Last Christmas

From the minute I tearfully declared my decision to divorce, my family has swarmed in to love, protect, nurture and sustain me.

They dropped everything. 

Half of them picked up and moved states to be near me. The other half has been helping financially and emotionally. All of them have been praying for me, talking with me, and giving the kind of empathetic, whole-hearted, essential support that brings to mind soldiers in the trenches together. I cannot imagine going through this without them. They've been indispensable. My soft place to land. My refuge.

We call it the Hansen Invasion, and I've never been so proud to be a Hansen.

Over the holiday break, we decided that it might be cathartic to make a Christmas Video after all.

Discovering who J really is has been the biggest disappointment of my life; but accepting who J really is has been biggest liberation of my life. I needed a song that encapsulated both the heartbreak and the resolve; the disgust and the freedom, the sorrow and the joy.

And that's how we decided to cover "Last Christmas" by Wham.

Enjoy it in all its 80's glory. :)



I have to mention that this was all shot in a single night after we'd put the kids {15 between us all} to bed. We filmed it using a half working Panasonic PK800 tube camera {like on Ghostbusters!} and a Nikon DSLR pointed at a TV. We wrapped up around 2am and none of us fully recall the events captured on film-- but it was a complete blast.

Every time I watch it, I gut-laugh and feel fiercely grateful for the abundance of good that the world still offers. My brothers and sisters are evidence of that.

Happy Christmas. ;)

Our New Nativity

While last year's paper nativity was certainly more my style, I couldn't help but notice how much the kids wished they could touch it. I wanted to encourage that-- after all, over the years we've pretty much eliminated any tradition involving Santa {short of labeling at least one gift from the North Pole}. It seemed only fair to balance things by adding more Christ-centered traditions. 

Recently, my mom gave me a box of some of my old toys and pictures that she'd saved over the years and as I went through them, I was stunned at how much I remembered the feel of things. I think kids spend much more time handling objects. Experiencing them in a truly tactile way. 

In fact, that made me think about L's favorite Halloween decoration: the skeleton tree. He spends hours every single day in October playing with the skeletons and rearranging them around the tree. Trust me, someday he's going to get a sentimental twang in his heart when he digs out those old, plastic skeletons!

Luckily, he's equally fascinated with the Playmobile Nativity that I hobbled together after a couple of successful ebay bids. Even second-hand they were a bit pricy, but as I justified to J, I'm investing in an heirloom here. A bright, plastic heirloom. :)

So far, I'm pleased. They have tremendous child-appeal without being too precious; They include several little interactive pieces {L likes to fill all the little bags and vessels with the tiny gold coins the Wise Men came with}, and they're quite durable. I love waking up every morning and seeing that the angel has climbed up on the stable roof again and the sheep are chasing the camel.

Do you have a nativity? Growing up, we had a beautiful, white, ceramic creche that we weren't really allowed to play with. I'm still putting up my pretty, white paper nativity. But now I don't have to feel guilty about not letting the kids handle it. :)

2013 Christmas Video

Merry Christmas!

A little late, but we finally wrapped up our annual Christmas Video {in lieu of sending out cards}. We chose to go in a different direction this year, drawing inspiration from our  love of musical instruments, small towns, and Wes Anderson quirkiness.



As always, we send it out hoping it brings you a bit of cheer and finds you safe and well. I, especially want to thank all of you for your friendship and prayers. There aren't words enough to express how much you mean to me.



God bless us, every one. :)


I Saw Three Ships from Jared Foster on Vimeo.

PS-- If you'd like to see all of our past Christmas Videos, the links are in my sidebar---->

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a storm front move through just in time to {finally!} put a chill in the air for Thanksgiving. It made my morning run crisp and invigorating. As I splashed through puddles and took in the smell of sodden leaves, I dreamt of this weekend-- where I will basically live off of leftover pie while we film our Christmas video. :)

I'm going to try and get an early start on said pies this evening. I have a tradition of watching some of my favorite holiday movies while I peel apples and make pie crust-- "While You Were Sleeping", "Dan In Real Life"and "The Family Man" all take the place of the Macy's Day Parade as my most treasured Thanksgiving viewing.

May all of you have a happy and safe weekend as well!

{image}

Behind the Scenes

As much as I love a polished, finished product, sometimes I can't help but love the process of creating something even more than seeing it completed. Perhaps you're like that, too? If so, here's a little glimpse of what went in to making this year's Christmas Video. 

After spotting this image on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to play with lights and silhouettes. J brought home as many large, cardboard boxes as he could fold into the mini cooper, and I proceeded to cut out mountains and pine trees with a box cutter.

Next, I tested out the effect by taping twinkle lights to the back.

Once satisfied, we dragged all the cardboard out to the backyard and painted them with left-over white house paint. Unfortunately, the silhouettes immediately started to curl inward, so we ended up having to press them flat again under 5 gallon buckets of wheat. :)

Then we dragged all the cardboard back upstairs to transform my bedroom into a winter wonderland. Instead of fake snow, we spread out white sheets and blankets on the ground-- the OFELIA blanket from IKEA had the perfect snowy texture.


