Happy 2nd Day of Christmas

The past few days have been too busy to write but now that Christmas is over and grownups are relaxing while kids are busy playing with their toys it's time to catch up.

Christmas Eve we had our traditional dinner - Honey Baked Ham with potatoes au gratin, and green beans with bacon vinaigrette. This year I also got a side of sweet potato casserole from Honey Baked Ham since Little Man liked it so much at Thanksgiving. Dessert is Swedish Apple Pie with vanilla ice cream. It's one of the few days out of the year that we eat in the dining room and bring out the fancy stuff - china, crystal, silver etc.

After dinner the kids changed in to their new Christmas pjs and my husband read Twas the Night Before Christmas and then we sent them all to bed. I prepped the French Toast Casserole for the following morning and while we waited for the kids to fall alseep. It took a while before the kids finally fell asleep and we could put the last of the gifts out, and get to bed ourselves.

Christmas morning my in-laws woke up before the kids. Not because they are super early risers, but because they kids were asleep til 8am!!! They actually didn't get out of bed until my husband and I opened their doors. It took us about 4 hours to open all the gifts (with a brief break for breakfast). The kids were all very happy with their gifts - tons of Lego stuff for everyone, and Star Wars stuff for Little Man. Our daughters both got cameras from Santa and have been having a great time taking pictures and videos of everything. This will be our most documented Christmas ever - thank God for digital cameras or we'd be spending a fortune in film :)


Since we've had hardly any snow this year my father-in-law's one wish was to have a White Christmas. Sure enough it started snowing mid-morning. It was the perfect amount, just enough to make it pretty, but not so much that we had to get out the snow blower. We took the kids out for a while to get some fresh air and have a snow ball fight.

The adults got good stuff too, I gave my husband AppleTV - we're finally joining the 21st century, and he got me a new iPad with keyboard which will back blogging much easier. But my favorite gifts as always were the crafty ones from the kids.

Little Reader painted this in art class. 

Little Hugger made this handprint ornament

Little Man made this handprint wreath.

Midafternoon we had a snack of aebleskiver and glogg, and I used the ham bone from the Honey Baked Ham to make split pea soup for dinner. 

Today I am slowly taking my time getting the house back to relative tidyness.  Dinner tonight is going to be very easy - Sloppy Joes.  I've done enough cooking and baking in the past couple of days I need a break.

Christmas Card Display

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is getting cards from everyone. Even though I am more up to date with friends lives due to Facebook I still enjoy seeing pictures of everyone's kids. We don't send a newsletter but I enjoy most of those too - as long as they are not 8 pt single space chronicling every detail of that family's life that year. Feel free to brag, but let's stick to the highlights please.

For a while I put the cards in a little bin as we received them and even though it was a cute Christmasy bin, the cards were quickly forgotten. So a couple of years ago I bought some red velvet ribbon which I attach to the doorway between our living room and front hallway.If we get a lot of cards I also run one along the top of the doorway connecting the two, but I feel like people aren't sending as many cards as they used to.

I use clothespins to attach the cards but to make it more fun I had the kids paint them in Christmas colors. They were 5 and 3 at the time, and now want to repaint them as they think they can do better now that they are 3 years older, but I won't let them. I kind of like their imperfection.

Christmas Lights

Along with the traditions of decorating the tree, baking cookies and doing crafts with my kids, I have always enjoyed seeking out the over the top house.  Here is a video of this years' find.  I was in Target buying lights for our bushes when an employee came up and started talking to me about lights.  This is her house.

Unlike a lot of other houses where the lights are on a timer and you never see the owners, this family comes out and greets everyone and hands out candy canes.

In case you're wondering, they have over 18,000 lights and it takes them 17 days to set it all up.

Christmas Card Pictures

I love decorating our house for Christmas. We have a lot of decorations collected from various travels over the years, and while they are all Christmas themed they still remind me of the places they are from and the things we did there. I'm always a little sad to put it all away at the end of the season.

My favorite Christmas decorations are not ornaments though, they are our Christmas card pictures. A few years ago I saw this idea (I think in Parents magazine) suggesting that each year you frame the picture you use for your Christmas card and put it out with your Christmas decorations. After Christmas you pack them up with the rest of the decorations. The reason to pack them away is that while I have lots of other framed photos around our house, I hardly ever really look at them. I see them, I know they are there, but I hardly ever take the time to look at them.

We now have a collection of nine pictures of our kids growing up through the years. I love unpacking them every year and seeing how much they've changed. I purposely get a different frame each year to take the pressure off of finding a match the following year (or having a huge stockpile).

Here are a few of my favorites through the years.... 

