Much to Celebrate!

We're thinking summer!
Yesterday was the winter solstice...the shortest day of the year.  The sun rose around 10:00 am yesterday and set at 4:00 pm.  Starting today...our days get longer!

 

It is easier to enjoy winter with the assurance that summer is on its way!

Brother DillyDally comes home today!

Teacup and Kysa are very excited that Brother gets home today...they haven't seen him since August!  His flight from Seattle has already been delayed...so our fingers are crossed...

 

Brother at Cordova airport in August...college bound...

...traveling in Alaska this time of the year can be very unpredictable.  Mr. DillyDally and I are pretty excited about his homecoming as well.  It feels so good to have a child home...back under your own roof...

It is only fitting that we are having a traditional Thanksgiving dinner tonight, at Brothers request.  Celebrations should always include thanksgiving.  Wishing you have much to celebrate as well... 

  

Second Day of Christmas Vacation!

Over the past week we've received about four feet of snow...it looks and feels like a winter wonderland!  However, it makes the Christmas tree hunt a bit more complicated...

...Yup...after careful contemplation (all of 3 seconds) we decided it would be best to postpone what is sure to be a major expedition this year until Brother DillyDally gets home on Tuesday!

The vandal has been caught...in the act...very naughty kitty...she is sure to be on Santa's naughty list!

Teacup is famous for having a serious sweet tooth...after all...she is a DillyDally!  I'm not sure if you noticed, but in the photo of the Gingerbread barn yesterday some of the scroll work on the front and the tip of the tree was missing...I'm just trying to keep it in one piece until Brother gets home to see it.  When the kids were little...after they had made their houses...every morning they would rush down stairs to see what Teacup had eaten during the night!  She only likes the royal frosting...and will bite off pieces of candy only to chew and lick the frosting off of it! 

I spent most of today dillydallying in the kitchen...

Swedish Pepparkakor is a thin, crisp ginger cookie...excellent with a cup of coffee or tea...I frost mine with vanilla candy coating rather than the traditional icing...the icing tends to make them soft and we like them crisp.  It just isn't Christmas without them!

Many years ago, life was especially hectic one Christmas...and the traditional lefse did not get made...young son declared that it was the "worst Christmas ever"!  Well...we can't allow that to happen again...so today we made lefse.  Mr. DillyDally served as assistant...and took his responsibilities very seriously...

...he even dressed for the occasion...drank coffee from an "Uff Da" mug...and turned the lefse while I rolled.  Making lefse is a huge job...we were both covered in flour from head to toe...the kitchen was a mess...but lefse was a tradition for both of us growing up...one we've continued...and this year our family Christmas will be salvaged...by lefse. ;-) 

It's beginning to feel more and more like Christmas...

I wish you peace...

Catching the Holiday Spirit!

My goodness...it has been a crazy week!  December is busy for everyone...for obvious reasons!  But I've given the finals...students have turned in their work...and the grading is close to being done...today is the first day of Christmas vacation...so I can finally allow myself to get caught up in the spirit of Christmas. 

Since 1973 I have begun every holiday season the same...reading a lovely book, Two from Galilee by Marjorie Holmes.  It's funny how some of our memories are so clear...that we remember every detail.  I was 16 years old and had stayed in town after school that day because we had home basketball games.  To kill time, I was wandering down town (Bagley, MN) doing a bit of Christmas shopping.  I was in Iverson's Rexall Drug Store, when I came across this book on a spinning rack.  I'm not sure why, but I decided to buy it...I recall feeling guilty about buying something for myself. 

I guess the book would be placed in the genre of historical fiction, the author took the biblical story and retold it with historical reference to the life and faith of that time.  It took her three years to write it...and six years to find a publisher with the courage to finally print it in 1972.  It became one of the ten best selling novels that year.

Of course, I knew none of that when I purchased a paperback copy.  That is where the details of this memory fade...my next memory was how I felt that Christmas after reading it.  I was often chosen to be the narrator of the Christmas Pageant in our little country church, so I knew the King James version word for word.  Yes...I can still recite it...those words are precious to me.  What this novel did was bring to life for me the miracle of Christmas.  Mary and Joseph became human beings with problems like all of us.

Fortunately the book has never gone out of print, because I have had to replace my personal copy many times.  I would lend a current copy out to a friend and often it was not returned...which is OK with me...good things should be shared! No matter the life circumstances at the time...this book never fails to revive in me the spirit of the holiday season.  I read it slowly...savoring it...allowing it to speak to my heart...

