Christmas

Christmas celebrations have been wonderful. I am sad to say that Christmas is over and we must wait another year for the season to come again. I am pleased to say that we took advantage of the season and enjoyed ourselves immensely!

Christmas morning was very fun. Pear made us laugh almost constantly. A couple of moments caught on camera:Pear, with her m&m fan from her stocking. Later that morning she walked up to me chewing on something and she said "gum". I made her spit it out and when I looked at her fan, I noticed a hunk bit out of the fan about the size of the piece in my hand.

Jovie giving daddy a kiss.

Pear, opening gifts. Notice the cute hat? It was a gift from Great Grandma Joy which she opened just before. She immediately put it on and kept it on the remainder of the morning.

Jovie

Last year's Christmas memories...

I love Christmas! I have so many fond memories of Christmas. I love the anticipation leading up to Christmas. I love exchanging gifts. I love baking and eating all of the goodies. I love Christmas music and Christmas movies. I really think it's the most wonderful time of the year!

Last December we went with Stephen's family and his mom's sister's family to a big cabin in Leavenworth, WA. It was so much fun! We played games, ate food, listened to music, ate food, danced, ate food, played in the snow and ate more food!

After our departure from Leavenworth, we headed to my parents' house to spend the Christmas holidays. There we played more games, ate more food, opened gifts and celebrated Christmas.

Here are some pictures from Last year's holidays and a glimpse of why I love Christmas time!

Pear in front of our Christmas tree in our Lake House at Lake Samish, Bellingham WA

Claire and Pear at the cabin in Leavenworth, WA


Pear laughing at the jumping nutcracker on the wall. (If you were there, you remember how funny this was!)

Warren and Jia Tai at the cabin

Melina and Wyatt showing us their dancing skills to some festive music!

Myself, eating. (If you only knew how much we ate on this trip...oh, it might make you sick!)

Therese, trying to decide which of the chocolates looked the best.

This picture captures how we spent most of our time, enjoying wonderful food and company.

Pear digging out the goodies in her Christmas stocking on Christmas morning.

Pear at the piano on Christmas Eve at my parents' house.

Pear with the baby doll from Mammy and Pappy on Christmas morning.

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

I don't know where you've been this week but 99% of my time has been spent inside the house watching the snow fall more and more and trap me in my house longer and longer. Currently we have approximately 18 inches of snow outside. All of this to say that I have done more baking. I found this recipe for Black-Bottom Coconut Bars on marthastewart.com and thought I would give it a whirl. I gave it a whirl and it turned out quite tasty. It is not too sweet and is a wonderful change from the traditional brownie or cookie; a nice brownie base with a coconut macaroon on top. Stephen and I both agreed that we would make these again. If you enjoy coconut and chocolate, these are definitely worth your while.

More Holiday Fun!

Pear and I made gingerbread houses today only not with gingerbread but with graham crackers. They were cheap, easy, and a lot of fun. I sure enjoy having a kid around the house, it gives me an excuse to do all of these fun things! I don't know if Pear enjoyed tasting all of the candy, (most of which she spit out after finding it took more chewing than she wished to do,) or actually decorating her gingerbread house.
This is an efficient, fun way to make gingerbread houses. Here's the recipe:


1 box of graham crackers - gently cut with serrated knife in shape of house
Assortment of candy to decorate
Icing:
2 egg whites -whip until stiff peaks form then add
4 cups powdered sugar
Juice from one lemon

Winter Bark

I have definitely been in the Christmas baking mood. I found this recipe on Martha Stewart and it looked super easy and yummy. I tried it out only substituting the peanuts for almonds and it turned out wonderfully! Stephen didn't think we would or should eat it all but it is dwindling down quite fast.

Snow

"Snow! Snow! Come out in the snow.
Snow! Snow! Just look at the snow!
Come out! Come out! Come out in the snow."

This is a paragraph from a much loved book in our household, Snow, by Roy McKie and PD Eastman.

It was snowing when we woke this morning and it continued without stopping. It has subsided a little now but we are expecting more through the night. We have around eight inches on the ground now. Pear and I ventured out this afternoon to make a snowman. Poor Pear didn't have snow bibs or mittens so we bundled her up in several layers of pants and she braved the snow with her bare hands. When we finished having fun outside, we came in and made hot cocoa and sat by the fireplace and read the above mentioned much loved book.Venturing out in the snow. Notice the one mitten? We found one baby mitten but we couldn't find the other and it wasn't meant to handle snow. It was soaked through within a couple of minutes.

Rolling and patting the snowman.

Pear, trying to put "Frosty's" carrot nose in place.

Pear and "Frosty".

"Nicks Doodle"

Pear loves Snickerdoodle Cookies. This morning she and I made a scrumptious batch. Stephen took some of them and shared them with his co-workers and we will eat the rest this evening with our hot cocoa while driving around looking at Christmas lights. (We'll see how long Jovie will let us do this as she still hates the car.)

Pear calls these cookies "nicks doodle" cookies. I think it both funny and cute the way she says it, so this morning I got a clip with her saying it. I also received a gorgeous smile from Jovie and thought this clip blogworthy.

Jovie's Smile

Christmas time is here!

I am definitely enjoying the season and taking advantage of being able to eat as many cookies as I want! Over the last two weeks I have made peanut-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies, chocolate crackles, glazed butter cookies (shown above), and delicious chocolate chip cookies.The glazed butter cookie assortment.

Pear, decorating a couple cookies of her own. (And eating the "prinkles".)

Our beautiful Christmas tree.

Pear and Jovie

Libbi, Pear, Aspen and Taffi at the Bellevue Square Mall, doing some Christmas shopping.

Painting, painting and more painting...

Yes, that's the name of the game to complete our kitchen cabinets. It requires layers, and more layers of paint.

Stephen and I decided to give our cabinets a makeover by painting and distressing them. I am very happy with the results and can't wait to finish the rest of the cabinets!

This, by the way, has been a work in progress for the last two months. I feel like I paint during every spare moment I have!

stockings hung on a mantle

I have always wanted a mantle to hang Christmas stockings on. It just doesn't seem right to hang them anywhere else. Stephen knows this as I've expressed many times how I wished to have one.

Stephen and his dad made this over the last few weeks in their spare time, (as if either of them have any spare time,) just for me and our Christmas stockings! Isn't it gorgeous?

Pear's Christmas Moves:

Pear is thoroughly enjoying this "Chris-up" season. She had so much fun decorating and redecorating our Christmas tree. We have made Christmas cookies and have been listening to Christmas music. Here is a glimpse of Pear cutting loose to the Christmas music. If you can't tell, she is singing Frosty the Snowman in her own little way.

Thank you, God, for Mothers.

My Mother, My Mother's Mother (Memee), Jovie, Me and Pear

Everyone always hears how thankful they'll be someday to have mothers, fathers, parents, etc. in their life. I have always been thankful but to what extent is the subject of matter here. As one of nine children, I have to realize that my mom did what I am doing now, (the sleepless nights, countless poopy diaper changes, nurturing the sick child, making meal after meal that goes uneaten by the picky eater, taking an hour to rock a baby to sleep only to have her wake after five minutes... the list goes on,) NINE times over. Granted, some babies are easier, others are harder, but I believe for the most part, the load carried is the same. Yes, I believe my mom is Wonder Woman. She blessed me and each of my siblings with life and not only life but with a mother that nurtured, cared for, listened to, sacrificed for and loved unconditionally. Thank you mom.