CHRISTMAS VACATION 2015

Christmas 2015

Christmas time around the Place Under The Pine?
Busy is one way to describe it. The citizens are busy trimming trees, wrapping present, making cards, baking cookies...when the 25th hits the busy-ness only increases. The Place bursts at the seams with friends and relatives all sharing in the events of Christmas.
Early Xmas morning, before the sun even rose, over a dozen people were busy distributing presents and drinking hot, strong, coffee. The kids were overwhelmed with all of the stuff given to them by their generous relatives. The Place was full of laughter, smiles, and full stomachs.

Over the next week the citizens spent day upon day hunkering down at home; soaking in hour upon hour of quality family time (and playing with all the new toys). It was a much needed break from school, work, and regular life. A great time to recharge for the upcoming winter.

Here is a little video showing some of the things we did over the holidays. Enjoy.

 



Oscar lives up to his Sesame Street personality...

..Grouch :)  (He frowned on purpose at the very last second)

DECKING OUR HALLS

UP GOES THE XMAS TREE

The Place Under the Pine was bustling with activity this weekend - Christmas inspired activity.
It was the second biggest (or maybe third biggest, depending on who you ask) event of the Holiday Season - Putting up the Christmas Tree!!!

For many reasons, from cost to bendability, the PUTP uses an artificial tree. The 'construction' of the tree is an activity everyone participates in.

Lifelike branches are sorted.

Once the tree is assembled and strung with lights the glass balls come out. A nice base layer of green, pink, clear...almost every colour...fragile (very fragile) glass balls are placed strategically on the tree.

Lolli is almost as tall as the tree!

Sometimes the inevitable happens...little hands drop balls.

Action shot!

 

Whoopsie!

Xmas-tree-decorating-with-three-year-olds-tip#53 : Place something soft under the tree. A cushion made of a thick felt tree skirt will ensure glass balls do not break when they fall from a height of around three feet. Help your child learn that glass balls can be their Christmas tree decorating friend.

Bodies of older siblings will also work.

Me? Again? I did it last year!

 After the appropriate number of balls were put in the tree, a photo op was taken.

Photo contains: Sad puppy, middle child, and ?

 Next, giant plastic bins filled with ornaments were cracked open. With an overabundance of décor Jen took control and prevented mass chaos. With her in charge, distributing ONE ornament at a time, the decorating process ran smoothly.
With the classic Christmas songs playing in the background, the tree was filled with memories. It seems each ornament has a story - some dating back to Christmas '79. Every bough was weighted down with some trinket. Lolli focused on getting the top branches, Elliott the middle, and Oskie...well, he focused on one branch and one branch only.

 



 

 

 

 

With the Christmas tree comes the annual advent calendar. This beauty has 24 little pockets each holding a hand crafted felt ornament to be hung above. Every day brings a surprise (what ornament are we getting today? Is it the pink fish!?) and every decoration brings us one day closer to the big event!

EASTER WEEKEND - 2 BIG STORIES

THE ANNUAL EASTER EGG HUNT

Pine Tree Press | Events


For the past eight years now the Place Under The Pine has been quiet on Good Friday. No, the citizens are not practicing a quiet religious ritual...they are out hunting for plastic eggs full of candy!
The routine is the same; early morning arrive at the Place Under The Apple Tree, hunt for eggs in the park across the street, gather for homemade waffles and other brunch things.

An excited trio

Oskie had to be held back, he was just so excited...as you can tell

 

Do your egg hunting face.

Off they go! The little ones get a one minute head start.

Those eggs are hidden everywhere.

Look on the trees

How many? One...two...four...

   

The bigger kids waste no time once the gun sounds....BANG...they're off!

An egg gathering machine!

Look, three to four pounds of chocolate in this bag!

THE EASTER BUNNY STRIKES AGAIN!

Pine Tree Post | Crime

No matter what security measures the Place Under The Pine puts into place the Easter Bunny always manages to get inside the house. The doors were locked, windows sealed, even the air vent for the dryer was shut tight. However, Sunday morning when the citizens woke they found candy and chocolate spread throughout the living room. 

In response to this break in Elli has volunteered to stand guard the entire night next year.

 

This year the Easter Bunny seemed to take his time and have a little fun. There were signs that he was playing with the toys - leaving candy in the hands of dolls or hidden out of sight in plastic pirate treasure boxes! He also meticulously placed jelly beans on door handles, light switches, and every nook and cranny in the living room. He really made a mess this year. The young ones had to search long and hard to find every hidden treat.

Little hockey guys playing with jelly bean pucks!

Jelly bean pucks disappear into Oskie's mouth. He does want to be a goalie!

Yes, I have shorts over my pants.

We are not 100% sure why the Bunny upped the degree of difficulty in the 'egg hunt' this year. It actually seemed kind of inconsiderate since this was Oskie's first year being able to participate. Luckily, Oskie was happy to stuff his mouth full of the first six beans he found...then lie on the couch in a semi-sugarcoma while the Bigs found the rest of the hidden booty.

That was number six - he is starting to get blurry vision

One candy into the bag.

One candy out of the bag...into my mouth!

It appears the Bunny has drastically changed the way he hides eggs and the treats he leaves. The first year of the Place Under the Pine, when the population was only three (two adults and a one year old Lolli) the Easter Bunny hid Cheerios and raisins. Compare that to today, the Bunny leaves pure sugar beans and foil wrapped chocolate eggs. Times they are changing.

A much deserved sugar crash!