Thankful Thursday

It seems the past week or two has been a comedy of errors, except that it hasn't been so funny. So today is a great opportunity to stop and reflect on all the wonderful blessings in my life.

1. Although my new hours at work  have been really hard to adjust to, it means I have time in the morning to cook the boys a hot breakfast. They're on a Belgian waffle kick like nobody's business.

Or, like yesterday morning, we have time to run to one of our  favorite places.

2. The Tuesday night basketball schedule is utter chaos. HOWEVER, I get one-on-one time with Curt, making adventure videos in the nooks and crannies of the Family Life Center at church, while Luke is at practice. Then I get one-on-one time with Luke during Curt's practice. We throw the football back and forth in the family life center of another church (my spiral has gotten pretty good, if I do say so myself). And last night he decimated me in a mean game of foosball.

3. Diet Coke. Always.

4. I'm thankful our long-standing tradition of Friday night pizza and movie still stands. Last week we had a picnic on the living room floor.

5. And I'm thankful for Saxon, the elf who keeps hanging around this Christmas season. Saxon brings the boys so much joy. They can't wait to come home at night and wake up in the morning and find out what mischief Saxon has been up to.

6. I'm thankful for cheese. Large, luscious blocks of perfectly aged Parmesan, in particular.

7. My big crazy dogs make me happy. I can't help it. Even when they tear up the back yard.

8. I'm thankful for grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup.

9. I'm thankful my children still believe in Santa, but mostly that they know what Christmas is REALLY all about.

 

10. I'm thankful for the women of my Wednesday night Bible study...it ended last night and I'm sad. But thankful that I know I've met a group of women with whom I'll have a lifelong connection.

 

11. And last, but not at all least, I'm thankful for dear friends. There aren't enough words, so I'll just leave it at at that (hey, you'd think I write for a living or something!). 

God Bless You During This CHRISTmas season.

*~*~*WoRdLeSs WeDnEsDaY*~*~

The 3 G's Of a Traditional Holiday Craft

G is for GINGERBREAD house.

Some sources say that the spice ginger was introduced in Europe in the 11th-century by Middle Eastern traders and quickly incorporated into cooking, especially baking in Germany.

We've made gingerbread houses for years now...some years the boys get more into decorating the house than others. But they always look forward to doing it (cherishing the time they still want to decorate a gingerbread house with their mama!).

G is also for GUMDROPS.

When you buy the gingerbread house kits, they come with scores of hardened, disgusting, petrified candies. 

The boys like the GUMDROPS the best.

And speaking of scores of hardened, disgusting, petrified candies, who REALLY eats a gingerbread house anyway?

Not us. Those things have a shelf-life of at least 3,000 years. I know this because, while I was cleaning and rearranging things recently, I found our gingerbread house from last year.

EWWWWWWWWWW.  GROSS!

Why on EARTH was it in a kitchen cabinet?

But here it is:

Just slightly worse for the wear from residing in a cabinet since last Christmas. (GROSS!!!!)

My point being, you never eat a gingerbread house.

So why spend HOURS painstakingly putting  your house together, piece by piece, slab of icing by slab of icing? And then HOLDING it up until the icing cemented the pieces of the house together and the gingerbread was stable enough to decorate?

No way. There are not enough hours in the Christmas season for all of that nonsense.

So when my sister in law, Lesley, told me HER secret to speedy gingerbread house preparation, I was ALL OVER IT.

Which brings me to my third G.

GLUE.

Hot glue, to be exact.

The fastest, strongest, most brilliant way to assemble a gingerbread house. EVER.

  

Since you're not going to eat it anyway, WHY NOT?

Once you decorate it, the glue will not show at all.

And your finished product will survive another year.

It Was Just a Matter of Time...

...Before Baby Jesus and his manger were defiled. visited by Saxon...and Lightening McQueen...and a host of Matchbox cars (who are no relation to the Heavenly Host of Angels).

