It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

 

We are nearly three-quarters of the way through Advent and full of Christmas spirit and activities here at our farmhouse.  This is a bit of what we've been up to as we try making spirits bright.

 

We've decorated a total of four Christmas trees this year, not including ones that we've helped with at schools and Church.

 

There's been some fun gingerbread cottage competition going on.

 

The boys built one, and the girls built the other.  I must admit that we girls added some inedible embellishments to give ours a bit more curb appeal.

 

We got some snow over the weekend, and the children were so excited to be on a two hour delay Monday morning due to the ice that accumulated on top.

 

And then we woke up this morning to a lot more snow, but there was no delay, much to the dismay of the kiddos. 

 

I've been creating some Pinterest-inspired chalkboard art in the kitchen and the front porch.

 

And the house has been decorated with a few new things...

 

...but mostly old.

 

We've still got our burlap plaid theme going on throughout the house.

 

And we even took the rustic preppy look to our fixer-upper cabin this year.

 

There is plenty of viewing of Christmas classics.  I think I've watched Christmas with the Kranks on Netflix three times already.

 

And we've been counting down the days with our Advent calendar and this crafty bit of last year's Christmas tree that I made.  I change this every morning before I get my first cup of coffee.

 

The Christmas cards have been sent.  The trees have been trimmed.  The halls have been decked, though not with boughs of holly.  Gifts have been purchased, wrapped, and hidden.  The Holly radio station is played every time we're in the SUV.  Most of the Christmas movies have been watched, and the books are being read.  All that's left is the cookie baking.  The children have been wanting to start on that for weeks, but I'm putting it off because I can't resist the sweet treats.

And I'm desperately trying to end this year no heavier than when it started.

May the remaining days of your week be merry and bright, dear Readers.  

Decorating our Farmhouse Porch for Christmas (with Stuff from the Attic)

 

Most of our house is decorated with the "primitive preppy" Christmas decor from last year, but I wanted to do something different with the front porch.  Not having any electrical outlets on the outside of our house limits what I can do, so there are no lights, unfortunately.  For the most part, I found things in our attic and basement, some of them belonging to my husband when he was a child.

 

First of all, to all my readers who are PSU fans, don't be alarmed...this blanket was given to us and rests on our porch swing to snuggle under on cold evenings.  Since it's red, I left it on the swing for the Christmas season.  The small Christmas Blessings pillow was also given to us, but the plaid pillows were found for $5 at Target.  We don't sit out there much in the winter, but it looks inviting anyway, and it's become the favorite napping spot for our cats.

 

I took last year's wreath with the plaid bow and hung it from the rocking chair instead of the door.

 

I picked up the pine swag with another plaid bow at the Christmas tree farm the day after Thanksgiving.  To the right, the black ice skates and skis were my husband's, and I found them after rummaging through the cluttered attic and very rustic basement.

 

A friend of mine painted the snowman hanging on the wall, but the hanger fell off it years ago.  I attached some rustic ribbon and after more than a decade of sitting in a box in the attic, it's now out on display once again.  I purchased the small live Christmas tree at Weis this year and found unused Peanuts Gallery ornaments that I bought and never used years ago.  For now this is our little Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but the plan is to plant it in the ground when Christmas is over.  Ollie, the cat (who is lapping up the water dripping from the tree) has been with us since 2012 when the kiddos and I came back from a short vacation to discover their dad had taken in two more stray kittens.

 

This entrance is the one most used and comes straight into our busy farmhouse kitchen.

 

This chalkboard has been around for decades.  I previously used it when I was homeschooling preschoolers.  Now it's become my fun chalkboard art display that changes with the seasons and holidays.  I wish I could say I come up with these designs on my own, but most of the time I copy and adapt them from Pinterest.

 The only new items purchased for our porch this year were the swag above the door, the miniature potted tree, and the two pillows on the swing.  That came to a mere $39 and it was all purchased at places I frequent anyway: Target, Weis, and a local tree farm. 

Now I just need to finish my Christmas shopping.  Too bad I can't do all of that from our attic and basement.  I'm afraid "regifting" dusty items from the storage areas of our farmhouse wouldn't go over well with our children. 

Holiday Spirits: Apple Pie Cocktail & Cranberry Apple Cider

 

My husband discovered a fabulous cocktail that is perfect for this time of the year: Apple Pie.  We had these the day after Thanksgiving while we were decorating our freshly cut Christmas tree.  These are so good you'll want to share them with a house full of friends and family this winter.

Apple Pie Cocktail

Rim a low ball glass in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon.  Pour 1 shot of Fireball whiskey and 1 shot of vanilla vodka over ice in the rimmed glass.  Fill the rest of the way with apple cider.

These taste so good that you just want to keep sipping them for hours, but beware that these drinks are potent, and the liquor kind of sneaks up on you, so pace yourself.

  While the adults enjoyed the apple pies, I had a large crockpot going with warmed cranberry apple cider for the kiddos.  This was a huge hit, and it made our kitchen smell quite festive while the tree trimming occurred.

There are a number of these recipes out there, but I used this one that I adapted from The recipe Rebel:

Warmed Cranberry Apple Cider

Pour a little more than 4 cups of apple cider, slightly more than 4 cups of cranberry juice, and 2 cups of orange juice in a crockpot or slow cooker.  Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of whole cloves, and 3 whole cinnamon sticks.  Stir and let cook for several hours.  I ended up doubling this recipe to make enough for refills for 5 children.  They absolutely loved it.

After sampling the non-alcoholic cranberry apple cider and drinking a few apple pie cocktails, we adults concurred that the ultimate holiday drink would be to combine these two.  Spiking the slow cooker cranberry apple cider with the Fireball whiskey and vanilla vodka would create a warm version of the cocktail and would be even better for a party.  It would also eliminate having to create each drink individually; although, you would still need to rim each glass first.

