This is what Christmas smells like

More than any other of our five senses, scent is the most directly linked with memory.

And no wonder.  Who among us can't conjure a particular image from our past when we inhale that sultry smell of summer grass.  Or catch a breath of leaves in autumn, ripe and honey sweet.  For me, the wonderfully calming scent of my babies' lotion fills fills me with an instant sense of peace and home and makes me think of soft, newly washed tiny ones.

Scent has the power to transport us, instantly, to another time; another world beyond the one that exists in front of our eyes.

I can't take credit for the recipe I'm about to share with you.  It came to me via my wonderful co-op director, who made a small batch for us as a Christmas present.

What I can tell you?  It smells outstanding.

Literally like Christmas.  Not just any old Christmas.  The sweet, nostalgic, Rockwell Christmas that may or may not actually exist outside of picture books.

Here's what you'll need:

Like so many truly wonderful things, the exact measurements don't matter.

:: About 1 cup cranberries
:: One orange, quartered
:: One Cinnamon stick
:: Handful of cloves

Combine all the ingredients in a pan with a half cup of water.

Allow to simmer on the stove at low temperature while enjoying the most delectable, festive, Christmas-y aroma wafting through your house.

Oh my goodness.  It is truly divine.

The best part is that you can refill the pan literally all day long, and it still smells just as terrific.

I'll wait while you run to the store.  You won't regret it.

Plus, add a mason jar and you've got yourself a nice little Christmas gift.  I'm just saying.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Parade of Lights 2015

Is it really December?

The tree is set up.  The house is decorated.  I kept my yearly tradition of breaking my word to my husband and listening to Christmas music way before Thanksgiving (sorry Casey.  It could get better.)

But it still seems amazing to me that we've entered the very last month of 2015!

We embarked on one of our very favorite Christmas traditions, and we had an extra surprise for the kids this year.

Ice skating!

This little rink was set up smack-dab in the middle of downtown Denver, and it is an adorable and nostalgic addition.  So Christmas-y!

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Leah has been begging to go ice skating again since her birthday, so we took some time in the afternoon before the parade to make that happen. 

We initially had Logan out on the ice, too. 

It lasted all of about two laps.  Ice skating was not his favorite.

The whole endeavor actually only took about 8 minutes from start to finish.  Leah had a great time, until she fell a few minutes in and that was the end of that.  

After our adventures on the ice, we went to Maggiano's for dinner.  

I love that they have everything all done up for the holidays.  The decor, the music, obviously the food (yum!), it is always such a great experience at this time of the year. 

The kids were such hams!

I guess it was a long day, but they were definitely a bit nutty.  Not loud or obnoxious, just silly.  Very, very giddy and silly.

They made each other laugh and amused themselves while we waited for the food by making funny faces.

I love those faces!  And, try as we might, Olivia always seems to have a knife.  Don't ask me why... and don't be surprised if you see her on the news 25 years from now, because it is always the thing she goes for if we go out to dinner.  Somehow, despite the fact that they all get cleared out of her reach, that child can use the force or telepathy or her secret go-go-Gadget arms to obtain even the most remote knife on the table.

We were fortunate that the weather was awesome.  I think that's the second year in a row.  It was cold, but festively so.  The kind that is crisp and clear, but nobody loses any body parts.

By the way, how do you like Logan's rockin' hot cocoa Fu Manchu?  Pretty stylin.

They were so excited!  And so silly!

They did settle down, and had an awesome time at the parade, as we always do.  My kids just adore watching all the different elements as they go by: floats, marching bands, balloons, dancers and everything in between.  They sing along with the music, cheer and encourage the marchers and shout thank yous to the police and fire men and women.  It's so much fun.  

And they lose their minds - Buddy the Elf style - when Santa comes along.  

For the record: I have no idea where they get that.  

It was a wonderful day.  I always feel so blessed to share this season with the ones I love most of all!

An easy Christmas centerpiece for the book lover

The art of simple isn't one I'm exceptionally good at practicing.

It's a direction I can feel myself being pulled, like the tuggings of little hands on a mother's skirt, but not something that comes naturally to me.

My natural tendency is to embrace that old adage about going big or going home, doing things to 110%, and giving it all you've got.

