Candlelit Nights

The marvelous Franklin Park Conservatory hosts several evenings of Candlelight Nights in December. They stay open late and dim all the lights. Every room and walkway is lined with little candles. It is magic. I love the dark hush of the place and the occasional surprising chirp of crickets that have found the perfect place to hide from winter. We listened to music, tossed pennies into the fountain and found a blossoming citrus tree to smell.

A little bit of summer's splendor on a cold winter's day.

And my other favorite part?

The delightful shadows.

Tonight, as we say goodbye to 2010, I would like to wish you a very happy New Year full of wonderful and marvelous things.

Christmas Cheer

The boys' favorite Christmas gift, by far. Balloons have been whizzing through our house since Saturday.

Seashore goodness.

Gifts from my boys.

Stocking stuffers for me.

Stocking stuffers for my boys.

Santa was so very good to us this year. He stacked piles of presents beneath the tree and filled our stockings to overflowing. We spent the day eating and playing and lounging and having way too much candy. We listened to Christmas carols, watched A Christmas Story and went outside to play in real, genuine Christmas snow.
A truly magical day.

Ribbons and Wrapping

We have been busy little elves the past few days. We have been wrapping, ribboning and tagging lots of gifts and boxes and bags. We keep The Man Who Came To Dinner playing in the background. It is one of my all time favorite Christmas movies. Bette Davis is simply wonderful as Maggie Cutler. If you haven't seen it yet, you must.

I hope that your Christmas preparations are coming along nicely.

A very Merry Christmas to you!!

A Strange Little Christmas

I stumbled across this video the other day and just had to share it. It's so strange and sweet. And I absolutely adore stop motion animation.

Enjoy!

Santa School

Check Mate

During the winter boardgames are very popular at our house.

Can you tell?

We're all hoping that Santa will bring a few more on Saturday.

I have a sneaky suspicion that he will.

Right now, both my boys are very into chess.

O is determined to learn each and every rule (many of which, I do not know).

H is learining how each of the pieces move and I have to be sure to let him win or he gets very discouraged.

That's one of those secret Mom things that you have to learn-how to lose at games without them catching on.

Suzy Snowflake

This seems like the perfect thing to watch during all this snowy weather!

Not Exactly Christmas Songs

These two songs aren't exactly Christmas songs but I still like to listen to them around this time every year.

I prefer the Bobby Darin version of this song but I couldn't find it.

The wonderful Billie Holiday.

I hope you're having a lovely December so far.

O Christmas Tree

Our tree is so fat this year that we named him Jolly.

He is strung with tiny colored lights and lots of mismatched home made and hand made ornaments.

The perfect little Christmas tree.

Let It Snow

We had quite the winter storm over the weekend and we were quick to get outside and play.

Pink cheeks.

Snow angels.

We capped off the fun by making Snow Ice Cream with the freshly fallen snow.

We use this recipe but I add 10 cups of snow instead of 8.

You just have to love a recipe that lists cups of snow in the ingredients!

Sugar and Spice

Every year my incredible mother bakes individual gingerbread houses for each of her grandchildren to decorate. Here are our two beauties.

Now, I know that I am biased but I think my boys did a pretty amazing job.

And they smell wonderful!!

Thank you Mom!!

Sick Day

H insisted I take a picture of the snoman's bum.

H stayed home from school yesterday (and today) with a fever. We read books, listened to Christmas music and played The Snowman Game. It's one of our winter favorites. After about 5 minutes of enduring my picture taking, he asked me to stop.

And I did.

Because he's sick and I have to humor him.

I read in the news about another little boy who is sick.

His parents are trying to raise money so that he can have a life-saving operation.

Here is the link if you would like to help.

Seth Benjamin

Book List

Chronicle Books is having a Happy Haul-iday giveaway! You simply post a list of books up to $500 by December 1oth. One blogger and one person that comments on the winning blog post get the entire list of books! So feel free to comment away! Here's my very long list of books.

1. The Exquisite Book

2. Paper and Craft

3.The Sounds of Star Wars

4.The Small Object Labels and Stickers

5. The Small Object Thumbprint Notecard Set

6. Shadow

7. Magic Scratchers

8. Mini Lunch Notes

9. Magical Menagerie

10. Day & Night

11. The Englishman Who Posted Himself and Other Curious Objects

12. Mysterio's Encyclopedia of Magic and Conjuring

13. Lost States

14. The Art of The Slow Cooker

15. Dr. Mao's 8 Week Program

16. Just A Minute!

17. The Anatomy of the Sea

18. 52 Amazing Science Experiments

19. There was an Old Lady

20. Animal Faces

21. The Enchanted Dolls' House

22. All Mixed Up

23. Lunch Lines

Let's keep our fingers crossed!

Make A Wish

While we were at the Conservatory, we stopped at the large fountain in the Palm House.

We made wishes and tossed our pennies into the tinkling water.
I really really hope my wishes come true.