Plays, Planes, and Santa Cow

Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year to you and your family! We enjoyed a wonderful yet hectic Christmas season before diving head first into a gigantic kitchen remodel as well as tackling the monumental task of house-breaking my Christmas present. I have been a terrible blogger over the past couple weeks and am just now starting to collect my thoughts and wits enough to finally type out a recap of all the happenings of the past few weeks.

Let's begin by reflecting back to the first week of December...

Matthew's first grade class put on a Christmas play and Matthew was very excited for the performance. For weeks leading up to the big show, he would hum the songs he would be singing around the house while telling us how excited he was for us to watch and how much we were going to love it. It was truly adorable and I began to really look forward to it. Then, Paul received a work assignment that would involve traveling for a couple weeks. The designated departure date was slated to be the day before Matthew's big play. Paul was crestfallen when he discovered that and, with the song "Cats in the Cradle" playing through his head, spent the next couple days frantically trying to negotiate a different flight time in order to see the play. He was successful and booked a flight leaving bright and early the morning immediately following the play.

We headed to the school approximately 1 hour prior to the beginning of the show. We attended Mass as a family for the vigil of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and then decided just to head over to the school a bit earlier than stated in the school newsletter. Well, thank goodness we did because there were hardly any seats left in the gym. We managed to find a spot on the bleachers immediately to the left of the stage. And then the fun began.

We had to wait with a very impatient Emma and a very grumpy Lucy for the show to begin. The time was getting dangerously close to bedtime and both girls wanted nothing to do with sitting still or staying in the bleachers. Not to mention, bleachers are not the safest locations for toddlers, especially klutzy toddlers. Paul was going out of his mind chasing Emma out from under the bleachers and I was trying my best to keep Lucy from falling between the seats. After what seemed like hours, the lights dimmed and the show began. In marched a sea of little children dressed like angels in white robes and sparkling gold pipe cleaner halos. Paul got the camera out and started filming as I skimmed the mob trying to pick out the cherub that was our son. He wasn't hard to miss since he is the palest kid in the school - that and he was waving madly and at us instead of singing the song along with his classmates. Once all the students gathered in the front of the stage, we lost Matthew. He was smack dab in the middle and we could barely see him. Emma kept asking, quite loudly, for us to point Matthew out to her but it was nearly impossible for us to successfully do so and she began to suspect that Matthew was not there at all.

Can you spot Matthew?

The majority of the play consisted of the students singing various songs, both traditional and obscure, while various props and special characters paraded on and off the stage. Although the production was cute, I could tell Paul was tiring of listening to the sound of hundreds of tiny voices singing out of tune. When it came time for the kids to sing "Silent Night", he stopped filming and turned to me and whispered, "I just can't anymore. This is one of my favorite songs and it is being mangled." I think he was starting to reconsider rearranging his travel plans. After 30 minutes, we were both checking our watches and imagining the moment we could leave. Are we terrible parents? We just were not enjoying it as much as we thought we would. Emma and Lucy certainly didn't help. There was more than one shriek out of them.

Thankfully, it did end and Matthew was so happy and pleased with himself. that was the most enjoyable part for me! And I was very proud of him because, when his head did occasionally pop into view, I could see how loud he was singing. He was really into it. We celebrated his stage debut with some ice cream and our little thespian went to bed happy.

And the next morning Paul left for his long work trip. He did not return until shortly before Christmas Day.

So, the kids and I spent the time baking as many cookies as we could together, preparing the house for Christmas, and singing lots of Christmas carols at night around the manger scene. One of the activities the kids really wanted to do was build a gingerbread house. I had high aspirations of designing and baking my own gingerbread for an elaborate gingerbread village but I quickly realized that I had neither the time nor the energy. After speaking with my sister-in-law, she suggested that I use graham crackers in place of actual gingerbread. So, one night after the kids had gone to bed, I pulled out my serrated knife, whipped up a batch of royal icing, and then cut and pasted the crackers together to make a crude "village" of three homes with a modest sidewalk connecting them. The next day, Emma and I picked out all kinds of different gumdrops, peppermints, and m&ms to decorate them. When Matthew came home from school, I surprised him with the houses, set a large bowl of royal icing in front of him and Emma along with all the different candies, separated into different bowls, and let them go to town. They ate some of the sweet as they went along, but overall I think they did a fantastic job creating their little "gingerbread" village. We used it as our centerpiece for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner. I had to keep it high on top of one of our tallest bookshelves until that time because Emma kept trying to eat it.

