Star Song

by Luci Shaw, from WinterSong 146

We have been having
epiphanies, like suns,
all this year long.
And now, at its close
when the planets
are shining through frost,
radiance runs
like music in the bones,
and the heart keeps rising
at the sound of any song.

Old magic flowing
the calling of bells,
round high and clear,
flying and falling,
re-sounding the death knell
of our old year,
the new appearing
of Christ, our Morning Star.

Now burst!
all our bell throats.
Toll!
every clapper tongue.
Stun the still night!
Jesus himself gleams through
our high heart notes
(it is no fable).
It is he whose light glistens in each song sung
and in all of us
in the true coming
together again
at the stable: shepherds,
sages, his women and men,
common and faithful,
wealthy and wise,
with carillon hearts
and, suddenly,
stars in our eyes.

I’ve found my Christmas crafting inspiration! Ornaments! Thank you, Anthropologie.

With the power of my new MacBook Air and the dust of Christmas travel settled, I thought I’d recount our trip to North to celebrate Christmas with Michael’s family.

December 23

3:15 p.m. :: Complete Air Canada web check-in for our December 24th flight to Mackenzie (via Prince George) and sign up for text updates.

3:33 p.m. :: Start three loads of laundry in the basement laundry room.

3:35 p.m. :: Receive the following text: “Flight AC 8201 CANCELLED.” 

3:36 p.m. :: Call Air Canada. Find out the next possible flight is on December 26. Thrust the phone at Michael to avoid verbally abusing the AC phone attendant. Begin stuffing our suitcases with wild enthusiasm. 

3:40 p.m. :: Determine to fly standby tonight. Call for a cab, none of which are available for at least two hours. Make a panicked call to my mom and stepdad for a ride. They happily concede. I rejoice.

3:43 p.m. :: Collect our wet laundry and deposit it in garbage bags, flinging sheets and towels on any available counter space. *Carefully* rip all Christmas ornaments off the tree.

3:46 p.m. :: Stop and pray, at Michael’s suggestion. No doubt our best spent minute in the past three days.

4:00 p.m. :: Three suitcases and two carry-ons, a dishwasher running and two runs to the garbage bin later and my stepdad, Chester, arrives.

4:15 p.m. :: Called Michael’s parents to let them know the plan, they suggest the overnight Loser Cruiser Greyhound. The snow is coming overnight. Okay, we say. Book us. They land us the last two seats. We readjust our coordinates to the First and Terminal train station.

4:45 p.m. :: Chester suggests a bite to eat at a Mexican spot on Victoria. We dine on the best tacos and fresh salsas ever. A welcome breather in what promises to be a long night.

5:45 p.m. :: Arrive at Pacific Central and unload. Have ourselves a scare. Our bus, it turns out, is the only one leaving that night and no tickets are being sold on the premises. I go for a Starbucks run and make a deposit at VanCity, the only errand that doesn’t get scrapped.

7:30 p.m. :: My feet begin to freeze. A combination of bad footwear choice, cotton socks and the shoulders of snow throughout the city. Plus I am fighting a cold. I go in hunt of socks. My only find: blue children’s Christmas socks at the train station gift shop. I cough up the $6.99 and am the better for it.

9:30 p.m. :: Our scheduled 8:45 bus departs. We are making it home for Christmas.

Fast forward two days, multiple Christmas festivities, a half dozen games of Skip-Bo, a lunch of turkey sandwiches and you’ll find me happily staving off the -30 degree weather, sitting in front of the Crook’s trademark 15 foot Christmas tree watching a dusting of snow pass by the windowpane.    

::  A BLESSED CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL  ::

Operation Deux: Sweets!

Chocolates and cookies are always welcome this time of year. I find them particularly handy as hostess gifts. This Christmas I tried something new: white chocolate cranberry cups. They’re a little trickier than mounds but the presentation and flavour were well worth the mess.

Here they are in pictures.

First, melt your favourite chocolate over a water bath. My choice: Callebaut. Always.

Second, food process equal parts dried cranberries, raisins and whole almonds.

Third, keep stirring the chocolate until it is nice and smooth. Remove from heat and mix in the cranberry mix.

Fourth, let the mixture sit for a few minutes (I neglected to do this and burned myself!) then scoop it into an icing tube with a wide mouth. This is messy. If you have help, use it. Fill the cups to the brim. Afterwards pat them down a bit to make them level.

Fifth, freeze. (approx 30 mins)

Finally, fill cellophane bags with an assortment of baking and chocolates and…

Enjoy!

Our kitchen table and living room floor have, for the last two weeks, resembled Santa’s workshop. The resident elf? Yours truly.

My first project of the season has been recreating an adorable swallow (acrylic on canvas) spotted at Portobello West for $50. My goal? Recreate it for under $12.

First I painted two small canvases grey.

Second, I made a swallow stencil using card stock and a magazine image, and taped it in place.

Third, I rolled the paint on top careful not to let the paint spill over.

Fourth, I pulled off the stencil and…

Voila! A lovely little gift.

(photos taken by jenuine)

So my friend Sarah Shandl e-mailed today with this request: “I need to learn your sneaky Starbucks system of getting drinks cheap by ordering them differently… share your secrets!”

I thought I’d share my response so you too can indulge in your grande-reduced-fat-eggnogg-latte sans guilt.

It’s an easy 4 step process:

1. Order americano mistos. They’re like lattes but with more espresso for less money. Good deal, right?
2. Now, go buy a Starbucks card. 
3. Go online and register it. Once you’ve registered it you get syrups and milk changes/adds for free!
4. So, you like gingerbread lattes? Now order it like this: “I’d like a gingerbread-americano-misto-with-whip” Voila! your latte for half the price!

Enjoy!

On Sunday, November 30 Chick Pea Children’s Boutique opens its doors to your family and Santa. Revival Arts Studio will be in house to do mini-sessions for your kids, about 10 minutes long. Just enough time to keep the kids focused while they snap away to capture a traditional shot with Santa, and add some extra frames of just your kids you can preview in an online gallery later.

Here are the details:

Reserve now: Reserve your time between 11am-1pm, or drop-in 1pm-3pm at Chick Pea. Call 604.525.2266, email, or let them know you’ll drop in during the afternoon so they know how many people to expect.

What you get: 1 5×7 semi-saturated print of your best shot and a link to a photo gallery where you can order additional shots directly from Revival Arts Studio

What it costs: A $20 donation, all proceeds will go to Free The Children, supporting primary education for children around the world

Visit the Chick Pea blog for more info.

…..

Chickpea is a wonderful one-of-a-kind boutique nestled between antique shops on New Westminster’s Front Street (613). Owner Sarah Hoivik moved into the location at the start of 2007 and after many months of restoration, this once abandoned space is now home to a vintage-inspired high-end kids clothing shop complete with exposed brick walls, original wooden beams and concrete floor. In this wonderful, heritage space you’ll find Small Paul, Wonderboy Clothing, and the Sand Cassel Kids line by Goorin Hats, as well as Tea Collection Bedding and Cribnotes cards, to name a few.

“I just believe in it,” says Hoivik of her daring move from her popular Commercial Drive location to New West’s historic Front Street.

(originally written for the New Westminster Visitor’s Guide)