Christmas: on the ninth day of Chrsitmas ...

... my true love gave to me ...

a lovely morning Mass together than a few hours back at the "ranch" as it were and then he and I spent the afternoon reveling in the glorious Winter sun and driving around the foothills looking at possible houses/property once our house in Denver sells.

It was so much fun putzing around ... spending time together ... looking at homes that would be wonderful to finish raising our family and then retire to ... homes with amazing views ... homes with lovely history ... homes that could accommodate our family now and then later too!

But, we still wait for Denver to sell, so for right now ... it was just a beautiful afternoon out and about ...

Finishig up with an easy dinner or baking frozen pizzas and eating leftovers from our feast over the last few days ... watching another Foyle's War and just enjoying being home for Christmas Break.

A great ninth day of Christmas!

Christmas: on the eighth day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me a very relaxed day after attending morning Mass (where LegoManiac served).

We did something we only rarely do: lay out all kinds of good snacky food and indulge our senses while feasting on the college football bowl games. Dh who is very "into" eating healthy ... turned a blind eye and joined right in as we had Totino's Pizza Rolls, chips and dip, spinach/artichoke dip (which I made and didn't realize what a fat pill that is -- but what a way to go), buffalo wings, fancy cheeses etc. Dh, who used to work in the poultry industry, always stayed away from buffalo wings (seems that he worked in the industry when wings were thrown away and he thought paying premium for them was silly) -- well, turns out he liked these!

The day was going well -- until Clemson lost to Nebraska (and BamBam collapsed in tears!). But tears were dried when USC (BamBam's team) beat Penn State (Lego Maniac's team). Whew!

We finished up the feasting with a recipe we picked up at Ikea: Lingonberry Parfait (lingonberry is like cranberry or red currant ... slightly tart but oh so good).

Also, it's the Feast of Mary, Mother of God and dear, clever friend Charlotte had a coloring picture all ready for us to make our plaque for our Marian collection:

We ended our day watching Martin Chuzzlewit -- a Dickens story I've never read, but this has me interested in checking it out. The BBC version is so well done! What a great story about greed, goodness and love triumphing over all.

Here are the recipes I made today:

Spinach and Artichoke Dip

• 10-12 oz. package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 10 oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
• 8 oz. cream cheese
• 8 oz. sour cream
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella or monterey jack
• 2 tbls minced garlic
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning (oregano, basil, etc)
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp red pepper (more or less to taste)

Melt butter in medium pot. Saute garlic till browning and fragrant. Add ingredients, mixing and blending well as each is added, in this order: spinach, cream cheese, sour cream, parmesan cheese, artichoke, Italian seasoning, red pepper (everything BUT the white cheese). Remove from heat and put in microwave-proof bowl (or oven-proof bowl) and sprinkly white cheese over the top. Place in microwave and heat till cheese melted (or place under broiler until cheese is bubbly and lightly brown). Serve with thin, toasted slices of french or italian bread or chips (also tastes great as a dip for celery sticks). WOW!

Lingonberry Parfait (any tart jam would work with this recipe ... marmalade, red currant, anything not too sweet).
Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 6 tbls powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup lingonberry jam
• 1-1/4 cup whipping cream

Beat the eggs and sugar till fluffy. Carefully fold in the jam. Whip the cream till stiff peaks and fold into the egg/jam mixture. Freeze the parfait in a dish for at least 4 hours. Remove from freezer 5-10 minutes before serving. Garnish with dollop of whipped cream and dash of lingonberry jam (altho we just ate it up and are happy there's a bit left for tomorrow!).

Christmas: on the seventh day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me a wonderful morning out running errands together after morning Mass. Our errands included going to our favorite grocery store for when we want to buy "amazingly expensive and varied food but it's the holidays" kind of shopping. We loaded up on all kinds of scrumptious goodies for New Year's Eve and New Year's Day marathon college football watching.

