Thanks Santa (and Zoe)

Santa brought me the best present this year: a Royal manual typewriter.

It all started a month or so ago when I travelled to Austin, TX on an inspiration trip. My friend Zoe was on the hunt for a manual typewriter because she wanted to make her guest book a collection of typed notes from friends who stayed in her guest room. Of course, I decided to steal the idea and I put a typewriter on my Christmas list.

Santa outdid himself and delivered a restored vintage Royal Model 10 KH 957 circa 1934. The typewriter looks very cool in my family room, and has sparked an interest in literature for the whole family that I hadn't anticipated. The TV's barely been on, and the Furber kids have been lined up waiting to use the typewriter to write poems, stories, a few haikus, thank you notes, and notes to each other since the typewriter arrived.

My new typewriter is my favorite type of accessory -- it looks great, it's fairly indestructible, and fun for everyone.

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you a happy day filled with warm memories, and a peaceful and prosperous 2010.

#1 T Minus One Day and Counting

We made it to Christmas Eve with a minimum of stress and no holiday related arguments with the kids or spouse. Now it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy the next 24 hours. We follow five simple steps to get ready for the big guy:

1. Put out the cookies. Santa likes M&M cookies at our house (but he doesn't mind an oreo now and then)
2. Sprinkle the reindeer food outside so santa can find our house
3. Set up the NORAD Santa Tracker so Katie can see where Santa is, and be in bed in time for his visit
4. Open our Christmas PJs, give them a twirl in the dryer so they're nice and warm, and snuggle down for the night.
5. Read a Christmas story and tuck in for the Furber kids slumber party. This is the one night a year that all three Furber kids sleep in the same room.

#2 No More DuraFlames

My Dad and I have always loved a restaurant in Belltown in Seattle that doesn't have a fireplace, but does have a TV with a DVD of a roaring fire playing all winter long. When the DVD is over, patrons in the restaurant all shout "throw another log on the fire!"
Well, I just realized that Comcast OnDemand has a hi-def Yule Log as one of the options. Glory Hallelujah, and throw another log on the fire!

#3 Welcome, Santa. Come Right On In.

A Christmas doormat is one of the easiest ways to spruce up your exterior -- just place it by your front door and let the season begin! Here are some of my favorites:

#4 A Book to Get You Into the Christmas Spirit

Just when you think Death-by-ToDo-List seems inevitable, put down your list, grab a cup of coffee (or a toddy) and read Richard Paul Evans' "The Christmas Box." It's a quick read, and guaranteed to remind you why you do it all.

PS -- If you're looking for something a little lighter, John Grisham's "Skipping Christmas" works too.

#5 If You're Still Worried About Those Stockings...

....(see post #10) then here's a cute alternative to hanging stockings from your mantle:

I think Santa will know what to do.

#6 If You're Still Not Satisfied with #22 and #16...

...then here are a few more ideas for your Christmas cards:

Make a card tree for your entry with branches from a nature walk


Frame your favorites. You'll end up with a nice collection of holiday art after a few years.


Fold your favorites into paper cranes and add them to your Christmas tree

#7 Engage All the Senses

At our house, if it doesn't look, smell and sound like Christmas, we're not entirely satisfied. The Christmas tree makes our house smell very Christmas-y, but we also like to have a pot of Williams-Sonoma Mulling Spice bubbling away on the stovetop on the weekends.

Somehow, just a little bit fills our entire house will the smell of cloves, cinnamon and other Christmas-y things. Even Jack, who usually sleeps until noon on the weekends, has been known to wander out of his room on a weekend morning in search of what it is that smells so good.

#8 The Easiest Centerpiece You'll Ever Make

As all regular Zen readers know, the centerpiece on my dining table is a never ending creative project in my house. This year, my centerpiece came together in five minutes and required only five elements:

A vintage breadboard

A pink poinsettia

A piece of burlap

Some vintage grosgrain ribbon from Sundance

And a pretty green wreath (JP bought ours at Costco, of all places)

Wrap the poinsettia in burlap, tie it with ribbon, place it in the center of the wreath, and place all of that on the breadboard. Et voila! Gorgeous, and plenty of time left to squeeze in a nature walk (see tip #24).

