The village and a boy

Last night we had a fun time building a gingerbread village for our advent activity.  We used a kit by Wilton that contains 5 buildings, which is very handy when you have several kids that each want to put their own design touch into the creation.  We used the same kit last year, and it seemed to work out well enough that we went for it again this year.  Stephanie and Eliza teamed up to put together one of the houses while the rest of us picked our own to work with. I like that each of the buildings is a different shape, so there is no competition of whose is done better, each one is a unique creation.  Ok, starting to sound like a Sunday School lesson, on with the photos!

Jason piping out the icing

Eliza is using the force to hold the roof up.

Tornado Ian struck, so Jason is re-erecting the house. 

The village all lined up.  The house on the left is what Caroline made at school.

Close up.

They didn't stay upright, but didn't fall over, either.

This evening Ian had his Christmas program for the Early Childhood Center at Church at the Crossing.  Since it is all 2-5 year olds, the kids are on stage for a quick song and then get to go back to Mom and Dad.  Short attention spans on the kids part = short show, and with cookies afterwards for a sugar buzz, everyone wins!

Ian rocking the claps, and I thought he would be the one not into it.

Santa Claus

There comes a point in our lives that we each have to decide for ourselves what we will draw a hard line on and choose on which side we will stand. As parents to four people who we have been entrusted to introduce to the world and teach them how they should live in it, these hard lines are often magnified.


One such hard line that we all have to decide where we fall on is that of Truth, and how we will interact with it. For Jason and myself, we have chosen that we will always choose to speak the truth with one another, our children and everyone that we interact with in our lives. We want there to be no question that the words that we speak are true, to the best of our knowledge. It's easy to say that you will always choose to speak the truth, but much more challenging to put into practice than one might think.


Especially at Christmas time.


You see, we are also huge proponents for exercising the imagination and embracing the magic and wonder in the world--and children naturally have a propensity to explore this realm. So, when the questions started this year from our 6 and 4-year-old daughters about Santa Claus and if he is real, we were required to actively take our stance on one side or the other of the hard line of Truth, while also teaching our children respect for others and an understanding for how and why other families make different choices in their observance of Santa Claus as part of their Christmas traditions.


Since this conversation was one between Jason and our oldest girls in the car travelling home from school, I will turn it over to him to share how he explained Santa Claus to Caroline and Lydia with grace, respect and simplicity.


(tap tap) Um, is this thing on?  Hello?  O, um, ok...So, yeah, there we were driving along, listening to some festive music on the radio.  The girls like to chatter about what they have been up to for the day, usually in a one sided conversation.  I will get asked questions, but never really given an opportunity to answer.  Not this time.  "Daddy, is Santa Claus real?".  (chirp chirp chirp).  I pause, hoping to avert the question and that they will continue on as usual.  Not this time.  The question is repeated.  Another pause.


I gather my wits, racking my brain how I need to explain things.  I open my mouth, and words start to flow forth.  It was some stammering at first, but soon comprehensible speech starts to flow.  It went something like this:

"No, honey, Santa Claus is not a real person.  That name is derived from 

Saint Nicholas who lived a very long time ago.  He liked to help out people by giving them gifts.  He did it secretly, so that they did not know who was giving them the gifts.  He helped them by giving them money or maybe food or clothes, whatever they needed.  Well, some people thought that this was a good idea, giving people gifts secretly to help them out.  That tradition has continued through the years, and what people would do is say that their gift was from Santa Claus.  Do you see how it sounds similar to Saint Nicholas?  So, some parents like to say that the gifts their children get are from Santa Claus because they like to play the secret game with them.  Your mom and I like you kids to know that the gifts came from us, so we decided not to play that game. We didn't feel the need to give them secretly.  

"So, girls, even though your mom and I don't play that game with you, I hope that you understand that other boys and girls parents play that game with them.  They have fun playing it, and so we don't want to ruin the game for them.  We don't need to go around telling other boys and girls that there is not a Santa Claus.  We will let their parents do that when they are done playing the game."

I repeated the last part a few times to make sure that it sunk in, 'DON'T RUIN IT FOR OTHERS!'  As a general disclaimer, I understand that my history on Saint Nicholas may not be 100% accurate, but I think I got the gist of it.  Ok, back to Steph.


When Jason shared with me last night about the pointed question that the girls asked him and how he relayed to them the truth, as best as he knows it, I was struck. The girls knew that they could ask him a question that they have been unable to get a straight answer from many people about, and trusted their dad to tell them the truth. There is something sacred in that relationship and their trust that I hope never gets destroyed.


