A Mom's Year

Creating a comfortable life one moment at a time

A Bed for Kanani / American Girl Doll Project

I’m taking a break from digging out from under the usual post-Christmas detritus to show you the gift I’m most excited about this year. (Actually, it’s the one I’m second-most excited about, but more on that later.) My parents created this adorable bed for Lily’s new American Girl doll, Kanani. Kanani lives in Hawaii, which gave my mother the wonderfully inspired idea to use a hula skirt as a bedskirt. And she somehow managed to find fabric that goes perfectly with flowers from a dollar store lei. Brilliant. Grandpa did his part and made a nice sturdy bed with a simple but charming headboard. Lily’s expression when she saw the bed was as priceless as you’d imagine.

And now back to the salt mines. Today’s goal is to find homes for all the new Christmas presents and deal with the packaging they came in so we can start taking decorations down tomorrow. Do you take your decorations down right after Christmas or do you leave them up through New Year’s? I like to have everything cleared away for the New Year, but I have a friend who left her tree up for so long she ended up decorating it with hearts for Valentine’s Day.

Merry Christmas from the Taylors!

It’s evening on Christmas Day and I’m feeling thankful for so many things. For friends who bring fun and excitement to every occasion. For family who can always be counted on to make the season bright. For children who gasp with excitement at beautiful Christmas lights and stockings filled to the brim. For a husband who didn’t once tell me I was trying to do too much, but instead asked what he could do to help. And, of course, for a God who fills our lives with peace and joy.

With warmest wishes from our family to yours this Christmas and in the year to come.

Homemade Gingerbread Playdoh

I’m so glad I still have a little helper who gets excited about making things like homemade Gingerbread Playdoh. Lily and I made a batch using Sugarbelle’s recipe this morning. It filled the kitchen with a nice, Christmas-y scent and the warm dough was very relaxing to knead.

We played around with different packaging techniques and ended up using a bit of fabric left over from last year and borrowing Sugarbelle’s idea of tying a gingerbread man cookie cutter to the jar. We’ll definitely be making more gingerbread playdoh over the break to play “bakery.” And I’ll file the recipe away to make more gifts for next year.

Christmas Favorites / A Child’s Christmas in Wales

I had a great time delivering Christmas gifts to teachers and school staff yesterday and was feeling full of Christmas cheer. But by the end of the day I was also thinking: enough already. Which isn’t good because it’s not even Christmas yet.

And then I realized I hadn’t watched any of my favorite Christmas movies. So after dinner we popped Elf into the DVD player and snuggled in to watch. It was just the boost I needed. In the next day or two I’m hoping to watch Miracle on 34th Street and A Christmas Story to keep the mood going.

My all-time favorite Christmas movie, though, is A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Do you know it? This short film is based on a piece originally written for radio in 1952 by Dylan Thomas. I was introduced to this wonderful work, which is the most poetic piece of prose I’ve ever met, by Sister Margery Smith at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul. Sister Margery and I clicked right off the bat—in part, I think, because she got such a kick out of the fact that a person could be named Shannon Colleen O’Donnell and attend an all-girls’ Catholic college and not actually be a Catholic. (A small pocket of my family are Lutheran, due more to logistics than anything.) Her English literature class was a revelation and probably the biggest influence behind my choice to be an English major. I had always loved books, but Sister Margery’s genius in finding the hidden connections between literature and life triggered a desire in me to do the same.

When Grandma Marilyn, my mom, and I were planning our long-dreamed of trip to England in the late ’90s, I went to visit Sister Margery, who was still holding state at St. Kate’s, to get her advice for what to do and see. She had great sightseeing tips, but what I remember most is her insistence that we try some hard cider in the west country. She also recommended the wonderful book My Love Affair with England by fellow anglophile and local writer Susan Allen Toth. The last I heard, Sister Margery was still going strong as the college’s archivist.

So back to A Child’s Christmas in Wales: you can go here to hear a sample of Dylan Thomas reading the story in his rolling Welsh baritone. Reading the book or listening to the audio alone would do the trick, but if you can get your hands on a copy of this DVD you really should. You know how sometimes the movie version of a book you love can be disappointing? Well, this film gets everything right. From the village set to the music to Denholm Elliot’s warmth, this little gem is Christmas to me. I feel a little unsporting, though, recommending it because new copies are rare and cost an arm and a leg. (Shoot me an e-mail if you can’t find one and we can talk.)

{ Sister Margery also shared A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote with the class. Tim reads this beautifully loving and bittersweet short story to us over the course of a few days each year starting the night after Thankgiving. }

Scherenschnitte Angels

Have you heard of scherenschnitte? It’s the German name for a very old tradition of cutting paper into decorations. Grandma Marilyn (whose maternal grandfather was German) is a master of scherenschnitte (pronounced shear’ en-schnit-tah). She’s sold her creations for years and has even been asked to dress up in costume and give demonstrations at local historic events.

Grandma gave me the pattern for these angels when I was not much older than Andrew. It came from an old book of designs by a folk artist named Pam Neely. I made the angels for all the aunts and uncles and my friends that Christmas and have continued to make them ever since. I like to give them to teachers and friends and others who have been like real angels in our lives. You can give one as a gift all by itself or attach one as an embellishment on a wrapped gift. Here’s a better photo of what they look like on a tree.

Here’s a pdf of the angels if you’d like to give it a try: scherenschnitte angel. To make the angels, use a pencil to copy the design onto thin tracing paper. Then secure the tracing-paper pattern with tape onto cutting paper that you’ve folded in half. Line up the edge of the angel design with the fold in the paper. You can use plain computer paper or antique-looking paper from a craft store. The angel that I show here is one I made for Grandma Charlotte. I’m impressed that I sewed it (now I just use staples), but my attempt to use coffee to make it look “antiqued” didn’t go very well, as you can see from the brown splotch in the back!

You’ll need to cut out two of the folded-over angels using sharp little scissors. Then you just place the folds together and sew or staple them up the middle (two staples works fine). Thread a needle with some white or red thread or string, poke it through the top, tie it up (leaving enough excess thread to hang it on your Christmas tree), and you’re all set.

I’m grateful to Grandma for passing this tradition on to me because seeing these angels hanging on our tree and knowing they’re hanging on the trees of so many people we love is part of what makes Christmas so special for me.