Quantcast
Channel: Frugal Families Blog » Entertainment & Hospitality
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 8

Little House Christmas

0
0

Boy, it’s been too long. Sorry.

My last post was on the cold frame. I have tiny seedlings coming in but unfortunately, the frame got built late in the season and the manure and soil I put in was partially frozen. The cold frame was warmed up during the cold days but I think all was done too late. Now, thanks to our record snowfall on Wednesday, the entire cold frame is under the 24″ of snow we got. I have no doubt that come March, the increased sunlight and warmth will kick start the little radishes, mesclun and romaine seedlings.

Christmas was wonderful. This year, our oldest focused on clothing instead of too many toys. He thoroughly loved and appreciated the homemade flannel pajama bottoms I made him. I also made those for the other two boys. They were equally loved and appreciated by them.

We had my brother, his wife and three of our nephews over on Christmas Eve. We don’t exchange gifts between adults but I always try to do a special something for them as a family. Last year, I made homemade cookie dough, shaped them into rolls and froze them up (then placed them in Foodsaver bags). The gift basket included coffee and other homemade goodies. It was my gift of time to them. My brother and sister-in-law love spending time with the boys but both work full-time and it’s hard. The pre-made cookie dough let them spend time baking with the boys without the time and hassle of making the dough. It was fast and easy but fun.

This year, knowing that they absolutely loved Sunday morning breakfasts together, I made up a breakfast box. I included a big, bulk sized bag of pancake mix and pre-cooked bacon. Then I included special homemade treats of my homemade maple syrup, raspberry syrup, jams and jellies. As I pulled out each special item, I told my nephews about where it came from. For example, the wild blueberry jam was made from wild blueberries we picked on our camping trip to Pennsylvania. The blackberry syrup was made from blackberries we picked while we were biking on a rail trail in Massachusetts (the Nashua rail-trail that took us to the New Hampshire border!). The raspberry syrup was made from our home grown berries along with those of our neighbor (who shared her bounty of berries with us!). I know my brother loves Mexican omelets and I included homemade salsa, so I told the story of us going to the pick-you-own farm and picking all of the tomatoes (see previous blog entry). I talked about how the kids and I picked the peaches and then worked together to can them up and how much fun we had. With each jar, there was a story.

Then I got the most wonderful present back when one of my nephews said, “This is just like the Little House Christmas.” He understood the simple pleasure of receiving the homemade jarred goods and the special story I told with each goody. It was simple yet special and appreciated.


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 8

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images