All posts by Alix

Modern Kiddo on Holiday Break

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I can’t believe the holidays are nearly over! We had a very cold and rainy (we’re talkin’ RAIN RAIN RAINY) December in the Bay Area. Like, torrential down pour, flooded-basement rain. BUT it also meant things like lots of cozy nights by the fire, fun gatherings with friends, pretty snowflake embroidery on stockings (thanks to Dottie!) and a visit to the archery range to try out our new quiver (thanks to Santa!).

But then it was time to hit the road and Dottie and I both hopped on planes to visit family. We each had very different holidays, but both equally as wonderful!

Dottie and her sweet family found paradise in sunny Florida with her parents. It sure looked like a little piece of heaven. Palm trees, warm waters and bare legs running around in the sun!

And me? I went the other direction to visit my family in Michigan. It was cold but the snow was SO beautiful! Cozy scarves, mittens and chilly but sunshiney days. Wolfie got in lots of snowball making and loved stomping around in his snow boots.

Dottie and I will both be taking a few more days off, but we’ll see you in the New Year! In the mean time, we have to ask:

Did you stay home? Travel afar? We’d love to hear all about it….we miss you!

Kiddo Field Trip // The Midcentury Supper Club

Holiday Kiddo, Real Life, , ,

Back in the day, food was all about form and very little function. That is to say, it might not have tasted great, but it sure looked spectacular! Check out any vintage cook book from the 1950s or 1960s and you’ll be sure to read words like, LOAF! MOLD! LOG! RING! TOWER! CREAMED! And let us not forget ASPIC! (basically a savory version of gelatin—imagine clear jello with meat or vegetables inside. EEK!). Every year our fabulous friend Karen throws a Midcentury Supper Club party…a fun and festive potluck where the challenge is to select a recipe from a vintage cook book and bring it for all to enjoy. You know, stuff like this:


I had great plans to make a snowman cake, but uh….well. It just didn’t quite go as planned (the whole cake stuck to my sheet pan. Argh.) Instead, I brought a bottle of champagne. Alway festive in any decade!

Greg had a show that night so Wolfie was my official “date”. He agreed to get dressed up, and I pulled out a vintage shirt I had bought for him ages ago (when he was super little) and thought it just might fit him now. He put it on and was indignant, flapping his arms around, “Mama! These sleeves are awful! They are WAY too long!!!” I looked closer and realized they were french cuffs!! (who knew they made ’em that little??) So Wolfie got to wear his first pair of cuff links—and was feelin’ mighty cool about it.

But enough about us. Let’s get on with the show. I have to say it was a SPECTACULAR evening! {Wolfie was unimpressed by all the “weird” food and hung out in the kid’s room with his pals.} OK, so without further ado, may I present….the midcentury supper club, 2012 edition! Savory, sweet….there was something for ALL!


image: Fred Eagle

Photobucket
image: Fred Eagle


image: Fred Eagle

Yes, that’s my friend Doe with her edible PINK FLOCKED TREES on a brownie lot. LOVE!

The Studio 54 Gingerbread House (with real flashing floor) was another party favorite!

Dottie was there too, of course, although she couldn’t stay long because she & her fam had a 6am flight the next morning for Florida. I was impressed she made it AND looked so dang cute!

The sandwich loaf was surprisingly tasty! Layers of egg salad, ham and cucumber, all tucked in under a savory cream cheese “frosting”.

And finally……the most terrifying, er, I mean INTERESTING dish….the Santa Meatloaf. WOW.

Have you ever made anything from a vintage cookbook?? I recommend the cakes and the sandwich loaf. The jury is still out on the meaty santa….

 

Retro Rewind // Alix’s 1970s Christmas

Holiday Kiddo

Since I love to share vintage photos, I thought it would be fun to share some of my own “retro” holiday pics. It’s a random assortment of photos through out the years!

We start in San Diego, California. That’s where I was born. We lived there til I was in the second grade and then we moved to Michigan. Aww, look! It’s little me and my pretty mama:

In these photos I’m wearing an awesome hot pink knit dress that was hand made by my Tante Judy (my godmother), who was very artistic and super crafty. I believe we are at my grandma’s house here. On the left is my Uncle John and my cousin Lisa.

I’m pretty sure this next one is the same year, but at our own apartment at the University of California, San Diego married student housing. That tinsel is very German—although I noticed it on the tree at my grandma’s house (in the first photo), so maybe it was popular in general in the 70s. Do you remember tinsel on your tree back in the day?? I rarely see it on trees any more. My sweet friend Lishy Loo sent me a few packs last year!


