In the early 90’s my husband and I were both commuting to work 45-60 minutes one way, we had 2 busy little kids and we were working on remodeling our home. Not quite sure how we did it all!

When the Christmas season was approaching, I knew I would not have time to write a message to everyone on our Christmas list…this was before email and smart phones – and when you still have to pay extra for long distance calls. Christmas was about the only time we touched base with many of our friends and family. So I decided to just get a photo taken of our little family, have wallet-sized prints made and attach that to a Christmas letter that I typed up and copied.

We continued that tradition each year, taking a family photo and typing up a summary of the years events. We would write a paragraph about each child and describe what they had learned, celebrated, or achieved. Then we would add a few paragraphs about family, work and community events.

We now have 28 years of letters, summarizing each family member for each year. When we started this tradition, our oldest son was 3 and was just learning to ride a bicycle with training wheels and our oldest daughter loved taking her dolls for walks in their stroller.

It brings back so many memories to go back and read through all the letters. It is a wonderful way to document family history. I have made copies of each letter and put them in protective covers in a notebook, one for each of our children. So each children will have a summary of our family, starting in 1992.

It is easy if you start early. When you flip to your 2021 calendar just make notes about events throughout the year. New jobs, classes, internships, new babies, trips, honors, hobbies, projects, etc. If your family is on Facebook or other social media, that is another way to gather information. Then in early December just compile a list for each family member. I usually write up a rough draft and have each person edit their paragraph.

As a parent, I love reading the past letters…so many good times…and the kids do grow up so fast. Photos and letters really help you remember all the fun and special times your family enjoyed.

Think about doing a Christmas letter to share with others the news about your family and to document your family history. Start in January and you will be ready in December. It will bring you joy for years to come!

Happy New Year!

All the recent snow and freezing weather have our Missouri birds searching for food. We have nine feeders in our backyard and we have really enjoyed watching the birds as they fly in and eat their treats. We fill our feeders with with a variety of types of bird feed including Wild Bird Seed, Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, Finch Food and Mealworm Snacks.

Even in town, we get such a variety of birds – cardinals, blue jays, purple and yellow finches, juncos, downy woodpeckers, sparrows and an occasional starling.

We got started on our bird watching kick about a year ago when our youngest daughter gave us a clear acrylic window feeder, like the one above. I put the feeder on the window by my computer. It is so interesting to see the variety of birds that visit.

We enjoyed it so much I put two more on our living room window. Sometimes there will be five to six birds in each feeder. They are easy to fill and it is so fun to watch the birds up close.

The ones we have are from Amazon, but they are also available at discount and farm supply stores.

Adding a heated birdbath gives the birds a drinking source – and it is fun to watch them get in and play in the water.

The bird feeders in the garden attract lots of visitors. We have the bird feeders placed so we can see them from our windows, that way we can really enjoy watching them. Start with a few feeders and soon you will have a wonderful new hobby! Enjoy!

Cool rainy fall days make me start thinking about projects I want to do. When I was growing up my Grandma Steinhauser used a pig cutting board and I have fond memories of helping her in the kitchen. Years ago I made one similar to hers, but it needed to be replaced. Fortunately my husband just finished setting up his wood shop, so I went in to play. I made one out of oak for me and one out of walnut for Kari.

There is something so soothing about working with wood! Cutting it out, shaping it with sandpaper and watching the grain come alive when you apply the finish is always just amazing! I use most of my wooden cutting boards more for decoration and charcuterie than cutting, they add such warmth to a room.

My husband gave me a custom branding iron so that I could stamp my name in my finished projects.

My husband’s dad harvested walnut from his farm, so we have some beautiful walnut boards. We created boards, like above, for our kids. So they have walnut boards that they can use for charcuterie, cutting or serving that were made from trees from their Granddad’s farm.

We traced around Grandmother Carr’s favorite cutting board to use as a pattern to make gifts for family.

This is one of my favorites! It is about 19 inches across, perfect to pile a bunch of pumpkins on for fall.

I used templates that I found on Pinterest to create these fall trivets.

You will need to maintain your boards using a food safe oil or food safe wax. Some do it once a month, some once a year, it depends on how often you use and them and what you use them for. When they start looking dry, it is time to treat them.

Using a paper towel, I apply mineral oil to both sides of the boards and let them set for about 20 minutes. Then wipe off excess oil, if all of oil is soaked up, repeat the process. Let set overnight before using.

Cutting boards and charcuterie boards come in all shapes and sizes. If you want some inspiration, there are so many ideas on Pinterest. Be creative and enjoy the process! Plus these make great gifts! Enjoy!