Resolutions

I confess:  I am not one to make New Year's Resolutions--mostly because I am not one to KEEP resolutions very well.  As usual, I plan to eat better, try to lose weight, exercise more, etc.  But I also know that I am not the best at 'sticking with' stuff like that.  I try, I promise I do!

But I have resolved this year to make a better effort at keeping our house clean.  Now don't get me wrong, our house is not anything that would have the Hoarders camera crew knocking on our doors.  I don't think you would find any cat skeletons in the house.  But it is not as clean and neat as I would like it to be.  So I have come up with my own version of one of those cute little cleaning schedules that you see on Pinterest all the time.  Here it is:

It's kind of hard to read, but there it is.  I plan to start Monday, so we will see how it goes.  As of right now, there is stuff everywhere, and I can feel my sanity slipping away.  Apparently, we are crazy people, because the Hubs and I decided to do a bit of a fruit basket turnover bedroom-wise in our house right before Christmas, and there is still a lot of stuff that needs to find a new home.  And I decided to go through all of the clothes the kids have outgrown and get it put away for consigning in the spring.  So a nice, neat house is hopefully on the horizon, but for now there are boxes everywhere.

I hope everyone has a fun New Year's Eve and enjoys ringing in the new year with family and friends.

Festival of Lights

The weekend before Christmas, we took the kids to the Festival of Lights--the light display at the local zoo.  It is nothing super fancy, but it was a fun little outing for kiddos who love to look at Christmas lights, and both of mine do.  I did not take my nice camera, so I apologize for the less-than-professional phone photographs.

The end of the show is a really cute light display of the 12 Days of Christmas, but I neglected to get a picture of that.  This is something we have done for the past couple of years, and at only $15 for all of us, it makes for a very affordable little Christmas outing.  There was a Santa meet and greet area set up somewhere and a train ride, but we passed on both of those--especially the Santa since C is terrified of him!  I love seeing the amazement on their faces during this magical time.

What's On the Tank {Abomination}

Recently, I did some substitute teaching at the high school where the Hubs works and was caught with a book in hand (just for when there were not students in the room).  A couple of the other teachers stopped and chatted with me for a bit about what type of books we like to read.  A few days later, the Hubs came home with Abomination by Colleen Coble on loan from a co-worker.

I have mixed feelings about it overall.  It was very interesting, and I knew from reading the Prologue that I absolutely had to know how it ended.  But getting there wasn't easy.  Basically, without giving too much away, the book is about a serial killer, one of his victims who gets away, and the police officer bent on catching the killer.  Kinda heavy stuff.  It is Christian fiction, so it was clean and profanity-free, but the subject matter can be tough to tackle.  BUT the surprise ending really floored me--and that doesn't normally happen.  If you like a good mystery with a real dark side, give Abomination a try.

Christmas Brunch

I put together a low key, easy but still delicious Christmas brunch for our family and the Hubs' parents and just had to share it with the rest of you.  It was very easy since most of it could be made or assembled a day or two in advance and be stuck in the oven while everyone is opening gifts and enjoying new toys.  I served Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole, Hashbrown Casserole, and Sour Cream Coffee Cake.

Crescent Roll Breakfast Casserole

1 can of crescent rolls
1 lb sausage, cooked and drained
2 cups mozzarella
6 eggs
1 cup milk

Press the crescents into the bottom of a pan.  Put the sausage crumbles and mozzarella in the pan on top of the crescents.  Whisk together the eggs and milk and pour it over the sausage and cheese.  Season with salt and pepper and bake at 425 for 20-25 minutes.

Note from Anita:  I found this recipe on Pinterest.  The original link is flagged as suspicious,  but the recipe was in the comment.  I find the cooking time to be VERY wrong.  After 25 minutes, mine was still quite runny in the middle.  Next time I make this, I will try covering it with foil (to avoid burning the crescents) and baking it for 25 minutes, uncover it and make it for at least another 15 minutes.  This only took about 10 minutes to prepare and I made it entirely on Christmas morning.

Hashbrown Casserole

2lb bag of frozen shredded hashbrowns
1 can of cream of chicken soup
1 pint sour cream
1 tsp salt
1/4 pepper
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups Corn Flakes

Combine the hashbrowns, soup, sour cream, salt and pepper and spread into a greased 9x13 pan.  Pour the melted butter over the hashbrown mixture and sprinkle the Corn Flakes on top.  Bake on 350 for 45 minutes.

Note from Anita:  This is my mom's recipe and I have no idea where it originated.  I assembled this the night before Christmas except for the butter and Corn Flakes which I did right before putting it in the oven Christmas morning.

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

Batter:
2 sticks of butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
2 cup all-purpose four unsifted
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

 Topping:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Pour half batter in a buttered and floured springform pan.  Top with 3/4 topping. Then cover with remaining batter.  Top with remaining topping.  Bake at 325 for 1.5 hours or until the toothpick comes out almost clean.

