Saturday Pursuits...

 

 

It was a busy week and I was so happy to open my eyes this morning and realize that there was nowhere to go and not too much to do 'round the house.  We ate breakfast, tidied up, said our morning prayers, and just lolled around until the afternoon when I took the children to the playground for a few hours.  It is nice to take a breather from the 'to do' list on the week-end for some much needed rest.

 

Winterwood...

Though our forest was a little soggy after a rainstorm, we took a family walk to dispose of  our Christmas tree and try floating a coconut shell (from a yummy frozen dessert!) in the water that had collected in the ditches that weave their way through the woods.  It was a lovely way to spend our time together! 

The Bread of the Hungry...

The bread you do not use is the bread of the hungry. The garment hanging in your wardrobe is the garment of the person who is naked. The shoes you do not wear are the shoes of the one who is barefoot. The money you keep locked away is the money of the poor. The acts of charity you do not perform are the injustices you commit…

Yet, at the same time, God considers Himself constantly obligated to repay you for whatever charities you do to your fellow men.

-Saint Basil the Great

Living and Learning: The Week Ahead...

Church in the Home
We're starting to gear up for the March for Life next Friday!  We'll be joining our fellow  Orthodox Christians for Life on the National Mall in Washington D.C.  I hope to see you there!

Watching
 My brother-in-law is a huge Star Wars fan and so we decided to go on a double date with him and his wife as his birthday gift.  It was good (and this is from someone who really dislikes futuristic/sci-fy books and movies)!  I have a feeling that Star Wars will probably be something that our children will be interested in the the coming years, so I better get with the program!
  
On My Beside Table
I borrowed The Light Between Oceans from the library on Thursday afternoon and enjoyed reading it.  It's the tragic tale of a lighthouse keeper and his wife living on an isolated island.  Tom and Isabel suffer two miscarriages and a stillbirth in the first years of their marriages, and while still grieving, she hears a baby's cry.  They end up finding a boat washed ashore carrying a dead man and a living baby.  It was quite a gripping tale.

In the Knitting Basket
It was very exciting to finish up my Palmyre Shawl last week.  I wanted to complete it before we returned to school and it turned out that with our lessons came cold weather and gales this week.  A warm shawl has certainly come in handy!  Now that that is off my needles, I have cast on to a little scarf for my middle son.  He has wanted one for awhile and with two skeins of  Great Gray Owl yarn on my shelves, it seemed like a good time to work on one.  He wanted something plain and so I looked through masculine patterns and selected a few that I would be willing to knit.  He chose The Men's Basic Hat and Scarf Pattern and I am about half way through.  It is a very easy knit and is nice to work on when my mind is on other things...  like lessons!  I will probably cast on for another for our littlest fellow next!

Following
I forget what rabbit hole lead me to the blog, In the Fields, but it is now a firm favorite.  I love Catherine's decorating aesthetic and have enjoyed looking back into the archives.  My favorite posts were the ones on how she spruced up their rental home inexpensively to reflect her style. 

The Blessing of the Atlantic Ocean...

 

 

Next time you take a dip in the Atlantic Ocean, you can rest assured that it has been blessed by the Orthodox Church!    

Shades of White and Grey...

 

 

 

Overheard...

Witticisms from our five year-old:

"There's three important things in life: love the Lord, love the Church, and do everything good."

 :::::

Our son's godmother generously dropped off a giant rubbermaid tote of Legos that her son has outgrown at my father-in-law's house. Our children were very excited about taking a peek in the box, so we put it in the trunk and just before I cracked open the lid for them to see the treasures inside, Button said, "I have a good feeling about this!"

Theophany...

When Thou, O Lord wast baptized in the Jordan 

The worship of the Trinity was made manifest

For the voice of the Father bore witness to Thee

And called Thee His beloved Son.

And the Spirit, in the form of a dove,

Confirmed the truthfulness of His word.

O Christ, our God,Thou hast revealed Thyself

And hast enlightened the world, glory toThee !

Twelve Drummers Drumming...

Today was a nice day!  I finished my Palmyre Shawl late last night and even got it blocked before going to bed.  By the end of today, I was swaddled in it's warmth.  I still have to weave in the ends, but it is wearable and I really like the size and color!  I'll share more details on it in a post in the next couple of days.