{I may have been a child of the 90's, aka the era of the motivational poster.}

It is only recently that simple has become a deep longing of my heart.

It's true that I revamped our Christmas tree a little this year.  You'll spy new stockings on our mantel and new pillows on our couch.  Those small touches are the first we've embraced to change our Christmas look in years, and they make things feel so much more pulled together and harmonious.

But really, I'm all about using what we've got.  Nowhere is that more evident than on my dining room table, which looks like this:

Nothing fancy, and created with items we've loved forever.  And yes, you can see fingerprints all over my dining room chairs.  You've met my three small children, right?  Tiny fingerprints are a decorating staple in my house!

Pledge, you say?  Aintnobodygottimeforthat!

To make this Christmas centerpiece, we used three beloved Christmas books, a metal serving tray, an assortment of candles and some pinecones that years ago I spray-painted gold.

The books are some of our Christmas favorites: The Polar Express (my childhood copy, complete with the taped-up, well-loved cover), One Wintry Night (also my childhood copy) and Elf on the Shelf (a favorite of my sweet ones).  Those candle holders and reindeer tray were part of my mom's collection, and she had them displayed throughout my home growing up.  My favorite part about them is that they cast the most wonderful shadows.

It would be particularly cute to line the tray with evergreen or boxwood clippings, berry sprigs or even a string of small beads.  Instead of candles, you could substitute a Christmas flower arrangement, ornaments  in a glass container, or other beloved family treasures.  But --- we're sticking with that simple theme and using only what we have on hand.

It's pretty clear won't be moving to a tiny house any time soon, but we're enjoying keeping things in perspective.  Besides, this makes it so easy to grab one of those classics to enjoy together in front of the Christmas tree!

Christmas trees through the years {and a face lift}

I've always been nuts about the holidays. 

Years ago, when I was a shiny, newly-minted "adult," having cracked out on my own with my very first "grown up apartment," my first Christmas away from home and out of the dorms was just not complete without a tree.  And yes, is case you were wondering, all those quotation marks were absolutely necessary in hindsight, now that I know what it really means to adult.

My sissy - the mother of 2 boys! - still in high school.  Isn't she cute?!  This was ten years ago, people!

My sweet husband - er, um... I mean, this really awesome guy I was dating - came through and made my dream come true in a big way.  Because he was totes kewl and was still trying to woo me.  And also because I picked a good one.  Casey: making my dreams come true since 2003! 

2005

C'mon... it's pretty good when you're barely of drinking age, right?

That sweet little tree followed us into our first house a couple of years later.

2007

We always referred to it as the Charlie Brown tree.  I never thought it was such a bad little tree.  (But, thanks to a screaming after Christmas sale, we did upgrade to the grande version just a few days after this photo was taken.)

2008

And there you have it.  That's pretty much how our tree has looked every single Christmas since. 

2010

2012

2014

Everything around the tree has changed rather dramatically, but the tree itself has remained the same.

This year, our sweet little tree is pretty well on its last legs.  The lights need to come completely off and be re-strung.  The lights on the upper-most boughs go on and off at random, and Casey added two strings of lights to the rest of the tree because it was in such bad shape.  The branches are all bent at odd angles and have to be reset to look right.  The pine needle pieces literally come of in your hands.  Poor sweet abused tree!  It has served our family well, but I'm pretty sure this is its last year in our family. 

So, we decided to send it off in style with a bit of a face lift. 

After a decade of reusing literally the exact same ribbon, well, it was time to spring for something new. 

I love the way it looks in our living room!  The neutral ribbon fits in so much better.

The kids had a great time decorating this year, though I did do a little bit of moving things around for balance.  Unlike last year when I just let it all be.  How'd I do that, anyway?  There were only a few to move; they largely did a nice job. 

We kept the paper star that the kids made as our tree topper.  I adore it, and I'm convinced that these are the perks of parenting.  A little bit of forced labor/adorable charm. 

Oh, who am I kidding.  It wasn't forced labor, I couldn't have stopped them if I'd wanted to.  They would make enough paper stars to flood the neighborhood. 

We also added some neutral stockings to our arsenal that 1) match each other and 2) match the decor in our new house (what?  I know this is our fourth Christmas here, but that still counts, right?  I still don't have baseboards done.  It will be new till that happens!).

