Food a Plenty

Wow, only two days until Christmas. Where did December go?!?! I am now done baking cookies, not only have I completed all of the batches but mentally I am done as well. On to bigger and better things...mainly Christmas Eve and Day meals. Last night, we (Mom and I) planned the shopping list to support the recipes we will prepare. It seems like enough food to feed an army, but we are only 8 total. You know, we're Italian so we like to be prepared :) And it is so much fun to make new and different things. There are some recipes I only use on holidays and I get re-energized when I think about making them for that special event. Our menu goes something like this: On Christmas Eve, we are having tapas (a fancy word for appetizers). We will be making a couple of things from my new Giada cookbook -- parmesan linguine frittatas and mozzarella prosciutto pinwheels. My mom is going to make a turkey rollup thing, and we are also having shrimp cocktail, bruschetta, and cocktail franks (mostly for the kids). Christmas morning we have scrambled eggs, English muffins, bacon and sausage. Christmas dinner will be filet mignon with a spicy parsely tomato sauce, crab cakes with lemon vinaigrette, broiled zucchini and new potatoes, and butternut squash. Possibly homemade rolls also if I get adventurous or bored :) Desserts will be apple puff pastry (like a flat apple pie) and bread pudding with whiskey sauce. Wow, when I type it all up it seems like a lot of food and I am sure I forgot something so the list may be even longer. And I promise, we really are only feeding 8 people!

Christmas Cookies

I think my favorite part of preparing for Christmas is the baking. I bake most every night, a different batch of cookies each night. So far, I have made 6 tins including Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Oreo Truffles, Peanut Butter Kisses, Pecan Crescents (kind of like a Mexican wedding cookie) and Uncle Joe's Cookies (these are a butter cookie dipped in chocolate, but the recipe came from my sweet Uncle Joe so the kids have given them a new name). Oh, and sugar too but that didn't really count because they were break and bakes. I have been through Chocolate Chip and Oatmeal Raisin batches two if not three times in the month of December. They are James' favorites and he doesn't let them leave the house! I took a selection of all 5 to work on Friday and they loved them, requesting more for Monday. It gives me a nice feeling of satisfaction when I make something that someone likes...it must be the Italian in me, like a good Italian mother always wanting to keep food on the table. I'm going to make another batch of Oatmeal Raisins tomorrow (we're fresh out) and then reassess to see what I need more of before the troops come in from Jersey this week. The kids also want to make sugar cookies and I may do some snickerdoodles too. Baking is so much fun!

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Wow...another year over, a new one just begun. Today is my birthday and I had a great day. Mostly it was a normal Friday. I started off the day by delivering some Christmas gifts to a couple of my clients and then got back to the office just in time for the holiday pot luck and white elephant gift exchange. The white elephant is so fun, we never know what will turn up. I've been fortunate to get useful things and today I got a really nice pedicure set. I'll be using that in the summer for sure! Then it started snowing and we got another 5" or so. While James and Quinn shoveled and played in the snow, Keely and I made my birthday cake. We spent the rest of the evening setting up the new TV. Instead of buying Christmas gifts for each other, James and I decided to finally buy a new TV. It's all set up now, and I was afraid 52" would be too big but it looks great in our family room. We celebrated by watching Home Alone on the big screen. We were planning to go out to dinner but since the roads were pretty nasty, we had pizza at home and will go out tomorrow night. Lastly, I got some birthday gifts from James and the kids -- a framed picture of James and I for our room, a gift card to DSW Shoes so I can buy some new shoes I've had my eye on for months, and a Giada cookbook. Fun stuff and it was a good end cap to my birthday :)

The Annual Christmas Card

When Quinn was born, Christmas cards from our family got a little easier. Everyone loves a picture of a cute kid (or kids) and ours certainly qualify...in our biased opinion. So we started the tradition as many families do of a picture card. James and I are opposed to formal pictures and we only used such formal ones in a couple of our cards. Each year though we struggle to get the "perfect" picture of the kids and it's become more difficult as there are now two. This year we waited until this past weekend, probably the last possible time to get it out in time for Christmas delivery. We took the kids to a local park, dressed in their Christmas outfits so we could take advantage of the fresh snow and mountain backdrop. It was freezing and therefore, they were more cooperative so that they could get back in the car quickly. Ah, bribery at its finest....or maybe torture, but who's keeping track? :) We also took some photos when we got back home but Quinn wasn't being too cooperative. Keely on the other hand will pose for pictures all day long.