I also took the kids to various Christmas themed activities around town. It was a little difficult doing so without him since several of the events were things we had traditionally done all together. One of the things Matthew kept begging me to do was take him to go see Santa. Now, Paul and I don't really do the Santa thing. The kids believe in the tradition on their own and we don't really dissuade them from it but we don't encourage it either with the exception of as a warning to Emma. Emma has been going through a very difficult phase as I alluded to earlier and Santa has actually been very helpful in correcting her behavior since her run-in with him at Toys R Us. We were rushing through the store one afternoon picking up a couple gifts for our godchildren when from across the store Santa Clause himself, seated on a red velvet throne and flanked by a couple elves, started waving at Emma: "Ho Ho Ho! Would you like to sit on my lap, little girl?"

I was in a bit of a rush and a little peeved at my little co-shopper for her churlish antics that morning, but there was no line so I let Emma saunter over to chat with him. She walked right up and immediately listed off the two things she wanted for Christmas: Paw Patrol toys and a little pink hippo that shoots.The first thing he asked her was, "Have you been a good little girl this year?" Emma looked over at me sheepishly and then turned back to Santa and answered truthfully: "No." Santa began to tsk and reminded her that "good little girls do not get any presents from Santa on Christmas. You need to listen to your Mom and do what she says because Santa always checks in with Mom and Dad before delivering presents on Christmas Eve."

Emma nodded solemnly, "Ok. I will, Santa!"

Since Emma was no fully aware that Santa was on my side, I began admittedly using that knowledge to my advantage by reminding her of it consistently throughout the days and weeks leading up to Christmas. It was actually very useful.

But, other than that, I really don't encourage the Santa thing. And I really didn't want to take Matthew on a special trip to the mall to stand in line and see Santa Clause and then get the pressure from the photographers on site about purchasing an image depicting this memorable moment in my children's lives. However, I did take them all to see Santa Cow at our local Chick-Fil-A. This outing was a lot of fun. We ate breakfast with Santa Cow, did a couple crafts together, and enjoyed the time together. The kids loved it. Lucy was especially enamored with Santa Cow for some reason while Emma was completely unimpressed. Every time Santa Cow visited our table, she visibly shriveled up and refused to look at or acknowledge him.

In addition to our Christmas preparations and activities, several good friends had us over for Christmas parties, dinners, and play dates. Within no time, two weeks had passed and we were ready to welcome Paul home again. Unfortunately, his return trip was majorly upset by weather across the country and he ended up stranded first in Denver then Chicago. From Chicago, he ended up swearing off getting a plane the rest of the way home and rented a car instead. He crashed at my sister Sophie's apartment in South Bend before continuing onward in the morning with his long car trip. When he finally made it home and pulled into the driveway, he was so excited to see us that he could barely wait to get inside. However, upon opening the door, he found only an empty house to greet him. Ironically, as he looked around crestfallen by the nonexistent welcome party, his cell phone beeped indicating the receipt of a text message from his mother that read: "Monica must be so excited to see you!"

Funny you should mention that, he thought.

The kids and I were at a party. I hadn't heard from Paul all morning about his ETA so I still decided to go. Plus, I knew Paul hadn't showered in over 48 hours and figured that he might enjoy unwinding and cleaning up before being accosted by the children. In the end, I think he did but he was initially disappointed. We made it up to him later by celebrating his return with lots of hugs and a delicious home cooked meal.

With our little family reunited once more, we were finally ready to start the final countdown to Christmas morning!

Lucy studying pictures of baby animals. This is what she was up to
while we were decorating the gingerbread houses.

Yum Yum Balls

Christmas is less than a week away and I have been enjoying the last few days at a slower pace than I normally do this time of year. I managed to completely catch up on my baking list by paring down and simplifying things quite a bit which has left me with some extra time to enjoy some fun activities with the kids.

First, we attended a soft opening of The Nutcracker ballet at our beautiful historic theater. Aunt Jen, my dear college roommate and Lucy's godmother, drove up from Pittsburgh to spend the day with us. It was her first time at the ballet and I think probably her last. Ballet is really not her thing (or mine!). However, the kids really enjoyed it and it was great that we managed to snag balcony seats where virtually no other person was seated. I pulled Matthew out of school so he could come with us and he was so excited. He had been dying to see the Nutcracker ever since he had learned that there was a scene involving the Nutcracker battling the giant mouse king! The battle scene lived up to his expectations and he was excited to discover that he was familiar with quite a few of the music numbers.

