At Christmas, my Grandpa would order a box of grapefruit. He was very particular about the kind he liked, but I can’t remember for the life of me whether it was the Florida or the Texas ones, and maybe they were Ruby Red? Anyway, he liked to peel away all the pith, leaving these brilliant [...]
Archive for the ‘gift ideas’ Category
Grapefruit, the way Grandpa liked ‘em.
Posted in Christmas, free range kids, gift ideas, holidays, homemade, simplicity, slow food, spending time, tagged baseball, carpentry, Christmas, citrus, family, food, gardening, gifts, recipes on December 21, 2010 | 3 Comments »
Christmas music: the good, the bad, and the just plain cruel
Posted in Christmas, gift ideas, homemade, spending time, tagged Charlie Brown Christmas, culture, Ella Fitzgerald, Elvis, mix, music, Paul McCartney, Santa on December 19, 2010 | 5 Comments »
There’s a lot of bad Christmas music out there. If you’ve ever worked retail during the holiday season, you know what I’m talking about. The malls run it on a loop which includes “Grandma got run over by a reindeer”, “Santa Baby” and other gems. After an hour of this strange torture, Christmas is the [...]
I am Dorothy Hamill, Ice Queeeeeeen!
Posted in Christmas porn, gift ideas, spending time, tagged activities, Christmas, dorothy hamill, gift ideas, ice skating, museum, stress, work life balance on December 14, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Friday night the spouse and I went skating at the outdoor ice rink at the National Museum of Art. Growing up, I never was much for ballet or the other femme things my contemporaries seemed to be drawn to. But we did take skating lessons after school for a couple years. One of those years [...]
My love-hate relationship with Christmas cards
Posted in busy parents, Christmas, free range kids, gift ideas, goodwill toward men, holidays, homemade, saving money, simplicity, slow parenting, spending time, tagged arts & crafts, carbon footprint, charity, Christmas cards, e-cards, environment, feminism, Martha Stewart, upcycling on November 12, 2010 | 4 Comments »
I love the idea of Christmas cards. But reality always gets in the way. Finding the perfect card or taking a family portrait, asking for everyone’s street address (and giving away the surprise), buying stamps, licking envelopes, and the general errand-generating nature of the whole enterprise. It can feel like you’re checking a box, earning [...]
The Slow Christmas season has begun!
Posted in Christmas, gift ideas, holidays, Slow Movement, spending time, tagged Christmas, deer, Fall, Shenandoah, sugar plums, wildlife on October 31, 2010 | 2 Comments »
It’s official, Slow Christmas has returned! Oh friends, I’ve missed you so. I’ve had visions of sugar plums dancing in my head since the hottest day in July, and now the time has finally arrived. Fall is at its peak around here. I was in the Shenandoah Valley recently, where the evergreens are standing behind [...]
The Best of Slow Christmas
Posted in busy parents, Christmas, Christmas porn, gift ideas, goodwill toward men, holidays, homemade, local food, saving money, simplicity, slow food, Slow Movement, slow parenting, spending time, tagged best of, Christmas, gift ideas, holidays on December 23, 2009 | 4 Comments »
You did it! You kept Christmas slow this year. Before you go enjoy it with your family and friends, I want you to bask for a moment in the glow of your creativity and warmth. You made Slow Christmas a success: over 6,000 people visited the website and the Facebook page this year, and it [...]
Bookmarks, and I don’t mean the web kind
Posted in busy parents, Christmas porn, free range kids, gift ideas, holidays, homemade, slow parenting, spending time, tagged bookmarks, Christmas, crafts, family activities, gift ideas on December 13, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Looking for something to give the bibliophile in your life, or maybe an activity that’s fun for kids and adults? Make bookmarks. My mom is a thwarted artist, and she’s always drawing on something, loose leaf margins, the back of receipts, whatever’s around. For years when we were little, on the weekends leading up to [...]
Mrs. Pease’s pumpkin bread
Posted in Christmas porn, gift ideas, holidays, homemade, recipes, saving money, simplicity, spending time, tagged Butterfinger, Christmas, save money, toys, watch, Whoppers on December 9, 2009 | 6 Comments »
The spouse weighs in with a family recipe: My recipe for pumpkin bread is pretty simple, when you think about it. But there’s a lot more in there than flour, pumpkin, and spices. It all started with Bill and Evelyn Pease. Bill and Evelyn were from Cottage Grove, Minnesota, but like a lot of Winter [...]
Bad at crafts, seeking Slow Christmas.
Posted in gift ideas, Slow Movement, spending time, tagged Christmas, gift ideas, holidays, parenting on December 6, 2009 | 5 Comments »
The spouse dropped this bomb the other day: “You know, not everyone loves cooking and making stuff as much as you do.” When I got over my shock, I realized I’ve featured giving something homemade, and making a donation to their favorite cause, but I haven’t yet covered experience gifts. Experience gifts are one of [...]
Love is a homemade paper chain.
Posted in busy parents, Christmas, Christmas porn, free range kids, gift ideas, homemade, saving money, simplicity, slow parenting, spending time, tagged Christmas, gift ideas, saving money, slow, spending time on December 3, 2009 | 2 Comments »
When I was teeny tiny, my mom decided that we would make a paper chain for the Christmas tree. My older sister remembers her cutting out the long thin rectangles for us, and then letting us assemble them ourselves with paste, and, no doubt, a few hijinks (I have this vision of me as l’enfant [...]
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