In the background you can see my Top Favorite Christmas Album of All Time—The Jackson 5 Christmas Album. We still have it and I listen to it every year! Michael Jackson singing “Up On the Housetop” is my all-time favorite. Wolfie’s favorite is “Little Drummer Boy.”


Christmas morning, my first little desk! I loved that awesome dolly carriage in the background too. Let’s get a closer look:


See? Told ya I was smitten with my carriage! It looks like the one in my Sears Catalog post. This is later in the day, and I’m all dolled up. Check out the cool Playskool giraffe in the background. I sooo wanted one of those for Wolfie when he was little!

I got the shutterbug early! Here I am with my little Fisher-Price Camera.

I love this next photo. My mom looks like a modern day hipster here, with her groovy fur hat and cool coat. I’m holding Pinkie, my little pink elephant. My godmother (she of the craft hand-knit pink dress) made him for me and he had these amazing psychedelic fabric ears. We’re at Balboa Park in San Diego.

My mom has great style and I have always loved the little outfits she dressed me in—check out these red velveteen overalls with the heart bib! I even had red hearts on my lil blue suede shoes.

I have to confess though, I was such a girlie girl I hated to wear pants. I was allll about the dresses. In fact, my mom reminded me, “It was SO hard to get you into that little outfit!” I do seem to remember that I was pleased by the red velvet trim on my ruffly shirt. Hmmm. OK, here we are at my Tante Anneliese’s house (my mom’s sister).

Twas an excellent year of presents for wee Alexandra! I got a little red-headed Blythe doll AND the Barbie townhouse. Score! Those are my three cousins in the back Danny, Rudi and Jimmy. Danny and Rudi were rockin’ the long California Boy hair.

After we went to Tante Anneliese’s house we would scoot over to my grandma’s house (my dad’s mom). Here we are. And oooh look what I just noticed is in my hand:


EMERALD THE WITCH! Remember, from my Creepy Cool Dollies post?? I was fairly certain I had an Emerald doll, but honestly thought it might just be wishful thinking. Proof positive I had her!

OK, now we travel across the country to Flint, Michigan. This is Christmas Eve, which we always celebrated with a night of music/singing and some tasty little finger foods. We also got to open up presents that were sent to us from relatives (packages from Germany and California).


Look how adorable my mom is in her plaid, maxi dress—there are strawberries appliques on the collar. Cuteness! That chair on the left was from a little kinder set my folks picked up in German (it had a matching table that  believe we are using as a small buffet!). The table and chairs were covered in a cool vinyl/plastic that had hot pink, red and orange flowers on them. The best part was (Dottie, are you listening??) I HAD MATCHING CLOGS! Oh yeah…..


These pictures totally make me smile. Check out how fun my parents are cuttin’ a rug on Christmas Eve! I look at our little house and there’s hardly any furniture. My dad was a young college professor and it’s not like he made a bundle, but as kids we were never aware that times might have been tight here and there. My parents are awesome.

This is my brother Karl opening up his big present that year…a drum set!

And finally, this is my mom with our dog Flockie (loosely translated it means “little snowflake” in German). I always loved this photo of her. She is wearing a velveteen gaucho suit, with a velveteen vest. I remember thinking she looked so glamorous with her Charlie’s Angels hair! I was always very pleased and proud that I had a “pretty mama”. Growing up in Michigan in the 70s, most of the mom’s wore polyester stretch pants and had androgynous short hair cuts. Not my mom. My mama had style!

So that’s my little trip down memory lane. I’ll have to try and get some more photos scanned. It’s so fun to peek at the past. We’ll be heading off to Michigan after Christmas. We weren’t sure we would make it this year (tickets before Christmas were $800-1200!!!!! Yeowch!). Are you traveling somewhere or are you at home? I better stop writing and get to wrapping!!

MK Rewind // How to Track Santa’s Travels!

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image: Nashlinks

Note: This was a post I did last year, but I think it’s still pretty cool so I thought I’d re-run it!

On Christmas Eve, way back in 1955, the red hotline phone rang at the Continental Air Defense Command office (CONAD). Colonel Harry Shoup was the commanding officer and he quickly picked up the phone. On the other end of the line he heard a young boy’s voice asking to speak to Santa Claus. Colonel Shoup wasn’t amused and thought one of his fellow officer was playing a prank on him. But then the phone rang again, this time with another child who began reciting his Christmas list. The calls continued throughout the night and Colonel Shoup knew he had to get to the bottom of things. After a little investigating, he discovered that the local Sears & Roebuck had produced a holiday advertisement that listed a special phone number so children could call Santa Claus. Unfortunately they misprinted the phone number and instead of reaching Santa, the phone number put kids straight through to the Commander-in-Chief’s “hotline” at CONAD!