The weather has turned much colder and as a result, we've been doing a little more hibernating.  There has been a fire in the grate most of the day and we've been keeping ourselves occupied in the living rooms so that we can stay cozy.  The children stepped away from their spots just long enough  to work on their gingerbread house this evening just before church.  I set them up and then just let them have at it.  I love what they did!

Eleven Pipers Piping...

Though we still have two days left of Christmas, we did have to start back to speech therapy today.  Monday is Little Man's day and so he and I set out alone (usually all of the children come, but today they wanted to enjoy a movie by the fire...  I can't say that I blame them!), but I forgot that it was a speech testing day to see if he was ready to be discharged.  He scored 100% and is done with speech therapy!  Oh, happy day!  We'll still be going for awhile with Button (he just started in September), but it will be nice to only have to go one day a week, rather than two.

Since tomorrow is a strict fast day to prepare for Theophany, we opted to make Christmas butter cookies today.  I used a recipe from King Arthur Flour and was very pleased with the results.  Each of the children took a turn cutting out their cookies and decorating them and it was quite relaxing that way. This year I followed the recipe's suggestion and used a pastry brush to paint the cookies with eggs white and water before decorating with sprinkles and it worked beautifully!  In the past, I have not used egg white and the sprinkles just fall right off.

There will be a lot to get done tomorrow:  tidying the house for the feast, shopping for gallons of water to be blessed, and church services.  It's nice to follow the final day of Christmas with a feast day of even greater importance...  Theophany is nearly here!

Ten Lords-a-Leaping...

We had our last family party in Philadelphia tonight and it was very nice.  My brother- and sister-in-law hosted my husband's side of the family and the food that they made was so delicious.  Everything was prepared when we arrived and instead of having a formal sit down meal, we just grazed.  There was a lovely cheeseboard with gourmet cheeses, charcuterie, and olives, plus homemade meatballs, honey glazed chicken wings, and spare rib stew that was served over tiny pasta.  

We do a Secret Santa gift exchange with the adults in the family and this year, my father-in-law picked me!  My mother helped him get me the BEST gift:  2 skeins of Madeline Tosh DK in the Great Grey Owl colorway.  It is so gorgeous and I cannot wait to plan out what it will become.

There are only two days left of the Twelve Days of Christmas and we plan to enjoy them to the fullest.  I would like to finish my shawl (I have to do two more rows, cast off, and block it), work on a pretty puzzle my sister gave us for Christmas, and bake one or two goodies.  I have been reveling in these wonderful days and hate to see them end.  There is such a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks though!

Nine Ladies Dancing...

I sat down today to fill our my new calendar for 2016 and am so pleased with it.  It is full of lovely prints of Carl Larsson's paintings and the choices that they made for each month are really spot on.  It is exciting to see what day of the week our special days are going to fall on...  I am kind of excited that Mother's Day and my Name's Day both fall on May 8th this year!

I have been obsessed with cranberry cakes since Christmas and have found a winning recipe!  I made Cranberry Cake from The Kitchn Blog and wowza!  It was good!  Father John (who is not really a fruity cake person) enjoyed a slice and mentioned how much he liked it twice, so you know that it is a keeper!  Fortunately, I was able to secure two extra bags of cranberries for the freezer and that means that we'll get to have some more!  I do think that the recipe would be just as delicious with blueberries...  we have lots frozen, so I'll experiment with that this coming week.
 
We have our last family Christmas party tomorrow.  It is hard to believe that there are only a few days left of our Christmas.  There are just two things left on our list of things to enjoy:  decorating our gingerbread house and baking Christmas cookies together!

Eight Maids-a-Milking...

Happy New Year, Friends!

I hope that your day went wonderfully.  Today is the feast of Saint Basil in the Orthodox Church and so we began the day with Liturgy.  We were given a generous gift card to Panera, so we took the children there for lunch and afterward we stopped at the yarn shop in town before going home.  Father John and I watched a movie together in the afternoon while the children played.  I worked on my shawl for a few hours, did a little tidying, and made meatballs and ravioli for dinner.  It was the perfect relaxing day that I have been craving this Christmas season. 

I am so happy that the weather has turned chilly once more...  we had a fire in the hearth for the first time in weeks!  Little Man brought two loads of firewood inside for us all by himself, which was so impressive.  It is really nice to see the children becoming more and more capable.  I need to keep challenging them with new tasks so that they learn to do a wide-variety of different jobs around the house.