Great Book Recomendation

Little Heathens:
Hard Times and High Spirits on an Iowa Farm During the Great Depression

by Mildred Armstrong Kalish

I am almost finished with this delightful book and just wanted to let others know about it. It's a great non-fiction read - a simple story about how to find meaning and purpose in the simple tasks of everyday life during hard times. I think it's especially relevant with all that's going on in today's economy. I got it at my local library. Let me know if you read it and what you think!

Here's the synopsis from Publisher's Weekly:
Kalish's memoir of her Iowa childhood, set against the backdrop of the Depression, captures a vanished way of traditional living and a specific moment in American history in a story both illuminating and memorable. Kalish lived with her siblings, mother and grandparents-seven in all-both in a town home and, in warmer weather, out on a farm. The lifestyle was frugal in the extreme: "The only things my grandparents spent money on were tea, coffee, sugar, salt, white flour, cloth and kerosene." But in spite of the austere conditions, Kalish's memories are mostly happy ones: keeping the farm and home going, caring for animals, cooking elaborate multi-course meals and washing the large family's laundry once a week, by hand. Here, too, are stories of gossiping in the kitchen, digging a hole to China with the "Big Kids" and making head cheese at butchering time. Kalish skillfully rises above bitterness and sentiment, giving her memoir a clear-eyed narrative voice that puts to fine use a lifetime of careful observation: "Observing the abundance of life around us was just so naturally a part of our days on the farm that it became a habit." Simple, detailed and honest, this is a refreshing and informative read for anyone interested in the struggles of average Americans in the thick of the Great Depression.

Read more about the book here: www.little-heathens.com

Christmas and New Years!

Christmas sisters in their new dresses from Grandpa Ben, Kirsten and Mikkel in Denmark.

Christmas Eve with my sister Leyah and her boyfriend Eric

Lil' Jule aften dinner (the night before Christmas Eve) for Chip's annual shrimp feast!

Mira painted this watercolor (all onpicture from a Santa statue at Mimi's house. Isn't it beautiful?!

Snow Girl! We had a great time sledding down a hill on our street.

Happy New Year!

Watching the Glockenspiel in Mt. Angel come to life! Amazing!

My first rag rug! Shane's mom taught me how to do it.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow....

We've been having quite the snow storm here. It's been snowing constantly for several days and we haven't been able to leave the house all weekend. The ice made it impossible to drive (or even walk down the sidewalk!) and so we've been staying inside and trying to stay warm except the power keeps going out for long periods of time. Thank goodness for our woodstove! As of today, Monday, it is snowing very hard and there is several inches of snow on the ground. Very cozy!

For 4th Advent Shane made traditional Danish Ableskiver from scratch. We enjoyed a yummy little party with my mom, Chip and sister Leyah while the power went on and off. We watched most of Polar Express before the power went off for the night. The snow and ice storm continued outside and we went to bed by candlelight...

At a Christmas party at our neighbors house Friday night. (Annah and a friend)

Snow Days

The snow was falling hard when we woke up this morning and both girls were in full snow gear and making snowmen by 7 am. The snow melted mid day and then it began snowing hard again in the early evening when I took this photo of the girls in front of our house.

2008 Willamette University employee holiday party

Annah enjoyed the chocolate fountain at Shane's work party at Willamette University. And Mira lost her tooth while devoring her chocolate coated brownies! I'm amazed we were even able to find the tooth in the sea of chocolate everwhere!

Annah is definitely a daddy's girl...

After the party we walked over to the State Capitol and watched the Holiday Electrical Parade. The girls loved it but it was soooo cold!

Shane and the girls are ready for the party!

Earlier in the day, the girls and I went to Roths, the local grocery store, to make gingerbread houses. We met friends there and it was a fun, free activity!

I took the girls to the local Senior Center where they sell doll dresses. They each had fun picking out a holiday dress for their dolls. So cute!

Saturday morning Shane and I had fun together in the kitchen canning apple pie filling for Christmas gifts. We listened to Christmas carols and had so much fun!

Birthday Girl

Happy 4th Birthday Annah!!!

O' Christmas Tree....

Yesterday we set off to find our Christmas tree with my mom and Chip. Thanks to beautiful blue skies and Silverton being the Christmas capitol of the world (more Christmas trees come from Silverton than any other place in the world - they are harvested and shipped to Japan, Europe, etc.) it didn't take us long to find our perfect tree. We enjoyed hot chocolate and hiked around the 20 acre farm before cutting down our tree and heading home.

We spent the afternoon decorating the tree and making some gifts. Mira worked quietly on some holiday cards and then came to me and said, "Mom, I have a great new idea for our Christmas cards. How about if we write on them:

Although times may be hard, you still get a Christmas card!"

Wow. Guess all the talk of the recession has even gotten to her little seven-year heart. She is so smart and already I'm having a hard time keeping up with her.

Later that evening Shane and I snuk off for a date night to Toys R' Us. We stopped at Starbucks for a red holiday Starbucks cup w/ a latte and enjoyed an evening getting a couple things for the girls.

Advent & The Countdown to Christmas

I was inspired by my friend Tysha to blog about how our family celebrates the countdown to Christmas. Because I'm half Danish my family has always celebrated the Christmas season in Danish tradition. Shane easily adopted the Danish traditon of celebrating Christmas on Christmas Even instead of Christmas day, probably in part to the fact that he spent at least one Christmas in Denmark and was able to see how wonderful and family focused the Danish Christmas traditions are.

