Minty Snowmen, Women, and a Hula Dancer

It's that time of year! Time to make our traditional Minty Snowmen. Last years were cute, but we stepped up this year.

So that I wouldn't lose my mind, I doubled the recipe this year. I measured out three tablespoons for the colors, and just started making bodies. We ended up with two for each of the girls, and one each for Shawn, Me, and Mom and Dad.

I started working on mine but of course needed pictures. I asked Shawn to take a picture of me so I could remember that I did it.

This is what I got.Thanks honey.

You can see my new wedding ring though!

Not well though.

And here's the picture I got of Shawn. He finished quickly. You'll see why later.

Everyone else was deep in concentration.Reagan did something we've never done before. Mixed colors. Why have we not done this before? Leave it to the youngest to one up us. So here are our finished products.

Reagan liked what I did and made a scarf. I always have toothpicks out for help placing sprinkles. Reagan had watched Gogo incorporate the toothpick and she did the same thing. Why haven't we thought of this before?? Soooo cute!Reagan's second one....got a bit over worked. The hat misshaped the head and in trying to save it, we couldn't. It ended up looking like a bird. So, Reagan made a bird.Gogo was a first timer. She got right to it and really impressed us! When Dad joined the merriment he added feet to it and it promptly fell over flat. Kennedy decided to make a lined jacket this year. How cute is that?! And a two layer scarf! I'm telling you, in a few years our pieces of art will probably be good enough to be auctioned off. What?? It could happen. And now Shawn's. He just wasn't feeling it this year. As evidenced by this. It was two sided though to convey his mood. McKinley decided her second one needed a friend and reworked the dough to do these. Cute! And her first one is the hula dancer. She's our first hula snow person and I must say, really darling. And I saved the best one for last. Simple, classic, and very cute. If I do say so myself. What?? Don't you agree??

Christmas Eve

I wish I knew how long our church has been having Christmas Eve Candlelight Services...let's just say for a long time. It's always been our families tradition to go to that and then eat Mexican Stack-Ups and Layered Dessert. My grandma would make the Stack-Ups and my mom would make the dessert. When I got married and my mom passed away we started doing everything at our house. I am a huge tradition follower. No good tradition will ever end with me. So Stack-Ups and Layered Dessert have continued.

But first, the candlelight service. Our church seats 2500 people and on Christmas Eve every seat is used. So much so that for the last several years they've offered two services. The name has been changed to Carols and Candlelight Service. I am traditional, I don't like the change.

But some things never change. Like Silent Night and the candles.We'd gone to the first service so as soon as we got home I started the chili and started getting all the ingredients out. Stack-Ups are a Mexican dish where you put out tons of items and people can stack up whatever their heart desires. Some people just use everything. Some people are my wonderful husband who loves everything that I cook:c)My buffet in the kitchen is getting smaller. Or is it that we just keep adding things?Stack-Ups

Tortilla Chips
Chili
Cheddar Cheese
Rice
Lettuce
Tomatoes
Onions
Coconut
Pecans
Sour Cream
Black Olives
Picante Sauce
And this years addition, Jalapeno Slices (Shawn was the only partaker.)

After we ate we forced the girls to sing their Rocking Around the Christmas Tree trio. McKinley was not excited about that at all. She hates when people look at her while she sings.

Can you tell? After Minty Snowman making (next blog post) the girls set out treats and a letter that Reagan wrote. She's our only believer left:( And just when we thought it was safe to start putting stuff out, McKinley came running downstairs to tell us something. Reagan had left her camera out, on the video setting, to try and catch Santa.Shawn and I decided to make a little video. So Reagan woke up to a dark video with the sound of jingle bells jingling.

I love Christmas Eve! What are your traditions?

It's That Time Of Year!

Wow. How can it be that it's been six days since I last blogged? I am so sorry I have not blessed you all with my presence:c) Christmas concerts, decorating, and life in general have gotten the best of me. It's that time you year you know. Please tell me I'm not the only one losing my mind.

Please.

Anyone?

