Christmas Present

New Year's Eve is a time for reflection on the accomplishments, triumphs, and tragedies of the past year, and to set goals and resolutions for the new. That is not this post. 

Christmas evening we went over to Russ's dad's for a Christmas party  and we all got...the flu. All, meaning all of Russ's sisters family, half of his brother's family and Abbie and Savannah....thankfully Russ and I have been spared, we hope that sticks.

 Savannah is on the upswing after two days of sitting on the bed listless except for a constant whine. We put her on Tamiflu, which she despises. Now twice a day for the next few days I get to trap my two year old in my arms, pulling her hands away from her mouth with one hand, while I syringe the medicine into her mouth with the other. Then she spits it all back in my face.  Sadly, because I have paid about $100 for the drugs between both girls I am even more insistent that they actually take the medicine. On the upside though, I think we are moving through the illness faster than we would otherwise, based on how the extended family is holding up.

 Abbie is in the thick of it now. Unfortunately, she has also added throwing-up to the list of symptoms which had made it even more fun around here. To top it off today she has been complaining that her neck (throat?) hurts. The complaint is becoming constant enough that I'm starting to worry about strep. Blah.

 So this week we have watched more TV than should be legal, especially when that consists of constant Disney cartoons. This has been all the more frustrating because we have been quarantined from family that is in town that we don't get to see that often. That is, we were quarantined after Abbie had spent the day at my mom's and exposed them all to it. (In my defense, at that point only Savannah had gotten sick and Abbie had kept her distance so I had thought she would be okay.)

 It is the gift that keeps on giving.

Christmas Morning

I will have to say that the highlight of my Christmas was Christmas Eve. We spend Christmas Eve with my family and spend the day skiing. As you locals will know the week before Christmas Eve was one snowy day after another and Christmas Even dawned, cloudy but no snow. Thankfully the clouds were limited to the city and the canyons were bright blue and fresh powder. The perfect conditions combined with the fact that most people are doing last minute Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve rather than skiing, meant that the longest I waited in line was five minutes.  To top it off Savannah stayed home with Grandma to "help" in making a wonderful Christmas Eve Dinner and Abbie was in a combination ski school/preschool class all day, leaving me to enjoy the mountain with Russ.

We did swing by and check on Abbie every few runs and I was impressed with her. She was laughing every time - quite an accomplishment when you fall almost every time you move. And on the very beginner incline (not yet a hill), she was able to go down by herself without falling. She still needed help in the actual hill but she had a blast and a four that is what matters.

Christmas Eve night was an incredible dinner, and time with family. Thankfully Santa wrapped our gifts earlier in the week so we were able to hit the sack early that night too. Which was a good thing because the girls, despite their sleep deprivation were up at 6:45 Christmas morning! Unfortunately I don't have any still shots of the morning and the video is too long but let me just say, they were pleased with their haul.

From there we rushed over to my parents to talk to my brother on his mission, and then rushed back home. The girls were allowed one gift that they could take to grandma's house to show people Savannah's choice - Little Mermaid Chapstick. If Santa had know she could be that easily pleased he would have saved a few bucks this year.

Unfortunately, that is when disaster struck.


I was doing some minor cleaning up from the Christmas hurricane and went to put some gift cards in "The Drawer". I was going to put them with a gift card Russ had given me for my birthday for a show at Hale Center Theater. The gift card was not in the drawer. I spent the next 4-6 hours with only a few interruptions cleaning the drawer, the other drawers, the dresser, the closet, under the bed, behind the dresser, my purse, the car, and the office desk in a desperate, but futile, search for the gift card. I would like to say that I am big enough to recognize that there are real problems in the world, that frankly I have more serious issues I'm concerned about, that in the big picture this matters not a bit. But sadly, it just really ticks me off.

Other than that Christmas was awesome!

Random Thoughts Thursday

Last year I was the most excited one for Christmas in our family. This year Abbie has been counting the days for the last two weeks, she has staked out her presents under the tree, and she has been trying to figure out some way for me to let her open them early. This year she has beat me out of the water.

Here you can have Santa send a personalized video message to your kids. The girls were in awe that he knew their names, had pictures of them, and knew what they had done throughout the year. It only takes a minute and the results are well worth it. Santa would make a comment like, "Savannah I need you to be a good girl." And she would immediately and obediently respond, "Yes!"

