...we lost a chicken.

and i don't mean "finally!" as in "we were eagerly awaiting the death of one of our poultry." i mean it in a very realistic sense: we can't believe that all fifteen of our chickens lasted eight whole months!  when we brought the day-old chicks home, way back in april, we thought for sure a chick or maybe two would die that first night. that's what you hear about happening. or sometimes you hear that the chicks arrive through the mail with one or two dead already. so we ordered extra.

then, when they were several weeks old and we put them into their coop, we thought for sure a raccoon would smell them from the woods and gobble them up. or the bear that we see evidence of...or the hawks flying above our grounds. we thought for sure we'd lose at least four (five?) by now.

these chickens are free range, and they take advantage of this status by wandering all over our acreage and into our neighbors' acreage, across the street to my parents acreage, and even across a busier street DOWN THE ROAD. you'd think by now, a car would have gotten one? or two?

we were beginning to think that our chickens were supernatural. especially since we're still getting 9-10 eggs a day - and the days have been getting shorter and are already getting longer again.

but today, when kenny went out to feed the chickens before dinner, he noticed 14 nervous chickens running around as though they'd seen a ghost. then he noticed the LARGE (18 inches tall, perhaps taller?) hawk in the front of our woods rustling around with some golden feathers. it got one of our golden buffs. we have six of those. we only have three of each of the wyandottes, buff orpingtons, and araucanas. so at least the hawk chose wisely.

i thought i'd be a bit more sad, but i think since it was a natural event, i'm fine. kenny's fine. my dad's a bit sad, but i think he'll get over it after he lays the chicken out in a cordial gathering and buries it where he'll bury his dog eventually. 

fortunately, i think the hawk will have disposed of the chicken by morning.

snowplay is not one of my favorite things. but it's something the boys love to do. every once in a while, you'll hear rowan say, "i LOVE the grass! where's the grass? i miss the grass!" and i couldn't agree more. but they are all over running around making tracks in the snow, eating the snow, packing the snow into snowballs, eating the snow, throwing snowballs, making snowmen and EATING the snow.

if i had my act togehter, this would be our christmas card picture this year. they all climbed up on the table without me asking. i grabbed the camera and snapped this. sawyer looks like quite the ringleader in this photo!

we had such big plans for the day: cutting down our christmas tree to trim tomorrow (rose sunday!), decorate the inside and outside of the house, attend our saturday service at church with a great ham and potato dinner to follow (with lemon-sauce gingerbread for dessert!)...but snow came. and snow has a habit of changing even the best laid plans.

our house is almost decorated, but there is no tree. the christmas tree farm that we drove to this morning at 9:42 a.m. wasn't open until 1:00. and adam slept until 3:00 at which point it had been snowing already for half an hour. at which point it had been decided that the saturday evening service will be canceled.

the snow is heavy: it's an icy snow, gorgeous, and has blanketed all other sound except for the snow falling on the bare tree branches. and our busy day has halted into a day of cooped-upness. it's darkening outside now, and the twinkle lights that we do have up...the rearrangement of the furniture in the living room allowing room for a christmas tree...the fireplace in the back of the house...the tea kettle steaming for yet another cup of tea...it's all adding up to a cozy evening inside, warm and safe.

my dad and kenny have just returned with some takeout and beer from the local watering hole. i'll put on some christmas music and maybe whip up a batch of gingerbread for our home enjoyment.

advent is for waiting and preparing. maybe a day of canceled plans helps us to sit back and wait again, refocusing our thoughts on what is to come....

advent sundays are so fun...they're feast days, so fun happens.  last week we spent sunday afternoon with my parents and yesterday our friends traveled from the big city to eat and fellowship with us.

this morning, it was grey all morning long. the forecast called for nothing but grey. fortunately, i had a whole hour to plan the day between the time kenny left for work and when the boys woke up. and here's how our day went down:

we were out of milk (the milkman comes every monday around 8:30) so breakfast was muffins and apple juice. i found a chicken carcass (lovely word, i know) in the freezer, so i decided to make chicken soup for dinner. i found a fabulous recipe for dumplings or homemade noodles (there is a fine line between the two and i would call what i ended up making dumplings, and not noodles. but they were fantastic nonetheless - the only thing that all three boys inhaled) from the boomama soup carnival. so i started the pot-o-broth with some additional frozen vegetable cuttings i had stored and continued cleaning the kitchen while the boys ate their breakfast.

