Elfing Around

December arrived, and with it our Elf on the Shelf, "Barrigade." This is our third year celebrating the holiday season with the daily antics of our silly elf, and just as last year I'm wondering if this will be our last. Little Man is now 11 years old and will be headed for Middle School in the summer, and well, how long can you actually keep on believing in a world that bares it all all the time?

So far, so good. There was some empirical testing (he secretly touched the elf only to find out he was still moving through the house and committing his silly pranks at night - results of this test are, as of yet, inconclusive ... heh. Besides, we 'believe' that if you stop believing in Santa or, in my German case, the Christkind, you will only receive socks and underwear as presents) but he was and is still pretty excited to find the elf in the morning.

Husband and I enjoy coming up with crazy ideas to make finding our little elf fun to start off the day. Mind you, we have never used him as a parenting tool and/or in-house creepy stalker secret agent - we have fun with it, and leave the rest to Little Man's imagination.

So here are a few shots of our elf from this year - more to follow! Enjoy!

Rough trip back from the North Pole 

or feeling sympathetic to Little Man's minor foot surgery?

Playing Little Man's least favorite game with Enderman

Worst cookies ever - Do not feed (milkbones) to Santa!

Catching up on the chocolate advent calendar for Little Man - yes, he stole a piece of chocolate when Little Man wasn't up-to-date on opening his advent calendar. Bad elf!

A Little Bit Of Christmas

Thanksgiving zip-zoomed right by, and 'ere we realized Christmas came to town! Life has been busy at the Little Old House, not so much with home improvement projects but rather with cleaning up and hiding all of the signs of a 'work in progress' ie random tools, screws, nails, sanding paper, paint cans, brushes, and more and cleaning the house to prepare for the arrival of family staying with us over the holidays.

One by one the holiday decorations are going up: first the door wreath gets a new look, and then, slowly, it spreads through the house, adding lights here, an ornament there.

A traditional Advent wreath takes up the place of honor on the dining room table (and gets moved around a lot because the dining room is more of a living room/ family room for us - we hang out here a lot, crafting away, doing homework, and eat).

Frosted glass and glittering snowflakes create the illusion of a winter wonderland and yet, this year, winter has been surprisingly mild. Sure, we had a few cold spells, with temperatures even dipping into the low 30s but right now we are safely back to shorts and t-shirts. (And there was much rejoicing!)

While I was born, grew up and spend the first 30 years of my life in Germany, I do not miss the cold. Nor do I need cold weather to get all excited over Christmas. No, Sireeeee, no snow, no freezing temperatures for me, thank you veeeeery much!

Snow is highly overrated. Christmas is all in the lights, the sparkling ornaments, the fun of finding and hiding away the perfect gift, the spicy sweetness of all things Cinnamon. And marzipan. Cannot - must not - forget marzipan! 

And the elf.
Barrigade is back for another year of elfcapades and is still well-loved and admired by the Little Man. Every year I keep worrying/wondering if this will be the last year he believes, and I cherish every chance I have making it last.

Try hiding your elf in the freezer with an empty cup of ice cream - that'll do it ;)

Christmas at the Ugly Duckling

 The holidays went by in a whirl: together with my in-laws we celebrated "Pre-Christmas," a week early since due to weird work schedules (my father-in-law is a pastor and my husband a journalist) we weren't able to meet up in the north for a family gathering this year on Christmas. Instead, they came down to see us in bright and sunny Florida. Together we went hunting for a Christmas tree, decorated it, spent lots of time chatting and playing boardgames, and in good old family-tradition nearly an entire day unwrapping Christmas presents.

A week later, just the three of us here at the Ugly Duckling celebrated Christmas again, going to Midnight Christmas Mass at First UMC downtown, woke up amazed that Santa had come -again- and brought some more presents, and savored family time galore over new boardgames and a long and tasty fondue for dinner. I feel wonderfully re-charged and assured in God's love and his blessings for us. Life cannot get any better than this. I am loved and I am blessed many many times over.

B is back!

Finally, the wait is over!
Barrigade, Little Man's beloved Elf on the Shelf, is back and has been causing mischief all over our Ugly Duckling House since his arrival on December 1.

Just like last year he's been hamming it up for the camera while causing mischief, and we're happy to share his antics with you!

He discovered that there are sweet treats hidden in Little Man's Advent
calendar and taste-tested a piece ...

... before long he found the deer candle holder and went for a ride. We think it must
have reminded him of Santa's reindeers.

 He was curious about Little Man's music collection and snagged his mp3 player
to spend the night listening to music.

 Then he got into trouble. We still don't know who to suspect of locking him into a jar ...

... and after escaping (we opened the lid so he could climb back out) , he painted a sweet little painting for Little Man.

