Merry Memories

After the hustle and bustle of Christmas and Hanukkah I sat down with Sam, Beckie, and Molly to reflect on our wonderful Holiday memories. As we sipped creamy hot cocoa we chatted about what made the Holidays so magical and memorable. We talked about the special gifts we gave and received. And we talked about what we were thankful for. 

Sam was really excited about a few gifts she received this year: a Teddy Bear, music box, scrapbook, and the book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. 

Beckie was thrilled with her director's chair and actors set, she loves anything that will help her reach her dream of becoming a famous actress. 

As for me I was really surprised by one very special gift. Grammy found an original Pleasant Co.  doll of me!

When I asked Molly what she appreciated the most from the Holidays, her response touched my heart. 

Molly reminded us that our memories are one of our greatest gifts. A memory alone can bring you the same amount of joy as an object you receive as a gift. In a world of change and constant evolution it's a blessing to have the stability of our memories of Holidays pasts.

Her favorite Christmas memory was from Christmas 2012. That year we celebrated with all our best friends that live with Grammy. It was truly one of the happiest Christmases because we all got to be together. 

To see more photos from 2014 click HERE.

What are your favorite Holiday memories?

St.Lucia's Day

We have been going going going recently!! Our calendar is full of fun Holiday events, so I was really tired and looking forward to sleeping late Saturday morning but guess what something better happened...

I was in a deep sleep dreaming about my horse Penny when I heard the sweetest sound...

"Good morning Lissie."

I opened my eyes a little and saw a soft glowing light like a halo over Kirsten's kind face. At first I thought I was still dreaming... is this an angel? I thought.

I rubbed my eyes and sat up it was in fact Kirsten, but I wasn't expecting her to come to Lissy's house, and it was still dark out. What was she doing here so early?

"Happy St. Lucia's Day Lissie, I brought you some hot chocolate and a Lussekatts," Kirsten whispered as she climbed the ladder into my loft-bed.

It smelled really good, but I didn't know what a Lussekatts was so I asked and Kirsten said, "oh it's a delicious bun flavored with saffron and dotted with raisins. In Sweden it's tradition to eat them for breakfast on St. Lucia's Day!"

I was beginning to wonder why Kirsten celebrated this day and what made it so special in Sweden. I asked her to tell me more about the holiday. 

She explained it like this:

"St. Lucia's Day is one of the biggest celebrations in Sweden. It is held on December 13th because is was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, in the old 'Julian' Calendar and a pagan festival of lights in Sweden but it turned into St. Lucia's Day. St Lucia was a young Christian girl who was killed because of her Christian faith in 304AD. St Lucia would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding under the city. She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things. Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name. So it is a day to celebrate our faith and bring light to the world."

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I love learning about different cultures and traditions. I'm really glad I have friends like Kirsten to teach me about customs from a far away country. I thanked Kirsten for the yummy treat and the lovely wake up call, then she said she had several more people to wake and deliver breakfast to so she had to leave shortly after arriving.

Do you have any special holiday's like this that you celebrate with your family and friends? What kind of traditions and customs do you do in your culture?

If you would like to learn more about St. Lucia's Day or other Christmas customs from around the world you can follow to link to the website I used: http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/sweden.shtml

A Christmas Carol

I just got home from seeing A Christmas Carol play which is my very favorite Christmas tradition. 

 

We always get there early to take family pictures and listen to the Carolers that do a little pre-show performance. I was really excited because this year my friend Marie Grace got to come with us for the first time. Marie Grace lives with Lissy's niece Cora. 

During the intermission we always  get to have hot cocoa and gingerbread men!  At the end of the performance the entire cast comes out of the theatre for a post-performance carol.

The play is fantastic  and even though I have seen it several years in a row, the show is like new each time and the  experience is always magical!

Merry Christmas

&

God Bless Us Everyone!

Decorating for Christmas

The day after Halloween is our FAVORITE day of the year because it's the day we kick off the Christmas season!!!! 

Samantha and Kaya were awake before dawn putting away the Halloween decor and creating a "To Do" list with tasks for each of us to accomplish. Kirsten and Addy were second to rise but were not home because they had volunteered to go out to buy some necessities. 

 By the time Molly and I got up much had been checked off the To Do list and we had been assigned the task of getting the decoration boxes and the tree out of storage

 "Wow that was heavy, I think we have too much decorations!" Molly huffed. 

 "No way!" I debated, "There is no such thing as too much when it comes to anything Christmas!!"

 "I agree!" piped up Kaya.

 "Me too," Samantha added. "However Molly is right, we do have A LOT so let's get to work!"

It was shortly after that when Miss Sleeping Beauty, Rebecca, came bounding into the living room, still in her pajamas no less!

"Hooray, you've already got out the boxes! Have you gotten out my Hanukkah stuff?... 