Today we are off to see Tangled, tomorrow we are going skiing. My life is very, very good.

As far as my weekly recipes go, I am back on the wagon. I think I missed two weeks. I hit a combination of wishing never to cook again (unusual for me, still had to though), with no new recipes that interested me, with a devil may care attitude toward my goal. Thankfully that all ended when my dear friend gave me MORE, yup that's right more, New Best Recipe books for an early Christmas gift. Their Perfect Vegetables, and Cover & Bake books. These are much smaller books and have a ton of new and excite recipes. This week was Moroccan Chicken Stew - in the Crockpot. Oh, hallelujah!!! How I love life.

We've spent much of this week at my mom's house because my brother and his family are in town from Oregon. On Tuesday, my sister-in-law Allison and I made two batches of cookies, at the same time, with the help of six, yup six, little girls. (Okay my niece Vicki is no longer little, which to be honest really stinks but she still helped.)

Random Christmas Activities

I love Christmas! I am one of those cheesey people who want their tree up the day after Thanksgiving and most of the time would be happy to leave it up through mid-January. I love baking gingerbread cookies, reading Christmas stories, and driving around and looking at Christmas lights while, of course listening to Christmas music. I have almost no fall decorations for my home, but never seem to have a problem justifying one, or two, or three new Christmas decorations out of the Christmas budget.

This year the new advent calender has helped us celebrate Christmas cheer. (Or in some cases helped me attempt to force Christmas cheer on my family.) I plan different activities into the Advent stockings and usually that magically makes the girls excited about whatever the activity, be it reading a story or visiting Santa.

One adventure was seeing the lights on temple square. It was a perfect night. It wasn't crowded, and it was unseasonably warm for a December night. We still needed coats however and therein came the problem. Abbie hates her coat. I got it on clearance a few years ago at 1/4th the price of retail. It is a 4/5 XS, so it is a little big on her but it is a very, very, nice coat, dang it. She refused to wear it. So she spent most of the evening in her jacket, complaining of the cold, saying she wanted to leave. Finally, (just before we were about to leave) I convinced her to wear the coat backward -- and then she loved it. Ugh.

Another adventure was our visit with Santa. Savannah was so excited to finally be able to talk to him. She waited in line patiently, with all the other kids. She kept repeating that she was so excited to meet him. Unfortunately for the jolly old elf when she actually was face to face with the man himself, it was too much, and she ran back and hid between mom's legs. Luckily Santa's assistant took pity and still gave her one of the bags of goodies that was being passed out.



Yesterday we had our most recent event filled with Christmas joy, Abbie's Christmas program at her preschool. She was an angel (much to her disgust, she waaaaaaaaaaanted to be Mary). The kids were adorable. They sang several songs, recited the message of the angels to the shepherds, and each had a line of their own to say. It was sweet. However, Abbie, in what is her now famous singing voice, did not fail to disappoint. I wish those teachers who asked the kids to sing loud really understood what they were asking, or what they would get. Once again, there were tears.

Special

In my earlier days as a parent of two, I decided that certain toys didn't need to be shared. Certain blankets, stuffed animals that were dearly loved, and brand new birthday presents held a "special" status. The theory was that there should be certain things that are yours, and you shouldn't have to part with things that really do hold a high sentimental value to you. New birthday presents hold this "special" status temporarily and then they become free game to whomever gets them first.

In my defense, I meant well.

Now everything in the house is "special," in a way that only a two or four-year-old can yell out as they are claiming something that their sister has/had/might have in the next week.

"It's my special!!!" Savannah will yell.

"This is really special to me." Abbie will try to explain about a toy she has ignored for months.

The "specialness" of any particular item is fairly random, held together only by the imagined fear knowledge,that their sister might want it. It has been applied to burp clothes, baby dolls, and random pens.

"Nothing is special!!!" I want to yell, but somehow I don't think that would fix things.

Hiding

She wanted to dress camouflaged this morning.

Random Thoughts Monday

I was trying to be so on the ball and get all of my Christmas shopping done before December so I could enjoy the holiday season. Now it seems the every time I turn around I'm remembering another gift I need to buy.


Today I replaced the batteries in some of the girls toys that have been out of commission for quite some time. They were thrilled for about 30 minutes, then went back to playing with the cardboard box that they had been playing in before. Why do I try?