We always get requests to see the entire family in one shot, so that was the goal this year. We bribed the kids with marshmallows, and managed to keep the baby in the room for a few consecutive minutes on camera! Oh-- and I rubbed a bit of my lipstick onto their cheeks to give them all a rosy glow. ;)


One of my favorite creations was the little paper campfire. The rocks were just crumpled sheets of printer paper and we stuck a ball of Christmas lights under the blanket to make it all glow!


I kinda-sorta fell in love with this fuzzy hat. We have absolutely no use for it here in the desert, but I thought it brought out my Ukrainian heritage nicely. :) If you'll notice, I have my hand on the hat in a lot of the shots, and that's because I was covering the tag-- I returned most of the props after using them for the one-day shoot.

The aspen tree set was SUPER cheap to make. We cut strips of paper from the MALA drawing paper roll in half, lengthwise, and taped them to the ceiling and floor of the living room.

Then I just slapped on a few brushstrokes of gray paint from my vast collection of Martha Stewart paint samples. :) Voila!

The lighting was much better the next morning. :) The kids were fascinated with the overnight forest, and couldn't wait till we were done filming so they could run around and tear them all down.

And as usual, we were grateful to be filming in our own house so we could work around the inevitable temper tantrums and Baby R's naps-in-the-middle-of-the-floor.






This was the first year that we filmed before Thanksgiving , and we really missed living off of leftover turkey and pie. Stopping to make a meal was such a pain. But we managed to knock it out over a short weekend, hand-letter the title cards, and call it a year!
Until next time. ;)

Christmas Around the House

It's a week before Christmas. The stockings are hung, the presents wrapped, and lights twinkle on the tree. All month I've been flooded with memories of last year, when our situation was so desperate and yet we were so sustained by the kindness of strangers. We've tried hard to not only recall the miracles that took place, but to be part of making miracles happen for others this year.

For the most part, it's been a peaceful month. I only had to venture into crazy shopping centers once. We've spent lots of time cutting paper snowflakes {they encircle the entire downstairs room) and watching the crackling yule log on Netflix. ;)

I finally got around to making a creche-- it's cut out of watercolor paper and set inside a white terrarium I bought at IKEA. I plan on hiding some battery operated tea lights under the fake snow on Christmas Eve to make it glow.

I love switching out all the artwork for seasonal images.

The kids surprised me this year by saving all their earnings and taking the initiative to buy small presents for each other. It was so adorable to watch each one of them pondering over dollar toys to find something just right for their siblings.

 I miss snow and pine trees this time of year.

And of course, there's plenty of holiday baking going on around here as well. :) Next up: homemade marshmallows.

How are you enjoying the last week before Christmas?

Christmas Video 2012!

Once again, Merry Christmas from the Foster Family! Five years ago, we started making these Christmas Video Greetings in lieu of Christmas Cards, and it's become one of our favorite traditions! We sure love and appreciate all of you for the way you've been there for us, especially last Christmas while J was unemployed, so we hope this helps 'give back' a bit and spread some Christmas cheer. ;) Enjoy!

Music by Kay Starr

Sneak Peek and Gingerbread Feeling

This year I get to host some of my family for Thanksgiving, which is only the second time I've done so in the last 13 years. I feel super lucky, and can't wait to have my kitchen full of women cooking together! (Let alone all the pie!) I just wish it was everyone. :(

Housing all those (eagerly anticipated) people means that we'll be shooting our annual Christmas Video this weekend instead of over Black Friday. I've been staying up late constructing sets, and am starting to really feel eager for Christmas. Funny how that often happens!

I used to hate it when society seemed to skip over Thanksgiving in favor of the bright, shiny and more glamorous holiday, but since becoming an adult and having my own children, I've really warmed towards Christmas. I'm able to more fully embrace 'that gingerbread feeling' and ignore the commercial aspects that tend to spoil the miracle of the Savior's birth for me.

Plus, making our video always makes me feel like an artist again. :)

PS- I'm sorta obsessed with all the beautiful options out there for setting a Thanksgiving table, especially since I rarely get this opportunity. Is it silly that I actually feel productive after spending a few hours 'researching' tablescapes on Pinterest?

Halloween 2012

Happy Halloween, all! As it turned out, we really enjoyed ourselves. It's hard not to, even on an off year!

My sewing machine is still broken {thanks to the teepee I sewed last Christmas} so we had to construct costumes out of no-sew materials. Enter the boy's request for a Lego theme, and our cardboard Halloween was born. :)

Except for Little Miss C, who was willing to be a Lego just because she's a good sport, but was obviously longing to join her friends in their Monster High theme. We searched high and low for a Laguna Blue costume at the last minute and she hasn't stopped thanking me since for caving to the pressure. She was a happy (if completely-unrecognizable-except-to the-tween-set) sea monster.

Things we learned this year: 1) People couldn't hide their disappointment that we weren't all dressed up. I guess we had quite the reputation. 2) Sewing is easier than cardboard construction. 3) It's nearly impossible to see out of a Lego Man Mask.

L ended up shedding the mask portion of his costume and was overjoyed at the freedom. He did, however, LOVE his little Lego Man hands. :)

Oh, and E won 1st Place in the costume contest at our Annual Halloween Spooktacular. Which sort of made all of this:

worth it. :) 'Til next year!

Halloween Prep

We're all getting the sniffles here in the Melancholy Household-- not exactly what I envisioned for our Halloween, but then again, nothing says "autumn is officially here" like cold and flu season. :) I made some chicken noodle soup and some toast cut into spooky shapes in an attempt to get the baby to eat. Nothin' doing. All he wants is fun-sized candy bars, no matter how much his nose is running.



The kids aren't allowed to dress up at school {is this just because it's a homeschool enrichment program? i.e. probably filled with conservative-types that see Halloween as the Devil's Holiday? Or are all schools like this now?} At any rate, they tried to make up for it by allowing the kids to have 'Crazy Hair Day." We filled E's spiky hair with cobwebs and plastic spiders.


Miss C requested a 'Rat's Nest'. :) I'm still in the middle of throwing together last-minute costume stuff. I'll warn you now, it's an off year for us; even so, the kids are pretty darn excited and I can't help but have that rub off on me.

Happy Halloween and stay safe!

It's all fun and games until....

Last weekend, our neighborhood held their annual Halloween Spooktacular. The event took us by surprise this year {two weeks before the holiday? Whaaaat?} so I was scrambling to finish costumes. By the skin of my teeth, I was able to get the kids decked out, but J and I were left uncharacteristically costume-less. I felt so self-consciously un-festive!

The evening was fun in a Disneyland sort of way; Which is to say that it began with excitement, quickly gave way to overstimulation, and ended with tears. ;)

By the time we wrestled everyone into the car:

• Little Miss C was wailing because she'd had two sno-cones but only rode one ride. 

• E was crying because he'd gone on all the rides but didn't get any sno-cones. 

• L was blubbering that it wasn't fair that he couldn't wear his costume in the car {he can't sit down in it}, 

• and Baby R, who had been melting down for the 20 minutes previous, sank into his car seat with relief when he realized we were finally headed home. 

• J spent the 1 mile drive threatening to never take the kids to another party again, 

• and I was so tired that I sent the lot of them to bed with sticky hands and mouths dyed red and blue. 

{Please tell me this sounds familiar!} Of course, a year from now, our selective memories will have painted the whole event as delightful and wholesome. Funny how some of our best family-bonding-experiences require a great deal of forgetting. :)

I'm still finishing up costumes before All Hallows Eve. Pictures to come soon!

A Day Late

For a week, the kids have been chomping at the bit, begging me to start decorating for Halloween. With the flip of the calender to October, we finally dug the bins of fake gravestones, roaches, bones and spiders out of the garage.

The interesting thing about allowing kids to decorate with me is that I end up with completely fantastic vignettes that I would never have had otherwise. Magnified rats...

...roaches in test-tubes...

...and an ungodly number of skeletons hanging from the Halloween tree.

Even though it's still nearly triple digits outside, the addition of all these creepy-crawlies makes it feel as though autumn really is here.

E's big thing this year is that he wants things to "be more scary". :)

I'm not sure that we accomplished that, but I like his enthusiasm.

Time to watch our Halloween cartoons and bust out the apple cider!

Welcome, October!

Easter 2012

The children were a just a little eager for Easter. They adore holidays and proceeded to let us know by waking up at the crack of dawn in order to go find their Easter baskets. J absolutely refused to be roused from sleep, so I trudged down in my pajamas to watch.

While they gorged on chocolate bunnies and played with their stuffed Angry Birds, I made Resurrection Rolls {image and recipe via Eat at Allies, though I used homemade dough}.

The idea is to seal a marshmallow {Christ} in a roll {the tomb} then wait for it to bake {symbolizing three days}. When you cut open the roll, it reveals that the marshmallow is no longer there {having melted into the bread} and is a wonderful way to explain to kids that the tomb is empty because Christ has risen. Plus, they're pretty delicious. ;)




Building on my last post about Emma Pillsbury, I decided to go with bold colors for my Easter outfit. I bought a HUGE old-lady skirt from Goodwill and proceeded to unpick all the seams and take it in. Voila! A perfectly orangey-pink skirt for just $2.50. {Other outfit deets: striped shirt,  J Crew / necklace, Target / belt, Anthropologie / skirt, thrifted / shoes, Ross}




After church, we headed to J's brother's house for dinner, conversation, and plenty of playing with the cousins. It was a pretty terrific Easter Sunday, and I hardly noticed the 90 degree weather. :)

How was yours?

PS Sorry for the unscheduled and unusually long blogging break. I appreciate the emails of concern and apologize for not replying to any of them. :(  I'll write more about it in the coming week, but I'm hoping to be back to regular posting now. XO