 

Three years ago, Brother DillyDally gave us the snowpeople mugs.  They have become the first thing I unpack for the holidays...every time we lift either a hot or cold beverage to our lips, they make us smile!

When the DillyDally children were very young (a long time ago) our local grocery store had gingerbread house kits.  Each child put one together...and a new family tradition began.  The next year, there were no kits available...and they were intent on making them...so we learned together how to make them the old-fashioned way...from scratch! 

While in Minnesota last month I purchased a kit the day before I left so Sister DillyDally would have one for her apartment this year.

As you can see...Peder (Mr. NaughtyPants) thinks he is in charge and had to assist!  If I recall correctly, we began this project about 10:30 pm...yes...it was a late night.  But there is a gingerbread house standing (where Peder cannot reach it) in her Minneapolis home...a DillyDally family tradition continues!

Brother DillyDally is spending some extra time in Minnesota with his sister before he comes home...we talked about it and decided he wouldn't have time to decorate a house before Christmas Day, sooo...I decided to make one without him.  Mixed emotions...knew I had to change things up...then chose to do one in honor of my father and my childhood on the farm...

...and made a gingerbread barn this past week...it turned out much larger than I had anticipated...I actually enjoyed myself.  Gingerbread building is a four day process and turns my humble kitchen into a complete mess...but now the DillyDally home smells like Christmas.

Dillydally time was very limited this week, but I managed to dillydally my way through a favorite book...found comfort in hot tea and coffee from favorite mugs...and maintained a family tradition...dillydallying enabled me to catch the holiday spirit!  Soooo...even though you are busy and perhaps stressed...my hope is that you find a little time to dillydally...Happy Holidays!

 

St. Lucia Day + Quilter's Anonymous

Happy St. Lucia Day!  Neither Mr. DillyDally or I grew up celebrating this day, even though we're both half Swedish.  It is a tradition that our daughter brought to the family.  When she was 10, she attended Swedish Language Camp for the first time.  There she learned many Swedish customs...some familiar to her...others new to her.  It was there that she was introduced to St. Lucia Day and its significance to Swedish culture.  It was all she could talk about...she dreamed of someday being chosen to be St. Lucia...she retold the history of St. Lucia over and over...sang the hymn in both English and Swedish...and her mouth would water when she described St. Lucia buns...her enthusiasm was infectious!

That very Christmas we celebrated St. Lucia...not on December 13th...instead we incorporated it into our Christmas Day traditions.  Christmas morning Sister dressed as St. Lucia while Brother wore a Tomten costume...then they would serve us hot glogg and St. Lucia buns in bed!  A new family tradition was born!

St. Lucia Buns

Recipe from Scandinavian Feasts by Beatrice Ojakangas 

 Now that the nest is mostly empty...we began honoring it on the 13th...we still have glogg and buns Christmas morning...but without the pageantry.  Sooooo...today I made St. Lucia buns and glogg...and forced the tradition on several QBees (Quilt Buddies) at our Quilter's Anonymous meeting today!

Yes....we have a Quilter's Anonymous organization...and noooo...our disease is not our addiction to quilting...it is the guilt that is often associated with quilting.  Q.A. meetings are a NO GUILT zone!  We meet monthly...share projects...share lives...and just support one another.

A few of us QBees have been participating in Bonnie Hunter's "Christmas Lights" mystery quilt published in Quiltmaker magazine.  Three tops are finished and two attended the QA meeting with their owners.

 

 

 We are all huge Bonnie Hunter fans...in fact she is coming to teach and lecture September 2011!  Even though that seems like a long time from now...we talk about it all the time...she is such an inspiration...in so many ways!  I love mystery quilts and it is challenging to do one using fabrics from your stash.  Bonnie's instructions are always very clear...her techniques teach new skills...and she is so generous with her talent!

St. Lucia's Day was a blessing...dillydallied in the kitchen...dillydallied with some QBees!  She is the Saint of Light...dillydallying brings light into my day...may it do the same for you!  Go dillydally!

Life is Good!

I really haven't much to blog about...the projects I'm currently working on are gifts, so I can't post any photos of them...I don't want any recipients to know what they are getting!

The secret is out...now everyone will know why it takes me soooo long to finish a knitting project!  Teacup DillyDally insists on sitting on my knitting while I knit!  UMPH!  I have spent the last fifteen years teaching her knitting manners, with little or no success.  Someone forgot to tell me that it is impossible to teach cats anything!  Every cat family knows that it is they who train us! Life is good?