Abbie has developed a new strategy at story time. At story time we read three books, each of the girls get to pick one and then mom gets to pick one. Abbie will now preempt Savannah going through the stack of books, by finding a book she (Abbie) wants and then asking, "Savannah, do you want to read (insert book)?" Savannah who worships her older sister always says yes. Then Abbie gets to pick out a second book that is her choice thus getting two books she really wants.  Part of me thinks I should stop this manipulation, part of me thinks if Savannah is happy no problem, and part of me is proud at the analysis that went in to such nefariousness.

I didn't do Christmas cards this year. I was defiant in November when I needed to be working on it, and now I just feel bad.

Over the last weekend we had Russ's mom, grandma and sister in town. It is so much fun to see so much family loving my kids.

I just finished The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate. It is one of the most enjoyable children's books I've read in a very long time. Also a Newbury Award winner, I guess they know what they're doing.

Yesterday Savannah wandered around the house singing, "Jesus wants a Sunbeam..." for about twenty minutes in a high breathy voice. Killer!

Advent Calender

This is my advent calender, which apparently originated in the mind of Martha Stewart (or her staffers). Clearly mine doesn't have the 24 high end brand new socks that hers does, but I love it anyway! Let the Christmas season begin!!

 

Thankful Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we switched it up and moved the feast to Wednesday night and Thursday drove down  to St. George. Let me tell you...I was thankful.

The feast was all that a Thanksgiving dinner should be with all the traditional and a few non-traditional items on board. I was in charge of pies this year, which having never made pies before, made me a bit nervous. I made two chocolate cream that ended up being big hits, and two lemon meringue, which were a bit runny but still tasted good. Thankfully at the last minute my cousin took over the pumpkin so I only ended up making four pies. I will give out the recipes if you want them but let me just warn you, for the four pies I made, I used two dozen eggs. They are once a year recipes, for sure!

Then it was off to St. George for the balmy 30s -40s. One of the many, many things I love about visiting St. George is that we are always able to find new and beautiful places to visit while we are there. Thursday afternoon we hiked Johnson's Arch in Snow Canyon. The arch is off limits most of the year because of nesting turtles, birds, animals, but well worth a visit when the trail is open. It is perfect for a four-year-old hiker, her crazy uncles, and the rest of her entourage. Abbie spent the way up running ahead with Uncle Britton and hiding and scaring the rest of us, and the way back on her Aunt Erica's shoulders.  (I really need to give props to my awesome siblings who provided almost non-stop entertainment for my kids....so I didn't have to.) Savannah rode the whole way in, giving her plenty of rock climbing energy once we reached the end of the slot canyon. She took Grandma and Britton up to the top of a very high rock pile and kept telling her to be careful and have fun.

Black Friday was spent shopping by some, golfing by others, and napping by me. Russ and I did make a quick Best Buy run but sadly nothing came of it. :(. 

Saturday we went on another stereotypical family hike. We hiked the Cinder Cone trail at Snow Canyon. It is a short but steep hike up an ancient volcano to wonderful view of the canyon. The weather was freezing. My dad kept commenting on how much fun we were having and how beautiful the senery would be when we reached the top. (He was right.) Blaine adding rocks to Russ's kid pack so he is carrying more weight. Britton kept teasing Erica and helping Abbie. Erica kept saying that is would be better if we had gotten massages. Very standard.

Thankfully we left Saturday night after watching the Utes reign victorious (not that they played that great....) and avoid the massive snow storm that is plaguing us today. I am truly grateful for my family. I have wonderful parents that I greatly admire. My siblings all hang together come what may. And my husband and girls give me endless joy. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend.

The Internet Saves the Day

I realize that we have all become highly dependent on the internet. Last night when my husband needed to look up an address he grabbed the yellow pages and it honestly took me a minute to realize what he was doing. Sad I know. However in the last little bit I've found three amazing fixes online that saved my bacon (and my wallet) so I thought I'd pass them on to you.

The Brown Shirt Incident

A few weeks ago I got some money for my birthday and  I went shopping for a much needed wardrobe update. This was especially satisfying because I had my fashion guru friend Lisa and her fashion genius sister Julie along and they helped me buy things I never would have even tried on, but which I absolutely love. This is when the brown shirt was purchased. After shopping, I donned said shirt and raced to my Grandma's 90th birthday party. (If I can be half as sharp and witty as she is at 90 I will be a success.)


