Christmas Eve 2009

I really enjoyed Christmas Eve, although it went by really fast! I got up early and made macarons. I wanted to include them with some of the Christmas treats we delivered to friends that day. I figured they would take about an hour. WRONG! Three hours later I was putting the finishing touches on two very lackluster batches of green and red macarons. BOO. But the day just got better from there. The girls got up and played with Bobby while I worked on his Christmas quilt. I took my time getting read for the day and we headed out to deliver goodies. Everyone was pretty hungry for lunch by then so we thought we'd treat the girls to lunch at McDonald's, a special treat for the girls and a major sacrifice on our part. We hate McDonald's, but of course, they're kids- they love it. After that we stopped at the Yost's to deliver treats and visited for a while. We are big fans of theirs as well as their daughter Ivy. After we left, I looked at the clock and my jaw dropped- 3:00 PM! Three in the afternoon and I hadn't made any preparations for our Christmas Eve dinner. I hadn't started the rolls or decided on a glaze for the ham. We still had about ten treats to deliver. We stopped at all the houses we could on the way home and then Bobby dropped the girls and I at home so he could go back out and I could get to work on our Christmas Eve dinner.

I will always remember 2009 as the year Franny started to take an interest in my cooking and our food traditions. It has been such a treat for me. It's very sweet. At dinner she says things like, "This is very yummy, Mom." I asked her what she thought we should have for Christmas Eve dinner and she thought hard and came up with some good ideas. She asked for a Christmas drink (my Mom's Christmas punch), chips and salsa (our appetizer), orange rolls, and sauce for the mashed potatoes (gravy, but I didn't get around to it. That one was really cute, because she doesn't like gravy.) Her only objections were the ham and the green beans, but I told her I wasn't willing to budge on either of those. Clearly, family food traditions are really important to me. I mean, if I'm feeling homesick, a big batch of rice pudding does just the trick. So Franny's excitement over my cooking and our family traditions is pretty much the coolest thing ever.

One more thing that happened was my father-in-law called pretending he was Santa Claus to ask the girls what they want for Christmas. I love that he does this! Franny was just beside herself to be getting a call from Santa. She told him she wanted an iCarly microphone (and he did not disappoint) and then she said, "well thank you, Santa." Sophie told him Dora stuff and he made good on that, too.

Before dinner, Bobby took the girls out to sprinkle "reindeer food" that Franny made at school so they would have something to munch on while Santa was here.

We're ready to eat!
Orange Rolls and plain rolls. Orange rolls per Franny's request.
"I'd like a nice slice of Christmas Pam." - The Office
This was a new ham recipe. It was tasty, but not hugely impressive, so I'll probably try something else next year. Ham just tastes good. I'm pretty sure if you sprayed it with Febreze it would taste fine. (I certainly am not recommending this.)

It tasted so delicious. I just have to have my Dad's green beans on Christmas Eve. And my mother's orange rolls.

After dinner we had dessert, some Peppermint cheesecake, and then we put milk and cookies out for Santa. Last year her got sour cream cookies decorated with frosting and sprinkles. This year he got Oreos. Sorry Santa.


An all-girl nativity scene. I'm a girl who likes her traditions. So much that I insist on Bobby as the head of our household reading from Luke 2 and the children posing for the nativity. That's how it was always done in my family. I heard my Great Uncle George read from Luke 2 until I was 19 or 20 years old when he died. After that it was Great Uncle Merlin, then it was my grandfather, then my mom's cousin Rick, etc. The patriarch of the family. Since our family has not been blessed with sons yet, our two older girls will have to take turns playing Joseph and Mary. Next year of course Claire will play baby Jesus, so the Christmas story cross-dressing will perpetuate. Hey, I guess there's one of our own Christmas traditions.

We opened pajamas and also our Christmas Eve presents, since if we were in California we would have been at Gayle's participating in the Sant family gift exchange.