#9 Hostess Gifts that Everyone Loves

My Mom taught me never to show up at someone's house empty handed. Most of the year that's not a problem, since we don't go anywhere. During the holidays, though, we have a stash of good hostess gifts at the ready just in case. Our favorite is Williams-Sonoma's Fleur de Sel.

We typically order a case of it in October, and use it throughout the year as we visit friends, go to parties, or need little gifts for little occasions. It's so pretty, and such a nice extravagance that no one will ever guess you only spent $12.50.

#10 Conquering the Mantle, Part 2

Am I the only person who thinks stocking holders are a hazard? Those big heavy metal objects attached to Christmas stockings seem to me like more of an attractive nuisance than the pool in my back yard. When Katie was born, I decided to stash the stocking holders away and hang the stockings from the mantle with ribbons.
We just tap little nails into the point where the mantle meets the wall, tie ribbons to them, and we're done. Easy, very cute, and no heavy metal objects to bonk my children or my dog on the head.

#11 Conquering the Mantle

The mantle always seems like the most stressful holiday decorating challenge: all that space, all those possibilities to do it wrong! I like to keep it simple and decorate my mantle with fresh greens. Before JP puts the tree up, he cuts a few boughs off for me, I collect a few things from the yard and I go to work.


PS: Happy Birthday JP. Love you.

#12 Thanks Bob

Every year at Thanksgiving, my dad brings a huge bucket of Bob's peppermints to my house.

Those mints go into the jar on my countertop and look happy and festive all season. Thank goodness for the jumbo sized bucket that makes them last all season.
I'm sorry to say that my dad didn't visit for Thanksgiving this year, so my jar is filled with Wheat Thins. I miss my peppermints. And my dad.

#13 25 days of Christmas Spirit

Every year on December 1st, we get out our Advent calendar to kick off the season.

The advent calendar used to be a source of stress (24 more little things to acquire), but in recent years we've figured out that it's the excitement of checking the calendar each morning that the kids really get excited about. So this year, we've created 24 cards, each with a special thing that each kid can cash in for whenever they choose: lemon cupcakes, a game of HORSE, a read-in. So far so good.

#14 Promoting Literacy at Christmas

We always store our Christmas stories away with our Christmas decor. Then when we get them out, the kids spend a few days reading them all again. For the season, the Christmas stories are stacked up beside the sofa in the family room, ready for an impromptu read in.

#15 Like a Kissing Booth, but Free

We always hang mistletoe in our family room. It's easy, it's pretty, and it's sparked a fun tradition in our house. Several times a day, someone will yell "I'm under the mistletoe!" and anyone within hearing distance will come running for a kiss. Most weekends, I can be found camped out under the mistletoe, collecting kisses.

#16 If You Don't Like #22...

...try these ideas to put your Christmas cards to work:

Integrate them into your wreath

Take over the pinboard in your office

Use them to make a pretty centerpiece

#17 Hang Something Silly and Fun on Your Christmas Tree

My friend Jeffrey Moss covered this tree has all the pages of the story "The Night Before Christmas:"

#18 Hints of Christmas Everywhere

Create fun little Christmas signals throughout the house when the mood strikes, like this stack of books that looks like a Christmas tree:

It's fun for the kids, especially the little ones, to pick them out.

#19 There's Music in the Air

Not exactly on the topic of decor, but we always make a point of having fun Christmas music in our house during the season. The kids love it, we love it, and when there's music in the air, Sunday night cleanup doesn't seem like such a drag. In fact, I'm going to test that theory tonight.

This year, we've discovered Pandora: put in the name of your favorite Christmas song, and Pandora will create a playlist for you that you are guaranteed to love. So far, Pandora seems to know me better than my husband does.

#20 Start Your Day Off Right

We always get out our reindeer mugs right after Thanksgiving and drink our coffee from them in the morning, our tea in the evenings, our hot chocolate for our after-dinner study parties. We even sometimes eat our ice cream from them. Any chance we get to use them, we do. And they're like Girl Scout cookies: just when we're tired of them, they get put away for a year. Then along comes December and we're happy to see them again.