A few days later, we got dumped with even more snow. The previous couple feet we had received had actually thawed a bit but soon enough a new storm system rolled in and left us with even more snow than before. Thankfully, this snow was the fluffy, light variety - easy to shovel and fun to play in. One of my favorite moments this month was getting outside with Emma (Lucy was napping and Matthew was at school) and making snow angels, building a snow fort, and having a small snowball fight. It all started because I forced her to come outside and keep me company while I shoveled the walk. While I was working hard, she followed close behind me, pelting me with snowballs. I finally finished and whitewashed that little twerp and then we proceeded to play for a good hour. She was so happy and didn't want to come back inside even with the promise of hot cocoa. I could barely feel my toes when were finished, but the bonding time with my eldest daughter was worth the discomfort!

Speaking of Emma, I have been trying to encourage her to take a more active role in our Christmas baking. She usually gravitates towards eating the ingredients and the end product instead of participating in the actual preparation, usually citing exhaustion or boredom as excuses. Emma has the attention span of a distracted chipmunk, so if I was going to involve her in the baking, the recipe had to be quick and easy. First, I had her help me prepare a batch of bourbon balls. That went over so well that I decided to make a recipe that I had seen circulating on Facebook for the past couple weeks for an Australian treats called "Yum Yum Balls." Basically a sweet cookie bite prepared with crushed cookie crumbs, shredded coconut, condensed milk, and a touch of cocoa powder, I figured this would be another treat that Emma would be more than willing to help with. I guided her through the crushing of the cookies, combining of the other ingredients, and rolling of the balls. She especially enjoyed learning how to use the melon baller.

More than just a way to get Emma to help in the kitchen, these little treats made a nice addition to cookie gifts for teachers and friends. Ever the coconut lovers, my kids went wild for these. I also loved them - a nice, easy way to make a light truffle/cookie without all the fuss. They look beautiful too!

Yum Yum Balls
as seen on I Wash You Dry

Note: For authentic flavor, use Maria biscuits if you can find them. I found that my grocery store carried the Goya variety in the hispanic section. If you can't find them, use any digestive biscuit, graham cracker, or vanilla wafer crumbs.

2 cups crushed cookie crumbs
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup toasted coconut flakes
Extra coconut for rolling

Combine the cookie crumbs, cocoa powder, sweetened condensed milk, and 1 cup coconut in a large bowl. mix until combined and sticky.

Roll into 1 inch balls. Coat the balls in the extra coconut. Chill in fridge until ready to eat. Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Fudge with Pecans

A few days ago, I shared a few of our favorite Christmas recipes. These are the ones we have made time and time again over the years. However, in addition to old favorites, every year there are a few new sweets that are added into the mix. Last year, one of the new items I made was this fudge. Now, I consider myself a bit of a fudge snob simply because I have eaten so much of it in my lifetime. In fact, Paul and I honeymooned on Mackinac Island where we did nothing but eat fudge all week long at the various confectionery shops that can be found all over the island. I am very sensitive to fudge that has not been properly mixed, leaving a slightly gritty texture to the end product. Most homemade fudge tends to end up this way, unfortunately, so I have never really been too eager to eat or make homemade fudge.

This recipe completely changed my mind. I was immediately drawn to it when I first spied it as part of a recipe roundup and the little anecdote about the author's mother eating the fudge for breakfast during the holidays simply because it was that irresistible convinced me to try it. Plus, I now was the mother of the biggest chocolate fiend known to man: Lucia Therese. That girl can pack away the chocolate like no other child I have ever seen, so I knew at the very least she would like it!

This fudge completely blew me away. It's smooth, rich, creamy and just magnificent. I find it completely irrisistible and everyone I have shared it with has agreed! Plus, it's probably one of the easiest "cookie" recipes around, making it the perfect addition to the already long list of tasks left to do this Christmas. Looking for a last gift for your child's teachers? How could they resist a plate of this fudge?

I completely underestimated how much Lucy would like this fudge. After I spent some time cutting the fudge into little 1-inch cubes, I placed them in a tupperware container and left it sitting in the middle of my kitchen island while I went into the study to help Matthew with his homework. When I returned, I found that my little Lucy had taken the wooden stool out of the bathroom, pushed it along the floor until it butted up against the kitchen island, and then stood on her tiny little tiptoes and strained with her tiny little fingers until she was able to reach the container holding the precious chocolate. She carefully pulled it towards herself, pried the top off, and began eating handful after handful of fudge. When I arrived on the scene, her face was covered in chocolate and she looked at me with bright eyes and a grotesque, fudgey smile as she muttered through bulging cheeks: "Mmmmm....good!"

I snapped this picture as I was cutting the fudge and I noticed Lucy making her way onto the
stool to see what I was doing. This was her facial expression when she spied the chocolate!

Lucy's dessert after dinner this week has been a small piece of this fudge cut into even tinier pieces. The girl loves her chocolate!