This was the first year we really needed to stay up late making magic for our kids. We assembled the Barbie dream house Santa delivered and then I stayed up late late late sewing Bobby's quilt. The next morning the girls woke up at 7 AM sharp and ran in to tell us that Santa really came! And that he brought more presents! And that he filled their stockings! When we went upstairs I pointed out the cookie crumbs on the plate and the nearly finished glass of milk, as well as a thank you note from Santa. They were thrilled!

Christmas Sleepover

Last night we tried camping out by the Christmas tree for a slumber party and watching "Home Alone" for the second year in a row. It was the end of a really fun family day. Bobby took the kids shopping to pick out presents for me and each other, we ate lunch at McDonald's (which Bobby and I both consider a huge sacrifice we make for our children about five times a year), and... hmmm, I can't remember what else. I do remember we took turns hanging out the window and screaming at the top of our lungs, "Merry Christmas" at noone and everyone. I found a bag of english muffins that morning mistakenly placed in the wrapping paper box the night before and realized that I had left our Sant Family address list at the post office. We had a good laugh about that. And the giant cup of caramel apple cider that Bobby accidentally knocked over when he was getting Sophie out of the car at McDonald's about three minutes after he bought it. That was pretty funny, too. The kids were really excited about setting up the bed downstairs, watching a movie, and sleeping by the tree. It was cute to see how much they were looking forward to it. This is the first year Franny has really seemed to notice our family's traditions; it's also the first year she seems to remember what we did the year before. I love it! We got a lot of questions like, "Is it nighttime yet?" "When are we going to have dinner?" And confirmations of plans already made: "Mom, you and Dad are going to sleep on the couch?" Me: "Mmmhmm." Franny: "Can you say 'yes'?" I don't understand why "sure", "you bet", "yup", and "mmmhmmm" do not satisfy here as acceptable affirmative answers. It cracks me up.

Last year Bobby's brother Wes and his family joined us for Christmas and we had so much fun with them. This year they're heading out for New Year's. Franny and I were talking about Christmas (probably about how they're allowed to start eating the gingerbread on Christmas Day), and she said, "What about our cousins?" I said, "They're not coming this year, sweetie." She said, "AH! Isn't that sad? Why are we having Christmas all by ourselves?" It was pretty cute and I was thrilled she remembered and enjoyed that part of Christmas last year.

I snapped a few shots of our sleepover. I was there, too. I just don't like being photographed when I'm pregnant. Sometimes I think I'm the only person who carries pregnancy in her face (among other places.) Yikes and I still have over three months. "Home Alone" wasn't as much of a hit as last year, but I still enjoyed the tradition. The girls were pretty hyper and after a while they were playing with their Simpsons dolls, Bobby picked up his book, and I (surprise, surprise) fell asleep early. But between Franny's snoring and Sophie's coughing, I woke up quite a few times and it was fun to look over and see the Christmas tree. That's my favorite part of the whole thing, I think. I think it's worth one night sleeping on the couch. The next morning I woke up to Franny poking my leg. I moved a little and she said, "What did you say?" It was so funny how she was trying to be sneaky and wake me up. I totally understand since as a kid I was usually the first one awake in my house. Anyway, this was definitely a fun Christmas memory. Maybe "Miracle on 34th Street" next year? I'll take your suggestions if you've got them.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot. New pictures of my sister, her husband, and her twins on her blog. Very cute!

Gingerbread House Party - Our New Family Tradition

I don't remember ever making gingerbread houses growing up, but it was a big tradition in Bobby's family. His mom would make her own gingerbread and then construct a gingerbread house for each of her children to decorate! Amazing. And last night Bobby told me that she used to make a bunch of extra houses and decorate them to give out as gifts! The girls were a bit disappointed when they realized I was only making the one gingerbread house, but I think it was a good way to start for us. Bobby has suggested this become one of our family traditions a few times and I feel bad that in our 8+ years of marriage this is the first time I've ever attempted it. We did make them once with Louise the day after Thanksgiving, but she provided everything for us. It was then that I first saw Bobby's talent and skill for gingerbread house decorating. He's a pro. Did you notice the Necco wafers as shingles in the first picture of Franny? That's a Bobby original. He totally came up with that idea on his own.

