I found a fun idea for reading Christmas books: Wrap the books and put them under your Christmas tree. Each day, your children can unwrap a book and you can read it together. I might not actually wrap the books, but it was a good reminder to me that I should get out all of our favorites!

Here are some of our favorite Christmas books:

Apple Tree Christmas by Trinke Hakes Noble

A New Coat for Anna by Harriet Ziefert/ Anita Lobel

Nine Days to Christmas by Marie Hall Ets and Aurora Labastida

The Story of Holly and Ivy by Rumer Godden

The Christmas Crocodile by Bonny Becker/ David Small

The Australian Twelve Days of Christmas Ilustrated by Heath McKenzie

I Spy Christmas Photographs by Walter Wick/ Riddles by Jean Marzollo

Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas by Walter Wick

 

 

On june 6,  James caught a moth.

James: "Are moths carnivores or omnivores?"

Laurel: "They have a proboscis."

Ansley: "They are nectarivores!"

Dinner conversation the other night:
James: "Dad, are you going to be a carpenter?" (Implied: "When you grow up and decide what to be")
Kirk: "No."
Laurel: "Dad doesn't work at building things for other people, but he does build things for us."
James: "Dad, I'd like you to be Santa at Walmart then."

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup softened butter
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup rolled oats
2 cups quick rolled oats
1 cup raisins
1 and 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
3/4 cup flaked raw unsweetened coconut

Mix the butter and sugars until smooth.
Add eggs and vanilla. Mix.
Sift flour, soda, and salt together in another bowl and add to butter mixture. Mix.
Add oats, raisins, walnuts, and coconut and mix.

Drop onto greased cookie sheets and bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Laurel's notes:
I replaced about 1/4 cup of the whole wheat flour with all purpose flour, but I do think that using all whole wheat pastry flour will still result in a good cookie.
You can use any ratio of rolled and quick oats- I like a bit more texture, so I like to use more of the rolled.
If your coconut is dry, the cookies won't be as good. The best cookies I made had freshly grated coconut (from a coconut I grated in the food processor the day before), but I have had good results with packaged coconut also, as long as it isn't dry.
I have successfully frozen these cookies in ziploc bags and thawed them on the counter with no degradation of taste or texture, and I've dropped the dough onto parchment paper and frozen that in ziplocs to bake later.