We had our first snow today. Out came the sleds, winter clothes and boots. We were excited to take EJ out on the hill and see if she had any Alaskan blood in her.

Despite being bundled up like Randy in A Christmas Story, EJ enjoyed every bit of it. We took her for a couple runs down the hill in the toboggan and let her taste first snowflakes. This was the kind of snow they sing about in the Christmas carols.

It has been snowing for the last ten hours and if the weather forecast is correct we should have another ten hours of accumulation to enjoy tomorrow. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

What traditions will be a part of our holiday celebrations for years to come? This is a question we ask ourselves more now that we have a little one and her holiday memories are being created.

We remember with much fondness all the wonderful things we did each year with our families. If any of those traditions had been omitted or changed, the holiday just would not have been the same. Going to a candlelit Christmas Eve service, cutting down a tree, and baking Christmas cookies are just some of the traditions we have carried over. There is still room for more traditions to be made and the Christmas Goose is one we would like to continue!

Avia picked up a ten pound goose from the local butcher and DaddyO picked out this recipe. There was a flurry of activity in the kitchen as we prepared our Christmas dinner feast. There was fresh baked bread, pomegranate spinach salad, green beans, and goose fat fried potatoes.

Plum pudding was one of the Christmas Eve traditions I enjoyed with my family when I was young. I remember my mom picking up suet from the butcher, the dried and candied fruit from the grocer, and the rum from the liquor store the week before Christmas.

When we returned home the house had a wonderful smell of cinnamon and spices. We sat in the living room by the light of the Christmas tree, waiting for my mom to bring the flaming cake into the room.


My mom decided we needed to bring this tradition back, and I think it will be one we continue for years to come with EJ.

Here is a wonderful passage in Dicken's A Christmas Carole that brilliantly describes the plum pudding tradition...

Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone – too nervous to bear witnesses – to take the pudding up and bring it in.

Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! Suppose somebody should have got over the wall of the back-yard, and stolen it, while they were merry with the goose – a supposition at which the two young Cratchits became livid! All sorts of horrors were supposed.

Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycook’s next door to each other, with a laundress’s next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered – flushed, but smiling proudly – with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.

How far do you have to travel to see the "Best Christmas Display in the World"? If you live in Pennsylvania, not very far.

This was our first time visiting this Christmas wonderland, and what a treat it was! We have seen some beautiful Christmas displays in our travels but nothing has compared to the amount of lights and displays we enjoyed at at Koziar's.

The drive down the hill towards the farm is magical. I have heard that the traffic to get into Koziars can be a couple hours long, but we were able to get in right away and there were not any long lines. It might have been the fact that the temperature was in the thirties. The majority of the things to see are outside but fortunately my mom had been warned about going in the cold and we were well prepared. We did have to make a few stops in the outlying building to warm up with some apple cider, but that just added to the fun of the winter night.


This will be even more enjoyable for EJ as she gets older!

The Lehigh Valley is heavily influenced by the "Pennsylvania Dutch" who immigrated here from Germany before the Revolution War. A visit to my parent's local farmers market reminded us of how strong that influence still is.

Rosettes bring a wonderful Christmas market smell to the air and are delicious to eat hot out of the pan. I grew up in Minnesota which probably explains why my family would make this Norwegian cookie at Christmas time.

It is probably easier to enjoy Rosettes without seeing how they are made, but if you have a rosette iron and want to try a fun and unusual cookie, here is the recipe!

I love watching EJ and Capri play. When I hear a giggle or a bark I know they have found something to play with together. Usually it is one of EJ’s stuffed toys; in this case it was a sock.

This was the first Christmas gift I gave DaddyO when he was a flight student in Pensacola. He was living in an apartment and didn't have any decorations up. I could not let him get away without having a tree so I found this little evergreen and made it into an advent calendar. It now is one of the decorations that we put up every year and has become part of our Christmas traditions. When EJ is older I will start filling the boxes with presents that she can open each day.


The presents under the tree are matchboxes covered in origami paper. They are and numbered on the bottom from 1 to 25.