For us, celebrating Christmas in a Danish way means that on Sunday's we celebrate Advent Sunday with a four candle wreath (one candle lit for each Sunday that has passed), a special afternoon coffee time with family, singing Christmas carols and reading about the birth of Jesus and his life. We also have an advent calendar for the girls with chocolates in the numbered daily pockets and a string of little numbered gifts tied along the staircase leading to their room. We focus on time together with family, making gifts together (this year we're making soap and canning apple pie filling and hot mustard), baking and experiencing the holiday festivities in our community. The girls and I created a calendar last week for the month of December with one (mostly free) holiday activity to do together every day this month. Here's our list and if you're local and want to join us for any of these we'd love it! Or if you have special ways that you count down to Christmas let us know. I'm always looking for ideas and I love to get inspired by others.

December 1: Decorate the house for Christmas as a family. Drink hot chocolate and dance to Christmas songs. (Check! We had a wonderful time doing this and watching the girls unwrap and rediscover the decorations is priceless)

December 2: Bake the first batch of the year of gingerbread men and read some of our special Christmas books that we only get out at Christmas time.

December 3: Stay up late (late for the girls) and have a hot chocolate party in the living room while watching the classic Rudolph movie - TV special tonight.

December 4: Sit around the fire after dinner and talk about the symbols of Christmas (candy canes, the tree, etc.). Take a walk in the dark to check out the holiday lights on our street. Give a prize (our cookies) to the winner of our own little light contest.

December 5: We're having several families over for snacks and hot chocolate before the annual Silverton Tree Lighting. We live close to downtown so we'll walk into town together for the festivities.

December 6: Bundle up and head to the woods to find our Christmas tree. Tirza will enjoy a holiday luncheon with girlfriends later that day.

December 7: Children's holiday shopping trip at the Dollar Tree and lunch out with the children's pastor from church.

December 8: Watch Charlie Brown Christmas together (on TV tonight). This is also Annah's 4th birthday so we'll be having a little birthday celebration this day.

December 9: Make holiday ornaments together and mail our Christmas cards.

December 10: Holiday baking day: bake lots of cookies for the MOPS cookie exchange on the 12th.

December 11: Go to the Christian School holiday concert at church.

December 12: American Girl Holiday Tea with friends at our house. Each girl is studying about the culture and holiday traditions of one American Girl and brining a snack from that culture or time period to share with everyone. The girls will also be making stockings for their dolls.

Mom's night out that evening and cookie exchange.

December 13: Attend the Canyonview (local bible college and horse camp) holiday celebration and live nativity. That evening we'll go to Shane's work holiday party at Willamette University which is famous for its amazing dinner and chocolate fountain.

December 14: Children's presentation at church. Mira will be saying a bible verse (Matthew 5:16). Advent Sunday afternoon coffee and goodies following church.

December 15: Attend the Sound Jubilee holiday concert in Salem. This is a children's choir and instrumental band of more than 100 kids who are all homeschooled. Mira will start in the choir and violin lessons with Sound Jubilee next fall.

December 16: Monthly craft day with our good friends - the Mulkey's. The Mulkey girls are 3 and almost 2 and the oldest is named Tirzah! We'll be doing a Christmas craft.

December 17: Take the girls to the Oregon State Capitol (they've never been) for the December lunchtime concerts. Every day in December school kids are performing in the main lobby of the capitol during the lunch hour. I've been before and it's amazing!

December 18: Theater and holiday sights in Portland: I'll be taking the girls and my mom to see the Wizard of Oz performed by the Northwest Children's Theater in Portland and into the city to see the holiday tree in Pioneer Square.

December 19: Holiday Kids Night at church. The girls will have a fun evening with the youth group kids from church and Shane and I will get a rare night out together.

December 20: Silverton Together's Annual Celebrate Families Holiday Festival: This is an amazing community event that we never miss. A local organization dedicated to keeping families together partners with other local organizations to host a massive craft day for kids at the community center. The girls absolutely love it and we easily spend the whole afternoon there making really neat crafts.

December 21: Christmas caroling with the children from church at Silverton Hospital.

December 22: Make and deliver holiday goodies to neighbors and to the local homeless shelter. That evening we'll have our annual gingerbread house contest with my mom,Chip, sister Leyah, Eric and anyone else who dares to participate. :)

December 23: Lille Jule Aften: This is a special Danish tradition to celebrate the day before Christmas Eve. It's spent at home, enjoying a special Danish holiday treat, coffee and fellowship with family.

December 24: This is the day we celebrate Christmas as the Danes do. We'll get up early, put on our best dresses and spend the day cooking a big traditional Danish Christmas dinner, enjoying the company of both Shane's family and mine, and going to church before dinner. After dinner we'll read the Christmas story again, sing Christmas carols, light the candles on the tree (Danish trees usually have real candles), and share our gifts with each other. This year I'm making most of our gifts and have been busy knitting, making soap, canning, baking and sewing.

December 25: Christmas Day: On Christmas we normally have the girls open their stockings (there are no presents that morning since we do that on Christmas Eve) and enjoy a yummy breakfast. Later in the day we'll take a walk at Silver Falls State Park after having our usual Christmas brunch of gourmet cheeses, salmon, crackers, fresh rolls, meats, fruit and other wonderful goodies.

That’s our countdown to Christmas plan. What’s yours?

Here are some of my favorite photos of some of the things I love about simple Scandinavian Christmases: