Advent Calendar, Day 23

Today's activity: Make hot chocolate.

It was a good day for hot cocoa--temperatures were right around zero! There are lots of different ways to make it. I prefer something made with milk (even though we used skim milk) and I love putting things on top. Yesterday we used whipped cream, but I also like topping it with marshmallows or stirring it with a candy cane. Mmmmm...hot cocoa.

I used a mix, but it looks pretty easy to do it from scratch, too. I love the little cookies she makes! Instead of frosting them, you could also add food coloring to the dough so they come out red.

Christmas is almost here!

Advent Calendar, Day 21

Today's activity: Decorate a gingerbread house.

I've been seeing gingerbread house kits all over, but of course when we went looking for one today, they were out. Time for Plan B: Graham crackers!

If you want it to look like a house, you'll need a milk carton as a base. We went with a...different idea.

Can you guess what it's going to be yet?

The windows are filled with star-shaped sprinkles. The light on top is a Dots candy, and the wreath is another one that was smushed and had a hole poked in the middle. For the finishing touch, we dusted it with powdered sugar "snow."

Matt Smith's final episode is the Christmas special! Only three more days until it's goodbye Matt and hello Peter Capaldi...somehow. Apparently the Doctor has used up all of his regenerations (eleven Doctors that we knew about, plus David Tennant's metacrisis Doctor from "The Stolen Earth/Journey's End," plus John Hurt's "War Doctor"). Theories abound as to how he can still regenerate, but I'm going with the simple explanation that the High Council of Time Lords is no longer around to regulate him. I guess. It's probably going to be something more convoluted but interesting.

The idea for our graham cracker house was inspired by this gingerbread house tutorial, which I still think looks awesome.

"Nerdy Nummies" is one of my new favorite channels on YouTube. Her ideas are so fun and they look pretty easy, too!

Advent Calendar, Day 20

Today's activity: Walk around the neighborhood to look at decorations.

I was worried that we wouldn't be able to do this, because it was raining yesterday. It melted a good deal of the snow, which disappointed me, but we are supposed to get more on Monday and Tuesday. Just in time for Christmas!

I took my actual camera on our walk (as opposed to my phone or iPod camera). It's just a point-and-shoot digital camera, but it takes some pretty good pictures.

I like the icicle lights here. Jason liked the starburst in the window, which flashed in different colors.

I'm not sure if those dots on the picture are water droplets or lens flare or something else entirely, but it looks like it's snowing. I like it, even though the effect was entirely accidental. Here's a photo that shows it off pretty well.

Here is a Plastic Nativity Scene being invaded by Plastic Tin Soldiers.

I have never understood the desire to combine Santa or other secular elements with a nativity scene. It's fine to have a religious display, it's fine to have a non-religious display. I just think it's kinda weird to put both of them together. We all know that Santa Claus wasn't one of the Wise Men, right?

Anyway, here is a family of inflatable singing snowmen.

We also saw a couple inflatable snowmen who shook like they were shivering. It must be controlled by the air fan somehow. There was also this guy...

Run! He's almost at your front door!

HEEEEEEEEEEERE'S FROSTY!

Advent Calendar, Days 18 and 19

Seasons' Greetings from our snowman!

December 18: Have peppermint ice cream for dessert.

It was originally supposed to be peppermint milkshakes, but we decided on regular ice cream because we were both pretty full after dinner. We plan on making them this weekend instead. The ice cream is delicious all by itself.

We got Edy's Peppermint, but you can make your own peppermint ice cream by softening a container of vanilla (or chocolate...mm, chocolate and peppermint) and stirring in crushed-up candy canes. My grandma always used to buy the boxes of broken candy canes because she got a discount, and they were going in the ice cream anyway.

To make the milkshakes, blend together 2 cups of ice cream with 1 cup of milk, and top it with whipped cream, sprinkles, or crushed-up candies.

December 19: Movie night.

I went with a new twist on an old "favorite." Cinematic Titanic is the spiritual successor to Mystery Science Theater 3000, with...basically all of the former cast members who aren't doing RiffTrax. This includes Joel, Frank Conniff (TV's Frank), Mary Jo Pehl (Pearl), and the original voices of Tom and Crow. They riffed on Santa Claus Conquers the Martians a couple years ago, and right now it's streaming on Amazon (free for Amazon Prime members).

Good stuff. Man, every time I watch this movie, I find something else about it that makes no sense whatsoever.

DIY Ugly Christmas Sweater

We're having an Ugly Sweater Party at work on Friday. I've never been given an "ugly sweater." If anyone in our family is knitting sweaters, it's me, and I try to choose designs the receiver will like. My aunt suggested shopping the secondhand stores for one, but it appears that people are buying them and then re-selling them for upwards of $30. I am completely baffled by this. I blame the hipsters and their "ironic" wearing of everything.

I did find a plain green sweater for $4 at Salvation Army, which I used as the backdrop for my own nerdy/ugly sweater. Behold!

Everything except the lights around the neck and Darth Vader's face was made from felt. It's a great material because there is no fraying, so it can be attached with hot glue or sewn on without having to hem it.

I cut the stars, snowmen, and gingerbread men by tracing around cookie cutters. 

The Santa hat was cut freehand, and Darth Vader's face was cut from an old T-shirt I bought to turn into a pillowcase. I left about an inch around the face to prevent fraying. 

I added a few more nerdy touches: the gingerbread men are wearing Starfleet shirts (in red, of course). I got the idea from a Foxtrot strip. The snowmen are dressed as the 4th and 11th Doctors. Here's an in-progress shot from before I attached all of the pieces.

I embroidered the snowman faces, but all of the other details are done with Sharpie markers. Both look great on the felt. All of the pieces are glued on except for Darth Vader's face, which I sewed on using blanket stitch. 

The finishing touch was my only purchase besides the sweater: a set of Christmas light beads that I found from Oriental Trading Company. They cost $15 including shipping, which is pretty steep, but I think it's worth it.

And one final shot of me in my sweater. The neck is a lot wider than I usually wear, which adds to the "ugly" effect and also shows off the Christmas lights rather nicely.

Happy Christmas, live long and prosper, and may the force be with you.

Advent Calendar, Day 17

Today's activity: Make paper snowflakes.

I loved making paper snowflakes when I was a kid, but was always disappointed because no matter how hard I tried, my snowflakes only had four points. It was only last year I discovered this tutorial on making six-pointed paper snowflakes. Yesterday I went looking for some nerdy designs, and found a set of (free!) Star Wars templates here from Anthony Herrera. I got the Vader you see above as well as Emperor Palpatine.

We also did some freehand designs. Jason made this one:

And here is one of mine:

Now we just need to find a place to hang them up. I think they should go in the window we can see them from the outside.

Jason works late on Tuesdays, so we like to do breakfast for dinner when he gets home. I was feeling festive last night, so I added some red and green sprinkles to the waffle batter.

Funfetti waffles! They added some nice color, plus a bit of extra sweetness.

Advent Calendar, Day 16

Today's activity: Play "Holiday Word" Scrabble.

Jason and I play Scrabble pretty often. It's one of our favorite games. Jason came up with the idea of only making holiday-related words (SNOW, GIFT, PARTY, etc). To give ourselves a better chance of coming up with holiday words, we started out with 10 tiles each, as opposed to the normal 7. It seemed that 10 tiles still wasn't enough, so we came up with an alternate rule: seven tiles, but any holiday word we could make was automatically double points.

I took this picture to put on a T-shirt when I met John Green a few years back.

Our first round still didn't go very well; we only got one or two holiday words each. Jason wants a rematch, partly to try again and partly because I got "QUID" on a triple-word score. 42 points! 

We came up wit a few more rule changes. Here are the new modified rules:

-We each have two tile racks, for a total of twelve tiles.

-Holiday words on "normal" squares get Double Word points.

-Holiday words on Double Letter get Triple Letter points instead, and Triple Word instead of Double Word.

-Holiday words on Triple Letter or Triple Word get 4 times the normal points for the letter or word.

Advent Calendar, Day 13

Today's activity: Shop for stocking stuffers!

I love to buy things for stockings. There's a real balancing act to it. If your things are too big (or there are just too many of them), they won't fit in the stocking. Too small or not enough items, and the stocking looks empty. To top it all off, everything needs to be relatively inexpensive. 

When I was in high school, my mom suggested that she and my dad would purchase and stuff the stockings for me and my brother, and we would do the same for them. With those years of experience, I have perfected the art of stuffing stockings.

Step 1: Know where to shop.

Pharmacies like Walgreens or CVS have a good selection of inexpensive stuff, but dollar stores are even better. We like to do a mix of things that are useful (toothbrush, batteries, small tool kit), things that are fun (candy, toys, nail polish), and things that are good for a laugh. The dollar store is excellent for finding stupid/funny stuff. One of my favorite people on YouTube is Ashens, who often reviews "tat" from the British equivalent of dollar stores: Poundland.

Secondhand stores are also a good place for inexpensive stuff. In the past we've all bought movies for each other from a place in my parents' neighborhood that sells VHS tapes for 50 cents.

Step 2: Know what to buy.

In addition to the different kinds of gifts, you'll need to buy things that are the right size. You'll need a few small things for the toe (or one medium size thing), one large or two medium things for the body, a few other small things to round it out, and a topper. The topper should be something visually appealing to leave unwrapped, sticking out of the top. Stuffed animals are an obvious choice, but you could also do a book, movie, or box of candy. 

Also, try to visualize the size of the stocking. Make sure your "large" gift is still small enough to fit inside. A rolled-up T-shirt makes a good gift to take up the body.