I made this cake a couple of days in advance.  It is one of the Hubs' favorites, and honestly, it is perfect for any time of day and pretty much any occasion.  I found this recipe in the Unbearable Good cookbook that was published by our local Junior Service League at least 25 years ago.

Our Christmas Brunch was a hit, and I am still enjoying the left overs.

Merry Christmas!

We had a fabulous Christmas with our family!  It started with leaving cookies out for Santa--and C was beside herself with exhaustion by the time we got home from Pop and JuJu's, so she was in bed and missed the Kodak moment with the cookies.

Then Santa came!!!  Their stashes may look meager, but between both sets of grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends, my kids get more for Christmas than any of us knows what to do with.  You can read about my Christmas guidelines that I implemented for the first time this year that made my life SO much easier when it came to shopping for them this year.

Then it was time to go to bed with the excitement of  knowing you get to watch your kids get their gifts in the morning.  Since becoming a parents, I am pretty sure that Christmas is just as much fun for mommies and daddies as it is for the kiddos!!  And this Christmas was a blast!

Then we opened our stockings.

 B modeling his new Angry Birds slippers.

Grandma and Grandpa showed up around nine, and then it was time to open gifts from them and Aunt H.

 

 

Then we sat down to a fairly scrumptious brunch if I do say so myself.  More on that tomorrow.  The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys, watching A Christmas Story (my favorite Christmas movie), grazing on left overs, putting the last ornament on the Jesse Tree, and just lazing around.  It was fabulous.  I hope y'all had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve is always the day that we spend with my family, and this year was no exception.  We left our house after the kids' naps and headed over to Pop and JuJu's house loaded down with squash casserole, pecan pie, and presents.  We started with a time of prayer and thanksgiving for the birth of Jesus, and I led us in singing "Joy to the World" then we ate a delicious meal that was mostly prepared by JuJu.  Then it was time to open gifts.  My parents have done a big Christmas for us and each other for as long as I can remember, and I have always enjoyed the Christmas Eve festivities.

For the past couple of years we have let the kids open their gifts first.  Then the rest of us could open our gifts while they were busy with their new toys.

B was super excited about the DreamLites light-up dog he got.  C got a "light up unicorn" from friends for her birthday, and he has wanted his own ever since!!

This Angry Birds set from Uncle J and Aunt A was a much-desired and happily-received gift!

C has had her eye on this Boo doll from Monsters Inc. for a couple of months and was ecstatic to pull it out of the box.

And she looks like a doll in her Minnie Mouse costume from Uncle J and Aunt A.

After the kids opened their gifts, C wanted her princess castle to play with, and let's just say 'some assembly required' was an understatement.  Haha.  So after waiting patiently for the Hubs to get it all together for her, the adults to tear into their gifts.

I managed to stay behind the camera all night, but was pleased to get several items on my wish list as well as a few surprise items that I love.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

I had such grand plans for a great birthday party for Jesus, but life happened, plans changed that were out of my control, and we had to spontaneously move the party up a day and I was unprepared.  So instead of the delicious BBQ sandwiches, yummy potato salad, chips and corn on the cob that I had planned, we had drive thru burgers.  Again, not what I had in mind, but it is about celebrating our Savior and that is exactly what we did.

I used some of the cupcakes and miniature brownie cups that were left over from the youth Christmas party we had hosted the night before.  I put a candle in one of the cupcakes, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.  Then the kids got to blow out the candle.

B had wanted to invited Pop and JuJu over, so they joined us for the sweets.  It was very impromptu and not nearly and put together as I would have liked, but the kids loved celebrating Jesus's birthday.  Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas Cookies

I try to make Christmas cookies with the kids every year, and this year was no exception.  However, it did take us several days to get it done, and we were so busy I was starting to wonder if it would actually happen!

I use the following basic sugar cookie recipe.  It is easy and tasty.

Basic Sugar Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla

Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla.  Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder and add to the butter mixture.  Divide into 3-4 discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days.  Remove from fridge 20-30 minutes before rolling out and cutting.  (I put the baking sheets with the cutout cookies on them in the fridge for a few minutes before baking.)  Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until the edges are just brown.  Let cool and decorate as desired.

The kids love using the cookie cutters, so pulling them out is always fun.

Sadly, we were not able to frost and decorate the cookies until a couple of days after baking them.  I had picked up a can of Pillsbury frosting with the sprinkles in the little tub as the top.  I was surprised that the frosting was green since it was just labeled as vanilla, so I popped open a can of white frosting that I had gotten for frosting cupcakes.  With their own bowls of frosting and a butter knife these kids had a blast!

Some additional sprinkles and a handful of mini chocolate chips for the snowmen, and we were done.  They were yummy (although I would not invite anyone to eat any that C made since I caught her licking her fingers more than once!) and done just in time for Santa!