Those of you who know me personally, know that I love testing recipes...and often need to tweak them a bit.  The Martha Stewart vs. America's Test Kitchen Pie Crust competition continues.  Martha's is easier to handle, but the Test Kitchen's is flakier and tastes better...so I am still in the process of tweaking!  I love the challenge...Alton Brown (Good Eats) would be so proud of me.  I'll share the verdict when I'm satisfied with the results...stay tuned!  Life tastes good! 

Speaking of tasting good...I tested a Williams-Sonoma recipe this weekend, Potato-Leek Gratin.  Both Mr. DillyDally and I thought it was great!  Of course, not all of the ingredients were available here in Cordova, so I had to substitute Havarti for the Gruye're cheese.  Why Havarti?  Because that was what was in my refrigerator! ;-)  I halved the recipe...it is just the two of us...Mr. DillyDally barbecued chicken...we made a salad...had a lovely dinner and watched the Star Trek movie...life is good!

Gosh...I was so touched by the comments made on my last post.  Two came from former students...it is so great to hear from you both!  And it was fun to hear from someone I met briefly while visiting my favorite shop in Bemidji, Minnesota!  I have tried to respond to comments left, but haven't successfully figured out how to do that.  Please feel free to email me if you would like me to respond...if you click on "view the complete profile"...my email is just a click away!  It is soooo exciting to know that there are people out there reading my very humble blog...to be in contact with old friends and to be making new ones...life is good! 

Well...I have rambled on long enough...winter in Alaska means very short days, but beautiful sunsets.  We appreciate the sunsets because during the summer...it never sets! ;-)  This was taken this afternoon around 4:00 pm from my front deck...

Life is good...take time to dillydally and enjoy the sunsets...

Travels Down Cobblestone Lane Continue!

The "Lucky Seven" (two were out of town) continued their travel down Cobblestone Lane on Saturday at a local restaurant.  Here they are showing the second block...we all got the giggles when one came with her block in progress...she is second from the right...she had pieced one right triangle!  Too fun!  Actually, we are not placing any pressure like deadlines on ourselves or one another...there will be NO GUILT associated with this block of the month...just a shared experience and quilt with some QBees!  QBees stands for quilt buddies...I came up with that because it is easier to say and write!

After a leisurely lunch of catching up with one another we headed for a local quilt store...of course!  Look what was greeting us when we got there...

Can you see the scissors coming out of their heads?  Sort of scary, isn't it?  Hee-hee!  We laughed so hard!  Look what we have to do to entertain one another during our long dark winter...we just have too much fun!

Find some QBees...laugh till it hurts...dillydally with them...result is a shorter winter...I promise!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nooo...I don't have my days mixed up...today was Thanksgiving Day for Mr. & Mrs. DillyDally.  Needless to say...our lives have been crazy for multiple reasons...Mr. DillyDally remained in the lower 48 after I left a week ago.  He spent time with his parents in SD and additional time with our children.  He returned to Cordova this afternoon at 4:30 pm...so we had our Thanksgiving dinner tonight!

Pattern: Fall Memories by Laundry Basket Quilts

Kit purchased Summer 08, Quilter's Haven

Completed November 26, 2009

I am so blessed...because I was home alone yesterday, I received offers to spend the holiday with many friends...I was so touched by their compassion and concern.  I enjoyed a lovely meal and great conversation at the home of quilt buddy Julie and her family!  It was wonderful!

Poor Mr. DillyDally...while everyone was worried about me...it was his circumstances that deserved our concern.  Our children took him to the airport in Minneapolis yesterday morning at 11:30 am (central time) and he arrived in Anchorage last night at 12:30 am Alaska time (3:30 am central time).  It made for a long day in the air and airports.  Because it was a holiday, all the restaurants in the Salt Lake City airport were closed.  All he ate yesterday was a bag of cashews, water, juice, and a very stale piece of pound cake from Starbucks!  Such a sad story...but it didn't end there.  It hadn't occurred to us that he would be running errands in Anchorage on "black Friday"!  Mr. DillyDally hates shopping under normal circumstances and was not prepared for the combat shopping that was required today!  Hee-hee!  I can't help it...it really is too funny! ;-)

 

Pattern: Pumpkin Time by Sherri Falls of This n' That

Completed November 26, 2009

I spent all day baking pies, dinner rolls and preparing our traditional Thanksgiving dinner...it was so nice to have him home.  After the stress of the past month it felt good to sit down at our family table...eat our favorite foods...catch up on local news...and...slowly...breathe...in...and...out!  We're home and we have so much to be thankful for.  That is why...today was our Thanksgiving Day. 

I wish for you many blessings and time to dillydally...take good care...of yourself and one another!