...Oh how I love my menorah and dreidel! Let's play dreidel! Where is it!!!??" Although she just woke up Rebecca was excitedly firing questions at us like a machine-gun!

That's when I interrupted, "Rebecca darling, we have been working all morning to get cleaned up and ready for the Holidays, while you have been snoozing away."

"I'm so sorry but if I'm going to be a famous actress someday I must get plenty of beauty sleep! What can I do to help now?"

Then Samantha chimed in, "Speaking of beauty sleep, how is that you wake up with such perfect curly hair every morning? You, my friend, are fabulous and beautiful no matter how much sleep you get! Now go get dressed. I have a list of chores for you to do..."

Then before Sam could list off the chores our rascally kittens created a distraction by climbing into the ornament box and....

...up into the tree! "No no Nudge, you are such a little pesky kitty and too cute for you're own good!!" Molly gently scolded as she pried the kitten out of the tree. 

The diversion created just enough time for Rebecca to spot her beloved Hanukkah decorations in the box Kaya was unloading.

"MY MENORAHS!" She shouted. 

"Oh this one is our antique menorah, it's been in our family for generations!"

"It's beautiful, Beckie. Would you like me to put it on the sideboard for you so you can go get dressed?" Kaya asked.

I must say the shiny menorah does look magnificent on the top shelf. We are so lucky to have Rebecca as a friend so that she can share her Hannukah traditions with us as well as our Christmas traditions.

Delaying her responsibilities Rebecca begged, "Can't we play just one round of dreidel, real quick!?" 

However, that's right when Addy and Kirsten returned from running errands with quite a hefty bundle in their arms.

"We're home!" Addy called out.

"And I could use an extra hand, please!" said a small sweet voice from behind an arm load of packages.

We ran to the door to help Kirsten and Addy and that is when the real fun began!!

Once they had returned with all our ingredients for a magical Christmas we kicked it into high gear and before long the house was decked out and smelling of fresh baked goods!!

 Kirsten is a wonderful baker so she made us a feast of cookies and cinnamon buns and cake and fresh bread!

 Kirsten also baked gingerbread for Samantha's gingerbread houses. 

Sam carefully added candies to her gingerbread house while the rest of us trimmed the tree.

 We picked about four or five ornaments each to arrange on the tree.

"These little wooden ornaments are so cute," Addy commented.

"I love this patriotic snowman," said Molly. 

"My favorite ornament is the Russian stacking doll," said Rebecca.

 "I think these ceramic ornaments are neat, especially this red cardinal one," remarked Kaya.

 I threw my hands up in the air and announced, "As for me, well I can't pick. I love them all... I just love EVERYTHING about Christmas!!!"

Do you have a special holiday decoration that you love?

The neat thing about holiday decorations is that when they come out of the box they trigger happy memories and fill you up with joy!

What decorations do you have that help you remember those happy times?

Halloween Night with Trick-or-Treat Candies

     We have had a blast this Halloween! Our trick-or-treat buckets are full of candy and our bellies might be too hehehe!

As soon as we got home from trick-or-treating we ate some delicious dinner, changed into our pajamas, then sorted out our candies. The best part of Halloween has got to be all the candy you get from trick-or-treating! It's awesome how many different types of candy there is these days, because in my time, during the late 1700s, there really wasn't that much candy around and we called candy "sweet meats."

      One of my favorite sweet meets that my father keeps stocked in his store is candied fruit and the best kind, in my opinion, is candied orange peel! Yumm! But if I had to pick my all time favorite candy I would definitely choose Twix! I love chocolate and caramel candies the best of all! I asked each of the other girls what their favorite sweet treats are from their home time period. Here is what they told me:

Kaya says: During my time period and in my culture we didn't really have candy but we enjoyed the sweetness of huckleberries!

Kirsten says: In my time period it was a real treat to get to go into town and pick out a few candies from the General Store. Penny candy was what we called the colorful hard candies that were sold by the piece for a penny.

 

Addy says: Did you know that one of the makers of jelly beans, William Schrafft, suggested people send packages of his jelly beans to Union Soldiers fighting in the Civil War to help cheer them up! 

Sam says: Even though peppermint sticks are thought of as more of a Christmas candy, they are still my favorite and guess what the pure peppermint stick was first developed in 1901, just a few years before my home time period! 

Rebecca says: Milton Hersey is the man that created the Hershey Kiss in 1907, but everyone originally called them Silvertops because of the silver foil wrappers. 

Molly says: Like Rebecca, I too love chocolate, but I hate when it gets all melty which is the reason why M&M Ltd. created these coated chocolate candies in 1941 when they realized that nobody was buying melty chocolate in the hot summer months.

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So did you get a lot of candy from trick-or-treating this year?

What is your favorite kind of treat?

 

If you want to learn more about the history of candy you can follow these helpful links:
foodtimeline.org
groovycandies.com
bwcliffordcandy.com
candyfavorites.com