyssey! Gender-flipped! In space! But it was just too over-the-top.) Then I devoted a few days to Michael Dirda’s collection of essays on books and the bookish life, Browsings. I did finish it, but found it quite uneven. Every so often there would be an essay – like Aurora, his moving call to action on gun control – that I really loved. But most of them were dull, annoying or both. It was a short collection, though, so I got through it. And now I’m midway through Sisters In Law: How Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg Went to the Supreme Court and Changed the World, by Linda Hirshmann. As a woman and a lawyer, I’ve benefitted and learned from both of their examples, and so I’m finding this engaging book completely fascinating.

On the reading agenda for this week: finish Sisters In Law, then tackle another library book. I have a few that are due back on December 21st, and while I think I should be able to renew them, I’m still focusing on those. I think I’ll pick up one of the two Marilynne Robinson essay collections I have out, or maybe the first volume of Black Widow.

Coming up on the blog: a nine month (!) update for Nugget on Wednesday, and a belated final update on the fall list on Friday. Have a great week, my friends!

What are you reading today?

December 11, 2015 by Jaclyn

Twelve Months Hiking Project: Letchworth State Park (October 2015)

Twelve months of hiking continues! I’m way behind on recaps – but not to worry, I did the hike in October; it’s just that I’m not writing it up until now. I saved Letchworth for October because I expected the foliage would be spectacular. And while we missed peak, it was still pretty fabulous.

Anyway, let’s look at pretty pictures of waterfalls.

When we visited Letchworth with our friends Zan and Paul, back in August of 2014, we walked up the gorge and checked out one waterfall. I wanted to see a different part of the park this time, so we targeted the other two major waterfalls.

It was a bit dreary and chilly out, but no matter – we bundled up and started our hike with the central waterfall.

(Note Nugget’s pretty purple jacket. I had actually forgotten his little sweatshirt that he was going to wear, but Peanut had an extra fleece, so he’s wearing that. It fit disturbingly well considering she is three years old and he was seven months at the time.)

We headed up a pretty path strewn with leaves, admiring the colors that still remained on the trees…

And up to one of the more breathtaking sights in Western New York.

I love waterfalls.

Back along the gorge, checking out more scenery and pretty fall colors.

We had such a nice (albeit a bit chilly) walk in Letchworth. I wish we hadn’t missed the peak leaf season – but even so, it was lovely.

(Oh, yeah – Letchworth was recently voted America’s favorite state park! I’m still partial to the Adirondack Park, myself, but Letchworth is pretty great. Congrats to them!)

Anyone else get any good leaf peeping in before the season ended?

December 9, 2015 by Jaclyn

If You Haven’t Got A Penny, A Ha’Penny Will Do, If You Haven’t Got A Ha’Penny Then God Bless You

I love this time of year – Advent, all it represents, and the lead-up to Christmas. All the fun of it – decking my halls, selecting the perfect gifts for everyone on my list, wrapping them in pretty paper, writing out and mailing Christmas greetings to far-flung family and friends, baking cookies and treats to share with local family and friends… all of it. It’s all so twinkly and sparkly and joyous. It’s all so expensive. Dolla dolla bills, y’all. So expensive.

This isn’t a post about how to save money on your Christmas shopping (goodness knows I have trouble sticking to my budget when I come across that perfect item that someone would just LOVE) or on your cards (man alive, those picture cards cost bank!) – but I do have some ideas to share about decking your halls. Now, of course, you can save money by re-using your decorations every year. I do – my tree skirt, pillows and holiday tableware all make repeat appearances year in and year out. And I like that – it’s like seeing old friends every December when I pull out the decorations.

Still, it’s also fun to change it up a bit. And there are ways to do that without breaking the bank or tapping into money otherwise earmarked for gifts. I’ve got four ideas to share with you, and all of them were accomplished with items found either at the grocery store or lying around my house. And none of them cost more than $15.00.

Homemade Advent Wreath

Starting with my favorite – a homemade Advent wreath! So, let me tell you a little story: I’ve always wanted an Advent wreath, and I’ve been holding out for the perfect one. I saw one I loved, years ago, at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. It was a simple ceramic vessel – a moat of sorts, which could be filled with greenery, with four wells for taper candles. I wanted it, but for some reason I didn’t buy it. And then, of course, I regretted it, and I looked for it every time we visited the Torpedo Factory since, and I never saw anything similar. So I’ve been holding out for literally years.

This fall I started listening to podcasts during my commute, and one of my favorites is “Sorta Awesome.” Most of the podcasts I like, I don’t feel comfortable listening to in front of my kids – they’re not bad, and I’m not embarrassed by any of the content (probably 90% of my podcast listening is about books or running) but they occasionally use words like “sucks,” or “crap” – words I don’t want Peanut repeating at school. (I’m less bothered by Nugget hearing those words right now, because he can’t talk.) But it’s very rare indeed that a word I’m concerned about pops up on “Sorta Awesome,” and I love the variety of subjects, the tips for living and mothering, and the “Awesome of the Week.” So we’ve been working our way through the backlist as the kids and I drive home from work and preschool at the end of the day. Recently, Megan hosted Jerusalem Greer, who talked about Advent. Jerusalem’s top tip – her place to start, so to speak – was an Advent wreath. And – this is going to sound ridiculous – it wasn’t until I heard Jerusalem talking about Advent wreaths that I realized, Eureka!, I could make my own and it would actually be really easy.

So, according to Jerusalem, an Advent wreath requires just a few components: something circular, like a plate, to represent eternity; something “living” (can be water, river rocks, greenery, anything natural); and four candles, one for each Sunday of Advent. They don’t even necessarily have to be the three purple and one pink that I grew up with. (If you want extra credit, you can have a fifth candle, the Christ candle, to light on Christmas.)

