Archive | holidays

Night of Noel

December 4, 2012 at 4:24 pm

Lemme just say… Night of Noel… around here, it’s a big deal.

(OK, it’s a big deal for the group of Christian women connected to a rather small Naval Air Station on a rather small island in a rather small sea.)

For the past couple of years, Night of Noel has been ah-may-zing. My friend Joy (creator of Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip cookies) transformed our chapel fellowship hall into a land touched by elves with twinkle lights. Unfortunately two things happened between last year and this year: Joy moved away this summer, and I volunteered to be the Hospitality Chair for my Bible study this fall. Unconnected, right? I thought so… until I found out that part of my new job included all the decorating for Night of Noel.

For those of you who don’t know me that well, I’m not much of a decorator, or even that creative. Sure, I like making things, like Peppermint Bark Chocolate Chip cookies and felt baby shoes, but generally I follow recipes or adapt patterns… or take a little jaunt around Pinterest.

Well, it was too late to turn back now. Recreating the magic of Night of Noel was up to me. Or so I thought.

What I found out, however, was that even though Night of Noel’s beauty was up to me in theory… whereas in reality I had a small army around me of dedicated, creative, and profoundly hardworking women. I showed up on Friday for an evening of decorating the hall and couldn’t believe it when about 10 other women showed up too. On Sunday afternoon even the guests who showed up early were happy to put the batteries in the last set of twinkle lights or take pictures of my table when I didn’t have time.

And my table that I was hostessing? It was a collaborative effort between my dear friend Becca and me (Becca Squared was at it again) and pretty much every idea was hers. Don’t you love the pine branches with the little place cards and the burlap straps that make the table look like a rustically wrapped gift? I added gilded pine cones that I’d collected on our latest Mt. Etna hike and spray painted gold, and then sprinkled greenery and cranberries around some of the candles on the table.

Christmas trees decorated with simple white lights were an easy solution to my decorating woes for the rest of the hall. Next year (did I just say that?) I might elevate the smaller trees onto tables so that the whole room could see them. There are at least five trees that are invisible in this picture:

The delicious meal was perfectly prepared by one of Lena’s favorite Italian babysitters, Maria. We started with bruschetta and Maria’s famous campanada, a Sicilian specialty. Later the main course included a chicken cutlets and the local classic: pasta alla Norma (eggplant, tomato, and ricotta pasta).

And then, just as I was beginning to breathe a sigh of relief, disaster struck.

We hostesses were responsible for our table’s dessert, and I thought chocolate fondue would be an easy and elegant option. Unfortunately I had no idea how many things were wrong with this plan.

I have never made fondue before in my life.
The commissary (grocery store) didn’t have the right kind of chocolate, but I didn’t know that so I just bought baking chocolate. (Gag.)
I made it in a crock pot over the course of several hours while I furiously finished decorating and then began hostessing my table.

When I hurried into the kitchen to supervise the serving of my dessert, the fondue was not fondue. As one friend aptly put it later, it looked like coffee grounds. Coffee grounds!!! The chocolate had formed large, grainy clumps and separated from the oil. I swirled a spoon around the pot with horrified despair.

Meanwhile my guests in the hall sipped their hot cider by candlelight and waited for dessert. The waiters around me were quickly plating white chocolate raspberry cheesecake and individual dark chocolate mousse that other table hostesses had brought.

In the end, Maria saved the day. She had made a huge Italian cake just because… because she’s Maria and she does unexpectedly sweet things like that. I asked the waiters to plate slices of her cake with the best of our fondue dippers: oranges and coconut cookies. It was a meager offering compared to my dreams, and I ate it like humble pie.

For the first time in my life that evening I received a public thank you and a gift for decorating the event. I have always wondered what it feels like to be one of those extraordinary, capable women who gets a gift bag and a big thank you in front of a room of applauding people enjoying her handiwork. Now I know how it feels.

It feels undeserved, because there are probably 15 other people who deserve this applause more than you do, 15 people who worked just as hard as you did but with no job description to egg them on.

