Merry Christmas! Our family had a great Christmas day. Susanna and I went to Christmas Eve services last night (yes, I don’t know what is wrong with me… but it was nice to get out of the house). The boys arrived this morning and will be here until Sunday. The plan was to let them get settled from transition and then open gifts. The boys decided 15 seconds after arriving that they had settled long enough to open gifts.

We all enjoyed a relaxed Christmas day. Susanna started reading “50 Shades of Grey.” I helped the boys with their Christmas projects. Ben spent most of the day assembling a complicated toy roller-coaster. He doesn’t actually need much help (only a little help at the end getting things running smoothly – it won’t be much longer before he gets to the point where I won’t be of any help).

Will had a lesson on carving wood at the Mystic Seaport in on a field-trip with his school earlier this year. He had enjoyed carving, and had asked for carving chisels for Christmas. Today, I helped him get set up in the workshop, and I milled him some lumber to carve with his new chisels. I think he likes carving because it is something he can show the rest of us how to do.

I first traced some letter so he could carve his name. Then we milled a piece of sapele (actually two) and he carved a sign for his room. We hung it on some sash chain and brass hooks outside of his door. Maybe tomorrow he will make a sign for his brother’s room.

It is that time of year again. Time to look back on the year. Time to get the blog printed into a book. Not only do I need to get this blog printed, I promised the boys that I will print their blogs as well.

Last year I used blog2print.com. The site make it easy to print a hardback book from a blog, and the quality of the printed book is good.  One of the things I didn’t like with the service was there was no control over the size of the pictures in the book. The quality of the images was decent, but they were all a little smaller than I would have liked.  The book also doesn’t include comments. The comments aren’t really an issue for my blog, but for Will’s and Ben’s blogs, the comments would be nice.

I’m trying a new path for the boys. I haven’t decided what do do with this blog.  I am using BlogBooker.com.  The service is free (though to get it to use high-resolution photos you must make a donation (about $14). The service takes the blog and converts it to a print quality PDF.  I can then upload the PDF to Lulu.com.

With BlogBooker.com and Lulu.com, I can only (easily) get the book in a 6×9 or A4 (letter) softcover book.  I probably could find a way to get it to one of the hardbound book sizes for Lulu.com, but it would require a couple of extra steps. Another advantage is that I could open up the Lulu.com books if grandparents wanted to get a copy of the boys’ blogs.   BlogBooker.com also allows comments to be automatically included.

If anyone has a better way to take a blog and publish it, please let me know.

Yesterday, the Targa and Tucker decided to take a little vacation from hanging out at home. They took off on the hike I took with the boys and them. We were pretty far in the woods when Tucker got a scent of something and off he went. Targa went in pursuit.

It was early afternoon when we went hiking. They hadn’t returned by nightfall, and we all were starting to get worried.  The boys started talking about putting up “Lost Dog” signs on every third telephone pole on Sunday if they didn’t come back before this morning. We even took a drive around the block to see if we could find them.

Nothing. Not even a Tucker bark.  We went to bed in an extra quiet, dog empty, house. Will woke up a couple of times in the night to check if they got back. I had strange dreams about finding the dogs, only to wake up to discover it was a dream (but thankfully they were dreams – I also had a dream where Will and Ben decided to steal from a toy store – maybe I had too much wine before bed).

Finally about 4 AM I woke up to the distant sounds of Tucker barking.  Yes, he is loud enough to hear through the window when he is far away in the field across the street. I went outside and called for them, but it was too dark to go looking for them.

Will woke up at six and went downstairs to find the dogs sitting at the back door. Dirty and very very tired. Tired enough to not protest a bath.

Celebrating Sankta Lucia is a Swedish tradition that Susanna has brought with her. According to by Agneta Lilja, Södertörn University College (posted on sweden.se):

The Lucia tradition can be traced back both to St Lucia of Syracuse, a martyr who died in 304, and to the Swedish legend of Lucia as Adam’s first wife. It is said that she consorted with the Devil and that her children were invisible infernals. Thus the name may be associated with both lux (light) and Lucifer (Satan), and its origins are difficult to determine. The present custom appears to be a blend of traditions….

The concert is a celebration of light, with Lucia wearing a crown of candles and each member of cast carrying a candle.  According to sweden.se:

The real candles once used are now battery-powered, but there is still a special atmosphere when the lights are dimmed and the sound of the children singing grows as they enter from an adjacent room.

Tradition has it that Lucia is to wear “light in her hair,” which in practice means a crown of electric candles in a wreath on her head. Each of her handmaidens carries a candle, too. Parents gather in the dark with their new digital cameras at the ready.

The star boys, who like the handmaidens are dressed in white gowns, carry stars on sticks and have tall paper cones on their heads. The brownies bring up the rear, carrying small lanterns.

The Yesterday we shared in that tradition by attending a Lucia concert in Hartford. The boys found the concert a little boring, but it is good to experience new things (and learn to sit though things that aren’t as exciting as watching a movie). This is the second year we have celebrated the holiday here. Last year we attended the concert at the Swedish Church in New York City.

The concert last night was very nice. Of course, the big concert in NYC the year before was amazing – there was no comparison between the two. Of course the concert at the Swedish Church is significantly more expensive and a much longer trip.