Funny story: I didn't notice literally until I was editing this photo that we're one ornament short on that left side.  I didn't know that it was missing, and it is back now... but nobody seems to know how it fell down or who put it back up.  It's a Christmas miracle!  Must have been Ellie, our Elf on the Clock.  

It's pretty cozy in our Christmas-y house.  The tree provides just the perfect atmosphere for tickling the ever-loving stuffing out of little tummies.

And early  morning, mussy-haired play sessions. (Some of my favorite memories!  I think I'll miss you most of all!)

With the tree up, we're officially ready for the most wonderful time of the year!

Livvy: fifteen months

My sweet girl.  I have said it before, and it's just so true every time we go through it: I LOVE one!

They are too hilarious, precocious and adorable the whole year.

Olivia began walking just a few days after the 15 month mark, making her my latest walker of the bunch.  She isn't much of a talker, either.  Where Leah and Logan both had somewhere around 50 words or more, she has just a small handful.  Primarily, "MAMA!"

I asked the pediatrician about her words, and she told me that it's no surprise if a third or subsequent child is a later talker or walker.  Obviously, it's not a "one size fits all" situation, but third children have more siblings around who will pick them up and talk for them, so it happens quite often.

She loves to make animal noises, however.  She knows duck, dog, monkey, lion, tiger, elephant, cow, pig and a few more.  She loves to find animals in books.

Speaking of books, her favorite book is Olivia, and every time we get to the part where Olivia paints on the walls, she says, "Uh-oh!"

Even though she's not much of a talker, she is definitely eager to communicate.  She grunts, points, uses sign language and gesticulates like crazy.  If you don't happen to understand what she's saying, she will absolutely lose her crap on you and start yelling, screaming, kicking and throwing herself every which way.  I kid you not.

Actually, there's rather a lot of yelling and crying in Livvy world.  It's hard to be a baby!  Especially when all you want in the whole world is to be an only child and have Mom all to yourself... but in reality, you're the third child.  If she's not entertained, she spends the whole day following me around, crying and begging me to pick her up.  And Heaven forbid I should try to go to the bathroom on my own.  Yowza.

She has finally begun to branch out, and will let other people hold her for short periods of time.

Although, she is still insistent on being with me.  Her favorite spot to be by far is perched on my hip.  If I try to pick her up any other way, she pushes me and shifts herself so that she's straddling my left hip.  It's the best way to travel.

She is pretty good at keeping herself busy.

Of course, I've also gotten wiser over the years about the things that will occupy a new toddler.

The sorting, exploring, pulling things out and finding ways to get into anything they can.

I've got your number, kid!

She is an awesome sleeper, napping for 2.5-3 hours and sleeping from 7 to 7, quite often longer.  I am sooooooo grateful that this one sleeps.  She demands a lot of attention during her waking hours, but is easy to put to bed and almost never needs me in the middle of the night.

She absolutely adores her blanket, and will not go to sleep without it.  She pulls it up over her face to go to sleep.

Speaking of sleep, she sucks her thumb, but literally only as she is falling asleep.  And the blanket has to be over her head.

She holds the blanket with her fingers, and puts the thumb in her mouth.  Otherwise, it's no deal.

She has 8 teeth in, plus she's in the process of getting several more, including those molars.  She is the world's worst teether; it can take literally a month for a new tooth to push through.  And she's miserable the entire time.

This baby loves to dance!  She will grin and wiggle and shake her groove thang as soon as she hears music.  It's adorable.

She's the perfect midway between Leah and Logan, both in terms of looks and in personality.  She is feisty and loud and demanding like brother.  She does things on her own terms.  She loves animals.  But she also loves letters like Leah.  Loves to help tidy up and put things away. Follows directions.  And, of course, isn't super social, where Logan was a social butterfly.  And, like her brother, she never ever stops chattering all day long.

And, those siblings of hers are her world.  Her very best friends.

She wears 12 month clothing, size 3 diapers and size 3 or 4 shoes.  She's just itty bitty, in the 18th percentile for weight.  Her head is only in the 85th percentile - which, for a child of mine is tiny!

On her good days and her bad days, we are just so grateful for this little one.  She brings so much joy to our family, and we know we're lucky to have her!