#21 All the Romance, No Trip to the ER

I love candlelight, especially at Christmas. I prefer beeswax candles, tapers and votives, but until my little Katie is old enough that I don't have to worry she'll set her sleeves on fire, I keep the ambiance to a minimum for now. Thank goodness for whoever invented Flameless Candles. The best versions have wax pillars, last for 30 hours, and have timers so they turn themselves off after a set length of time. Any house with children should have plenty in the pantry for the season. I buy mine at Pottery Barn, but they can be found in most home, garden, or hardware stores.

#22 Make Your Christmas Cards Work For You

One of the challenges I hear most during the holidays is "what should I do with my Christmas cards?" My solution is always to treat them like art and display the prettiest cards on the table in my entry. That way we all get to enjoy them.

#23 Update the Gallery Wall for the Season

Like all families, we generate lots of art. I especially like the Christmas art that comes home each year. My favorite is the reindeer made with Andie's foot as the head and her hands as the antlers. Art like that has to see the light of day at least once a year, so we update our gallery wall for the holidays by putting two or three of our favorite pieces of the kids' art into the frames. No need to buy new frames, just temporarily bench a few photos, slide in some cute holiday art, and you're done in 20 minutes.

#24 Go On a Nature Walk

One of my favorite things about Christmas is bringing the outdoors in. Send your children on a nature walk to collect as many acorns, leaves, pinecones, branches and other pretty natural things as they can carry back with them.

Those items are great for centerpieces, coffee tables, or whatever surface needs decorating. If you run short, time for another nature walk!

24 Days and Counting

As you can see by the calendar at the right, Christmas is getting closer by the second. I thought I'd celebrate with 24 easy tips to make your home festive and fun with a minimum of fuss for the holidays. Watch this space each day for something new.

Let the Season Begin

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, it's time to begin contemplating the Christmas tree and other decor. Furbers have always been big fans of natural greenery because we love the smell and we're naturalists at heart.

For several years, Furbers have visited the same tree lot in Moraga to get our tree, our greenery and the wreath for our front door. This year we're considering a living Christmas tree that can be planted outside once Christmas is over. A visit to my friend Patrick's house in Sebastopol yesterday confirmed it for me. Patrick decorates four live trees in his house every year. He showed us the trees from years past, which are happily growing on his ten acre ranch.

I like the idea of enjoying the tree inside for a few weeks, then enjoying it outside for years, I think a live tree conveys a respect for Mother Nature that JP and I try to impart to our children in other areas of our life, and I like to have as many living plants as I can in my house to keep the air nice and clean.

Now the quest begins: how does one introduce a living tree into the house, and where does one find a living tree? As it turns out, Inhabitat is a great resource for all kinds of information on making your traditional Christmas tree more environmentally friendly, including how to care for a living tree.

In my gathering of knowledge this morning, I've learned that introducing a living tree into the house is part art part science, similar to bringing a goldfish home from the pet store.

As for where to find a tree, the National Christmas Tree Association has a very helpful list of tree purveyors throughout the US. There's a nice, long list for California. Just click here to find your state.

Almost everywhere I visited this morning reminded me that there's only 26 days left till Christmas. Perfect -- a week to find our tree, a week to transition it into the house, and a week to enjoy it inside.

Burlap. Who Knew?

I'm trying to get into the Christmas spirit, but somehow it's late in coming this year. Don't get me wrong -- I'm happy and joyful -- just not feeling like doing the the all out shopping, decorating or wrapping yet.

In an effort to force myself into the Christmas spirit, I've spent some time thinking about how I'm going to wrap my presents this year. Each year I try to choose something sustainable or reusable to minimize the waste generated from our wrapping. For the last few years I've used newspaper and magazine pages -- I love the way they look with a pretty ribbon and I want to use them while I still can! (see post "You Can't Curl Up with a Cup of Coffee and a Mac"). This year I've decided to wrap my presents in burlap. It's very chic and rustic, reusable, and made from the skin of the jute plant, a rapidly renewable natural resource.