I can say for certain that this fudge will definitely be added to the Christmas favorites list in the years to come!

Dark Chocolate Fudge with Pecans
from Foodiecrush

1/2 cup cubed butter (room temperature)
12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped (I used a package of Ghirardelli semi sweet chocolate chips)
2 cups of sugar
⅔ cup evaporated milk
12- 15 large, fresh marshmallows
¾ cups chopped nuts (I used pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Make a sling using parchment paper and fit into a greased 8x8 baking dish. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, pour in the chopped chocolate and the 8 tablespoons of room temperature butter. Set aside.

In a large pot, stir together the two cups of sugar and the evaporated milk until mixed. Add the marshmallows and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is completely melted. Give it a few extra stirs to ensure that the sugar is thorougly dissolved and then pour the hot mixture over the chocolate and butter in the bowl. Let sit for a minute and then slowly stir together until the chocolate and butter are melted and combined. Add in the vanilla and chopped nuts.

Immediately scrape into the prepared baking dish. Rap the dish on the counter a few times to even out the mixture and then place in the fridge until set. After about an hour, cover with plastic wrap and then allow the fudge to continue setting overnight.

Use the sling to remove the fudge and cut into neat little squares. Enjoy!

Our Favorite Christmas Recipes

You guys...I am so behind on Christmas baking this year! Normally I begin at the very beginning of the month and sometimes before! This year, I have made exactly two things so far...out of a list of over 15 items! No bueno.

We have managed to do some fun "Christmas-themed" outings. I refuse to take the kids to the mall or someplace to sit on Santa's lap, but I'm all about having breakfast with Santa Cow. Lucy was particularly enamored with the large bovine. At the breakfast, the kids made a cute picture frame to commemorate their visit with Santa Cow. They also got to tell Santa Cow what they wanted for Christmas, to which Santa Cow responded by telling them they need to ask for more chicken.

In other news, it is finally starting to look like Christmas around here. We go big or go home around here, as evidenced by our temperatures swinging from sunny and 60 degrees to freezing cold and snowing in a 48-hour span. We have about two feet of snow outside at the moment and between the drifts and constant snowfall and my determination to keep the driveway free of ice, I have shoveled the snow about five times each day since Thursday. It's a war. At first I thought Matthew was going to be a huge help to me. When he saw me getting ready to go shovel for the first time, he cried "I'll help you Mom!" and rushed to get his hat and coat on. Well, once he was outside and he took one turn across the driveway and discovered how heavy and laborious the task truly was, he abandoned his post ("Here Mom. Shoveling is too hard for six-year-olds!") and proceeded to pelt me with snowballs while I finished everything up. That kid's a twerp.

When we got back inside, Matthew requested hot chocolate. I thought that sounded good, so I got out the cocoa powder, milk, and sugar and made a big batch from scratch. Matthew took one sip of the finished product and declared that it tasted "soapy." I have no idea what he was talking about since the girls and I finished our mugs without a complaint. There's just no pleasing everyone around here!

Ok, that's my complaint about the snow for now. The reason for this post is Christmas baking! This week, I plan to scratch gingerbread houses, sugar cookies, and two types of breads off the list. Let's hope it gets finished. The kids are really looking forward to those gingerbread houses. We build them, we look at them, watch them slowly stale over the next couple of weeks, and then throw them away while the kids all cry and protest. Why do we repeat this again every year? It just is something that must be done especially since Matthew has religiously woken me up between 5:30 and 6:00 every morning to ask me if today is the day that we are making our gingerbread houses. If I ever want to sleep in again, I better either lock my door or get those houses made.

While I was gathering my shopping list and constructing my "To Make" list from my Christmas recipe archives, I thought I would compose a roundup of our favorite Christmas recipes in case you are still searching for something special to make and bring to a Christmas gathering. Some of these posts are pretty old and feature some pretty terrible pictures, but the recipes are still awesome. Just keep in mind that everything tastes way better than it looks! Links are embedded in the title of each goodie and should take you right to the recipes. Happy Baking!

Chocolate Babka

Almond Roca

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Double-Chocolate Mint Cookies

Caramel Corn

Rolo Cookies

Cranberry Crumb Bars

Walnut Twist

Seven Layer Bars

Baklava

Bourbon Balls

World Peace Cookies

Stollen

Orange Sweet Rolls

Christmastime is Here!