I want our children to always know that they can ask us the hard questions, and that we will give them the most honest answer that we know. It might not be a popular response, but it's Truth. From where we sit, looking down the road of life, there is too much riding on them knowing that every word that comes from our lips is Truth to give them anything less. Even if it's about a subject as innocuous as Santa Claus.

Photo credit: hilariousheadlines.com

Cookies!

We made our first round of Christmas cookies with the kids tonight for our Advent activity. First, we mixed up Stephanie's favorite sugar cookies to chill overnight and bake tomorrow. She has a reprint of the same 1960's Betty Crocker Cooky Book that her mom used when Stephanie  was a child, so we include many of the same Christmas cookie recipes that she's made for 25+ years in our holiday baking each year.


Once the sugar cookie dough was chilling, we mixed up, cut out and baked a few dozen gingerbread cookies together. Thankfully, things went smoothly, so there are no epic stories, but here are some photos from our evening:

Eliza decided to play with the butter box. 

Waiting patiently for instructions.

Adding ingredients.

More ingredients.

Someone sneaking a taste of the dough. She thought she snuck it.

Cutting out the cookies.

Getting them ready for the oven.

Waiting to bake. Messy hands.  Good times.

It's Chicken Broth Day!

Everything you need to make chicken broth is right here!

Last night's roasted chicken dinner is seeing a new life today. In a previous post, I mentioned how we get at least 3 meals out of one chicken to feed our family of 6. While I'm saving the shredded chicken for another night, today I am making chicken stock to freeze and use in many of the soups and other savory recipes that we'll prepare this Winter. You can read about the nutritional benefits of bone broths, such as this chicken stock here.


While I modify it a bit from time to time, my recipe for chicken broth is super simple!


1 gallon of water
1-2 chicken carcasses, picked pretty clean (I like to use 2, so I usually have one waiting in my freezer until the second carcass is ready)
1 small yellow onion, quartered
whatever veggie scraps are on hand (for us, that's usually a few carrots, celery tops, broccoli stalks or a lonely leek)


I put my chicken carcass(es) in a 7-qt. Dutch Oven, or you could use a stock pot. Fill almost to the top with water. Add in the onion and veggie scraps and turn the stove to high until the water comes to a boil. Once it begins boiling, I turn the heat down to a simmer, put a lid on it and leave it alone to simmer for a few hours. Once it's cooked down for a few hours, I turn the heat off until it's cool enough to pull out the bones and what's left of the veggies, then strain the stock from the pot.
What's left is a couple of beautiful, golden quarts of homemade chicken stock!


And when you pull it out of your freezer to make made-from-scratch soup, your family and friends will think you are a culinary genius. You don't have to tell them how incredibly simple and easy it was if you don't want to. It can be our secret.


Update: A photo of the finished product:

Just shy of 3 quarts chicken stock going into the deep freeze!

How Did I Get Here?

"How did I get here?"


Do you ever step back from your life and wonder that to yourself?


Here is the super-short version of how we got here, to become The Simpson Six:


Well, once upon a springtime, a 19-year-old-hippie-college-guy passed a 21-year-old-wide-eyed-and-in-her-own-world-college-gal in the middle of the street and he crossed his eyes at her. She went back to her girlfriends and informed them that Jason Simpson was going to be her new best friend. We attended a small college...so even if you didn't *know* someone, you at least knew who they were--especially if he had hair past his shoulders and never wore shoes.


Then a few weeks later they happened to be diving into the same rock quarry one afternoon after classes with some mutual friends and she caught him staring at her (and he probably caught her staring back). Well, let's fast forward about 4 months to the end of the summer when "Boy Who Does Strange Things With His Eyes" and "Miss Stephanie" finally, officially met...and were instantly inseparable...and so began the start of life as we know it.


Some things are easier than others to pinpoint exactly how you got to where you are now.


What about how you got to the city where you live? Can you pinpoint the moment that led you to the place that you call home? What about the neighborhood (or not) where you live and the house or apartment where you reside?

What about the car that you drive? Or did you make a conscious decision not to own a car? How did you get there?


What form of exercise to you enjoy? Do you enjoy exercise? How did you land on the level of activity that you currently practice?


What is your occupation? Do you have an occupation? Is it by choice or by chance that you are in this role or not at this time? Is this occupation a long-term career that you plan to remain in? For how long? Is it a short-term job that is right for right now? Are you living your dream?