In researching where in the world I could buy rolls of burlap (AceHardware.com), I've realized that burlap is quite the home decor trend. I saw so many chic uses of burlap, including a post from a fellow blogger Stories from A2Z on burlap in fashion entitled "Making Burlap Work for You." My favorite uses in home decor are:

Upholstery

Pillows

Lighting


The most exciting thing about burlap emerging as a design trend is this: burlap's durability and unpretentious nature are a perfect match for my three children and 100 lb. dog. I think I'll spend today making a burlap slipcover for the rattan sofa that sits on my porch. Still not a Christmas project, but getting closer.

Dreaming of a Green Christmas?

As regular Suburban Zen readers know, the Furbers strive to be as green as we can be, but we try not to drive ourselves crazy. Christmas is one of those times of year when it's a little harder than usual to be green: there's more consumption of goods, food and services, and the all the packaging and waste that goes along with that.

The book I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas: Gifts, Decorations and Recipes that Use Less and Mean More is a resource I'll be using this year to help cut through the clutter and get back to the business of making enduring memories with my family.

Here are a few ideas to get us all started:

Party Time!

2009 has been a big year at the Furber house for parties. Birthday parties, end of the year parties, study parties, sleepovers. You name it, we've hosted it this year.

As a result, we've perfected the art of having everything on hand we might need to host a party at a moment's notice with little impact to the Furber house and its decor. For those Suburban Zen readers hoping to benefit from our experience in this area, here's our top ten list of things to stock in your pantry so you can be those parents who can put a party together in a flash:

1. 3-4 paper tablecloths from your local grocery store. Great for covering the largest surface in your house (for us it's the kitchen table), as that's usually the center point of any party.
2. Plastic plates, glasses, napkins and flatware. I always have my flatware ready in a basket like this filled with Libbey pint glasses so it's ready to go when I need it:
   
   Baskets can be found on Etsy, and my favorite source for Libbey pint glasses is FSW.com.
   
3. A card table and chairs. Doesn't have to be cute, just foldable so it's easy to store when you're not partying.
4. Extra chairs that are easy to store when party is over. We like the Tolix French Bistro Chairs because they look cute when you need them, and stack up out of the way when you don't.
5. The ingredients for your favorite cookie recipe. my favorite is Guittard Chocolate Chip Cookies.
6. A big box of microwave popcorn
7. A stash of prizes and favors. I cruise Target's dollar aisle regularly and stock up on fun pencils, socks, band-aids, post-its and other silly things kids like and store them up like a squirrel in winter
8. A stash of art supplies: pipe cleaners, google eyes, pom poms, markers, glue sticks. You'd be surprised how excited a group of 14 year old girls can get about a box of pipe cleaners.
9. A Bingo game. Surprisingly fun for all ages, and a good time filler. We got ours at Restoration Hardware several years ago, and it's filled many a lull in our parties.
10. A Dust Buster. So when one of your guests makes a little mess, you can quickly clean up and get back to the party.

We have eight little six year old girls visiting this afternoon for Katie's birthday party, and with a quick trip to the grocery store and a little staging, we'll be ready to go. Party is planned for 2-3:30, and by 4 Furbers hope to be cleaned up, relaxing and de-briefing on Katie's favorite parts of the day.

Happy Birthday Jack

Friday was Jack's 12th birthday and we have reached a new phase of acquisition in the Furber house. We've transitioned from birthday gifts that are big and hard to store (think bikes, razors, train sets) to birthday gifts that are small and hard to keep track of (a green cell phone, a set of SkullCandy headphones, and a Larry Bird Celtics jersey.)

In the short term, I'm dreading the inevitable morning panic: "Mom, where did you put my cell phone?! It was right here under the sofa, next to my shoes and under the blanket! Aaaah! Why are you always moving my stuff?!!"

Aah, but in the long term, I can't help but fantasize about what I'm going to do with all that space. I estimate that I can fit about ten Larry Bird jerseys into the space a telescope takes, so I could probably take over Jack's entire closet and he might not even notice.