The tree is trimmed. The lights are up. Holly, ivy, bows, and silver adorn our staircases and mantles. Everything looks merry, bright, cozy, and charming. Not that it wasn't a battle to get it looking that way. Every year, decorating is such a struggle for me because it is not something that I particularly enjoy doing. I enjoy it all once it is all in place, but I really detest the whole process of dragging the various boxes from the attic and cellar and then opening them, dusting off the contents, and finding a place for them. The only part of the whole process that I truly enjoy is selecting our Christmas tree.

For the past couple of years, we have driven outside of town to a little Christmas tree farm where we are given a little tractor ride into their tree fields where we then select and chop down our chosen tree. We decided to go tree hunting on a Sunday which might not have been the wisest choice considering we get up early in the morning for Mass and everyone is pretty grumpy and ready for a nap by 10:00 AM. But, off to the tree farm we went, grumpy kids and all.

It was bitterly, bitterly cold that day. The chill in the air did not seem to bother the kids but I made sure we were all wearing gloves, hats, and warm pants despite Matthew and Emma's insistence that a light jacket was sufficient for them.We bundled Lucy up in clothing so warm and so fluffy that she could barely move. It was quite the sight to watch her waddle her way around the tree farm.

Last year, we had no problems choosing a tree. We glanced at perhaps no more than four trees before finding one that was perfect for our home. This year, however, we took quite a bit of time wandering in and out of rows and rows of fraser firs before finally settling on one pleasing enough to the both of us. Matthew was not at all picky. He went for the first tree we saw, which we quickly rejected because it was only four feet tall. After we rejected a few more of his suggestions, he began to get discouraged and proceeded to go fight with Emma over who got to pull the wagon with the saw. When Paul and I finally chose a tree and asked the kids what they thought of it, their answer was basically something along the lines of :"Looks great now chop it down already!"

Paul had a bit of difficulty with that part. He sawed and sawed, but that tree stayed rooted. The kids began to entertain themselves by arguing once again about ownership of the wagon.

Finally, the tree fell over! Time to take it home and decorate!

While picking out the tree is my favorite part of the decoration process, adorning the tree with lights and ornaments is my absolute least favorite part. I simply detest it. The kids were so incredibly excited about it but they broke two ornaments before even placing a single one on the tree. Plus, our lights were burnt out so we had to make a special trip to the store just to get some lights for the tree before we hung the ornaments, which frustrated everyone further. In addition, both Matthew and Emma kept fighting over who got to put what ornament on the tree. They both only hung their ornaments in a 6-inch radius along the bottom of the tree, so I spent the majority of the time rearranging their ornament placement. The fighting was nearly constant! Paul and I were so incredibly frustrated by the end, so much so that we both were repeating under our breaths: "We are creating memories, we are creating memories...."

Paul, at one point after yet another ornament shattered, was ready to throw in the towel. I reminded him of what so many people readily remind me: we will miss all this some day when our kids are grown. Paul just raised one eyebrow and said: "Really? I'm not so sure."

In the end, we did get that tree decorated. It is beautiful and the kids are so proud although I need to figure out a way to keep Emma away from the tree. She's constantly removing ornaments, playing with the tree branches, or sticking her hand in the tree stand to play with the water. She's worse than a cat.

Speaking of Emma, I have really been struggling with her lately. My sweet, fun, spunky, adorable little girl has been replaced with the most stubborn, obstinate, and completely unpleasant minion. She breaks my heart on a daily basis with her lack of obedience. The other day, I broke down to Paul and lamented my parenting and he reminded me that I had similar struggles with Matthew around the same age. In time, it will pass. It's just a phase. But in the meantime, the girl needs discipline and she had a major lesson taught to her on Saint Nicholas Day.

Each year, Paul and I leave treats for the kids in their shoe on the evening of December 5th so that when they awake on the morning of Saint Nicholas' Feast Day, they are magically greeted with the goodies left for them by the generous saint. We warned the kids that if they were not well-behaved, Saint Nick would most certainly not leave them anything special in their shoe. Much to my dismay, all our threats had absolutely no effect on Emma. While Matthew has been a perfect angel recently, Emma's behavior only seemed to get worse. When we sent them to bed on the night of the 5th, Paul and I knew that there was no way Emma would be getting any treats in her shoe.

When Emma awoke the next morning, she saw that Matthew and Lucy had received cookies and chocolate. Rather than treats, she found rolled up in her shoe the following note from Saint Nick.

And you know what? She has actually been behaving better. I'm hoping that her behavior continues to improve because I would really hate to leave a lump of coal in her stocking on Christmas morning!

Oh, and Matthew got a note from Saint Nick too. Before he went to bed, he placed his shoe by the fireplace and folded up a picture he drew of Mary the mother of Jesus with instructions to Saint Nick to take it up to heaven with him and show it to Mary. We couldn't not write back.