Saturday was spent with our annual tradition of cutting our Christmas tree. When we were first married we would just go to a tree lot and buy an already cut tree. I must have a real tree. I'm somewhere in my 30's and I've never had a fake one. I'm certainly not going to start now. One year we spent $75 at a tree farm. We got to go out and pick it and cut it down ourselves. The girls loved it. And it reminded me of how we'd cut our trees out in the Oklahoma countryside when I was growing up. But this tree was a noble fir. Perfect limbs for lots of ornaments. Shawn mentioned our experience to a friend at work and she said we were welcome to cut one on her property. They were trying to clean up their cattle pastures of the Oklahoma Red Cedars. We went for three years and loved every minute of it. She had horses and the girls got little rides. That plus exploring the hay bales in the barn and playing with the barn cats made for quite a fun tradition. But one year we were halfway to her house (about 30 minutes away) and she called and said they'd decided to go out for breakfast, could we just go back to the tree farm this year. We were crushed. The tree farm had been nice, but expensive, and not as memorable. My head started racing and I thought of some other friends that live in the country and have a bumper crop of cedars. I quickly called and explained our problem and they graciously told us we could come to their land.

Christmas was saved.

When we ran into them at a school function a few weeks later we thanked and thanked and thanked them for helping us out. Since then, they've told us to we were welcome to cut there. We always try to pick one out of the way so they don't pull in and notice a big gaping whole in their tree line. It's the least we can do.

This year the day we chose was perfectly sunny, about 40 degrees, and 40+ mile per hour winds. Yep, it was miserable. Luckily I found the perfect tree close to the car and a bit down the hill so the wind wasn't as bad.

Everyone took a turn with the axe. Well, everyone but me. I'm the photographer after all.

Man he's cute. Even when holding an axe.

This is all I got of McKinley. She was determined. And cold. I think she hit it about five times.Kennedy and her hair problems kept this from being a pretty cute picture. But she did a lot of good work to the tree. My tiny little baby needed a boost up. I love that. This is my favorite picture every year. Hauling it to the car.But wait, where's Shawn??

Oh, there he is. Shawn although had a different picture idea. Gravel road, open windows, Christmas tree, and a dust cloud.

A new tradition has been born.Back home I wanted to take a few more pictures. The girls and I all got rain boots this year and they're so cute I had to have a picture. And because of our $75 purchase price for four pairs of boots it has only rained one day this fall in Oklahoma. You're welcome everyone.

This picture was taken also. I hate that I'm wearing my glasses...I hate that my coat is covering part of my face...I hate that my hair doesn't look good...and I hate that my skin only looks good in black and white. But the man in it? The man I love?? He loves me. Doesn't this picture capture that perfectly?? It's my new favorite picture.

And this one?? It just goes to prove that maybe McKinley comes by her weird photo face honestly. And it proves that Shawn should have been upset with me for trying to help out and leaving the back window open on the car. But the bump only lasted a day or two:c)

Love you honey!

Traditions ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫ ♫

Sing it with me! Traditions....traditions....traditions. Wish you could hear me singing right now because the words don't really do well to convey my inflection in each time. I am quite talented you know.

Anyone know where that song is from.

I'm sure you all have Christmas traditions you do with your families. One of our is to make Minty Snowmen. Each of us gets one after I make the dough, and personal expression comes out when we get to the decorating.With one tablespoons worth of each color we have to make sure everyone has enough to make their facial features and accessories.It's serious. I've loved seeing how the girls snowmen have changed over the years. Reagan's especially have changed. It's no longer stressful to her to do it. She has plans and can now make them happen. This year I grabbed a few sprinkles so they were a bit more creative. And funny:c)McKinley's. I love the jacket. Considering what was going on outside at this point on Christmas Eve.Reagan's. She got into the sprinkles.
Shawn's. I love the hat. Looks like a skate boarder to me. He had the remainder of the dough to use so he got a pretty chunky scarf.Mine. I was very worried that we wouldn't have enough so I didn't do much. My ear muffs do look a little headphone'ish, don't they? My snowman is warm and jamming.Kennedy's. The hat is so cute! Lots of rainbow sprinkles over a blue hat. I'm going to have to copy that.I make the girls wait a few days to eat theirs and it just about kills them. This year I got to take pictures with my brand new camera! More of that in another post.