The Cinnamon Sugar Cow

This cow was originally a creamer.  There is a spout in the front and a hole behind the cow head.  It belonged to my mother.  When my oldest son was about two years old, he decided that he could put a straw in the hole and drink the milk.  Ever since that day, the cow no longer belonged to my mother!

My son adopted this cow creamer as his "special cup"  He took it home and used it for quite a long time.  Eventually he found another "special cup" and we found another use for the cow creamer.

One day I was looking for something to mix up cinnamon sugar in and also dispense it onto my son's toast.  Perfect!  The cow creamer has been used for that purpose ever since.

I can't possibly put the cinnamon sugar in anything else because then no one will be able to find it.
After all it's been in the cow creamer since 1986!

And this morning I used it to make cinnamon rolls for my husband.  It's kind of special that the grandchildren will now grow up with the Cinnamon Sugar Cow!

traditions 2

a christmas tradition i started this year with the little boys.
we used to do this with the kids when they were younger.
candy houses.
i felt that they were too young for real candy houses, so i baked really large gingerbread flat houses.
then i set up the dining room for the parents to help their littles decorate the houses with lots and lots of candy.
it went awesome.  everyone loved it and they want to do it again!

i kept it simple with canned frosting , m & m's nonpariels, gumdrops, necco wafers, mike and ikes, smarties, twizzlers, kisses, and starlights.  each boy also got a candy santa.

joe wanted to eat his santa, but i don't think he did.

ethan took his work seriously.

such a fun family project!

julie is expecting so she got to complete one for baby sophia!

this bubby was really happy that they all enjoyed it!  i look forward to doing it year after year!

new traditions

since i didn't spend thanksgiving with any of my grandsons, i decided to begin a new tradition.  something we could do every year on the sunday after thanksgiving.

we decorated a wildlife tree.
since they are all really small and seriously messy, i premade all of the decorations this year.  as they get older we will transition to them helping me make them.

this is what i made

orange slices with pipe cleaner hangers

half oranges with the insides scooped out and filled with birdseed and pipe cleaners for handles

peanuts in the shell and fresh cranberries strung on thread and then tied in a loop

pine cones with peanut butter spread on them and then rolled in bird seed, again, pipe cleaners twisted onto the end to hang it with

all of the boys (and the grownups) loved decorating the tree which is located at the edge of the lawn.

bubby and grampa with our boys

**this morning when i woke up  i looked out and saw several different kinds of birds flying about the tree, landing and pecking at the seed. 

traditions and change

holidays

we had our traditions  

when we were raising our family

sometimes we would be with extended family.  

sometimes it would be just us.  

then we moved to a place where we didn't have anyone but us. 

but we still celebrated holidays together. 

there were five, then four, then three.  now two.

and we are more flexible.  it's not that we don't have traditions, we just know that things change.

and we would rather create our own new traditions than take the leftovers of the day.

this time of life when you have to share your family with others,

 you never get used to it. 

happy thanksgiving!