We can't wait to see what else he will be up to until Christmas!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

 Finally! It's that time of the year again.
As of December 1, the Christmas Season has officially arrived at the Ugly Duckling house. Throughout the coming weeks, I'll be adding little bits of Christmas and Winter decor here and there. It's a slow but steady process with lots of old-time favorites making their annual appearance and a few new items shining for the first time.

The first thing I changed, of course, was our front door wreath. Nothing better to herald the season and to give you a first taste of what to expect inside!

 This year I kept it simple, picking up on the bird and nature theme we seem to have going in the dining room. I just couldn't resist picking up this cute chubby bird with its sparkly pine cone wings and snow white belly. So stinkin' cute!
I have gobs of those soft brassy sparkling snowflakes I love to sprinkle all over the house - their warm sparkle and filigree shape tickles me pink. You can find them for very little money (less than $3 for a box of 12) at W-mart and even pick up their buddies like snowmen, etc. in other colors

 The next thing to be decorated was the fireplace mantle. Once you set foot into our vestibule it's the first thing your eye is drawn to. Now more than ever after I added the lit pine garland, and sparkly snowflakes!
I picked up a very pretty, pale pink and white poinsettia at the blue box, kept the stack of vintage books and vintage typewriter and added our Christmas-Countdown chalk board to make everything look a bit less serious. If you look closely, you can spy our elf on the shelf "Barrigade" on his first day this year.

 More lights!
The diningroom came next!
Every year I create an Advent calendar for Little Man, and we have had this particular one for the last four or five years. It's a real classic: I sewed up 24 little bags, hand numbered them and each year I fill them with little goodies (chocolate, candy, etc) and toys (LEGO mini-figures work great as well as stickers, pencils, etc.) and little notes suggesting Christmas-type activities from "drive through the neighborhood looking at lights" to "take photos wearing Santa hats."

 In the windows I hung pine wreaths with sprigs of holly with white berries and 'snow-covered' pine cones. Then I discovered those beautiful glass ornaments at W-mart featuring this little glassine bird print suspended inside the glass orb. It has a frosty frozen beauty to it, and I love it to bits! Not to mention it picks up on the pattern of the dining room curtains. Woot!

Just in time for the first of Advent I managed to put together our advent wreath. Again sparkly snowflakes make an appearance along with a few other of my Christmas staples.

We love it cozy and traditional with a little bit of glitz and sparkle and some rustic elements thrown into the mix. What's your Christmas flavor?

Merry Christmas!

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
from my family
to yours!

I like to move it, move it ...

When we talked about Christmas here at the Ugly Duckling, we always kind of envisioned our Christmas tree in the living room in front of the big door with the sidelights. That way we would be able to enjoy from the dining room as well since it's in direct line with the pocket doors.

Ever since we moved in, our living room couch had been sitting angled to line up with the fire place and we liked it. In order to make sure the Christmas tree didn't end up in our back, we had to do some furniture shuffling and pushed the couch back against the wall.


When I took this picture I was standing in the archway between vestibule aka the entry hall and our living room. The pocket doors to the dining room are off to the right (as is the TV) and that's husband's rolltop desk to my left.

Did I mention I love my shiny heart pine floors? Yes, the rug is technically too small but it gives you a nice fluffy spot to dig your toes into while showing off most of the beautiful original floors in our Ugly Duckling.

Now the fireplace is no longer center of attention but other than that the new layout makes the room feel bigger and it's growing on us.

Once the tree was up, we did some decorating. This process took days, with an hour here and an hour there squeezed in between chores and guests and work and life.

Usually I tie bows to the end of the branches but with a red cedar that's pretty difficult. Two other possibilities for ribbon placement had made the rounds on the internet, so we gave both a shot to see which one we liked better (best).

Oh yes, I should have warned you. Our tree is not a color coordinated, monochromatic, cleverly designed, hip, trendy affair. It's bright and colorful with cheesy handmade paper ornaments, sparkly bits and bops and even little wooden wind chime ornaments that jingle quietly.

This year we added a bright red ribbon for more punch. You know, once you get used to twinkling colored lights, going all crazy isn't that hard anymore (says she who grew up in a household with a very chic and stylin' silver and white Christmas tree).

Yep, still need to paint that door frame ...


Husband and I both loved the ribbon streamers best plus the ribbon helped stiffen the tip of our tree for better star tree topper attachment.

And here is our living room in all its Christmas-y glory! Lighted garland and stockings on the mantel, the advent wreath on the table and the crowning glory, the Christmas tree all aglow. I'm very happy how our Christmas decor adds a punch of color without clashing with anything. Needless to say it also works really well with our turquoise dining room.

Three more days - are you all set?

Tree Time!

This past weekend we finally went and got our Christmas tree. We always get a life tree and this is the second year we went and cut our own. This year the winter has been extremely mild and the cut Christmas trees throughout town were looking a sorry lot. Freshly cut will last you a little longer, even if you wait until a week before the big day to put it up like us. Cutting your own Christmas tree in Florida, however, comes with a twist. You see, when you hear "Florida" you don't immediately think "Christmas tree" or "fir tree!". Palm trees and beach party are more like it, right?

