Archive - December, 2007

Christmas morning

By on December 29, 2007 in Celebrations, family, furry critters, kiddos 17

Are there better family moments than Christmas morning? What joy! Every difficult parenting moment throughout the year seems a small price to pay for the joy of being with children on Christmas morning!

James gave the girls and me Christmas jammies on Christmas Eve. We sprinkled oatmeal in the driveway for the reindeer, set out Santa’s milk and cookies and tucked the anxious and tired girls into their beds. I set out on my three hour excursion to pick up Lydia and Jessica’s animals. The kitten stayed at my sister’s home for a month, while the guinea pigs stayed with Carl, Mary and Tori. Thanks so much for your help!

On most Christmas mornings the girls wake us up and drag us out of bed, but this year James and I were wide awake at the first sound of kids whispering while excitedly running up and down the stairs. We couldn’t wait to surprise Lydia and Jessica!!

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is there a cat in there?

By on December 19, 2007 in kiddos 21

My Lydia is growing up to be such a sweet and responsible little girl. She has gone from being the most hard headed kid around to being a fun, responsible and caring girl. She’s always been a joy, but she’s just so easy now! It’s been a privilege to watch her grow up.

One thing we started noticing about Lydia, as early as two years old, is her intuition. I hung her Christmas stocking up one day while she was napping. I was excited and went ahead and filled it early. When she awoke from her nap, she walked into the room, pointed at her stocking and said, “Cookies!”. I couldn’t believe it. In the toe of her stocking were animal crackers!! How did she know that?

A couple of years later she kept telling us that she was getting something green for Christmas. She mentioned it several times. My mom and Larry gave the girls a green John Deere gator! How did she know that?

Well, this year James and I are beyond excited! We have a kitten for Lydia for Christmas! We’ve told her many times that she can’t have a kitten. The kitten is being babysat by my niece, Emily. I’m going to get him on Christmas Eve. He’s going to stay in our room until Christmas morning. I wrapped a big box yesterday. It’s as tall as Lydia and in it I have a smaller wrapped box full of packing and a picture of the kitten. After she opens it and sees the pic, we’ll bring out the kitten!

She came home from school yesterday to the big box that I had excitedly set out for her. She walked over to it, shook it and said, “Is there a cat in there?”. I was speechless! I wonder if God has given a her a special gifting. She certainly is a remarkable girl!

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Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

By on December 12, 2007 in Comfort Food 18

I am so excited! I have found my new Christmas cookie for our annual Christmas Cookie Exchange! I did a test run of this recipe last night and my family’s eyes lit up with delight as they nibbled away. They are delicious! I have to make seven dozen for our exchange, but I get to bring home seven dozen different yummy cookies. It’s so fun!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (10 oz.) jar maraschino cherries

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Beat butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Add dry ingredients and stir until smooth.

3. Roll into 1 – inch balls about the size of a walnut (larger if desired). Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Drain cherries and reserve juice. Press center of each ball with thumb. Place a cherry in indentation.

5. In a saucepan, heat condensed milk and chocolate chips until chips are melted. Stir in 4 teaspoons of cherry juice. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of mixture over each cherry and spread to cover cherry. (More cherry juice may be addeed to keep frosting of spreading consisitency.)

6. Bake for 10 minutes.

“Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall.”

holiday happenings

By on December 9, 2007 in Celebrations, family, kiddos 20

This has been the laziest of weekends. An ice storm has passed through our area shutting everything down, even church! We’ve spent the last two days making cutout sugar cookies and roasting hotdogs and sausages in our fireplace! (I LOVE my hotdogs black!) I’ve consumed more cookies than I can count and I’m sure I’m in some kind of blood sugar coma, as I can barely move. I thought it a good time to share about our recent holiday happenings.

We enjoyed a relaxing Thanksgiving at home. I baked for two whole days so my family could sit down for a half-hour meal! It was worth it and I really enjoyed all of the cooking. I was even able to use my new sideboard!

Anjelia grew tired of waiting for the meal to be ready. She fell fast asleep in front of the fireplace. It’s so warm and cozy.

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