Little Reader as a baby - she's now 8

Little Reader (4 yo) and Little Hugger (2yo)

All 3

2 years ago

Kicking off December

As I mentioned yesterday my husband and daughters went to the tree lot to sell trees last night. They left around 630 and figured they'd stay an hour. They ended up coming home after 9pm. They had sold a lot of trees and the kids mostly ran around with their friends and made s'mores. They came home sticky with tree sap and marshmallows and some pine fronds and cones that had fallen off some of the wreaths, and definitely in the Christmas spirit.

After they went to bed I did some Christmas shopping on-line and finished organizing all my pre-Christmas gifts.

The kids were all excited this morning to go down and check their stockings for the first Pre-Christmas gift. As has become the tradition for the first day, they each got a Christmas calendar. I just get a paper one with pictures as my parents usually send the chocolate ones. Those haven't arrived yet but I'm sure the kids won't mind catching up when they do arrive ;)

This morning I hung our wreath, and we are going to our first Christmas party this afternoon - our neighbor's annual open house. Part way through the party I have to take Little Reader to a birthday party. After that my husband and I are going out with some friends and then we have a holiday brunch tomorrow.

A busy weekend but fun.

Our Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

As I mentioned before I am now contributing to the Chicagoland Moms Blog.  Check out my post about one of my favorite fall traditions - our visit to the pumpkin patch.

New Years Day

After getting home at 130 from our New Years party I was hoping the kids would sleep in. As usual my daughter was up around 730 but I managed to get her to stay in my bed and snuggle for a little while before we got up.

Once everyone was up I wrapped the last of the Christmas gifts (to/from my parents). They arrived on the 27th but we delayed the gifts as one of the sweaters I ordered on their behalf didn't arrive til the 28th and I needed to find something for my Dad, who like most Dads is hard to shop for.

The kids all got new sweaters and slippers and then a Lincoln Log set for my youngest daughter and a Lego set for my oldest and a Duplo Cars set for my son.

I got a book and a hair towel for my Mom and the new Tom Clancy and a Double Shutter game for my Dad. I was hoping he hadn't read the Tom Clancy since he usually gets books as soon as they come out. Turns out it had just come out that week, and he had just seen it in the NYT Book Review and wanted to get it.

The kids spent most of the rest of the day playing with their new toys.

After getting the kids to bed, we opened a bottle of Champagne with my parents and watched the Vienna Philharmonic New Years concert. As always a great concert. None of us were familiar with the conductor. One of the pieces they played was by a Danish composer called HC Lundbye and it was composed to sound like a train. They even had the percussionists wear conductors hat, and instead of the usual ballet dancers they showed shots of an old fashioned steam engine (maybe the oldest) winding its way through the Austrian countryside.

Overall it was a good performance and I've enjoyed that that this has become a tradition of ours. The only downside was that when it was all over my Dad said that he was upset that he had forgotten about the performance, and I didn't understand what he meant at first. Turns out that until I told him we had recorded it and suggested we watch it, he had forgotten that the concert even happened. This is something he has watched every year for a long time, and this year he had forgotten all about it. Not sure if that's another symptom of Alzheimer's or what, but it made me sad to see him sad.

A Quiet House

It's Christmas Eve Eve as my kids call it. Presents are almost all bought. I just need to pick up a Hickory Farms pack tomorrow for my inlaws. I never saw them in the malls today so hopefully can find one tomorrow. I hate those processed meats and cheeses but my husband and his parents like them and it's become something of a tradition to eat it after opening presents.

My husband was working today and I spent this morning shopping with my oldest for stuff for her siblings. We lucked out at local independently owned stores (places I really need to shop at more often). We have a nice women's clothing store that has cute kids stuff in the basement. Lots of Alex crafty things and girlie stuff. My daughter picked out a book for her sister and I got some "geodes" for our budding geologist to crack open and find crystals:)

We also stopped at an independent toy store. It's very small but the shelves are stocked with great things - no licensed merchandise here. My daughter picked out a make your own fairy tale book for her sister, and I got a forklift for my son and a reversible spiderman/batman cape. It's not officially a Marvel (or whoever) item and is really cute. I was thinking i would make him one, and this was a bit pricey - $30, but by the time I buy the fabric, and get around to making it, well, he probably wouldn't want it any more. The past couple of days he's been asking me to tie a bandana around his neck as a cape. Poor kid needs more dressup clothes. Done.

We went to the supermarket and bought all the things I need for Christmas dinner and the next day (I hope). While we were at the store I found $2 on the floor. I asked the only guy in the same aisle if it was his, nope. So we bought a lottery ticket. The drawings not for another 22 minutes, might as well stay up.

