The North Idaho Front Porch (Salmon, Clark Fork: ceramic, noisy, fair)

[countrylv22]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

I hope everybody had the Christmas of their dreams! Here's something I consider a Christmas gift: The Sandpoint Property Management webcams are up and running again, in HD! Beautiful pics from 1st Ave and Gold Hill.I don't know when they started up again, because I'd removed the link from my bookmarks, but now I can keep track of the NID weather again, in real time! Thanks, Sandpoint Property!

Webcams - Sandpoint Property Management, Inc.

Merry Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2019 to all IDAHO Friends!!

Dear CFF, thanks for the Christmas gift!!! I love webcams!

I was wondering what are some Idaho CHRISTMAS traditions that you all can share?

I would love to read about what you all do during Christmas & the Holidays, what do you cook,

what do you bake, what & or how do you decorate your places for the Holidays?

Do a lot of people in Idaho bake a 12th Night Cake? You know, like from Charles Dickens,

"A Christmas Carol"? For the 12th Night of Christmas that is coming up?

Thanks in advance CHEERS!

🎄 🌟 🎁 🔔 🙏 🎵🎄

[banjomike]

Originally Posted by countrylv22

Merry Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2019 to all IDAHO Friends!!

Dear CFF, thanks for the Christmas gift!!! I love webcams!

I was wondering what are some Idaho CHRISTMAS traditions that you all can share?

I would love to read about what you all do during Christmas & the Holidays, what do you cook,

what do you bake, what & or how do you decorate your places for the Holidays?

Do a lot of people in Idaho bake a 12th Night Cake? You know, like from Charles Dickens,

"A Christmas Carol"? For the 12th Night of Christmas that is coming up?

Thanks in advance CHEERS!

🎄 🌟 🎁 🔔 🙏 🎵🎄

Here's a family tradition:
My brother and I have both played stringed instruments for a long time, and our Dad was a good singer who loved to sing, but he didn't play anything.

When we were both grown and had families of our own, and while he didn't do it every year, once in a while during the holidays Dad would get a hankering to go caroling, and he would just show up at my door suddenly, come to pick me up. I would grab a banjo, and my bro would soon join us in Dad's farm pickup with a guitar, and Dad would set off doing the driving.

I never knew where we would end up or how long we would be out.
Dad knew everyone in town, and I think he just went to the first folks who came to mind. Sometimes the night would be spent caroling his friends, but other times, we would go out and carol our other family members as well.

Wherever we went we were always a big surprise.
Our instruments always went out of tune quickly in the cold, and Dad was by far the best singer among us, but my bro and I bellowed along with gusto, running noses, trying to hit the right notes with frozen fingers, but never frozen for long.

We did a few carols pretty well, always, and Dad remembered the good ones, so as time went by we stuck to our greatest hits.

We were almost always invited inside every place we stopped, and there was always a lot of visiting that ensued, along with coffee or a hot toddy, or a laced eggnog, or fruitcake or cookies. Sometimes the visit lasted a long time, and other times, just long enough to warm back up and take off for the next place.

I usually finished the night pretty sober, but there were a couple of times when we all became pretty well warmed up by strong spirits, too, and I can remember staggering through my front door more than once. But more tired out than boozy. Going from really cold to really warm continually really wore me out, but it was enormous fun, and all the families we caroled loved it.

After the first time, I bought a pair of fingerless wool gloves just to have on hand for going out to play, and eventually came to like them so much I still wear them all the time in the winters. I wore a pair today.

It was just something he loved to do as the 3 of us, and we loved it too. It was always as spontaneous as could be, and I always enjoyed that very much. It didn't matter what time of night or day of the week it was, ever, but he never took us out starting too late. It was usually around 7 in the evening, but we would always get home around midnight or later, as I think he saved his night-owl buddies for the last.

We kept at it almost until the year he died, now long ago, and after he passed, my brother and I didn't continue the tradition, something I now regret as my own sons are now grown, but they live too far away to do it. But it sure remains as a precious memory.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

Originally Posted by countrylv22

Merry Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2019 to all IDAHO Friends!!

Dear CFF, thanks for the Christmas gift!!! I love webcams!

I was wondering what are some Idaho CHRISTMAS traditions that you all can share?

I would love to read about what you all do during Christmas & the Holidays, what do you cook,

what do you bake, what & or how do you decorate your places for the Holidays?

Do a lot of people in Idaho bake a 12th Night Cake? You know, like from Charles Dickens,

"A Christmas Carol"? For the 12th Night of Christmas that is coming up?

Thanks in advance CHEERS!

�� �� �� �� �� ����

Happy New Year to you, too! I didn't grow up in Idaho, but in the far NE. My family always celebrated 12th Night, and I still do to this day. We'd bake Scandinavian aebleskiver, and the Christmas and Advent candles would be lit for the last time, including the candles on the Christmas tree. In my childhood we actually had live candles on the tree, and by then the tree would be pretty darn dry! So we'd always keep a wet rag and a bucket of water nearby.

I'll dig the old family aebleskiver pan out from the depths of the kitchen cabinet, and whip up the batter. And then we'll turn on the Christmas tree lights for the last time, and the next day all the Christmas decorations come down. It usually takes an entire day to put them in boxes and store them.

I found this video on Youtube--that'll explain what I mean by aebleskiver!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIIg...ature=youtu.be

[Reziac]

Huh. Bet you could just drop this batter into hot oil for a different treat...