To any relatives reading Suburban Zen today: work with me. If you plan to give one of my children a gift, please make it small in size. In about 18 months, I think I can have all three of them sharing the same room and I'll finally have my workout room (see post Home Gym, 2009 Edition) or Jack, who's reading over my shoulder, suggests that JP and I could each have our own room.

Happy Birthday Jack. Move over -- I'm coming in with my yoga mat.

Tell Me What You're Missing, and I'll Tell You If I Gave It Away

Last week's post made me want to organize something, so I sent JP, Katie and Jasper to the dog park this morning and attacked Katie's room while they were gone.

Jack and I plowed through every drawer, shelf, bucket and tote and came up with a hefty bag full of clothes and toys to donate to charity and a half bag of trash and her room is sparkly clean and organized. We were prepared for Katie to flip out when she got home because her stuff was all moved, so Jack and I intervened with some psychological warfare: we left a note on her bed that said "Dear Katie, We cleaned your room for you. We hope you like it. XO Mom and Jack" and we left three Tootsie Rolls along with the note.

So far, so good.

No Girls Allowed

Jack will be 12 on Friday, and he's needing his mother less and less to manage his room and his stuff. It used to be that I'd go into Jack's room once a week or so and organize his stuff for him -- sports stuff all in one drawer, t-shirts in another, pants in one drawer, shorts in another. I'd get his desk all ready for the week, and put all his books away.

Well, those days are over. Jack now refers to his room as his "Man Cave" and the women in the house require an invitation to enter.

I have seen laundry go in there nice and clean, and when it comes out on Jack's body it appears to be a little messed up and wrinkled. I have seen plates and forks go in there, never to be seen again. Occasionally, Jack walks around the house collecting stuff like rubber bands, string, paper clips, scissors, band-aids, and measuring cups, then disappears into his Man Cave for a few hours. I have no idea what he's doing in there and have adopted a "don't ask, don't tell" policy. I would like to know what happened to my kitchen shears, though. I haven't seen them in months.

Jack seems to be functioning just fine without my intervention. He manages to dress himself in clean (if slightly rumpled) clothing, he always wears underwear, and keeps track of his school stuff with a system only he understands.

In six years or so, when Jack goes off to college, I'm looking forward to an anthropological dig in the Man Cave. I'm hoping my study will lead to a better understanding of the human male teenager. Or at least the discovery of my kitchen shears.

The Return of Suburban Zen, and the Daily Shower

As you may have noticed, I have been neglecting Suburban Zen lately. I know for certain my Mom has noticed, as she sends me a message each Sunday morning reminding me that she's missing Zen. The Furbers have been so busy living our fun and happy life this summer, there has been no time to write about it.

Well Mom, school starts tomorrow, and so does the discipline that rules during the school year, so no more lounging around enjoying the Summer for me. Tomorrow marks the start of:

Regular bathing so we don't have to ask "when was the last time you had a shower?"
Sleeping in pajamas every night rather than the occasional falling into bed fully dressed
Wearing clean clothes every day
Regular meals that loosely follow the food pyramid
Homework in the afternoons
No TV on the weeknights
Making lunches after dinner
Tidying up the house before we go to bed
Regular bedtime for all Furbers

Pay heed, Furber children. That list is for you.

With all that activity, there's plenty to write about, so look forward to the return of Zen's regular schedule of once or twice a week coming soon.

Another school year is over, and this was a big one for the Furbers: Jack graduated from elementary school, Katie finished kindergarten, and Andie graduated from middle school. With the end of each school year at my house comes a variety of trophies, certificates, awards, and really cute art, and along with all that comes the challenge of storing and displaying it all. JP and I developed a system that has held up very well over the years.

When Andie started school (9 years ago!) we bought 20 26"x12" flat files and started filling them up with mementos for each year.
Now each child has a box for each school year that contains all the good stuff we want to keep. Some have parts of halloween costumes (like the giant white sunglasses Jack wore with his Willy Wonka costume), some have party invitations, pictures of friends, tickets to plays, programs from performances.

