Category Archives: Christmas

A Delightful Unusual Christmas

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I hope you had a merry Christmas and a happy new year.  Michael Luke, Noah, and I really enjoyed getting to spend the holidays together as a family.

Our Christmas celebration was a little different than in years past and not just because of the addition of a baby.  Instead of trying to set the record for the most families visited in forty-eight hours, this year we just stayed home.  It was nice! Even though we missed spending time with our families, we had been looking forward to a slower-paced holiday schedule and the opportunity to focus more on the true reason for Christmas!

Michael Luke worked Christmas Eve morning… I really didn’t mind because this gave me a chance to clean up a little bit around the house while jamming out to some Pandora music (holiday style).  A clean house just helps everything feel a little more special; and these days, it really is special if the house is clean!

He ended up having a short work day, so we did some last minute shopping for Noah.  Nothing overboard though, since she would much rather have been eating than opening gifts.  While out, we also scouted out a few stores to see if they had any trees left.  I mentioned (here) that we planned to replace ours after this Christmas.  Trees were few and far between to be found… which totally put a kink in my plan to grab one on sale the day after Christmas.  We found a few at Home Depot that would do the trick, but they opened at 6:00 a.m. December 26!!!  As much as I wanted a new tree, six in the morning was not a possibility for me.  Thankfully, Michael Luke volunteered to swing by Wal-Mart and Home Depot before he went to work Monday morning.  My troubles were put to ease, and we continued on with our Christmas Eve activities.

Michael Luke requested red beans and rice for Christmas dinner.  Maybe a little unusual, but he wanted it to be a reminder of others who had less than we did to eat.  So I did a little recipe searching and found this yummy sounding Caribbean Red Beans and Rice recipe.  Nutmeg and cinnamon were involved, so it sounded like the perfect recipe for a Christmas dinner… and it was. As a side we had sweet potatoes and for dessert bread pudding.

Everything was delicious!  Michael Luke has requested this to be a Christmas tradition.  Which is fine with me, because it was super easy, and we had leftovers for the next day.  That’s right, I didn’t cook at all Christmas Day.  We even had a ready-made Whole Foods pizza Christmas night.  Yum!

Anyway, after supper we listened to some Christmas music, had a short devotional, and sang a hymn as a family before putting Noah to bed (in her own room for the first time).  Later, Michael Luke and I exchanged gifts and called it an early night.  That will probably change in a year or two.

Christmas morning, we woke up to the sounds of a crying baby… not Jesus, Noah.   After feeding her we brought her downstairs, so she (we) could open her presents.

Santa brought her some pacifiers and a banana-shaped teether.

In all of the commotion of the morning, we managed to get ready for the church service and on time too.  This was Noah’s first time to attend a church service.  She slept through the whole thing.  The rest of the day was spent lounging around the house and enjoying time together as a family.  A little different than usual but wonderful.

The day after Christmas, Michael Luke kept to his end of the bargain which consisted of me staying in bed and him hitting up Wal-Mart and Home Depot before work.  He brought home two trees, one from Wal-Mart and one from Home Depot, that looked like they would work.  The funny thing is he took my compact car, a Huyndai Elantra, instead of our Ford Escape.  The car was packed full with one tree in the trunk and the other taking up the back and passenger seats (it was a floor model so there was no box for it)!  Haha!  A little crammed but it fit.

The GE Black Hill Spruce tree from Home Depot was our favorite. It’s a 7′-6″ LED pre-lit tree.  By waiting until after Christmas, we got 50% off for the low price of $130.  That’s a big step up from our $30 tree!

Our old tree is no comparison to this.  We plan to buy one more ornament in March (more about that here), but we might have to buy a few more to decorate the tree next year!

That wraps up our Christmas activities.  Did anybody else find any good day-after-Christmas deals?

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A Reason to Lick the Spoon

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Christmas time brings lots of opportunities to give gifts.  A few years ago, I started making Peppermint Bark for friends and family.  It’s not much, but I love the idea that it is homemade and tastes yummy.

Last year, with the change in my diet (more on that here), I couldn’t eat any chocolate for Christmas.  It’s one way to not gain any weight during the holidays!  So when I made the Peppermint Bark for everyone, I wanted to make some for myself too.  With chocolate out of the question, I decided to use butterscotch in place of chocolate for the bark.  It became a hit!

I wanted to share how to make it, but I accidently over heated the butterscotch last night and had to resort to Chocolate Peppermint Bark.  Oops!  Basically, anywhere chocolate is used substitute butterscotch to get delicious Butterscotch Peppermint Bark.

The recipe I used is from the Joy of Baking.  To get two times the goodies, I double the recipe as shown below.

