We eat roast pig (lechon asado) on Christmas Eve, which we call Noche Buena. We have yuca with a garlic mojo on the side.We fight over the fried, ripe plantains.We hold hands and give thanks to God for his generous provision.We draw names for a gift exchange, but end up getting little gifts (we call those "regalos de arbol" - or ...
creative stuff
Christmas Greetings
We were all dressed up that day. It was the day of Heather's wedding. "Perfect Christmas card photo op!" (at least that's what I thought. . .) We had tons of pictures taken that day, all dressed up and shiny and smiling pretty, but this is my very favorite. The one where Eric extends the camera with his left hand and we all ...
A Wonderful Christmastime
One week til Christmas and this right here is the very best part of it all for me: The preparations. The houseful of busy Christmas preparations. The crossing stuff off lists. The anticipation of the happy and surprised looks. Christmas music playing and busy people in the house.The girls call out for us to look at a ...
Yes, that’s Andy Garcia in our family home movie. =D
It's a week before Christmas and I find this taped to my studio door. What on earth. . .? Oh yes, it's crunch time. You see we (Amy, Lucy and I) make a Christmas film every year. We take all our home movies and set them to music and cut the clips together and give it a fun title and ta-da! it becomes a family keepsake. Okay, so ...
I create, therefore I am.
Okay, so here's how our morning goes: We all congregate around the next little advent box to be opened. Jonathan opens it, Lucy takes out the slip of paper and reads it. Questions follow. "What do you mean by: 'Find all the Santa and Christmas tree pictures'? They're for a Christmas collage. I'm so excited about that ...
Counting the days . . . or making the days count?
Today's advent activity:Churros, Hot Chocolate and The Grinch. I cannot even tell you how cool this whole calendar thing has been. There's already so much anticipation! They've already established rules: 1) They open each box together. 2) No peeking ahead. 3) They immediately tell Amy and Adam what the activity will be and ask them to join ...
Being present
I'm working on being particularly present this holiday season. What I mean by that is that I don't want to get so caught up in making Christmas that I completely miss it and fall down exhausted on the twenty-fifth glad the thing is over. Okay, so I say that every year, but really, my intentions are sincere. ;-) So I went over to the brand ...
Control issues
"Someone's got to take charge.And I usually like it to be me." ~ Marta =DWhen I was still a young woman and living at home, I started ...
What’s new?
Sometimes I'm really aware of where my creative leanings come from. I see a picture in a magazine, I notice the colors in a room, or I hear a song on the radio, all of which get me thinking and then sketching and then I find myself pushing to create something. So, here comes Thanksgiving and I'm not feeling particularly creative when ...
Giving thanks
When people come into my home I have a very high value for them to feel welcome and relaxed. I want them to feel like they are special and that they "belong" here. I don't know if I always achieve that goal, but I always try. This is one of the ways I show hospitality. I make and send invitations. For ...
