Are you ready for the best, sure to become your most favorite Christmas Eve dinner tradition?  A warning from my mom: once you start this tradition, nobody will let you stop.  But I say, why would you want to?

Step 1: Get a small present for each person in your family.  In our little family, the present is an ornament.

Step 2: Wrap the presents — don’t attach any visible identifying name tags, but you’ll probably want to mark the bottom of each present so you know who they all belong to as you set things up — and place them in the middle of the dinner table.  Don’t let the kiddos see you doing any of this.

Step 3: Attach a ribbon to the bottom of each present, and lead it back to the plate of the person who the present belongs to.

But this is the tricky part: you have to wind the ribbon around the presents and the centerpieces, so that when people sit down to eat, they can’t tell which present the ribbon under their plate leads to.

I’m a horrible decorator, and awful at taking pictures of tabley things, but this gives a decent idea.  See how the ribbon all wraps around, and you can’t tell where it is or isn’t attached to the presents?

After dinner is over, clear the plates while everyone holds on to the ribbon that was under their plate.  On the count of three, have everyone gently pull their ribbon towards them until their present is in their spot!

My mom did this for our family for as long as I can remember, and even when I was home from college, I still requested (or demanded) she continue the tradition.  When I was little, I loved sitting through the meal, staring at the presents and trying to guess which was mine.  It’s the best tradition ever.

Because of messy schedules, we already had our Christmas Eve dinner this year.  This was the first year Lydia cared about this tradition, and she loved it.

Her ornament:

When I saw the ornament, I thought the little girl was singing, although I suppose she could just as easily be reading.  At any rate, Lydia loves to do both things — sing and read.  She’s a darn good singer, and sings all the time, so I told Lydia this ornament reminded me of her beautiful voice.

She said, “Oh,” and then eyed Daddy’s ornament that was a guitar-like instrument you can really play.

“Hey Dad, we can share your ornament,” she ever-so-kindly offered while her own adorable, chosen-with-love-and-care ornament lay discarded in a pile of wrapping paper.  Oh well.  One day, when she’s a famous singer, she’ll look at this ornament and actually like it.

This little girl just turned 4!

When she was a baby, I read about a birthday photo tradition in a magazine, and I have loved doing our own photo tradition.  The magazine suggested taking your child’s picture in the same chair every year as a cute way to show how your child is growing.  Since I tend to buy cheap things (slowly learning that quality is more important than price — slowly learning), I’m pretty sure I won’t be keeping our furniture for the next couple decades. So when Lydia turned one, we picked her favorite stuffed animal — Mono the Monkey, made for Lydia by our good friend Jonathan — and decided to take her picture each year with the cute little sock monkey.

When she turned one, she was busier than ever.  We couldn’t get her to hold still long enough for our old camera to get a good picture of her.  This was the best we could do.

By the time she turned two, we had mastered the “cheese” command and accompanying face.

When she turned three, we managed to get our act together long enough to take professional pictures.

And now, at four, she is more than happy to take picture after picture in our “photo shoots” — as long as I promise to read stories to her when we’re done.

Happy birthday to my hilarious, stubborn, sweet and lovable little girl!

While talking about how grown up Lydia is getting, we did some calculations this weekend and realized it was her half birthday!  We typically remember to celebrate half birthdays but Lydia’s slipped through the cracks until the middle of her actual half birthday.

Oh boy, that little girl was excited.

“YAY YAY, IT’S MY HALF BIRTHDAY!  WE NEED TO EAT A DONUT!”

This is true.  Half birthdays are celebrated with half donuts.

“AND WE NEED TO MAKE A HAT!”

We felt that was a reasonable request and told her we  could accommodate that.

“YEAH!  WE’LL MAKE IT OUT OF PAPER!”

Ok.

“AND WE’LL WEAR IT!”

Even better.

“AND WE CAN PAINT IT!”

Now we’re talkin’.

“AND WHEN I WAKE UP FROM MY NAP, YOU CAN SING, ‘HAPPY HALF BIRTHDAY’ TO ME!”

Done and done.

Happy half birthday to my little 3 1/2 year old.

My German daughter says autumn sounds so much prettier than fall.  I agree.  No more fall.  By the way, did you know that seasons are not capitalized?  It bothers me a great deal.  I think “Spring” looks much better than “spring.”  And “Autumn” looks so much prettier than “autumn.”  But, alas, it is not meant to be.  *sigh*

Tomorrow is the first day of autumn.  Are you excited?  Autumn (I can capitalize it there because it’s the beginning of a sentence-and, oh my, doesn’t it look so lovely?) is the best season of the year.  Autumn must be celebrated.  How are you celebrating?