The choices are infinite it seems and I always struggle to make it just right. As Linda told me, just close your eyes and pick one! I finally settled on this one with the three best pictures. I like the sepia look in two of them. Here's the resulting card, ready for the mail tomorrow. You are most likely on our mailing list so consider this is a sneak peek.

Book Review: He Sees You When You're Sleeping

Mary Higgins Clark is my favorite author, with a clarification. She is not the best author I have ever read books by, but she is the one I have read the most books by. They are the adult version of what "The Baby Sitter's Club" was to me in my teen years. Her books are all about the same, set in NY/NJ, and are all mysteries. They are not that predictable though and I usually can't put it down once I start. They are also quick reads for me, I'm usually done in about a day (with interruptions, obviously). Once a year, she teams up with her sister to write a Christmas mystery. I picked this one up from the library, it was from 2001 but I don't think I ever read it. I say think because sometimes I know I have read a book but can pick it up and feel like I am reading for the first time. Anyways, this was a good book. Sort of an "It's a Wonderful Life" story about a person who has been stuck in purgatory for 46 years and has to help someone on Earth in order to get into Heaven. It's a good seasonal read and I'd recommend this one or any of her others that she's written for Christmas.

Next up on my list is one I said I never would read, due to its popularity among the teen set and their mothers. Yes, it's Twilight and I am honestly not sure I will get through it. But I got it from the library free of charge so I will give it a try. Stay posted :)

All I Want for Christmas...

...is my two front teeth, my two front teeth! At least that is what Quinn can say this year now that his other top tooth is out. The gap is so big it looks like 4 new teeth could fit in there.The tooth fairy was short on cash so he got two new Hot Wheels cars. The tooth fairy is also short on memory because he already had one of the cars...but no worries, he gave that one to Keely. What a nice brother :)

Overheard

While I was cleaning the car out this afternoon, the kids were playing on their swings in the front yard. They were having a nice friendly conversation, which I was hearing in bits and pieces when I turned off the vacuum cleaner. I have no idea what brought about this comment but it made me stop and almost cry right there.

Quinn to Keely: "Keely, if you die when you are young, you get to grow up in Heaven with Jesus. Isn't that cool?"

We don't personally know any children that have died and I am not sure where he came up with this thought. I'm thinking mostly Catholic school, but hoping that our openness about death and it being a part of life had something to do with it. It also amazes me how someone so young could have such a broad perspective on life and death. Probably since I am fascinated with death, I found it interesting and quite profound from a 7 year old :)

Cavities!

The kids went for their semi-annual dentist checkup yesterday. I'm beginning to dread these visits. I never had cavities as a child, and can count on one hand the total cavities I've had in my life. James had only 1. Seems our kids aren't as fortunate. Quinn has had a number of cavities in his short life, and we've had to have them all filled as they are in his molars which won't fall out until he's 9 or 10. The last time we went in May, they were both cavity free and I guess we got a little over confident. This time, no such luck. Quinn has one and Keely has not only her first but her second as well. So we will be back to the dentist in 2 weeks for the fillings :(

Also, an update on Quinn's school behavior. It turns out that his teacher was right -- just our phone conversation and some home reinforcement has nipped his bad behavior in the bud. It's been two weeks and he has no conduct card marks. He has also received two "Purple Tickets" since then (they are special rewards for outstanding behavior)....one from his teacher for being great in class, and another from his EDP teacher for holding the door for the adults on the way out of church on Sunday. He's proud of himself, but told me the other night that "behaving is hard sometimes". At least he's doing better and hopefully that will continue!

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Or in this case, girl.

For a week to maybe even 10 days, Keely has been complaining about having a sore throat and bellyache. Not constantly, but once a day or so, she will mention it. There is no giving up with her, and this morning after her daily complaint, I threw my hands in the air and said, Fine we will take you to the doctor after school. To most kids this would be a threat. Not to my daughter. I even told her about the dreaded throat swipe for strep but no luck. Quinn was all excited to accompany us so he could see the fish in the waiting area. So off we went to the doctor after I picked them up. Of course, Keely seems fine and is the happiest little girl in the waiting room. The nurses and doctor must have thought I was nuts. Yes, I swear she is supposed to be sick. After a full checkup, the verdict is no strep and everything is normal. This is supposed to make me happy but for some reason, I wanted justification for spending $20 on the co-pay and getting home late. As we are walking out, my ever persistent daughter claims "I am really sick, Mama. My throat still hurts!". And as we arrive home, my much more level headed husband tells me, "I could have told you she wasn't sick". Oh well, it's normal for moms to be nervous that their child might have undiagnosed strep leading to complications and possible death, right?!?!

And here is my "sick" child posing for the camera last night....