It feels false, because “Becca’s beautiful vision” was all from those 15 other women. And Pinterest.

And it feels so sweet, because the people applauding are grateful and appreciative even when they eat oranges for dessert instead of chocolate and when they can’t see the miniature Christmas trees on the floor.

There is no Pleasure like that of receiving Praise from the Praiseworthy.

-Richard Steele-

11 :: in arts and crafts, holidays, thoughts

"Happy Day!!!"

November 26, 2012 at 9:46 am

How many of you woke up this morning and thought, “Oh bummer, the long weekend’s over! No more Thanksgiving for a year!” Some of you trudged back to work or study, others watched our spouses trudge off and turned around to quiet houses without cozy adult companionship.

Well, Lena has a message for you if you’re down. Her new word… er, phrase gave me warm fuzzies this morning as the week began without our Elliott/Daddy at home.

In other news, how many of you are doing some Cyber Monday shopping today? Last year I took advantage of Black Friday/Cyber Monday in the States to get some amazing deals on yarn for my Etsy shop and to buy cloth diapers at a great price from here. This year in Italy… hmm, no online purchases yet, but I’m very tempted by all the cute baby clothes and darling wooden toys at serious markdowns on Totsy.

Anything tempting you? Or do you avoid that craziness?

9 :: in holidays, Lena, video, weekend

"Happy Thanksgeebing bach!"

November 23, 2012 at 4:58 pm

Oh Thanksgiving, how I do love thee. The food, the family, the whole concept of taking a day to give thanks. Once a year everything slows down as home, family, and friends become the heart and center of the day.

Elliott and I had discussed our Thanksgiving plans about a month ago and I asked if we could “fill up the table.” Our huge farmhouse table is wonderful for craft projects, collecting odds and ends, and feeding the three of us at one little end, but it comes into its fullness of purpose when filled up with friends. Elliott said, “Sure!” and we extended invitations to our community group and a favorite Italian family to join us for Thanksgiving Day.

I spent much of Wednesday and Thursday preparing: baking apple pie, prepping the turkey, cleaning the house (with Elliott’s patient assistance to my insistence), and setting the table. This was my first time to host Thanksgiving and the first Thanksgiving I had ever spent away from my parents and siblings. I was anxious that everything would go right!

But then, as I was rolling pie crust on Wednesday afternoon, Elliott and I were treated to a magnificent rainbow. It turned into a full-bowed triple rainbow with a half-rainbow beside it! Such a beautiful reminder of God’s covenant faithfulness as I move away from being a daughter and fully embody my new life as a wife, mother, hostess, and friend.

hot spiced cider in Polish pottery mugs

Cute boys before our meal with baked Brie and crackers… and wine too, apparently.

Some people we love very much.

Almond cookies from our Italian guests (and they brought espresso for afterwards too!)

Dessert :: apple pie, vanilla ice cream, and pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting

Who doesn’t love some dessert?!

I love the citrus in this apple pie… mmm…

Lena was fascinated by Baby Benjamin, which is a good sign for when our baby arrives soon!

Our sweet kitty, who found a quiet corner of the dining room where she wouldn’t miss a thing… or not.

Thanksgiving Menu 2012

Baked Brie in Cut Mangoes & Honey with Crackers

Spinach Appetizer Balls

Fruit Salad Cups

Lemon Butter & Thyme Turkey from Style Me Pretty’s Thanksgiving Guide

Brown Sugar Glazed Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows from Epicurious

Classic Gravy from Style Me Pretty’s Thanksgiving Guide

Steamed Green Beans with Butter and Salt

Mama Woodworth’s Classic Stuffing

Classic Yeast Rolls

Whipped Potatoes

Cranberry Sauce

Christmas Wassail // Hot Spiced Cider

Local Wines (of course!)

Sparkling Cider

Deep Dish Apple Pie from the Barefoot Contessa

Pumpkin Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

14 :: in eat this, friends, holidays, hospitality

a moment to be still.

November 21, 2012 at 10:27 am

Lena is sleeping. The kitty is lounging.

