Sunday, December 21, 2008

Happy Everything to You

Dear ones, there are new columns up at wondertime: Dinner Beans, for an unphotogenically humble meal, and Maple Snow Taffy, for an outrageous winter treat.

And my favorite holiday card outtakes, below--not the weird half-shut-eye ones, but the ones that just perfectly express who the kids are.

Wishing you peace and joy, health and happiness, and a new year filled with love.

xo

24 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:15 AM

    LOVE the photos of the kiddos!! Happy 'everything' to you and yours as well!!!

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  2. Happy Happy to you too! The kids look adorable.

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  3. Anonymous11:41 AM

    So using our 5 inches of new snow to make Maple Snow Taffy!

    Happy Solstice and Reason's Greetings!

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  4. Oh, the kids are eye-blindingly gorgeous. Happy Holidays!

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  5. Anonymous3:00 PM

    Beautiful photos! The kids look so happy and dare I say, healthy! Merry Christmas and happy holidays.

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  6. Your maple snow taffy posting was timed perfectly. I was just talking about this with friends the other day and remembering reading about it in the Little House books. Now we have the recipe and will be using it at a get together this week.

    I also have to thank you for an idea you posted ages ago (can't recall where) about wrapping up holiday books then unwrapping one each day in December. We have been doing that this year and my kiddos are loving it. There is just something about the act of unwrapping ... even if it's something you already have. My two love the suspense and surprise of wondering which book it will be each day.

    Thank you for continuing to write. :) Looking forward to another new year of recipes and humor.

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  7. Aw, they're cute! We were trying to take Christmas card pictures of OUR three monsters and a fist fight broke out, but I won't say amongst which two (*cough* The older two*cough*). The out-takes from that are substantially less adorable.

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  8. I always love the outtakes... one year, when the kids were 6 & 2, my husband had them laying on the bed and he was jumping trying to get them laughing... those outtakes are Hi- LARIOUS!

    You kids are just darling. God bless you and your family this season of joy.

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  9. Beautiful kids! Priceless smiles, and that look on Birdy's face? What a cutie!

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  10. Anonymous12:18 AM

    Thank you so much! I
    ve been wanting to make sugar snow ever since I read "Little House in the Big Woods" when I was little. We had unseasonally early snow last week, and know I'm just hoping it will snow again on Tue like predicted so I can do this! Yipee!

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  11. you have simply lovely kiddos. And that look on Birdy's face in outtake number one, it made me laugh out loud-- a contagious joy kind of smile.

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  12. Anonymous12:06 PM

    Birdy is looking so much like you....and yet like Michael at the same time. Both are beautiful.

    I have been so bad about coming and commenting here with the new baby. I go in and out of waves of severe sleep deprivation and feel like I'm still in nesting mode. Can't quite get it all together. I just now realized your old column is now a food column.

    While it makes me sad that the old format is gone, it also makes me feel less lonely to read that you had been struggling with the same issues that I have been for the past year or two. It is very hard to keep writing your kids stories when it stops feeling like fair play.

    Love to you. I will be reading your food column. I certainly need help in the cooking department.

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  13. Anonymous11:48 PM

    Oh, look at your beautiful ones!

    Hey, I actually just stopped by to recommend this craft blog to you. The most recent entry (craft rock friday with tricot machine) is just so amazingly beautiful in that funky, eclectic way and for some weird reason, I thought of you.

    Please think of it as my warm, knitted holiday gift to you and your lovely family.

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  14. Anonymous12:10 AM

    I'm such a dork. I forgot to include the link.

    Kinda like the grandma who cheerfully wrote, "This year, buy your own presents!" into her grandkid's Christmas cards, then forgot to include the checks. Oops.

    Here you go:
    http://magpieandcake.blogspot.com/

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  15. Catherine, we made your felted wool wreath ornaments from the December Family Fun and they were a huge hit with the my kids. A kids craft that kids actually CAN make! My overly energetic 6 year old daughter was so thrilled that we found a lime green wool sweater with little flecks of bright color in it at Goodwill for $3.00 to make it out of that she hugged the tired check out lady (not so good at boundaries, that one). That made the check out lady's day beyond belief (really) and the happiness kept on rolling. The extended family hasn't recieved theirs yet, but the neighbors have. The 2 year old next door yelled "Wreath!!" and began running around with it, so it was homerun there. Thanks so much for spreading such simple joy. It is much appreciated.

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  16. I just wanted to mention that I saw your Oprah article on CNN! Which is especially thrilling for me, since I don't get 'O.' When I read the line about your "4-year-old daughter Birdy," I got a little jolt of excitement, realizing that I'd stumbled upon another writing by Catherine Newman! It was like my own little bit of sugar on snow, here in snowless San Diego.

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  17. hey Catherine, a quick and merry thank you for the fabulously easy granola recipe on wondertime a wee bit back. It saved my slacker Christmas present making rear-- we mixed up a ginormous (not a word, I know, but still) batch, and then filled mason jars that the kids craftily decorated a-la-decoupage and added a wire hanger, so that when the yummy granola is gone, the jar can serve as a lantern for St. Michaelmas! Oh, and I was out of honey, and there is yet another lovely snowstorm keeping us inside, so I used agave and it turned out fantastico.

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  18. I always like the outtakes best.

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  19. Hey Catherine,

    Thanks for the introduction to Maple Snow Taffy. It will still be a few years before my son has the molars to chomp some but it was a big hit with his older cousins who won't remember what they got for presents this year when they were older, just that it was the first time they every got to eat snow with a spoon.

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  20. Happy Holidays to your family, too. I made the cucumber salad the other night, but I only had plain rice vinegar. So I just guessed on the salt and suger, and it tasted good to me! Both kids even ate a few pieces. And then I ate the entire rest of the bowl. :)

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  21. Sugar. I meant sugar!

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  22. Anonymous3:37 PM

    Ben looks so much like Michael in that top shot!

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  23. Satisfied Vacations to your family, too. I made the cucumber healthy salad the other night, but I only had simply grain therapy. So I just thought on the sodium and suger, and it sampled good
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