Surprisingly, there are a few Christmas tree farms sprinkled throughout the northern part here and there, and there are two in our immediate area. This year we hopped over to Rogers Christmas Tree Farm.

Gorgeous, gorgeous day! Bright, break-your-heart blue skies, a light breeze and balmy 70 degrees. That's my kind of winter :o)

So, here is the twist: Floridian Christmas tree are not fir trees. They don't grow that well down here in the land of sunshine. Sure, you can buy them this time of the year - those Christmas tree tents pop out of the ground like mushrooms after a rain this time of the year - but this close to Christmas they look more dead than alive and are losing needles left, right and center already.

Last year, we discovered the Floridian solution to this problem: pine. Or cedar. So, the Christmas trees you can cut yourself at local Christmas tree farms are shaped liked Christmas trees but they are Sand pines and Leyland pines and maybe Red Cedar. Trust me, they work just fine!

A Winterbird couple from up north were having a hard time trying to wrap their minds around these odd Christmas trees but really, look at them! Don't they look lovely?

All line up in row after row, like tin soldiers waiting for their part in "The Nutcracker". While I have my heart secretly set on a Sand pine, we finally settled on a lovely red Cedar.

Ta-da! Here's Little Man showing off our tree. It was just like ordered: tall but not too tall, a nice point and dense but not too wide at the base.

Under the watchful expert eye of Little Man, husband started cutting the tree. Little Man helped a bit, then moved over to let husband finish.

Our red cedar got a nice shake to get rid of all loose dirt and possible critters, was wrapped into a net for transport and then we strapped it to the roof of my trusted ol' Jeep using our nifty ratcheting straps.

On to the decorating - woo-heee!

The Elf Strikes Again!

Our Elf "Barrigade" is still going strong and the quest for the elf first thing in the morning has grown into a fun routine. I wrote about our first couple of elfcapades over here and thought I'd show you what he's been up to since then:

One night he became a real beyblader and battled it out with Bima and Donatello

Then we caught him with Little Man's Nintendo DS

Another night he was more of an imp than an elf and drew beards

and glasses and other stuff on our picture frames

Occasionally he can be helpful. Here he helped St. Nikolaus wrap

up Little Man Nikolaus Day presents.

Christmas made in the South

In order to kick-start the Christmas season in style this past weekend, my friend Cheryl and I went to "Christmas made in the South", the premier Craft Fair here in Jacksonville.

Fa-la-lalala!

Between seeing all the various lovely and amazing crafts, trying the delicious dips and tasting the heart and soul warming mulled wines, coffees and hot chocolates we had a grand girlfriend time (which was long overdue) and even scored a couple of really cute Christmas presents (Cheryl) and some yummies and additions to the decorating bin (me).

Checking out the goodies

The first vendor booth that magically drew us in was a treasure trove of vintage photoghraphs. We we even met fellow Springfield neighbors for a quick chat over pictures from the first heydays of our neighborhood.

This vendor graciously allowed me to snap pictures of her booth. She sure had the cutest snowman ornaments at the fair!

Cheryl picked up a few more of these bent wire ornaments. The tree sparkled and twinkled and looked simply stunning. Too bad it doesn't go with our current decorating scheme at all.

So lovely!

We spent quite some time playing with the "tester" toys at this stand: puzzles, catapults and other old-fashioned games that just never grow old or boring.

This one won the "best smelling stand" hands down: whimsical ornaments crafted from Cinnamon bark and scented with Gingerbread or Cinnamon oil.

Two of these cute little mice came home with me. Now, the Ugly Duckling smells like

a cinnamon roll.

Puppets! Fuzzy wuzzy handpuppet babies!
They also sold accessories for your puppet baby.

Thoroughly inspired, back home I broke out the first garlands and strings of light to get started on my Christmas decorating. It's a work in progress, happily stretched out over the next couple of weeks. The Christmas tree - contrary to popular American tradition - comes last. In my family the tree was bought just a week before Christmas, got a few days outside to stretch and was brought in and decorated just a few days before Christmas. The many lights on it, however, remained unlit until Christmas eve when the Christkind (english: the Christchild) brought the presents. That's a Christmas memory that's hard to beat: seeing the Christmas tree blazing with brilliant lights, all a-sparkle, while Christmas music played softly in the background. For a few moment, even to us children, the presents were entirely secondary ...

Before we were allowed to open our presents we had to do a little "schtick": it could be reciting a poem, singing a song or playing something on our instrument (once we started taking music lessons). We're continuing some of those traditions with the Little Man and over the past years we've come up with a pretty neat combo of German and American Christmas traditions. This year, since it's our first Christmas at our Ugly Duckling, we won't be traveling but staying home so expect to see a few posts on how we roll at Christmastide :o)