So! Recipes and patterns. There are tons of patterns online- some you can buy, many are free. I chose a very simple and traditional pattern for our first year. I really wanted to cut a window and make my own stained glass window panes, but I forgot to cut the windows out during the baking phase. I'll have to make a note of it for next year.

Gingerbread House Recipe
from Simply Recipes

Ingredients

• 6 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar

• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup dark molasses
• 1 Tbsp water

Make the Gingerbread Dough

1 Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl, set aside.

2 Using an electric mixer, beat on medium speed the butter and brown sugar until fluffy and well blended. Beat in the eggs, molasses and water until well combined.

3 Beat half of the flour mixture into the molasses mixture until well blended and smooth. Stir in the remaining flour. Knead (or use your mixer's dough hook) until well blended. If dough is too soft, add a little more flour.

4 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least two hours, preferably overnight. You can make it up to 3 days ahead of time. Let sit at room temperature for at least 10 minutes before rolling out.

Icing Cement Recipe

from Homecooking.about.com

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons water
• 3 cups sifted powdered sugar

Icing Cement:
Beat egg whites, cream of tartar, and water until frothy. Blend in sugar on high speed until stiff, 5 to 10 minutes. Use immediately or cover and use within 8 hours.

Yield: about 1-1/2 cups icing (this was just enough for one house.)

Instructions for Constructing Gingerbread House:

from Simply Recipes

This is where it really helps to have more than two hands working on a house, and why making a gingerbread house is so much more fun with company than alone. If you are working on this alone, it may help to grab some canned goods from the pantry and use the cans to help prop up the pieces while the icing mortar is drying.

1 Pick a solid base for your gingerbread house - either a flat cookie sheet, or a thick, sturdy piece of cardboard. If you want, line the base with aluminum foil or wax paper.

2 Pipe a thick line of icing along a short end of one of the side pieces. Press the iced side piece against the edge of either the front or back pieces. Hold in place for a few minutes until the icing is partially set. Repeat with the other side piece. Prop up with cans if necessary. Repeat with the other short edges of the side pieces and the remaining front/back piece. Pipe icing along the seams, inside and outside of the house, to fill in any gaps and to add extra stability. Pipe icing along the edges of the house where it meets the base. Let set for at least an hour before attempting to add the roof pieces.

If any of the gingerbread house pattern pieces breaks, as can happen easily when working with what are essentially cookies, most likely you can repair them. On my house I forgot to cut out the door and window until the front piece had almost completely cooled. When I went to make the cuts, the piece broke. Fortunately, it was easy to mortar back together with royal icing. We even created a "splint" out of cardboard and used royal icing to hold the splint to the piece. Let harden completely before using the piece for the house construction. When it comes time to decorate, you can pipe icing right over the broken seam and no one will be the wiser.

3 Once the royal icing has dried enough so that the base structure is solid, you can go to work on the roof. Pipe icing all along the top edges of the structure, front and back and two sides. The roof pieces are a rectangular shaped. Place the roof pieces so that the long ends of the rectangle are running along the top of the house. It helps if you have two people working together to place the roof pieces on the house at the same time so that they meet easily at the top center, and extend out a little bit, forming an overhang at each end. Gently hold the roof pieces in place for a few minutes until they are set enough so they don't slide off when you remove your hands. Pipe the top seam of the house with extra icing. Let the house stand for at least an hour, and preferably 8 hours before decorating.

Note: If you have pets in your house, keep them away from the gingerbread house during all phases of construction and decorating. Non-gingerbread-house-building-participating adults and children should be informed to keep their hands off the house as well.

4 The chimney. The dimensions of the chimney can be a bit tricky because of the angle of the roof. Although you may have cut your chimney out of a pattern, these small pieces likely have spread a bit through cooking, and you may have to use a chef's knife to cut the pieces and adjust the angles of the pieces so they align better with the roof. It's easiest to assemble the chimney first upside down, separate from the house. Pipe the pieces together with royal icing and let set until stable. Then, turn the chimney right-side-up and attach it to the roof using piped royal icing. You can do this either right after the house has initially set (1 hour after assembly) or later, during the decorating process.