Christmas 2007

Christmas is down. It feels so good to get it all boxed up. I have no idea why I can't stand the decorations after Christmas. I love the anticipation of Christmas and all of the traditions and time spent together with family, it is just nice to get on with it.

We had a nice Christmas Eve. New pajamas for the kids, a nice ham dinner, a little reindeer food, some treats for Santa.....thankfully we had ingredients for these yummy pretzels because I was in no mood to make cookies from scratch. That idea seemed good enough for Kyle. Everyone went to bed at a reasonable hour and woke up at 7am. Not too shabby.

We had a nice time here opening presents. The three big kids went downstairs together and I kept hearing "That is awesome!" That totally makes it for me. They were all happy, and I was happy. We spent the rest of the day at Poppa and Grammies with the cousins. Lauren set up a storefront using Sadie's puppet theater. She made little fliers for "Sassy Nails" She did every one's nails including great grandma. And all the kids were hanging out holding Trace's dog Spike. His sweater still cracks me up. We are all still trying to get well. I am really sick of medicine bottles and lists of who has had what at what time. Hoping we get over this soon.

Ornament Tradition

Every year Poppa and Grammie get the kids a special ornament.

The idea is, when they are all grown up, the ornament box will go with them to decorate their own tree.

Usually Grammie tries to get something that is specific for that child.

It doesn't always work that way.

Sometimes she gets one she thinks is cute.

This year Lauren's was a star....because she was in the school play.

Kyle's is basketball because he has discovered that he loves playing this year.
I think this is a neat tradition.

The kids love pulling out the ornaments each year and they really like to find "their ornaments."

And one more soup recipe share.

This one was a bit more labor intensive....

but well worth it.

It is so creamy!

Mom calls it: Alpine Village Soup

4 raw chicken breasts

1 small onion chopped

1 c chopped celery

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 c chicken broth

1 c chopped carrots

1 c chopped potato

1/2 tsp. sugar

Put raw chicken and cut up vegetables in a large pot. Put in just enough water to cover the chicken. Boil until chicken is done. Take out the chicken and shred. Put it back in the pot. In large saucepan, make a white sauce. Melt 3/4 c butter over medium/high heat and whisk in 2/3 c. flour. Then add 4 c. milk cook for about 4 minutes. Stir constantly. Add the white sauce to the regular pot. Enjoy!

Santa Baby

My Santa babies

minus Kade who did not want to cooperate.

Fighting for Computer Time

So now my three year old has discovered the computer.

Between Club Penguin with the older two and playhouse disney with Kade, I have been last on the list for the computer.

I have things I want to share.....

but that will have to wait.

Until then,

I found these cute Christmas trees

here and here.

Wouldn't those make great Super Saturday projects?

I'm filing that away if I get asked to help.

More Advent Calendar Talk

Finally finished all of the pieces for our advent calendar. Kyle has been the one this year keeping track. He has placed all of the pieces on each morning. Sometimes he gets really anxious and does it the night before. So now that I have everything almost done, he won't have to wait for me to catch up.

I think that next year I will want to add another calendar by doing something along these lines: here, here or here.

I cannot knit, but I thought sewing some small stockings or even getting various baby sized socks could be cute going up the stairs. Then I could put a small piece of candy along, scripture/song and a paper with an activity to do each day.

Hot Chocolate

This year's neighbor/friend gifts:

Hot chocolate mix with chocolate and candy cane covered spoons.

I really am not a big hot chocolate fan.

I prefer cold drinks for some reason.

I always make my hot chocolate with 1/2 hot and 1/2 cold water.

I hate to wait for it to be the right temperature....

Anyways, I found this recipe and it is yummy!

It makes a ton (45 servings, I believe)

this is how the original recipe read:

10 cups dry milk powder

4 3/4c. powdered sugar

1 3/4c. cocoa powder

1 3/4 c. non dairy creamer (french vanilla)

Some commented on ways to enhance the recipe, I followed their advice:

instead of the measurements above use

1 bag of powdered sugar

1 tin of cocoa powder and

increase creamer to 2 1/4c.

Apparently the original recipe did not have enough sweetness.

Add 1/3 of mixture to 1 cup hot water.

For some reason, the list gets longer each year.

So I have been doing these in cycles.....

can't wait to get them all out of my kitchen.

Gumdrops

Made the gumdrop wreath that Candace shared.

The boys had a blast.

I wish that I had a window to hang it in because it looks really pretty with the light shining through.

Found the perfect spot this afternoon....

Both Kyle and Kade are proud of their project.

Button Trees

Got this idea from Ali Edwards blog.....it was originally posted on 2peas.

Kyle put "ornaments" on and found a star in my scrap stash.

He declared it done. I think that it looks cute amongst our Christmas decorations.

Lauren started and has yet to finish hers.

I like her color combo though.

I'm sure it will be fabulous when it is complete.

While at the grocery tonight, I picked up materials to make the gumdrop wreath

that Candace shared.

I got one small form at the dollar store.

I figured we could all work together......

seeing how the never finish a project gene runs in the family.

I love the lights of the Christmas tree.

It makes the house seem warm and cozy.

Today....

• we went to Kyle's basketball game which was very entertaining.
• I got a short nap. That was heaven.
• I listened to Steve and the big kids playing a game of Monopoly. Steve and Kyle teamed up against Lauren, but she still won. Apparently she is a lucky girl. Those two have not been able to beat her.
• Thinking about getting serious with my lists. Tonight I will actually make one. And this week I will focus on getting some things crossed off. It is December 1st after all. For some reason, I am not panicked about my disorganized state.

Cranberry and Popcorn Strings

This is what we did late in the afternoon....

we did not technically finish one strand yet.

They got too tired, and it was hard keeping Brandon away.

I heard Kyle say,

I'm trying really hard not to eat the popcorn, as he popped some into his mouth.

We ended up with more popcorn in the bellies

and covering the entire table and floor

than actually made it on the strings.

Lesson learned: do these sorts of projects after Brandon goes to bed!

Full Picture

of the advent calendar....

I know I promised a full picture for those of you waiting....here it is.

Minus a little silver ribbon that fell off.

Advent Calendars

Found a couple of cute variations of advent calendars....

Guess that's been on the brain.

We had Super Saturday today and I'm glad it is over.
Calendars turned out cute. Everyone was happy.

So check this idea and here it is displayed.

And then we saw this picture in the pottery barn catalog She designed a cute calendar based on this idea.

Did you see this?

So cute. And Mr. Kyle lost his other front tooth.