Step 3: Do a "test stuff."

Before you wrap the stocking stuffers, figure out how you're going to fit them all inside. Start with the toe and work your way up. If you find yourself with too many things left over, take everything out and try stuffing it a different way. This is why you stuff it while everything is unwrapped--if you put everything in and out three or four times, the paper on at least one item is sure to get ripped. Especially if your wrapping paper is also from the dollar store.

Speaking of wrapping paper, one year my family had a roll of stuff that was guaranteed not to rip. This is great for large and irregular shaped items, but DO NOT use it for stocking stuffers. My dad can speak from experience on that one. Mom had to spend about half an hour getting everything open.

Step 4: Wrap the items.

Make sure you remember how everything fit in during the test stuffing. If you're worried you'll forget, write a small "1" on the items that go in the toe and a "2" on the item/items that go in the body. The small things can fit in wherever there is room. To save time, some of the small things can go unwrapped.

Step 5: Stuff your stocking!

Advent Calendar, Day 11

Today's activity: Write a Christmas crack-fic.

"Crack-fic," for those of you not up on fan fiction lingo, is a story set in an existing fictional universe where all of the characters behave in an abnormal way. It's not supposed to be dramatic, or sexy, or philosophical. It's funny and kind of stupid (or really stupid). Jason and I have several that we have written together, and today we started one for Christmas.

It's called "An Enterprise Christmas Carol," and it's set on the Enterprise-D from Star Trek TNG. Picard is Scrooge, Q is Jacob Marley, and Wesley is Bob Cratchit. We didn't write the whole thing tonight; right now Picard is in the middle of his encounter with the Ghost of Christmas Past...Nick Knight from Forever Knight. The show was on TV in the early '90s, and was the first to do the "vampire detective" schtick. Nick is over 800 years old and every episode intertwines his current life with flashbacks from his past. Hence, Nick is given the role of Ghost of Christmas Past.

Oh, and our version of Picard is from Bizarro-land. Where the Picard from the show is full of wisdom and compassion, our Picard is an omnicidal megalomaniac. He is also proving to be quite resistant to mending his ways.

Here are some choice quotes so far.

Riker: Christmas a humbug?...What is a "humbug," anyway?
Data: It is a species of dung beetle found on the planet Betamax-4, so named because of the high-pitched humming sound it uses as a mating call.

Picard: Mr. Worf! Make sure you set up slave camps AND prisons!
Worf: Thy will be done.
Picard: Excellent. That takes care of the surplus population.

Q: You're going to be haunted, Picard. Three ghosts. Past, present...you know the drill. I came here to rub it in your face.
Picard: Don't you mean, "to warn me"?
Q: Oh, that's why they sent me, but that's not why I came.

Nick: I am the ghost. The Ghost of...erm...Vampire of Christmas Past. I will flashback to things of yesteryear. Oh, we may end up in Toronto in the late '80s. Or...anywhere, really. I've had a productive life.

I gotta say, one of the things I love about my husband is that we have the same twisted sense of humor. More lulz are sure to come.

I used the stick arms for the snowman to make reindeer antlers. Behold, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Snowman!

Advent Calendar, Day 8

Today's activity: Set up Christmas decorations at church.

We had a Christmas decorating party scheduled after the service today. Our congregation is small, but we had over a dozen people stay to set up decorations and then have lunch. My brother runs our organ via computer, so he set up a playlist of Christmas hymns to play in the background while we worked. Between that and the falling snow, I was feeling pretty festive.

We have a pre-lit tree set up on the altar.

The tree skirt was made by my mom, out of some leftover Christmas prints we bought to use as tablecloths. I worked with the kids in our Sunday school class to put up the ornaments. We had no broken ornaments this year! Always a plus. While I was doing that, Jason helped to put up garlands.

Our nativity is set up in the area outside the chapel.

I think it's lost a few pieces over the years..I know we had a donkey, and I'm pretty sure there was an angel at some point too. 

I brought a casserole for the potluck, along with about half of the peanut blossoms we made yesterday. They all got eaten up, so I already decided to make a new batch next weekend. My secret is to top them with dark chocolate kisses, which taste great on their own and even better when paired with the peanut butter cookie.

And finally, our snowman is ready for bed.

This has been a busy--but fun--weekend. I have to say it will be easier to go back to work tomorrow knowing we have another activity planned for the evening! Even though I decided on the schedule for our advent calendar, I don't remember what activities are planned for every day. Tomorrow will be a surprise!

Advent Calendar, Day 7

Today's activity: Bake Christmas cookies!

I have been baking since I was pretty young. My mom is an excellent baker (and cook), and I started out licking the spoon when she was done and progressed to helping her mix things together. I still love licking the batter off of the mixing spoon, though. Mom and I spent many happy hours mixing, scooping, and baking cookies every year. She always used to wear the same apron, which she passed on to me as part of an ongoing cleaning project. I wore it today, paired with an appropriately-themed shirt.