after getting dressed, we all headed to michaels. it was a grey morning, but that didn't stop us from bringing some color inside! i had started clipping strips for the construction-paper-garland (that we all did as kids - but rowan and sawyer don't remember doing it last year, so it's new to them!) this morning, and we needed just a few other supplies for more kid-friendly christmas decorations.

i don't know about other moms with kids who like to make things and like to craft...but i always have an idea in my head about how something will turn out and it just doesn't turn out quite as i had planned. but i'm learning to let go of this and embrace my kids (very eager and yet oh-so-young) artistic endeavors. for instance...

i planned to make these with the boys:

instead, we ate gumdrops until we were sick worked hard and ended up with these treasures (with a lack of reds and purples. hrmmmm...):

after dinner this evening, we dug out our christmas stockings and hung them from the living room mantle. we set out our creche, only adding the animals and empty manger (the expectant family, kings, shepherd and angel are all the way back in the office starting their journey toward the creche set up in the living room).

rowan and sawyer have waited very patiently (okay, somewhat patiently) to eat their "bishop cookies." i made the recipe included in my last post on monday and we've been rolling and cutting out bishops everyday since then - adding smaller cutouts along the way to whet their appetite. the cookie is really good, by the way - it's not gingerbread, it's spice and goes really well with tea and coffee.

kenny and i are supposed to be imbibing in some mulled wine or cider right now - a traditional drink of st. nicholas eve. but honestly, we just finished preparing for the big breakfast we have planned tomorrow (stuffed french toast, cream cheese coffeecake, oranges, clementines and decorated bishop cookies), and we're exhausted already. it's a lovely 14 degrees outside and the flannel sheets on the bed are calling out LOUDLY.

happy st. nick's day! i hope to share a picture or two of our first family st. nicholas breakfast celebration sometime later this week. until then...enjoy your continued first week in advent!

we light today's candle remembering to hope:
        See, darkness covers the earth
        and thick darkness is over the peoples
        but the LORD rises upon you
        and his glory appears over you.

       Nations will come to your light,
       and kings to the brightness of your dawn.  
                            ~isaiah 60:2-3

i love this verse of hope in this advent hymn:
       yea, amen! let all adore thee
       high on thine eternal throne;
       saviour, take the power and glory;
       claim the kingdom for thine own;
       alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! thou shalt reign, and thou alone.

advent ideas for week one

• an advent wreath is so simple - four candles in a circle, three purple and one rose-colored, with a center white pillar candle. light one candle a week, starting with a purple candle (the tird week is the pink candle).
• at the beginning of advent we find ourselves celebrating st. nicholas. read about this real man here. you can also find resources at this site for family crafts, recipes, and traditions to celebrate a real man (a saint!).  how does st. nicholas tie into the christmas story?
  
• for st. nicholas day, make bishop cookies (recipe below) and pass around to friends, family, and neighbors.
  

this is a recipe for a traditional Nicholas cookie that comes out of the Rhineland. The cookie is called "Speculatius" which means "image." In Europe, the "image" is the mirror-image of a Nicholas which had been pressed into a wooden mold and then turned out on a sheet to bake in the oven. As we don't have these molds, we roll out dough and use a cardboard pattern (about 7-inches tall) of a gingerbread bishop to cut around for the basic shape and everyone further decorates it as the imagination dictates.

Mix in order:

1 cup shortening
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs whole
¾ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
4 cups flour
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons allspice
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 teaspoons ginger
2 teaspoons cloves

Turn out onto a floured board. Knead in about one cup additional flour or as much as you need until dough is no longer sticky and is easy to handle.

Put into a plastic bag and refrigerate until chilled and stiff. Then you are ready to roll out and cut the cookies. Cut off a manageable piece and keep the rest cool until you are ready for more.

For many little cut-out shapes, roll out the dough thinly. Thin cookies are tastiest.

For the larger, decorated St. Nicholas cookies, roll the dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Cut out cookie around paper pattern. Place on greased baking sheet.Then get inspired. Use scrappy bits of dough to decorate your Nicholas. For a beard press a little dough through a sieve or a garlic press. Use little balls of dough for eyes or buttons.

The same dough lends itself to all sorts of shapes and symbols and is useful for making "St. Nicholas awards" to certain people on this special occasion.

Bake at 350º F. until golden-brown. These keep forever in tins in the freezer or for two–three weeks on the shelf.