[countrylv22]

Originally Posted by Clark Fork Fantast

Happy New Year to you, too! I didn't grow up in Idaho, but in the far NE. My family always celebrated 12th Night, and I still do to this day. We'd bake Scandinavian aebleskiver, and the Christmas and Advent candles would be lit for the last time, including the candles on the Christmas tree. In my childhood we actually had live candles on the tree, and by then the tree would be pretty darn dry! So we'd always keep a wet rag and a bucket of water nearby.

I'll dig the old family aebleskiver pan out from the depths of the kitchen cabinet, and whip up the batter. And then we'll turn on the Christmas tree lights for the last time, and the next day all the Christmas decorations come down. It usually takes an entire day to put them in boxes and store them.

I found this video on Youtube--that'll explain what I mean by aebleskiver!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jIIg...ature=youtu.be

Dear CFF & BanjoMike

I love old family traditions & recipes! I love Christmas Caroling! So, both of your posts made
me smile! Thank you so much!!

CFF I loved the video! And now I need to buy one of those pans, I will be making this in the near future! Is the batter like a pancake mixture? They look yummy Do you ever place a filling in them, like jam?

I would have loved to have real candles on the Christmas tree, you are so lucky, but it scares me a bit. A lot of homes also
place candles on their windows (in the past they were real candles as well!) We always placed candles in the window that require to be plugged in

We keep our decorations up until February 2, we still consider it part of the Christmas Season. Our Christmas Season goes from December 25th-February 2. With the first 12 Days being the most important ones! And the 12th Night/Day being an awesome celebration!

I am glad that you keep your decorations up at least until the 12th Night/12 Days of Christmas. It saddens me when I see Christmas trees out for garbage pickup on 12-26

A lot of people in Europe, South America, Africa, Greece, Russia, etc. celebrate the 12 days of Christmas & the 12th night is a big deal! And they continue to celebrate the Christmas Season after the 12th Night.

As a matter of fact, the Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Byzantine, Syrians, Melkite, Maronite, etc. A lot of countries where the Eastern Churches are predominant, they have their BIG Christmas Celebration & gift exchange on the 12th Night. It is a HUGE event!
In a lot of countries they even have a Three Kings Day parade for the children




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDqTL49OwDA

The Three Kings also known as The Three Wise Men paying Homage, Honor to the Baby Jesus!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DS1CQlacX2U

Regardless of how you celebrate it, have a Blessed & Happy 12th Night/12th Day of CHRISTMAS!! Many Blessings to ALL!!

Thank you, CFF!

Thank you, BanjoMike!

🎄 🌟 🎁 🔔 🙏 🎵🎄

[Cnynrat]

We've had the first significant snowfall of the winter here in Sagle - almost 8" of new snow, with 15" on the ground now. For the first time this winter we have more snow on the ground than we did on the same date last winter. (Although last winter was a big one for snow fall, we had an extended warm spell from mid-Jan thru early Feb that melted much of the snow pack.

The total snow fall at our place in Sagle now stands at 35".

[shades_of_idaho]

Only 4 1/2 inches new snow over night here in Midvale. Had 6 inches the other day but then it rained and settled a lot of it down. Half the driveway cleaner in on warm up break and time to head back out to it. 31 degrees.

[volosong]

8"-10" last night in Rathdrum. Today is a beautiful, partly sunny day. Too nice to be inside, so I went out and shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. One picture of my azalea last night around midnight and the other my poor car this morning. I really need to get my garage organized so I can park inside.

[shades_of_idaho]

Originally Posted by volosong

8"-10" last night in Rathdrum. Today is a beautiful, partly sunny day. Too nice to be inside, so I went out and shoveled the driveway and sidewalk. One picture of my azalea last night around midnight and the other my poor car this morning. I really need to get my garage organized so I can park inside.

Lovely photos Azalea looks so cool snow tipped. HEY I did the big garage organization last spring /summer. It was a HUGE job for me. I even hired a neighbor to come help me take down and cut down 12 foot tall shelves that my hubby put up. The last 6 shelves on top were useless to me. Since he is gone now I needed the garage to work for me. I put house stuff on one side and tools and garage stuff on the other. And even wood storage. AND I removed most of the stuff that used to be stored up in the loft down to the main floor and at least 5 truckloads of mostly my own stuff gone away. It was an intense project but it really is working our for me now. I have storage on the house side for the extra dog food bags and cat food bags TP and paper towels coffee everything for the house that will not freeze and it is nice to come home and unload the car right to the shelves instead of having to drag it all into the house and find a place to put it. Once you get it done I am sure you will enjoy the new garage. Also thinking at my age if I suddenly died I do not want some one to have to go through a bunch of stuff so everything I no longer use has gone away.

Driveway done back to shoveling the dog yard trail and path down to the garage and bring up a bag of dog food. Then more painting Busy day. OH and I am also re-batching some failed soap my friend made. She can not be bothered to do it so I just do it and give most of it away. Hate to waste.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

We reorganized our Christmas boxes last month...10 boxes of Holiday and Advent ornaments from two families, dating back 4 generations, and lights (modern, LED) for outside and inside...so they're in the loft, awaiting the next Holiday season. As for the rest of the garage...hmmm...

I can see online that NID is in the grip of real winter! 8 degrees in Sandpoint this morning, and more snow on the way. Stay warm and safe!