Here, we celebrate holidays and special occasions with food.  Oh, you do the same?  How very American of us all.

Tomorrow will begin with homemade bread (Breadmaker, my friends, breadmaker.  Do you really think I know how to make homemade bread?) and hot chocolate.  The bread will, of course, be toasted and slathered with butter.  It will then be dunked into the yummy hot chocolate.  Because that’s the only way to do it.

The afternoon will be spent wearing autumn colors and crunching leaves on a lovely, cool walk somewhere in nature.

The evening will be celebrated with homemade chili, corn bread, apple juice and pumpkin cookies.  Could you plan a more perfect day?  Really, could you?

And here is a recipe for the easiest and best homemade chili.

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or turkey, cooked

1 lb. tomatoes

1 green bell pepper

1 medium onion (or a little less)

1 can black beans

1 can kidney beans

1 packet chili seasoning.  Get the cheap stuff.  It’s just as good as the expensive stuff.

Throw it all in a crock pot and cook for a couple hours.  You’ll know it’s time to eat it when the smell is so divine you can’t resist a taste.

Did you know?  Half birthdays do not require a lot of fanfare, but they do require a certain amount of attention.

To do a half birthday properly, wish a happy half birthday to the half-birthday girl.  Give her lots of kisses and tell her how much you love her.

Then give her a half donut (chocolate please).

If she is an adult (and I am), she can eat the other half after the toddler is asleep.

Happy half birthday to me!  (A few days late.)

And thank you to my husband for remembering and showering me with the undeserved, silly attention I absolutely relish and adore on such a silly day of remembrance.

We spent the last week in a little piece of heaven; a place where time does not exist because it really doesn’t matter if you check off anything on a to-do list since to-do lists are not allowed.  A place where the water is warm and blue, the trees are abundant and green and the family is loud and fun.  Lake Almanor in Northern California is the annual retreat of my husband’s family, and we look forward to it all year.  It is almost as anticipated as Christmas.

Let me tell you just a little bit about this lake.  It is huge.  HUGE.  It is blue.  BLUE.  It is warm.  WARM.  It’s perfect.  It is by far the nicest lake I have ever jet skied or boated on, and I’ve jet skied or boated on no less than 5 lakes, so I am an expert, of course.

This was a year of firsts.

• First, I fell off the jet ski.   My husband and I were frolicking in the middle of the giant clear lake on matching jet skis.  So romantic.  He was spending his time learning new tricks and showing off for me.  I was spending my cautious time running over waves made by him, driving in straight lines, and circling wide and far to make any change in direction.  Somewhere in all that, I fell off.  How does one fall off a jet ski when driving in straight lines?  One must be as klutzy as yours truly.  I can teach you how, if you want.

• Ryan caught his first fish on only the second fishing trip of his life.

It was still wiggling and alive when he brought it inside.  The poor dear.  It reminded me why I don’t eat fish.  But Ryan did.  And he claimed it was good.  I will never know.

• Lydia ate her first plum.  After a bath.

I think she enjoyed it.

• A bat entered the house.  Unfortunately, I do not have a picture of this memorable episode because I was laughing too hard from watching 3 grown men, 1 grown woman, and 3 almost grown boys chase after it while everyone shouted instructions and my sister in law locked herself in the bathroom.  Eventually, the bat was coerced into the breezeway where my brother in law held the net.  My husband and his brother promptly sacrificed their own brother in law to the Dracula creature by locking him in the breezeway with the fluttering night animal.  We heard some screams and a little bit of blood sucking.  Russ hasn’t been the same since.

Other happy things, such as hide-and-seek with cousins and free style, outdoor fairy dancing, took place.

It was perhaps the happiest week of the year.  Much of that happiness, of course, was because of the heavenly location.  But more of that happiness, I dare say, was a result of being with Ryan’s family.  The Wrights are warm, accepting, loud and funny.  They all have this laugh- it has been referred to as a machine gun laugh- and it makes you feel so gosh darn funny you just never want to leave their presence.

But we did leave their presence.  We spent a few days with my wonderful family, not one member in possession of a machine gun laugh, but still warm, accepting, loud and funny.  We met my little brother’s fiance.  She is so short her feet don’t touch the ground when she sits in grown up chairs.

But she looks awesome in skinny jeans.  And we like her.

When I was seventeen, my church youth group did a time capsule activity.  I remember being very unenthusiastic about this activity.  Now, I can’t figure out why I wasn’t excited- this is exactly the type of thing I love to do!

