Christmas, Briefly

Well I was hoping to be a good blogger and share some highlights from our Christmas but my computer is being abysmally slow and frustrating, so I will leave it with these two for now - and a promise to return with more pictures when I have more patience. Merry Christmas to all!  

Cookies and a Car

I was a very busy baker today, churning out truffles (not pictured) walnut snowballs, chocolate spice cookies, macaroons, and anise drops. Still need to do the rolling cutting and baking for my favorite cookies, but otherwise I'm calling it all done. And I'm loving the cute airtight containers I found at Walmart. 

To top off a day spent in the kitchen, we went out and bought a car for D! We've been one-car-ing it since moving out here, with D doing a most impressive job of biking to work but the increasingly treacherous weather worries me and it seemed like the time was right. Enter a nice little used Subaru for a very small sum and it was a done deal. Merry Christmas indeed! 

For School

I had an excellent helper tonight, and together we got all her classmates' goody-bag presents assembled and teacher gifts finished for, well, nearly everyone at that school.  Phew. Sometime in another life I'd love to tell about the handmade goodies we tried, with mixed results. But overall I'm pleased with what we wrapped up and I think I got off pretty well in the budget department, too. 

This is a big chunk of Christmas gifting I am glad to gave all done. Onward! 

Woodland Elves

The kid were delighted to discover this little Christmas tree along one of our favorite woodsy walking paths at a local park. 

First Birthday

I know it is cliche, but I really can't believe this little puddle-stomping baby girl turned one whole year old on Thursday. 

She is a joy, and we are so delighted to watch her grow and learn every moment. I could say so much more but I feel it will all come out in cliche.  Happy Birthday, sweet little girl, we love you so! 

Tree(s)

Today I decorated our kitchen Christmas tree. I've always wanted a tree in the kitchen, and this is the first house where that's been possible. Don might think I'm a little nuts, especially after my pitch to him about why we really needed to get the cute little fake tree with the colored lights and put it up in the living room weeks before Thanksgiving... ahem.

And I like that tree just fine, but frankly, I'm never in the living room to enjoy it during the day. The kitchen seems to be where I spend the most time in this house. Plus, you can't drive three blocks in this town without passing a Christmas tree stand, so I just couldn't resist. 

It is such a cute little thing - just over five feet tall with a nice shape. We didn't have a "real" tree at all last year so I'm extra excited about this one. (We still have last year's humongous artificial tree in the garage - it was simply too big to put in this house the way we have things arranged.... but it was gorgeous (and expensive), so it'll be waiting for a repeat performance in years and houses to come). 

And leave it to the iphone to be able to capture the elusive lit-tree picture.

Cookies, Again

I've got good help these days, in the baking department. Especially from my boy, who has always had a bit more interest in helping me bake than his big sister. Lately it has become one of our go-to activities when A is at school, just making small batches of cookies to keep the jar full. 

These "gingerbread" cookies aren't gingerbread at all, but chocolate, and come with a funny story. I stumbled across the bag of mini M&M baking bits at Walmart and was terribly excited because they are so hard to find and I was explaining to W in the store about how yummy M&M cookies are, and pointed out the recipe on the back of the bag. 

Once we were home he kept going on about "making gingerbread cookies" which was odd because I've never really made gingerbread cookies, and I kept explaining that I intended to make M&M cookies. "We will use them just like chocolate chips!" I proclaimed, stupidly, repeatedly. Finally, when it was clear we were not sharing the same vision, he showed me bag: 

Oh, of course. Clearly, that is a gingerbread man on the M&M bag. Right. So guess what kind of cookies we made? 

And he applied every single M&M himself (except for those sneaky few that jumped in his mouth, of course). 

Yes, those are swim goggles at the end of the counter. Doesn't everybody keep a pair handy in the kitchen?