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Well those of you who know me well will laugh when you hear what I got for Christmas. I was given a tablet for Christmas. Yes. I Christin, who was quite excited when she got a 150 year old sewing machine for her 21st birthday, is now the pleasantly surprised owner of a tablet. This will definitely be a learning curve for old-fashioned me but it promises to be a lot of fun. :-D

Whew!

It has been a  very busy Christmas season. Lots of fun, lots of laughs, and lots of sewing. In the last 15 days I've sewn a St Lucia gown, a frilly night gown, and a cloak. The St Lucia gown took 4 days, the nightgown took 7 days, and the cloak took 4 days. I love sewing! It is so much fun!
And for Christmas Mom and Dad gave me a sewing room. We are going clean out and organize the storage shed so that I can spread out my sewing projects and sew without getting in any ones way. I can hardly wait! There will be a place for my sewing machines, a place for the fabric, a place for the sewing patterns, a place for every thing and every thing in its place. I can't wait! :) Mom also gave me a binder with every thing that I need to write down all my ideas for different dresses that I want to make. She and Dad are so thoughtful.

Who's Black Peter??

"In the Netherlands,the Christmas season begins on December  5, St Nicholas eve. St. Nicholas, who was a bishop in the early Greek church, was always ready to help those in need. It is thought that the custom of giving gifts to children in his name began about six hundred years ago. Nuns would leave presents at the homes of the poor on the eve St. Nicholas Day. This custom spread across Europe, until the night became one of great celebration. It includes street parades led by someone dressed as St. Nicholas riding a white horse. Gradually this custom became connected with parents trying to get their children to behave better. Good St. Nicholas was said to visit every home to find out which children were good all year. The story goes that he and his helper, Black Peter, journeyed to Amsterdam from Spain, visiting every home. This part of the legend probably comes from the time when the Dutch people where ruled by Spain. St. Nicholas wears a white robe with a red cassock over it. A cassock is an ankle-length garment with close-fitting sleeves worn by priests. St. Nicholas also wears a tall headdress and carries a golden shepherd's crook. His beard is long and white. Black Peter slips down each chimney, since St. Nicholas must not get his white robe dirty. Peter puts presents in the wooden shoes which the children have placed by the chimney. But first, he removes the offerings the children have have left for St. Nicholas' white horse, gifts such as a lump of sugar or a carrot or some bits of hay. Black Peter leaves many fine treats for the children, including pink and white candy hearts or marzipan candy shaped like like apples, potatoes, or tiny fat pigs. But best of all, he leaves large gingerbread figures of St. Nicholas on his horse or Black Peter with his bag of treats."

Happy St. Nicholas Day! Yet another Carlson Christmas tradition. So what did Black Peter, aka Katie and Emma, leave in our shoes last night? A candy cane, 2 pennies, a gingerbread man, and a orange.
Usually we get chocolate that has been wrapped to look like gold coins. But Mom couldn't find them.
So this year we got pennies. We also usually put hay out for St. Nicholas' horse. We didn't do that this year though. Surely if St. Nicholas knew about the drought that we are going through right now and if he saw the hay prices around here he would understand, right? ;-) We did do some thing different this year though. At Central Market Mom found the cutest little marzapin pig! I think that this is the first time that we have had a marzipan pig on St. Nicholas day. Almonds and sugar shaped like a pig.  I bet the little boys are going to love eating that! :)

Rosemary

During the Christmas season, we do Advent. Advent is basically a bible study about the first coming of Christ. From the prophecies foretelling His coming to His birth. We have two books that are the backbone of our Advent reading. Besides the Bible of course. One of them is a book that we have had for I-don't-know-how-long. The front cover is pretty dinged up and more than one page is stained with hot coco from years gone by. The title is "Family Activities for the Christmas Season".  For each day during the four weeks leading up to Christmas there is a Hymn,scripture reading and then a story. Usually the story is a legend about a favorite Christmas tradition or some thing that has in some way to do with Christmas. This is one of my favorite readings from this book.


  "This legend is about the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt to escape the evil King Herod. The legend says that they stopped to rest on a hill side, near a quiet stream. Here Mary washed baby Jesus' clothes. She spread his tiny garments on a sweet-smelling bush to dry. God rewarded the sturdy bush for helping Mary and the Christ child. He called it rosemary. Then He blessed the rosemary with fragile blossoms of the same heavenly blue as Mary's cloak.

Long ago in the Middle Ages, people spread rosemary on the floor so that their houses would smell good. They also used it to decorate the alter at Christmastime. They believed it would bring special blessings and protect them against evil. Later it was used in England to give flavor to the boar's head that was served at the Christmas feast. Today, rosemary is still used as a food flavoring. It also stands for friendship. Rosemary reminds us of our best friend, Jesus Christ. He is the one who brings us special blessings. He is the one who protects us from evil if we keep Him in our hearts."

Merry Christmas!!

A Christmas Tradition

We at the Carlson household have a lot of traditions that we observe around Christmas time. Who doesn't have a lot of traditions during the Christmas season? One of my favorite traditions that we have is called "Christmas buddies". At the beginning of December every one old enough to participate draws the name of a family member. No one else knows whose name you pulled, it is a secret. Through out the weeks leading up to Christmas you do special little,or not so little, favors and jobs for that person. Some times it is as simple as bringing them coffee every morning. Other times it can be as big as doing their daily farm chores. You should be so nice,sweet, and helpful to this secret buddy that when Christmas morning rolls around and you tell every one who your secret buddy is,every one should say "I could'ave told you that".  It can be pretty funny trying to do some one else chores for them. Like the time Linnea drew my name and tried to do my chores for me. I'd be sitting at the table enjoying a cup of tea and look out to see her feeding the animals. For some reason it never clued in that I was her "buddy". I just thought that she was bored and trying to fill up her time. So I would go out there and try to take over for her.  It is really funny watching the younger kids trying to take care of their buddy. They're so excited about helping that person that they let the secret out. For instance when Noah drew his partners name he tried to tell us who it was. He was SO excited!! It is a lot of fun!! So now I get to figure out how to help my buddy. What fun!! :)