At the Cabin

Hello! We recently went on a little vacation to a cabin in Idaho. It was beautiful and snowy and relaxing. Charlotte and I took the time to read some books together in front of the Christmas tree while Becca explored the house. 

Charlotte was reading Little Women, per my suggestion. I was quite surprised when she said she'd never read it!

I was reading Mary Poppins for, oh, probably the fourth or fifth time! It's such a fun one.

We were having a grand time, reading away and giggling at the funny parts, when Becca came in with a pack of Apples to Apples cards. 

"Hey, you two bookworms!" she said, cheerfully, "D'you want to play Apples to Apples?"

 "Sounds good to me," Charlotte agreed, "I've read several chapters already."
"You're reading Little Women?" Becca asked, "Did you get to the chapter where they go on the picnic? That's my favorite--their story is hilarious!"
Charlotte laughed. "No, I haven't read that much yet!"

By the time they were finished reminiscing about Alcott's classic, Becca had removed and sorted the cards, which had clearly been returned to their box in a hurry by some previous cabin vacationer. 

"Here, Becca, I'll shuffle them," I offered.

"How many cards do I deal out?" I asked, when I'd finished shuffling.
"Hmm...I can't remember, let me check," Becca replied, pulling out the instructions. "Let's see, five per player."
Once I'd dealt, we all settled in for a crazy round of Apples to Apples.

 "Okay, the category is 'Good,'" Becca said, drawing a green card.
I looked through my cards, "Rock Stars...aren't really any good, Tacos are good tasting, Cavities are terrible, Lemonade is delicious, and A Dollar is pretty good, but you can't buy much with it," I thought to myself. After a bit more deliberation, I chose Lemonade, 'cause Becca loves it, so there was a good chance she'd pick it.

 Then she read off our answers, "Lemonade or A Pile of Leaves. Hmm...lemonade is delicious, but a pile of leaves is a lot of fun," she paused, "I think I'll have to go with lemonade!"
"Yes!" I cried, taking the green card.

And so, the game went on. Each in our turn reading off the other two's silly answers and deciding between them. 

 We had an awesome time, and there was quite a mess of cards afterwards!

 Until nest time!
~ Kirsten

Christmas Time

"Charlotte, wake up, it's Christmas!"

Someone was patting my head and I opened my eyes to see Kirsten looking right at me. 

"Come on," she said.

"Oh boy, Christmas!" I hopped up and we both slid down from the top bunk that we share.

"Wake up, Becca!" I said cheerfully. The mass of hair and curlers groaned.
"Huh?"
"Becca, it's Christmas!"
"She's usually the first one up," Kirsten commented, "But those curlers can be pretty painful."
"Whew!" and with that she too slipped out of bed.

Stretching and yawing, winking and blinking, we were finally all up.
"Yikes, I'd forgotten what fun it is to sleep with curlers in," Becca exclaimed.
"Try sleeping with claw clips needling your head all night," I added.
"Hmm, I slept pretty well..." teased Kirsten.

We laughed as we stumbled to the closet and pulled out our outfits. We don't own any Christmas dresses - we really don't have many occasions for fancy clothes - but we dress up for each other as best we can.

"Can someone zip me up?" Kirsten asked.
"Why certainly, Madam," and with a curtsy that nearly sent her sprawling, Becca did so.
"What're you going to wear?" I asked Becca, who was looking into the closet.
"Hmm...I must admit I'm unsure," she said, "Aha, I've found just the thing!"

Once she too was dressed, Kirsten set about removing the curlers from Becca's hair, with many an "Ow!" from Becca and "Sorry," from Kirsten interjected throughout the process. While they finished their painful task, I undid my own hair from its little knots and set about fixing my curls.

Eventually, we were all dressed and trussed and seated around our tree.
"Well, Charlotte, why don't you open yours first?" Kirsten asked.
"If it's okay with Becca," I said.
"Pshaw, I don't care," she said, "just open it up already!"

We laughed and I reached for the one with my name on it. I had no idea what it could be.

"Oh wow, a hat!" I exclaimed, lifting it up. "It's so pretty, I love the cable knit!"
"And it'll go well with your snow clothes, too," Kirsten added.
"Thank you!" I said.

"Open yours now, Kirsten!" Becca exclaimed, handing it to her.
"Okay," she said, ripping it open.

"Oh, a sweater, it's beautiful! I love the pattern!" exclaimed Kirsten.
"It'll look really good with your eyes," I said.
"Thanks!" she said.