I still love to bake, though these days I don't have much time. So I set aside a whole day for cookie baking! I made four different kinds of cookies...probably twelve dozen in all. Some is for a grab bag gift, some is for a package I'm mailing to my aunt and uncle in Arizona, and the rest will get eaten up by us!

I started with sugar cookies. I decided to use pre-made dough, since I wanted to focus on the decorating. I baked them first so they would be completely cooled by the time I was ready to decorate.

One pan, fifteen minutes, done. My next recipe was Peanut Blossoms, which have been my favorite for a long time. They can be made from a mix or even the pre-made peanut butter cookie dough, but I had to make these from scratch. It's the original Pillsbury recipe, winner of the Bake-Off contest more than 50 years ago, and you can find it here.

My next recipe was a variation on another old favorite. We have a recipe for chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, which Mom found many years ago on the back of some package. I replaced the chocolate chips with peppermint chips for a minty twist.

The final cookie variety was Jason's request: spritz cookies. The dough needs to be worked through a cookie press and it comes out in different shapes, depending on the disc you use.

 I saved the recipe for last in order to give the butter and cream cheese time to soften. Mom likes to forward me recipes, and she sent me a new one that looked promising. The dough was very easy to put together, just six ingredients. You can find the recipe here. I dyed half of the dough green to make Christmas trees and left the other half uncolored to make snowflakes.

Once everything was baked, the last project was to decorate the sugar cookies. I looked up some techniques, and while they came out all right, I think I need more practice.

I cut bell-shaped jelly candies in half with kitchen shears to make the ornament toppers.

Jason did the snowman design today, a dapper little fella.

He's ready to have a jolly good time. Perhaps even a holly, jolly Christmas.

Advent Calendar, Day 5

Today's activity: Have a snowball fight.

So our Plan A was to use actual snowballs. Kinda hard when there's no snow. I ordered some fake snowballs from Think Geek, but they haven't arrived yet. Time for Plan C!

Yup, we ran around the apartment and tossed rolled-up socks at each other. Good times.

Today's snowman design is based on one of the most iconic snow-based characters of all time: Frosty the Snowman!

Via IMDB

Here's my version, minus the pipe and broom:

Happy birthday!

And for your viewing pleasure, this hilarious take on a well-known Christmas carol.

Holiday cheer? Make it so!

Advent Calendar, Day 3

Today's activity: Buy Christmas candy

Jason works late on Tuesdays, so I was in charge of the shopping. I got a bag of holiday M&Ms to fill my Care Bears candy dispenser:

Jason requested a box of Sweet Tarts candy canes, and I was lucky enough to score the last box. To make sure we have enough candy to last us the whole month, my last purchase was a bag of peanut butter-filled chocolate bells. Mmmm, chocolate and peanut butter.

I've also been changing up our snowman every day. The first day was a standard snowman:

For the second, I decided to try something different:

EX-SNOW-MAN-ATE!

And for Day 3, I had to make a "cool" snowman.

It came with the bow tie already, but I had to fudge the fez a little. It came with a red Santa hat, which I turned inside out. Then I twisted around the top and turned it back the right way. Why? Because fezzes and bow ties are cool.

Advent Calendar, Day 1

Today's Christmas activity: Put up decorations!

We have a miniature tree, which is nice because we can keep it in the hall closet when it's out-of-season. Our apartment has two bedrooms, but we have so much other stuff we would have real trouble storing a larger tree. I have had the mini tree since I was a kid. It was originally from the American Girl catalog, along with a set of ornaments.

Now a close-up of what's under the tree:

I'll take a TARDIS under the tree this year, please! Amy stands guard over the police box while the Doctor sits in the driver's seat of my Mini-Mates DeLorean, which was signed by Christopher Lloyd at Wizard World in 2011.

Care Bears, Tom Servo, and Davros. And Reptile. Poor Reptile--someone tried to kill him with a forklift.

The Doctor attempts to work the nutcrackers with his sonic screwdriver. He must have forgotten that it doesn't do wood. Speaking of, Jason and I watched this version of The Nutcracker while we were decorating, to help us get in the Christmas spirit.

Our tree topper is a finger puppet! We also have a few other decorations. Without a chimney, we had to hang our stockings next to the closet with care:

I made the stockings a few years ago. They were my first attempt at intarsia colorwork, and I think they came out pretty well. I embroidered the names and details afterward, but the snowman and tree are knit right into the stocking.

My favorite decoration is something I found last year at a toy show for all of five dollars.

The snowman is held together with Velcro, and it came with a bunch of different accessories. The extras are sitting in the red tin on the right, to encourage people to play around with different ideas. I want to have a different snowman every day until Christmas.