Colonel Shoup was a kindly man and rather than ignore the barrage of calls flooding his phone, he came up with a clever idea. In a lovely gesture, he told the children that although he wasn’t Santa, he was quite “in the know” on Santa’s whereabouts. In fact, he claimed that he and his staff could see Santa on their radar screens as he headed down from the North Pole. Throughout the evening, every child who called received an update on Santa’s progress. Local media heard of the calls and reported the story….and the next year even more calls came flooding in. Colonel Shoup and his team answered every call.

In 1957, CONAD became the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and they continued the tradition. Soon NORAD was partnering with Armed Forces Radio and broadcasting their Santa updates.  Children all across the country would tune in eagerly every Christmas Eve to hear updates on Santa’s travels.

Of course, in this day and age Santa has gone global and NORAD maintains the tradition with a really great web site that allows you and your kiddos to track Santa Claus as he makes his Yuletide journey around the world! It might sound a little too high tech, but trust me….it’s still utterly charming.

Greg discovered the Norad Tracks Santa site a few years ago and we’ve made it a bit of a family tradition. Wolfie loves it and eagerly reports to us which continent Santa is on and when he’s getting closer to our house.

It wasn’t until recently that I became aware of the sweet history behind NORAD and Santa Clause, but I thought it was terrific. Unfortunately Colonel Shoup passed away two years ago, but his lovely tradition continues to live on, bringing Christmas joy and a sense of wonder to little kiddos everywhere.


images: Norad

Be sure to track Santa with your kiddos this Christmas Eve! You can do so on Norad Tracks Santa. Ho ho ho!

Retro Rewind // I heart Advent Calendars

Holiday Kiddo


image: vleervlinder

Oh my gersh folks, FOUR MORE DAYS TIL CHRISTMAS! I know this of course because of my trusty ADVENT calendar! Do you use one? Wolfie and I love ours. Just in case you’re unfamiliar, this lovely custom of counting down the days til Christmas began in Germany—with the very first known “Advents Kalender”  being produced in Hamburg in 1902 or 1903.

The traditional calendar consists of a holiday image that has twenty-four little numbered doors. Children open up one door each day of December, counting down the days remaining until Christmas Eve. The final door, “24”, is always bigger than the rest and has the best picture inside!

This was one of my favorite family traditions. Every year my mother would bring out an Advents Kalender for me and my brother. (I think we each had our own, but I’m not quite sure!) It was something I totally looked forward to each year. I have to admit, I’m kind of a purist and I don’t really like those new calendars that have chocolates in them…nevermind the fact that the chocolate doesn’t really taste that great, there isn’t as much charm and mystery. You know every day is going to have the same piece of chocolate. The traditional calendars simply feature with a new picture behind every door, which I love! This was what mine looked like growing up:


image: jany schindler

What I love about the classic calendar is that you really have to search for the numbers…it’s like a little puzzle. And I love the simplicity of finding a sweet image inside.

That being said, I think there are some REALLY cool new calendars out there that would be super fun for any kiddo. For example, check out this amazing Lundby Advent Calendar that hides a little doll house treat behind each door. WOW! It was made in 2007, but you can still track them down here and there:


image: püppilottchen

My fabulous friend Pilgrim has a great template for making your own DIY matchbox advent calendar:

image: draw! pilgrim

And my awesome friend Teri of Giddy Giddy made these cool push me/pull me Advent cards a while back with her girls:



image: giddy giddy 

I thought this next one was really creative too. Each little package contains a fun trinket or activity, like “hot cocoa party!” or “movie night!”


image: a beautiful mess

And then there these garland calendars, which are really fun too:

image: house of giggles

So I know I said I prefer the simplicity of the older versions, but I’m going to contradict myself with these last two. Among the newer advent calendars that I find very charming (especially for little boys!) are the Lego Advent Calendar and the Playmobil Advent calendar.

We bought Wolfie the Lego Advent Calendar 2 years ago and he LOVES it. Each day you open up your window and get a special little Lego set to build and add to a “scene”. When you’re done you have a fun themed holiday or winter scene.

Keep in mind the Legos “prizes” each day are rather small. Some are very cool like building a Lego snowman….others are very simple like a street sign. But I don’t mind this. I think it’s important that kiddos today learn PATIENCE and that not everything is NOW! BIG! HUGE! Over all these are really great. They have different options and  can be pricey, but  of course you can re-use it every year.

There is also a really adorable series of Playmobil Advent Calendars, which have super sweet little characters too and “scenes’ you build.


I was lucky to find one of these at the thrift store and that’s what we’re using this year.

If you celebrate Christmas, do you have an Advent calendar to count down the holidays at your house? What are some of your favorite traditions from your childhood? I’d love to hear!