Well, it’s been ten years since that activity took place.  While putting away the Christmas decorations in our Harry Potter closet under the stairs the other day, I found the time capsule.  My husband has been itching to open it up since we got married, but I’m a stickler for rules.

Since it is now 2010, we were finally allowed to open and reveal the great desires of my 17 year old self.

It was rather disappointing.  Remember- I was unenthusiastic at the time the capsule was sealed.  The things put in the capsule were mostly put in there by my dear friend Jill who wouldn’t let me seal it up without something interesting.  She made copies of pictures and cards for me.

And it looks like I grabbed a few things on my way out the door- the cover of a college application, a certificate for a judged piano performance, my senior picture.  These were interesting to see, but not exactly exciting.

There were two things in the capsule I was happy to see:

1. the pictures Jill copied.  Thank you Jill. 

and

2. a sealed letter from my mother to me.

So that you don’t make the same mistake as me, I have compiled a list of things to include in a time capsule.  At the start of a new year and decade, now is a great time for your family to make your own time capsule!

What to Put in a Time Capsule

1. Lots of pictures.  It made me happy to see a picture of myself with my high school friends.  I am still friends with each one of them today.

2. Letters.  If your children are making a time capsule, write them a letter and seal it up (BEFORE they have read it).  Tell them what you love about them and what you hope for them.  Tell them what you believe and why.  Mention something about what they are currently doing in life.

Have your child write a letter to herself.  Those are so fun to read years later.  If you are making a time capsule for yourself, write yourself a letter.  Think about how old you will be when you open the time capsule, and write about what you hope to have accomplished at that point.

Have siblings, friends and even neighbors write letters too.  Be sure to have them include last names.

3. Lists.  I would have loved to have read a list of what I loved at the age of seventeen.  Or a list of what I hated.  A list of my favorite things in my room.  A list and description of my favorite outfits.  A list of my favorite song artists.  A list of my top 3 college choices.  A list of my favorite books.  A list of my favorite movies.  A Top 10 of my year…you get the idea.

4. Wages and prices.  It would have been fun to find an old pay stub and receipt for something I saved to buy.

5. Labels.  I found a little pink birdhouse with my name on it.  I have no idea where it came from, who made it or why I would have included it in my time capsule.  If you do put an item in your capsule, be sure to include a description of it’s origin and meaning to you at the time.

6. Movie stubs

7. Gas receipts

8. Grocery receipts

9. Your favorite book, cd or movie. Be sure it’s not your only copy since you’re sealing this up for a period of time.

10. Children’s artwork-label label label!  You won’t remember what the scribbles were supposed to be 10 years later!

11. Outlines of hands and feet

12. A lock of hair Since hair color changes (naturally or chemically), it could be fun to compare when you open the capsule.

13. An outgrown but favorite outfit or pair of shoes

14. A calendar of your year- with all the appointments.  Doctor appointments, vacations and piano lessons can be interesting years later! 

15. Paint chips, carpet, fabric swatches from your house

Have you ever made a time capsule?  What did you include?

He did good this year.

Our Christmas tradition of giving each other a new ornament each year has not always come to pass.  I’m not even sure you could call it a tradition if ornaments have not always been exchanged.  Nevertheless, giving each other ornaments has been a tradition in my mind since we got married.

And he did a good job this year. 

I wish I could have recorded his face as he watched me open my ornament.  He was truly giddy.  When I saw the ornament, I barely had time to register what it was before he snatched it out of my hands and explained it’s meaning.

“I just love watching you as a mom.  I think you’re so good with Lydia and I love to see you two together.  I thought this ornament represented that.”

He handed it back and I fell in love.  Again.

Is it bad parenting to force your child to talk to Santa?

If she clings to me and doesn’t want to tell him her greatest wish of chapstick and headbands arriving on Christmas morning, why should she have to?  Isn’t it better to keep her innocent and demand-free for at least one more Christmas?

Too late.  She’s been forced.  She has uttered her greatest desire to the bearded man.  I may have pushed her into materialism for the sake of cuteness and tradition.  What was I thinking?

It’s our plan to take a picture of Lydia at each birthday with her favorite stuffed animal, Mono (pronounced Moe-no) the Monkey, made by our friend Jonathan. Mono is Monkey in Spanish.

I got the idea from a magazine somewhere. The article suggested taking a picture of your child in the same chair each year to watch how they grow. I thought it would be cuter to see how Lydia (and Mono) age together. So far, he is still intact- all limbs, eyes and ears accounted for.

And here she is with Mono last year. She was so wiggly that Ryan had to hold her still and keep Mono in his hand.