I grabbed the following materials from around my house:

Luna Garcia oblong platter (oblong can represent eternity, too, right?)
Four unscented dinner candles
Pink and purple yarn
Rosemary clipped from my garden (oh, yeah, I should probably bring that inside)

Putting the “wreath” together was simple. I just lined the four candles up on the platter, clipped four equal-length strands of yarn (three purple and one pink), wrapped one strand around each candle and tied them in little bows. Then Peanut and I tucked sprigs of rosemary around the candles and voila, our very first Advent wreath! Couldn’t have been easier, and…

Total Cost: $0.00, because I used all materials I already had on hand.

Rosemary Tree

This Thanksgiving, I mentioned to my sister-in-law that I’ve always wanted a rosemary tree for my kitchen, and she said that she loves those too. I don’t know why I’ve never bought one before, but with that thought in the back of my mind I kept my eyes open when I did my weekly shopping at Wegmans. No surprise, they had them – so I grabbed one for $6.99. It came in a pretty red burlap sack. I decked it with my snowman chef ornaments from Williams-Sonoma (although it would be really pretty with a string of fresh cranberries, too – maybe next year) and it’s making my kitchen smell divine.

Total Cost: $6.99.

Pomander Balls

I’m craft-challenged, but this year I got it into my head that even I couldn’t mess up pomander balls. I’m not even sure what put me on to the idea of doing some this year, but I grabbed a bag of oranges and a bottle of whole cloves from the supermarket and went to town while watching Supergirl. Six pomanders, in six different patterns, and they smell incredible.

Bag of oranges
Bottle of whole cloves
Knitting needle, stylus, or other sharp object (I used an inexpensive double-sided bamboo knitting needle)

Using the needle, poke holes in an orange in whatever pattern you like. Stick one clove into each hole. Dry in a 200 degree oven for a looooooong time – I did six hours. Keep in a dry location and enjoy all season, then pitch after Christmas (or whenever they get weird).

Total Cost: $15.00, but only because I didn’t have any whole cloves at home.

Fun Seasonal Soap

This one feels almost like cheating, but it’s something that never occurred to me before last year. Steve and I really like the Wegmans foaming hand soaps and we keep them around in the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom, in different scents. Last year they had a harvest scent for fall, and that was the first time I ever picked one up – and the first time it occurred to me to use something other than very basic Softsoap in the kitchen. We’ve been enjoying the different scents all year and I grabbed a “sugar cookie” flavor to make our December hand-washing more festive. It’s such a silly thing, but it’s fun. (If you don’t have a Wegmans nearby, I’ll bet you can find something similar at your grocery store, or there’s always Bath and Body Works.)

Total Cost: $2.69 – a steal!

How do you add festive flair to your house without breaking the budget?

December 7, 2015 by Jaclyn

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? (December 7, 2015)

Well, my friends, ’tis the season of being completely frazzled and overwhelmed. I really, really love Advent and Christmas and I always intend to take lots of time to soak it all in and really enjoy the season, and I end up running around like a crazy person. It’s not just the holiday responsibilities – buying and wrapping gifts, addressing and mailing Christmas cards, not to mention the three office holiday parties I am attending – but somehow I always end up swamped at work, too. You’d think that things would slow down in the office, with so many people on vacation, but it never seems to work that way. (This happened in my last job too, so it’s not just my current place.) I’d love to spend lots of time doing things like decorating gingerbread houses, taking my kids to Christmas farms, and dancing to the Laurie Berkner Christmas CD, and I’m still holding out hope for a little more time in the next couple of weeks.

Last week was a crazy one. We were still in Colorado on Monday (oh, you guys, it’s so lovely there – expect lots of waxing poetic about the mountains when I get my vacation recaps together for you) and we flew back on Tuesday. No reading happened while we were out of town, and FORGET ABOUT reading on the plane. I spent the entire journey home working hard to keep Nugget happy so he didn’t disturb everyone on the plane. (Nugget got lots of smiles and pats from the other passengers on our flights, and I got lots of compliments about what a well-behaved baby he was. Mission accomplished.) Then I was digging out from my time away, which didn’t leave much evening time for reading. This week is going to be another doozy, as I’ve got multiple meetings, I’m giving a speech, and I am assisting a partner at a big event at the end of the week (and will be preparing for it all week).

That said, I did get some reading done. Last week I was all about whatever was going to get me quick progress on my library stack – and that meant comics. I read the third volume of Fables and the first volume of Gotham Academy, and enjoyed both, although I didn’t always feel as if I totally understood what was going on in Gotham Academy. Then I turned my attention to Carry On, which had been languishing on my “currently reading” list – I brought it on vacation and squeezed in a few pages whenever I had the chance, but that turned out to not be all that often. (I just wanted to hang out and talk to my sister-in-law, bicker fondly with my brother, and gawk at the view out of their big windows.) But I finally finished Carry On over the weekend (thank you, lap nap!) and I enjoyed it, for the most part. I did complain that it was as if I was tuning into the Harry Potter books with the seventh and final installment – there was clearly a lot of backstory that these characters had, and the reader wasn’t privy to it, which made it harder to get invested in their current story. Still, it was cute, and since I liked Fangirl I enjoyed Carry On too.

Now I’ve moved on to Browsings, Michael Dirda’s collection of essays about books and reading for the Washington Post Book World (I love books! And books about books! And Washington!) and I’m enjoying it so far, although I’ve only read a couple of the essays. I’m not sure how much reading time I will have this week (see above: meetings on meetings on meetings) but I’m holding out hope that I’ll at least be able to knock this one book out.

On the blog this week: four fun (and cheap!) ways to add some festive flair to your home on Wednesday, and an overdue recap of our October hiking project outing on Friday. Stay tuned!