on the third day of Christmas...

I made split pea soup for my true love. I make it once a year following the annual Christmas ham. I don't like pea soup in the slightest, but this is like a little Christmas present to my husband who loves it. Incidentally, it works out nicely that my parents-who are usually with us for Christmas-also love pea soup and Firstborn and Sunshine also enjoy it.

I ate rotisserie chicken from the market and dinner rolls.

In addition to the gift opening this morning, which included the singing of a carol (Deck the Hall), and the solemn hanging of the Third Day of Christmas ornament, and the viewing of Little House on the Prairie Christmas special (on DVD), we also made paper snow flakes this afternoon. After I reviewed the folding technique, the children and I folded and cut away. The first ones we did with vellum paper...that is thick and unforgiving, but made beautiful snowflakes and then we used plain old paper. We then sprayed them with glue and let the glitter flow. The new Martha Stewart glitters available at Michaels are amazing...the smooth, light texture and the brilliant colors are magnificent. I can hardly wait to hang them tomorrow. Meanwhile the next couple of loads of laundry are going to be quite sparkly I think.

Tonight I made hot chocolate and surprised the children with some little chocolate coated candy stir sticks. They were the perfect touch and everyone enjoyed them.

I promise to post pictures soon...