After lunch and putting my son down for a nap, I went to the mall to get the last of my shopping done. I lucked out with parking, hustled through the stores I needed and as much as my FB friends were complaining of rude shoppers and sales people, everyone I encountered was nice and helpful (when they could be - of course this late pickings are slim).

I stopped at Honey Baked Ham on the way home and was home by 530. After dinner, we watched Rudolph with the kids - my first Christmas special this year. The kids were sitting in their chairs facing the TV, my husband and I on the couch off to the side. Our daughters have seen it a few times at this point, but I think this was the first time our son watched it all the way through. It was fun watching his reactions. He definitely got a little nervous with the Abominable Snow Monster. It was very cute.

After sending the kids to bed, and my husband and in-laws going to bed, I started wrapping. I was worried that this Christmas would be sparse given our financial situation but I managed to get a lot of what the kids wanted without spending a lot.

I ended up with a few extra gifts for my son, so put those away for his birthday (or to be returned) so it's not too lopsided. He's just too easy to shop for. Anything with wheels or sports oriented, he's happy. My older daughter is in that tween age where I don't want to get her teenage stuff (even though she may want it) but she's outgrown a lot of the toys and stuff. Still I found some good things for her. My younger daughter has tons of clothes and loves crafty things but her list was based on one catalog, and by the time I had money to buy gifts it was to late to have stuff shipped. I think the things I did get will be good substitutes. I hope.

My husband and I agreed not to exchange gifts this year, which is fine but then he asked me if I thought the kids would think it's weird that we're not. I don't think so, but at the same time I did get him a movie on behalf of our son, and slippers from my parents. Our daughters made stuff at school for both of us. It's possible that there will be only a couple of things under the tree for me, which is fine. I did get myself a new pair of slippers too (and wrapped them). Really what I want is a day off once all our house guests leave. My parents gave me money for my birthday so I may go and shop with it, or just go chill somewhere.

I didn't specifically get anything for my in-laws from the kids, as they each only asked for one thing and I don't know what else to get for them. Unfortunately my husband is of little help this time of year as he gets pretty busy workwise and doesn't have time to shop.

I think it's finally time for me to go to bed, as I have a busy day of baking ahead. We have no cookies left for Santa. I did put the last of the advent gifts out - Christmas pjs. This way I can be sure that they have cute pjs for Christmas morning :)

BTW, I just checked the lottery numbers, I didn't win :(

Æbleskiver

200 g flour
1 tbsp sugar
20 g yeast
3 dl milk (approx)
3 eggs
Butter for greasing pan

Mix the flour and sugar. Warm the milk and add the yeast in some of it. Stir yeast/milk mixture into the flour/sugar mixture. Stir in the rest of the milk a little at a time. Add the eggs one at a time. Let the dough rise in a warm place for approx an hour.

Before frying, pour the dough in a pitcher. Warm the pan and add butter to each hole. Then fill with dough. Once they are browned on one side, turn over to the other side to finish baking.

Serve warm with powdered sugar and raspberry jam and gløgg.

Christmas Traditions

As much as I dismiss Hallowe'en as a kids holiday and don't get into the spirit of Thanksgiving, I do love Christmas.

Growing up we had a tradition that starting December 1st we would receive a little gift everyday until Christmas. Once I had kids I decided to continue the tradition. I had assumed that the gifts were from Santa as we got them in our stockings, but traditionally I guess they are from the parents. At this point my kids also believe that the gifts are from Santa (or actually his elves, who are checking in on Santa's behalf).

Traditionally the first gift I give is a Christmas calendar. My parents give the chocolate one so I just do a regular paper one. That was yesterday's gift. Tomorrow's gift will be a little Cars book for my son and Christmas puzzles for my daughters. I try as much as possible to get little things from the Target $1 section or holiday crafts from Michael's or packs of things at Marshalls that I can split up. For my son I managed to stay under $1 a day. The girls will end up being a little more and I still have 10 days worth of gifts to get for them. I try not to get candy but should be able to pick a few more things before the big day.

Gløgg

1 cup snaps or vodka

4 cups red wine (do not waste an expensive wine on this)

1-2 cinnamon sticks

6-8 whole cloves

2 tbsp sugar

1 orange

Raisins and sliced almonds as desired

Boil stick of cinnamon and cloves in a little water in a large pot for a few minutes.  Add the wine, sugar, raisins and almonds and heat.  Do not boil.  Add the zest and some of the juice from the orange.  Serve in small cups or glasses with spoons for the raisins and the nuts. Best served with æbleskiver