fa la la la la

it's time to deck the halls and for us that means get the tree decorated, do some holiday baking, and wrap the presents. it's an exciting time in our house; one that brings back precious memories for me. I am doing my very best to continue old traditions and create new ones.

old tradition #1: LEFSE

lef·se

  [lef-suh]

–noun

a round Norwegian flatbread resembling a tortilla, made with mashed potatoes and flour.

read: a little slice of heaven on earth sprinkled with brown sugar. mmm-mmm-good!


my grandma greseth has passed this tradition down from our long line of norwegian ancestry. let me tell you, nothing beats homemade lefse, nothing. sure they sell it in the grocery store, but it sucks. I guess it'll do in a pinch if you are desperate for a little taste in, say, july. but it doesn't even come close to the real thing.

my generation is now learning the art of making lefse. it's not exactly difficult, but it certainly is time-consuming. extra hands and company are certainly welcome! and why not make it into a lovely way to spend time together with those you love? priceless. 

this year's lefse baking day was nearly sidelined by yet another december blizzard, but we plowed our way over to my parents' house and made it happen. it sure was worth it!

old tradition #2: TREE DECORATING

I'll admit that there is definitely a martha stewart wannabe living somewhere inside me and she sneaks out every now and then. keep that in mind as you read about decorating a tree with children. small children. you know, the ones who do a much better job of undecorating the tree?

growing up, we always got to put our own ornaments on the tree. I remember the excitement we felt when mom handed us our big box of ornaments - complete with a handwritten list of each ornament and who gave it to us. we took great pride in placing each ornament on its own special branch. so I started a list for miles and let him hang up his ornaments.

he was precious. he put up the gold balls first and the entire two boxes worth were hanging in a two-square-foot area on the front of the tree. the martha in me cringed, but the mommy in me rejoiced! I silenced the martha and went with it...of course I have since spread them out a bit.

last year miles' ornament for us was one of those recordable little hallmark keepsakes. it plays Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, which is followed by a message from me saying, "merry christmas miles! mommy and daddy love you!" henry and I heard it at least a hundred times that day. it was awesome!

old traditions #3: BAKING
pretzel dipping was the extent of our baking this year. we had every good intention of making lefse in the morning and baking all afternoon. but old man winter had different plans. the massive amounts of snow on saturday made it impossible to get to the grocery store and the need to plow out on sunday scratched our original start time. so we didn't get to enjoy the mile high stacks of containers full of cookies this christmas. I'm sure my waistline is thanking me!

miles and I did do some pretzel dipping. he was such a great little helper! I'm happy to report that more pretzels made it to the freezer than went into his mouth and we only needed to wash the top of the sprinkles a few times.

miles' attention span is quite a bit longer than the average two year old, but when he spotted the iPod, I was doomed. what can I say when he sweetly askes, "can I watch Sound of Music on the iPod mommy?" sure thing little buddy...do-re-mi!

henry napped while we chocolated. he sure was happy to see his big brother when he woke up!