How did I get here?


What foods do you choose to consume? Do you know why you choose to purchase the foods that you eat when you visit the grocery store each week? Do you visit the grocery store each week? How did you learn to cook what you eat, or when did you decide that you were not going to cook your own meals?


If you practice a religion or call a faith your own, how did you get there? Do you know why you believe and do not believe that which you do? What led you to those decisions?


We are the sum of our experiences, but can we always recall what experiences have shaped us to be who we are today? 


How did I get here?


Do you live your life with a purpose in mind and can you point to the markers along the way that have led you to where you are today? If you look back, can you see the answer to "How did I get here?"


More importantly, do you like where you are? Life is not a game of chance. Live intentionally. 


When you look for the answer to "How did I get here?", may you have a smile in your heart as you recall the moments in which you made the little decisions that pointed you in the direction of living the life that you want to live. Even if it's as seemingly insignificant as crossing your eyes at the cute girl in the middle of the street, or smiling back at the barefoot hippie crossing his eyes at you, may you always find the answer to "How did I get here?".

Christmas Cards, Revisited

So we finally got our Christmas cards in the mail this week. After completing that venture, I wanted to come back to say just how thrilled we are with Tiny Prints, both with the quality of their work and the service that they provided!

Their site offered very fast turn-around on our custom cards. From submitting our order until they were in our hands with standard shipping was barely a week--including the Thanksgiving holiday! They communicated every step of the way with where our order was at in the process--and with fast-turn-around, that meant we received updates 2-3 times in one day while it moved through their offices. Most importantly to us was that they followed our special instructions with formatting and printing exactly as requested. We've definitely found a new go-to shop for our family's custom printing!

And if they can make this motley crew look good, that's an added bonus!

Decorating with snow

So as my wife so ecstatically put it earlier this evening, "It looks like Buddy the Elf has visited our house!"  For those of you that don't know who that is (and by now I will admit I am a bit surprised at your obliviousness), Buddy is the character that Will Ferrell played in the movie, Elf.


This evening, we opened door number four from our advent house (follow the link to read about it).  The slip of paper instructed us to decorate the doors of our home.  We pulled out ribbons, bows, wrapping paper, tape and scissors.  The safety kind that are made for the kids to use. To cut paper.  Responsibly.  Under adult supervision.  


Anyways, the kids then set out to decorate anything less than 4 feet high.  They had to come to me to get tape to hang things, so I was able to (constantly) guide them towards the door that we were currently decorating.  Moving swiftly from bag of bows and ribbon to dad for tape to each door throughout the house, the kids soon had each door sparkling  and rattling with ribbons and bows with Stephanie following behind to re-stick items that were falling off from being too hastily hung.  


Then came out the paper.  As a side note, we both admit that we have pack rat tendencies, and this holds true for wrapping paper.  We have a box filled with previously used paper, sometimes four or five times, that we will reuse as many times as we can for smaller and smaller gifts.  This is made possible by our meticulous opening of gifts to preserve the wrapping.  The kids just shred stuff.  They have more fun, hands down.  So, culling from this resource, I procured some remnants for the children to cut up or fold to their liking for decorating purposes.  They mostly stuck rectangle-esque pieces to the doors to represent presents.  I was able to fold some pieces for a more three dimensional representation.  


Then we pulled out some white paper and sat the kids down at the table to start creating our snow flakes.  The original intent was to make a few for each person, but I sort of brought over a large stack of paper (no short supply, see pack rat tendencies), so we just went at it until the paper ran out.  After a quick tutorial on how to fold and cut the paper, and seeing the results, the kids were off in a flurry of paper scraps and cutting sounds.  I had a hard time keeping up with them both in having paper ready and making my own snowflakes.  Meanwhile the sparkle in my wife's eye just got brighter and brighter the more flakes we cut.  I did not realize the decorating plans that she had in her mind, and that it was growing with each flake that we cut out. 


I will admit, I thought that this had the potential to be a 20 minute activity and that the kids would probably throw a few things on two doors and then get distracted.  What happened was almost 2 hours of paper shredding fun.  Yes, we made a big mess, but did we ever have fun doing it.


These are the Christmas memories I want to make.  Thanks kids!

Caroline working on their bedroom door. 

Ian hanging wrapping paper up.

Stephanie demonstrates how to fold the paper for snowflakes.

Eliza had fun playing with all of the scraps and watching.

The aftermath.  Peekaboo, Lydia.

The fruits of our labor.  They are strung all around the house.