After the party I came home and poured myself a bowl of home-made chicken noodle soup. MMMMmmmmm. Then from out of nowhere a bowl fell out of the cupboard and into my bowl of soup splashing delicious homemade chicken stock all over my new shirt. The shirt had been worn for less than three hours when it was covered in grease. AAAuuughh!!

I stripped down and washed it immediately. No good. After consulting, the internet I found out that Dawn can get grease stains out. So I hand washed the shirt in Dawn, soaked it for 30 minutes and put it through the wash cycle. No good. I did the whole thing again, and bingo the shirt is as good as new! Better still the website said that this will work for set in stains so I added a shirt that had a dried in stain to the batch and BINGO! Two shirts recovered.

The Sweater

I have a sweater that I really like. It isn't amazing but it is really warm and still in style (I think?). I haven't been able to wear it for the last few years though because it has been cover in pill balls and fuzz. I couldn't ever get rid of it though so I just kept it at the bottom of my drawer thinking I would wear it someday.

Enter the internet.

Besides telling me there are electric sweater shavers (which for some reason I find hilarious), one person said that disposable razors work just as well to clean off sweaters. It took some time, as the shirt was in BAD shape, but now, while not as good as new it is at least wearable again!

Advent Calender

After deciding that making my own advent calender wasn't the end of the world and scouring the internet for ideas, I found one that a craft-inept person like myself could handle. It even has Martha's seal of approval. I will unveil it once I get it put up in my house!

Sing Out Loud, Sing Out Strong

Yesterday was our Primary Program. We couldn't have been more proud. Our primary has grown in the last few months because of some new apartments that have been built in our ward. It filled over half the choir seats. The children were well behaved and mostly stood and sat on cue. Abbie had studied her two lines and while she still asked for help, it was clear - at least to me - that she knew them well. One other thing was clear. The choir director had asked the children to sing loudly so their parents could hear them. They all did quite well.

One, did exceptionally well. She later said that she was trying to sing louder than all the other children.

She - at four - succeeded.

Her cheeks were bright pink at the end of each song with the effort.   From the stand, Russ looked and could see that everyone was very keyed in to listening to her. From the congregation, we could all hear one lone voice above the fray.  There was a distinct difference between when she was singing and when she wasn't.

There is always one in every primary.

She was at least a half a note flat the entire time she yelled sang.

Many were wiping away tears at the end of each song.

Chicken Stock -- In an HOUR!

Yup! I made homemade chicken stock and I am darn proud of myself. For me homemade chicken stock is something only really high end cooks bother with... and I actually did it! Unfortunately, I'm afraid that there is no going back. The aroma in my house was so wonderful and if the soup that I'm making for my Grandma's 90th birthday tastes half as good as it smelled, I think this will become a staple in my house.

I do however have a secret that made the entire process completely painless. It started with a lack of chicken bones in the house (Sorry, I'm a boneless skinless cook) and a need to make soup for my grandma. After desperately trying to find a base, bouillon, or stock, that would substitute for homemade, it seemed that for super high quality I was out of luck. And most stock recipes take 3 - 4 hours.  Then I found the recipe below (New Best Recipes) The only problem - the recipe states, "4 pounds chicken backs and wing tips or whole legs hacked with a meat cleaver into 2 inch pieces." (My emphasis, of course).

I was immediately looking back at the 3-4 hour recipes just to avoid hacking anything.

Then on Simply Recipes, she posted the same recipe with this beautiful addition ...."You can ask your butcher to prepare the chicken pieces this way." Saved!


Turns out that Harmon's butchers sell chicken backs and meat for super cheap! And I mean super cheap. I got four pounds for 3 dollars. (This helps when, like me, you don't just happen to have a chicken carcass sitting around.) Second,  I will forever praise the Harmon's butcher,she chopped it all up for me! All I did was dump it in the pot. 


So here you go!


Chicken Stock


1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
 4 lbs chicken backs, wingtips, or whole legs hacked into 2 inch pieces (remember what I said!)
2 quarts boiling water
2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves




1 - Cook onion in oil then remove from stockpot.
2 - In two batches saute chicken pieces until no longer pink; 4-5 minutes
3 - Return onion and chicken pieces to pot, cover and turn heat to low and sweat for 20 minutes.
4 - Increase heat to high add boiling water, slat and bay leaves. Return to a simmer then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes. 
5 - Strain the stock through a mesh sieve. Cool skim fat. Either freeze or use in soups!