Merry Christmas, everyone!
The kids were kind enough to wait until after 7 am before waking us up and then it was a frenzy of tearing paper and squeals of delight. I had the video camera set up on a tripod but didn't realize until halfway through that I had never turned it on. *sigh*
The kids got new Scooters from Santa. Karl's is electric, but Emma asked for a push one. She likes the big wheels, which apparently navigate the sidewalk cracks far better than her old scooter. Karl has already taken his for a spin several times, coming in only when he gets too cold and/or needs to re-charge the batteries.
So you can imagine that there has been a lot of competition for their attention today, but I did finally get them interested in finishing the Clues.
ME: Why don't you guys do your very last clue?
KARL: The last one?! But December isn't over!
ME: It's a Countdown to Christmas, Karl. Today is Christmas.
KARL: Oh. Right.
KARL: It's Christmas Day! We feel love in our hearts, In our lungs, in our kidneys . . . (both kids laugh)
I should interject to say that I wasn't sure if either of them remembered that the buttons that control the sound of the pump organ are called "stops", so I added in an additional clue in the form of actual organs. (heart, lungs, kidneys) It was a totally brilliant and completely unnecessary plan.
Oh, and I should also explain, if any of you are wondering, much like my sister was during our Face Time chat this morning, why Karl has the strings of his hoodie in his ears - they each received headphone-hoodies from their grandparents, with the headphones built-in.
KARL: . . .and in all other parts, Some clues were perfect, others were flops, For double your charity money, I pulled out all the stops! FINALLY, it's the ORGAN!
He went right over and opened it up. Not even the slightest hesitation.
EMMA: Wow! You solved that fast, Karl.
ME: Present me with your charity envelopes and I will match the money and send a check to your charity.
EMMA: Here you go! It's $50!
KARL: Mine is only $26.
ME: Any amount will be appreciated by your charities. Well done.
And hey - at least Karl got the true spirit on his last day - he donated both dollars today to charity!
One last piece of business before I close the chapter on this fun 25-days of treasure-hunting.
The peppernuts.
Both kids helped make the dough, but when it came time to cut and bake them, Karl was too busy doing something else.
Emma rolled and cut most of them.
We waited anxiously for the first batch to bake:
Now many have tried and failed to match the melt-in-your-mouth goodness of Mimi's peppernuts. I recall that she has tweaked the recipe when, say, she moves to a new elevation/climate or has to switch to a different brand of cream. Even the quality of the cookie sheet matters, as we discovered when our second batch, on the cheap sheet, was cooked unevenly and half were burnt.
In the end, though, other than one sheet of dog food (Lucy, following in the tradition of all family dogs before her, loves peppernuts) we absolutely SLAYED this experiment.
Our peppernuts are delicious, and if not quite as uniformly-shaped as Mimi's, have excellent flavor and texture!
Emma and I have shared fist bumps, chest bumps and a series of high 5's celebrating our accomplishment. We're thinking of having tee-shirts made! Heh.
And so the 25 Clues of Christmas 2011 comes to a close. It's been a joyous month of getting to know my kids even better and I can think of no better gift to myself! Bring on 2012!
Merry Christmas!
I guess they were waiting for you to hide money in the organ! Those peppernuts sound good! And that Lucy, what a cat! LOL! She must have spent some time before you got her with cats maybe. Or maybe a cat nursed her! LOL! Merry Christmas!
Posted by: KathyN | December 25, 2011 at 03:10 PM
I've had so much fun following all the clues, waiting (because of the time difference to Sweden) and then trying to solve them. I didn't do very well, but I guess that wasn't expected :-) If I ever get kids of my own, I will definately do clues instead of a traditional advent calendar! Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Pandora | December 25, 2011 at 05:22 PM
Sigh, what a wonderful month of posts this has been! Thank you for allowing us a glimpse into your family life - it has been funny, inspiring and delightful. Merry Christmas and (barring the Mayan calendar prediction), here's to 2012!
Did Emma ever decide on her charity?
Posted by: Sylvia | December 25, 2011 at 11:58 PM
thanks for taking us all along on this fun trip of riddles---what a fun idea!
Posted by: kellystar | December 26, 2011 at 09:09 AM
It has been a merry 25 days, indeed, with your return to personal blogging. I missed it; hope you'll keep it up! (No pressure, eh?)
Posted by: Mary Kay | December 26, 2011 at 10:25 AM
This entire series of posts has been a great story. Thanks for sharing and Merry Christmas!
Posted by: Tara Noel | December 26, 2011 at 10:31 AM
Thank you so much for writing about your countdown. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it.
Posted by: Caanan | December 26, 2011 at 06:14 PM
I just caught up today on the last 2 posts. I, like so many others, enjoyed the daily posts, Karen. I learned new things about you and the children. Congrats to you, Emma, and Karl on your first peppernuts. I love you all.
Posted by: Ann | December 29, 2011 at 09:26 AM
Sounds like good things are being taught in your home...charity. We all need to learn to share with those that are less fortunate.
Looking forward to new dies from you Karen and I love the way your kids work together. Most kids like boy and girl seem to fight but yours seem to get on very well with each other.. Love seeing this...they will have a friend for life if it keeps up.
Happy New Year and your off to a great start.
pat
Posted by: patricia p. | January 03, 2012 at 03:47 AM