Dh and I opted for a walk rather than watching Anne of Green Gables - The Continuing Story with the kiddoes even though it was gusting so badly that signs were blowing down (and a horrible accidental death of an amazing pastor could be chalked up to the gusts). Since it was sunny, and I'm a bit more like my kids than I should be ... I didn't wear slacks or tights, but just a long skirt -- wow! when the winds blew! wow!

We also bought good stuff to feed our favorite priest who came by for an early dinner with his favorite home-educating family before celebrating Vigil Mass in the evening.


We then worked some more on the house/stable and got bits'n'pieces done so we could just relax in the evening. Dh didn't quite make it to midnight to wish me a Happy New Year ... but LegoManiac and I enjoyed ringing it in while watching Foyle's War, a wonderfully interesting British mystery series set during WW2 but dealing with the homefront! Very cool.

Hope y'all had a wonderful New Year's Eve day and night ... and that your dear spouse is as good to you as mine is to me!

Christmas: on the sixth day of Christmas ...

... my dear love gave to me ...

a batch of his world-famous, olive-oil oatmeal-raisin-craisin cookies! These things are the best (especially since I didn't have to make them, bake them or clean up after 'em!). Dh loves to cook but I'm usually the baker ... except for these delicacies!

The olive oil makes all the difference for really good oatmeal cookies ... I guess ... as they sure are much better than mine ever taste.

Here's one tray piping hot from the oven ...

Ok, I'm back from taste-testing: yep, they're good....

The rest of our day was just relaxing -- first a trip for ALL of us to the dentist (all got a clean-bill; me, I have to have a crown put in; I blame having kids, dh blames my age!). The rest of the day spent relaxing and doing odd bits'n'pieces and enjoying this amazing weather.

Dinner? Oh, have I told you about my favorite SIL and her husband who live in SC but came to visit us this past Fall? Well, the darlin' couple sent us a gift card to the best, bar none, hamburger joint: Five Guys. If you are lucky enough to have a Five Guys near you, and you haven't been there yet -- stop reading and GO! These are the best ... from our best SC buddies ... and we had a wonderful, easy, tasty and relatively healthy dinner (including the awesome cajun-french fries ... WOW!).

Off to eat some more oatmeal cookies and enjoy one of the Dickens' movies dh got from Santa -- he got both the first collection AND the second collection and we're so enjoying watching these classics (even the littles are getting into them, they're that well done!).

Happy sixth day of Christmas!

Christmas: on the fifth day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me ... morning Mass with our favorite priest ... an afternoon of "gadding about" with my teen while he and the littles played "Santa's workshop" by getting the doll club-house/Nativity stable all sanded, glued and nailed to the base ready for painting. BamBam is sanding the front ...

while LegoManiac shows the back "barn door" to allow easy access and give a "stable look" when we use this for our Nativity next year.

Yes, this project is big -- the base board is 2-feet x 3-feet and the height is just over 30-inches but isn't it marvelous? The girls (Kotch and I and maybe StringBean too) will do the painting ... barn red for the exterior and green (darkened slightly with some black) for the roof. We'll then put felt pads on the bottom corners (to protect surfaces and to allow a 1/4" lip to help with lifting and moving from spot to spot). Will post pictures of the final!

And to top off this wonderful day, and since it is the Feast of St. Thomas a Becket, the man killed through the misuse of monarchial power, our family movie: the classic Becket with Peter O'Toole as the despotic Henry II and Richard Burton as the reformed Thomas Becket. What a great movie!

Hope you had as good a Fifth Day of Christmas!

St. Thomas a Becket, pray for us!

Christmas: on the third day of Christmas ...

... my true love gave to me ... a trip to Lowe's to buy the lumber and hardware for Kit's Club House! We cut out all the pieces and then we'll sand them, paint them and put the whole thing together.

If you'll notice in our original scale-sketch, we have a huge door on the back to make it easier to get the 18" AG dolls in and out ... well, we had a brilliant-beyond-brilliant idea that String Bean thinks is a great one too (especially as it will get her house built that much faster!).