Because all three of our children have gone to the same elementary school, it's especially fun to compare the school projects they've all done -- we now have a complete Furber set of the Old Lady Who Swallowed the Fly from the Rancho Romero Kindergarten curriculum.

Every once in a while I sit down with a stack of them and try to clean out the contents, thinking the kids can't possibly want all this when they move out and have to store it all themselves. But then I get lost in the memories brought back by each little item, and I keep it all.

A Katie-Friendly House

As all regular Suburban Zen readers know, JP and I pride ourselves in having a house that incorporates both brains and beauty: it looks great most of the time because it's built with a kid-friendly foundation that can take the beating our family dishes out. One important element to making our house work for our family, is accommodating Katie, the youngest, smallest and most independent of the Furber family members. Katie likes to do most things herself, and loves to help in the kitchen, so we have a set of simple tools to make that easy for her:

A Kik-Step Rolling Stepstool in our pantry that she can roll out when she wants to help in the kitchen

Little stepstools that we stash in the bathroom, under the coffee table, and other places so there's always one available for her to reach what she needs

A big breadbox that sits on a low shelf in the pantry filled with snacks

And a drawer full of plastic plates and glasses so Katie can help herself when she's hungry

And up until recently, we had a Stokke Trip Trap chair for her at the end of our kitchen table that served as both a booster chair and a step ladder, depending on the desired function at the moment.

About six months ago, Katie announced she was too big for that chair and no longer needed it, so now it sits in our garage. As Katie gets bigger, I'm sure each of the other helpers we have for her will be retired to the garage. But for now, they're happy reminders that while Andie is just a few years away from going off to college, our little Katie will be here to keep us company for a nice long time.

1 Furber House - 4 Furbers = 1 Lonely Mom

Every summer for the last seven years, JP and the kids clear out of Alamo for a few weeks and go to the family beach house in Olympia Washington. That time has come, and they all leave early on Tuesday morning. The time on the beach is great for them, not so great for me, as my full time job keeps me home all summer.

So for ten days (until I meet up with everyone in Sun Valley to celebrate July 4th) I will roam my house alone, missing my family. The problem with a house like mine, is that 50 weeks of the year, it's a fabulous celebration of our happy life together. But two weeks of the year, everything in it makes me miss my family:

Pictures everywhere of the kids in various ages and stages
Kids art hanging on the walls
The map that's marked with all the Furber family travels
The big kitchen table with lots of chairs around it -- when my family's gone, I eat standing up in the kitchen. Too lonely to sit at that giant table without JP and the kids
The drawer full of plastic cups, plates and straws for Katie so she can get her own food when she wants to

Ugh. I'm dreading Tuesday morning, but dreading Tuesday night more when I come home from work to an empty house. I'm not usually a person who relishes the moments when I'm alone in my house (in fact I can't think of very many of those). I like the signs of life my family brings to my house: a little noise, a mess here and there, balls bouncing in the driveway, the occasional power struggle between Jack and Katie. The contrast of all that one day and a clean, quiet, empty house the next. Yuck.

Bon voyage, Furber family. Don't miss me as much as I'll miss you.

I Want to be India Hicks

I've always been inspired by India Hicks. She seems to me to be the ultimate working mother who always looks great, always has her house together, and has a balanced view of how work, family and interior design come together to make a happy life.


She lives in one of those plantations in the Bahamas that actually has a name (Hibiscus Hill)


and she's often photographed looking beautiful and surrounded by children


Some of my best ideas are inspired by India Hicks and the many articles and books that have been published about her. For example:
She's not afraid to show the quirky objects and collections that make up her life with her four children

She uses a chronicle of candid photography as a decorative element throughout her house



Her interiors are designed to be pretty, but also casual and comfortable for her family

I prefer to think she is like me and does it with a minimum of help from outside staff, but who knows and I'm not one to judge. Just substitute JP for David Flint Wood, and Andie, Jack and Katie for the Hicks children and I could slide right into Hibiscus Hill and live happily ever after.