When I set up our CHRISTmas decorations, the manger my father made, with the resin UNBREAKABLE figurines my mom bought for the boys to be able to play with, is always one of the first things to come out of the boxes. The boys LOVE to play with the manger scene and it warms my heart to remember playing with a handmade manger set when I was growing up.

It starts out like this:

But this is how I found it today:

I'm not sure Baby Jesus would approve.

Holiday in the Park

Holiday in the Park is one of my FAVORITE events in Tyler, partly for sentimental reasons, partly because it's JUST. PLAIN. FUN.

I mean, where else can you frolic in 85,000 POUNDS of snow that God gave us through man-made means?

Or tube down a GIANT snow slide...in the middle of Texas....in 50-something degree weather?

Or PUMMEL your brother with snowballs in a snowfield wearing protective eyegear?

At  Holiday in the Park, that's where.

You can also ride ponies.

Jump in bounce houses, climb a rock wall, watch dancers, singers and other entertainers and even see Santa.

Or you can just hang with your mom and make holiday memories.

Dear Kevin,

I think I love you your glorious posts about gooey, delicious, succulent comfort foods.

Like a recent blog post about cheese Mushroom Grilled Cheese sandwiches  that made my toes curl.

Photo by Kevin from at www.closetcooking.com

Or Saturday's post about cheese Roast Beef Grilled Cheese sandwiches that made me swoon.

Or even April's post about cheese Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese sandwiches. That one incited a veritable tsunami of mouthwatering madness.

But it goes so much deeper than cheese grilled cheese, Kevin. There's your intrinsic knowledge of cookies.

Especially the Nanaimo Bars. Those bites of complete sweetness brought tears to my eyes. 

I wondered, out loud in the office yesterday, if it would be considered strange to propose marriage to stranger from a different country completely on the basis of cheese his blog. My coworkers said 'of course not' and another bystander said that if I didn't propose, she might.

You had me at 'mascarpone,' Kevin. You didn't even HAVE to say 'risotto,' but that sealed the deal. And 'eggplant' was the icing on the cake. The fact that you know a ramp isn't found on a highway or on an ADA-certified sidewalk brought on a giddiness I don't often experience. And 95 references to pasta ALONE? Not even counting the 76 references to Presto Pasta Nights?

Sublime.

If you'd ever like to leave that closet kitchen, and visit the 'everything-is-bigger-in' state, I think we'd make beautiful food together. 

 ~ Amy

 

Saxon the Elf

Saxon the Elf came to live with us this week.

Straight from the North Pole, Saxon is one of Santa's helpers, sent to keep an eye on the boys and make sure they're behaving during the holiday season.

There are PLENTY of elves running around Tyler right now, but Saxon has made a HUGE impression on my two boys.

He swooped down from the North Pole and was lounging on my computer keyboard when we got home on Monday evening.

Luke knew immediately what this little guy was sent here to do. Apparently there was an elf who used to keep a keen eye on his first grade classroom as well.

But Curt needed to read the letter Saxon left to understand the IMPORT of being watched for niceness or naughtiness...

The BEST part of Saxon's arrival was hearing Curt declare, "Santa MUST be real because no one was home all day to let this Elf into the house! It IS Christmas magic!" Luke was pretty stunned, too. I mean, how else could an ELF foil the security system and get into our kitchen?

It must be that Christmas magic.

Saxon has been known to move about the house at night.

Tuesday morning, we found him here...on top of a lamp...

...on top of the fireplace mantel.

And then last night when we got home from church, Saxon had installed himself in a cabinet over the stove!

The CrAzY part was that he was waving at the boys. With no help at all from the exhaust fan over the cooktop.

Before bed last night, Curt wrote Saxon a letter, because apparently the waving was a bit unnerving.

Saxon just took it all in stride, hanging out in the Beyblade arena until we all went to bed. I think he was reading the boys' Christmas wish lists.

And then, that silly little Elf just HAD to get up and move.

To the top of the refrigerator.

I wonder will Saxon will be when we get home tonight?