So, here's the idea: during the year, she'll use this club-house (which is 2'deep x 3'wide by 30" high) for her 18" dolls -- they'll all fit inside when not needed and she'll finally have a true dollhouse for these bigger ones. During Advent and Christmas, the family will get the "club-house", turn it around and use it for our Nativity Stable (we're planning on carving our own figures for next year's Nativity and will be able to get them to a good size to occupy this stable!).

This has become a family project for this Christmas Break -- Kotch, String Bean and I will paint it, the boys will help sand and build it, dh and I already cut it out, and we'll love every minute of it!

Happy Feast of St. John the Evangelist to one and all ... the only Apostle not martyred, who lived a good long time and was able to meditate on all that Jesus' time on earth means. Thank God, he was able to transcribe these revelations for us to read 2000 years later!

Christmas: on the second day of Christmas ...

.... my true love gave to me FOUR solid hours of undisturbed peace/quiet while he entertained the kids and got meals ready. I love that dh is able to be home with us over holidays ... it makes being a teacher's wife almost worth the lesser pay. And my dh is marvelous at chipping in and helping around the house. He is also awesome at getting me out in the morning and to daily Mass.

So, what did I do with the FOUR solid hours? Read about how to teach reading to those who don't "get it" right away ... I read about knitting really cool things ... I slept for two of the hours.

Not bad eh?

God bless my sweet husband!

Advent: Now it kicks into high gear ...

... and I'll be shutting down my computer (except for emails) for the next few weeks!

Today is the 3rd Sunday of Advent, also known as "Gaudete Sunday" for the joy we experience today and always, knowing that Jesus will be born on Christmas morning and will save us from our sins.

This is also the one of only two Sundays throughout the year where the Catholic priests (from the lowliest village vicar to the Pope himself) will wear the "rose" colored vestments which signify joy.

Tomorrow, December 17th, we'll start praying/meditating about the O Antiphons (and our use of the new "house" and blocks will start) and then we'll join in the Hispanic celebration of Posada at Church on Friday, Sunday is the 4th Sunday of Advent, Monday is Christmas Eve and then the partying really starts from Christmas, through the 12 days, to Epiphany!

So, dearest readers, this post will be the last of the year ... as a gift to my family I will be shutting down the computer and only checking emails from tomorrow until after the Epiphany, January 6th. This is a gift VERY worth giving to my family who are pretty much supportive of the time I take to write, read and play on the computer ...

My prayer is that all of you will have a healthy, holy and blessed end of Advent 2007 and beautiful start to Christmas season!

Swaps: Holiday Traditions

On my knitting blog, I recently mentioned all the swaps for which I've signed up this year. One is particularly appropriate to mention here on this blog.


The Holiday Traditions exchange was organized by Meg McElwee at Montessori-by-Hand -- an excellent blog about doing the Montessori thing without losing your shirt or busting the budget! The "rules" were to:

1.) One handmade holiday decoration. Decorations made from any kind of
medium are acceptable – from fabric to yarn, paper to paint.
2.) Your
favorite holiday recipe.
3.) A “Tradition” Tutorial. This is description of
one of your family’s special holiday traditions. If needed, you should provide
step by step instructions. (For example, if your family makes graham cracker
candy houses each year, you would provide more concrete instructions.) You might
also consider sending along a couple of photos of the tradition in action.

Well, I really got into this swap. And, since I sent my kit off yesterday, I thought I'd unveil it here ....

I created a binder (one of those 5x8 size) and did pages on our Advent, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations, and Christmas-time (or the 12-days of Christmas). The pages are packed with recipes, Saints feast days and other fun things we do to make the whole season come alive. This binder was packed in its own (hand-decorated) canvas bag and I attached a hand-knitted (of course!) ornament to the package.

I'm hoping my swap partner enjoys reading about our traditons -- maybe she'll incorporate some of ours into her own holiday traditons!

Starting tomorrow -- and for the next few days, I'll post some of the info I compiled so that my readers can see what we do.