These will be making future appearances at our mountain farmhouse this season.

 

Those Unexpected Sad Days on a Farm

 

This was not the topic I planned to write about this weekend.  It certainly doesn't fit my cheerful Christmas theme I've got going on for the next few weeks.  But life has a way of taking turns that we don't plan on or control, doesn't it?  Today we lost one of our best nanny goats.  She was one of our original herd caprines that we purchased back in December 2010.  Her name was Cadbury, and she has been the best mother to her robust healthy babies and a fantastic milker.  Even though she spent her days out in the pasture and her nights in the barn, she felt like a member of our family.  Our goats have always been more like family pets than livestock, and we haven't lost an adult goat or sheep in a number of years, so it was especially hard and shocking to lose one this weekend.  

So instead of writing a post on Christmas decor, food, or traditions, I am tearfully composing a picture post in memory of this beloved member of our farm family.  She will be missed very much.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are grateful to Cadbury for all the adorable babies she brought into the world, and the milk she gave us, and the blue ribbons she won for our children at the fair, and for the laughs.  No matter how many years we have this little hobby farm, the losses are always so incredibly sad.  We're grieving today, but I promise my next post will be a cheerful one. 

Blessings to you all.

Black Friday Shopping at the Tree Farm

 

I haven't been Black Friday shopping in decades, and I don't miss it one bit.  Instead, it's our family's tradition to cross over the mountain the day after Thanksgiving and shop for our Christmas tree.  This year it was a cool, foggy day in the Alleghenies as we trekked over the hills of this large tree farm.

 

I wore my pedometer that day and got in more steps than any other day that Thanksgiving week.  Hopefully, I walked off all that pumpkin pie.

 

Some younger members of the family never really hike; they just run everywhere instead.  Ah, if only I still had that much energy.

 

While some of us hiked or ran, others got pulled around like royalty in a makeshift rickshaw.  From the moment our orange-haired son was born, his older sister looked at him with annoyance.  I'm pretty sure she's been waiting her whole life for moments like this when he would live to serve her.

 

When we thought we'd found the tree of our dreams, Hubby "measured" its width and height using his body as the measuring tape.

 

This year we thought we'd found it early on, and some of us posed for a photo before cutting it down.  Why is it that little boys always want to photobomb your pics?

 

It turned out that after examining it more closely, the trunk had a severe case of scoliosis and would have been a disaster in our tree stand at home.

 

So we moved on and found another, this one with a perfectly straight trunk.  None of our sons want to be the official tree cutter of the family, so Hubby is still the one to lie on the ground and saw it down.

 

Fortunately, our younger boys do like to haul the tree back to our vehicle. 

 

After getting all the loose needles shaken off and the tree wrapped up tight, we got our cups of hot cocoa and a few bags of homemade cookies, and we set off for home.

 

Set up in our dining room with a crockpot full of warm cranberry apple cider nearby, the ceremonial unwrapping of our Christmas tree occurred.  The day involved no lines, no crowded aisles, no fighting over limited quantities of merchandise.  Just fresh air, rolling hills full of pine trees, and steaming cups of cocoa and cider.

And that is how we do Black Friday shopping as Preppy Mountain Farmers.

 

Gathered Together After a Turkey Trot

 

Wow.  It feels like forever since my last post.  I hope every one of you American readers had a marvelous Thanksgiving.  Ours was filled with family time, drizzly weather, and good food and wine.

 

Our cool, rainy Thursday morning began with six members of our family headed off to an annual turkey trot.  Two of our sons ran this 5K, two people volunteered as course marshals, and two were bystanders who cheered the runners on.  This was the first race ever for our ten year old who has boundless energy and can literally run circles around me any day.  Our older son hung near him through the race, and both crossed the finish line within seconds of each other with quite a bit of energy left.  They finished in the top half of the 234 runners, which wasn't bad for two amateurs who really don't train for these things, and the entry fees went to non-profit organizations.

 

When they all returned, cold and damp from the November rain, I had the turkey roasting in the oven and appetizers/light lunch on the table.

 

I cheated this year and picked up most of the appetizers from the deli and bakery sections of the supermarket.  The cherry cordial Hershey's Kisses were the favorite new item of the morning.

 

Our traditional Thanksgiving dinner was scheduled to be held at 3 PM, but as usual, we didn't sit down to eat until a bit later.

 

That was because we were waiting on these two casseroles to finish baking.  I always need to double the recipes, and the vegetable dishes always seem to need more time to set up than I predict.  The sweet potato casserole on the right is the one I make every year, along with millions of other Americans, I'm sure.  This year I made a corn casserole instead of green bean casserole, which pleased my children tremendously.  There were a lot of these recipes on Pinterest, but the one I used can be found here at www.stuckonsweet.com. The only change I made was doubling the recipe, and I had to nearly double the bake time.

 

My little ones were standing close by, salivating and very eager for the dinner bell to ring.

 

Hubby did the traditional turkey carving, with the assistance of his dad, while I performed all those last minute tasks with the help of my mother-in-law and teenage daughter.  

 

But in the end, it all came together seamlessly, and we gave thanks and began eating around 3:30.  It looked like we had enough food to feed us all for a week, but as it turned out, everything was gone within two days.

 

After dinner and kitchen cleanup, there were Christmas movies, games of Phase 10, pumpkin pie and dessert wine, and just more family time in general.

 

My day was complete after getting to hold this sweet baby boy in my arms while he slept peacefully amidst all the ruckus around him.

And for all these things, I am thankful.