The menu for tomorrow’s Thanksgiving meal is looming. The kitchen is dirty. The floors are dirty. The laundry is clean, at least, but needs folding.

But for just a moment… let me sit still.

I like doing a travel series and sharing photos with you, but in the middle of that it’s hard to share what’s going on right here, right now, this week. So here’s a bit about life around here, and why it feels so good to sit, and why I would like to curl up with a book until the end of nap time.

This holiday season is a busy season. I think I didn’t quite realize it until all at once the deadlines were approaching and the holidays were upon us. I also recently decided to get much more involved in my community by joining or taking positions in my women’s Bible study and the All Officers’ Spouses’ Club, and with these commitments comes a lot of (joyful!) responsibility. While most of the year these two organizations have minimal commitments, around this time of year there are holiday parties, book club meetings, Thanksgiving potlucks, and party planning committees galore, not to mention creating all the sweets and treats that are fun to bake, cook, and prepare to share at all these events.

The biggest upcoming event is Night of Noel, a beautiful evening of food and fellowship for the women of our community, and I am responsible for all the decorating for the event (yikes) as well as hostessing a table and making a dessert. I’m thinking multiple Christmas trees and twinkle lights, gold spray painted pine cones, and fondue, in that order. Thoughts?

I also somewhat randomly decided to sell my handiwork at my first craft fair ever. (Double yikes!) The craft fair will take place on December 1… a little over a week away! I spent most of last Saturday at my sewing machine and spend every evening with my knitting needles between my fingers. (Why is it that I only get crafty in the fall and winter? I need to stay crafty all year so that I have a good inventory!) Honestly, I’m somewhat ridiculously excited about actually attending and selling at a craft fair, even though it’s only three hours long and I fully expect to sell nothing. It’s the anticipation… the camaraderie… the officialness of it! I’m a real craftswoman.

Anyway, that’s a little bit of what is constantly running through my mind these days. “Knit gloves… finish book for book club… email about decorations… run over shopping list again for Thanksgiving… sew fabric beach balls… etc. etc. etc.” Not to mention playing with Lena, cooking meals, keeping the house clean, dealing with our chimney repairs (still not finished!), and all the other sweet trifles of life.

Are you feeling overwhelmed by the holidays or just caught up in the joyful busyness of it all?

6 :: in holidays, knitting business, Siena, thoughts

happy halloween!

November 1, 2012 at 12:10 pm

Say hello to our little Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz! She got to show off her costume last night at a fun Halloween party some friends of ours hosted. I think she was deee-lighted about all the toys and kids and couldn’t care less about anything else, including the candy. We’ll keep the illusion going for another year or two that Halloween has nothing to do with candy…

As of 12pm on Halloween, Lena did not have a costume, and the party started at 5pm. At the store earlier that day I had looked half-heartedly at costumes, but the crafter in me said, “You have to make a costume! Even if it’s a brown paper bag… you’ve got to make something! Come on!”

Back at home, I dejectedly searched for “last minute homemade Halloween costume.” (It’s not a fun search to make.) Eventually I settled on this cute snail costume even though I secretly suspected Lena wouldn’t wear it. I don’t know many 1.5-year-olds who will keep a hairband on their heads or a “backpack” on their backs.

As a last ditch effort, I pulled open my fabric drawer and saw this cute blue-and-white gingham. All at once the pieces fell into place. Dorothy! “I have a white blouse that would work… and a basket she can carry with a stuffed animal inside to be Toto… and I can put her hair in pigtails… and she has maroon leather shoes that will be a bit of a stretch, but a) I just couldn’t put red glitter on them even if I owned some and b) they’re so stinkin’ cute that no one will care….”

Now the question remained: could I make her a dress from this piece of fabric?? I stared at the fabric and then studied photos of Dorothy, and very quickly the whole idea came together. I pulled out my sewing machine and shears, cut up the fabric into a few simple rectangles, and started sewing everything together. In a couple of hours I was able to craft something that fit her, even despite the fact that the only thing she wanted to do with the measuring tape was put it around her neck.

I’m proud of it! At any rate, it’s better than her Halloween costume last year…