What you will need:

  • One 12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate (Nestle was all I had on hand, but I recommend Ghiradelli.)
  • One 12 oz package white chocolate (I used Ghiradelli.)
  • 2/3 cup crushed candy canes
  • 4 teaspoons vegetable oil (not recommended if making Butterscotch Peppermint Bark)
  • 9″x13″ Baking dish lined with aluminum foil
  • double boiler (I just use a small pot placed inside a larger pot with hot water.)
First, pour two teaspoons of vegetable oil and the package of semi-sweet chocolate into the small pot.  The vegetable oil adds a little shine to the chocolate.  Then, place the small pot in the double boiler once the water gets hot, not boiling.  Let it sit for a minute or two and begin stirring once the pieces become a little shiny.  You can see pieces starting to melt along the edges.  I like to continue stirring once the pieces start to melt to keep from burning the sugar in the chocolate.
Stir until melted…
…then pour into the baking dish.
After all the chocolate is poured, tilt the dish from side to side.  This helps to get rid of all the ripples in the chocolate.  Place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
Next comes one of my favorite parts… licking the spoon!  You gotta make sure the chocolate is going to taste good.  Right?
While the chocolate is setting, crush the candy canes.  The easiest and cleanest way I have found to do this is to take a wrapped candy cane and lightly pound it a few times with a hammer on your cutting board.
Then break the plastic open and pour crushed candy canes into a measuring cup.  I have found it usually takes around seven candy canes to get 2/3 of a cup.   You don’t want to mash it until it becomes powder… just small pieces.
Clean the pot and (licked) spoon and prepare to melt the white chocolate.  When the chocolate lacks about 10 minutes in the refrigerator start heating the water again.
Pour two teaspoons vegetable oil and white chocolate into small pot and place in double boiler.  Stir until melted.
Once melted pour on top of chocolate layer.   Then tilt dish back and forth to spread white chocolate.
You can see where a little of the chocolate was starting to mix with the white chocolate… that’s ok.  Once it is covered with the peppermint, nobody will ever know.  It’s also ok if all the chocolate doesn’t smooth out.  Those imperfections will be covered up.
After the white chocolate is evened out, sprinkle the candy cane pieces on top.  I like to use my fingertips and lightly press on some of the bigger pieces.  This will give them a little bit of chocolate to grab onto so they won’t fall off.
Place the dish back in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.  After all the chocolate is cooled remove from dish and break into pieces and enjoy!
Note: This is not a picture of my Peppermint Bark.  The batch I made last night was for Michael Luke to take to work today.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have a chance to break them for him before he left for work this morning.  But it basically looks like the bark in the picture.
Do you have any candy you make to give as gifts?
FYI:  I am not sure if I will have a new post at the beginning of next week.  I will be attempting to update and make back-ups of the website to prevent any future problems.  Considering my lack of computer skills this could take a while.  If everything works out well, I plan to have another post by the end of next week.  Until then I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

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Christmas 2011

Noah Ventures Out

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This past weekend Michael Luke, Noah, and I went to visit my parents in Mississippi.  This was our first trip as a family of three (plus Emma the yorkie).

The drive wasn’t as bad as I envisioned.  What is normally a three hour drive took us four hours because we had to stop to feed Noah.  Michael Luke also took off work on Friday, so we were able to leave after lunch and get there in time to actually visit with my parents before we crashed for the night.  How sad is it that we start getting ready for bed at nine now?

Originally, we planned to stay in Birmingham for Christmas and New Year’s because Michael Luke is working both weekends.  But with Noah’s feedings spacing out to around three hours apart, my sister coming home, and just not wanting to miss all the Christmas festivities, we decided to visit the weekend before Christmas.

We enjoyed spending time with family, extended family, and friends.  I can’t say that Noah’s got everybody’s names down yet, but I think she had a good time too.  She even posed for a few pictures!

Unfortunately/fortunately, she slept through us opening presents.

I had fun unwrapping hers though.  One of the gifts she received was her Christmas stocking that my mom made her.

Isn’t it pretty with her name smocked on it.

I promised you an updated picture of the mantel (here).  It now hangs on the fireplace next to ours… waiting to be filled. (Maybe we should do a little shopping.)

She also signed the back with her grandmother name, Marmee.  I know it will be enjoyed for many Christmases.

Now we are back home and looking forward to celebrating Christmas as a family.  We are excited about going to worship our Savior and King this coming Sunday.  It will be Noah’s first time to see everyone where we worship.  What an appropriate day!  If I’m brave enough… and I hope so,  I also plan to cook us a special Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner.  We’ll see!  I’ll share photos if I do.

What about you?  Are you visiting family early this year?  Have you had the same stocking since you were little or since getting married?

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