"Oh boy, now it's my turn!" Becca said, "I have absolutely no idea what it'll be!"
"Good," I laughed.

Becca ripped the paper off eagerly.

 "Snowshoes, awesome!" she said, "wow, thanks!"
"You're welcome!"
"Now if only it would snow..."

After we'd admired our gifts for a time, we cleaned up and Becca went to the piano. I brought out the cookies and we all sang Christmas carols and ate Christmas cookies together by the pretty tree.

It was the most wonderful Christmas ever! I hope yours was just as lovely!

~ Charlotte

Our ChristmasTree

(We realize that most folk have set up their Christmas trees by now, but we've been busy and this post is a little late).

Anyway, a few days ago we went out to a cabin (we'll have to post those pics later) but on our way home we cut down a Christmas tree! Charlotte and I ran into the house to move the furniture.

"Quick Charlotte, Becca's almost got the tree down off the car!" 

"Should we just move these into the kitchen?" she asked.

"I think so. We won't mind being squished for a few weeks." I replied.

 Just then, Becca came in, dragging the tree after her.
"Watch out!" I cried, "You're running into the table!"
"Whoops!" she laughed, "help me lift this tree up, will ya'?"

 All together, we carefully lifted the tree.
"Ow, the branches are getting stuck in my hair!" exclaimed Charlotte.
"Hey, you two trapped me back here!" I laughed, "Let me out!"

Once I was set free, Charlotte ran off the get the box of ornaments, and I helped Becca straighten the tree.

"Ooh," said Charlotte, pulling out a strand of gold balls, "We should put this up first."
"That sounds about right, " I said, taking it from her and stringing it up.

Once those were up, Charlotte handed us ornaments and we hung them on the tree.
"I think my favorite are the light blue ones," I said.
"Hmm...I prefer the red, they're so cheery!" said Becca.
"Well, I like the white ones best," added Charlotte, with a laugh.

As we added the last ornaments, Charlotte got up and put some on as well.
"The only thing left is the star, does anyone mind if I put that up?" Charlotte asked eagerly.
"I don't!" Becca and I replied together.

"Great!" she said, and with that she dragged over a chair and hopped up with the star.
"Oops, I can't quite reach. Can you tip the branch towards me?"
And with that done, our tree was perfect!

Somehow, we didn't end up with any photos of the finished tree, but it looks beautiful, trust me!

Merry Christmas!
~Kirsten

Snowflakes and Sugar Cookies

Greetings, all! It's been cold and wet and not snowing (phooey) here so I decided to cheer things up with some sugar cookies.

I've never met someone who didn't like sugar cookies, I mean, how could you not like them? They're sweet, and a little crunchy, and they have frosting!!

I decided to make them with vanilla, not peppermint, 'cause we didn't have any peppermint. I also put on some Christmas music, the perfect background for baking Christmas cookies!

While I baked, Kirsten and Charlotte made some snowflakes (paper ones, that is), 'cause we're tired of the lack of snow around here! If we can't have snow outside, we might as well have some inside!

Despite the lack of holiday cheer outside, there has been plenty indoors! We set out our snowglobe and nativity scene a few days ago, and we're hoping to get our tree soon. There's also been plenty of whispering and whisking away of catalogues and boxes, a sure sign that Christmas is near!

Anyway, I do love sugar cookie dough, even if it does have raw eggs in it. Does anyone else eat it anyway? 

"God rest ye merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay..." my sisters and I always sing along to the music, even if we aren't very good!

Cutting out the cookies is my favorite part, especially since we bought some new cookie cutters!

I slid them onto the cookie sheet and popped them into the hot oven!

Six minutes later, I pulled them out again, this time with crunchy brown edges!

While they cooled, I whipped up some frosting, of which I also partook, it's jsut so delicious!

"What do you think of this one, Kirsten?" Charlotte was saying when I set the platter of cookies on the table.
"It looks perfect!" she exclaimed, "but it looks like Becca's done with the cookies, so let's clear the table."

When I came back with the frosting, they had moved the snowflake supplies to one side and were picking out some cookies to decorate.
"These look fantastic!"Charlotte declared.
"Thank you," I replied, handing Kirsten the spatula. "We only have two spoons, so we'll have to take turns."

"That's alright," they agreed, and we set to work. I brought the sprinkles over, too, and we had a grand time decorating our cookies and singing along to all the classic Christmas carols. 

~Rebecca