Books Read in 2008

As part of the '08 resolutions, I had hoped to read just one book a month. I did it; here's my list:

Change of Heart

The Art of Mending

The Year of Pleasures

Roseflower Creek

Cold Rock River

A Three Dog Life

Light on Snow

The Year of Fog

Everyday Sacred

Water for Elephants

Real.Life.Scrapbooking

My Sister's Keeper

Life Artist

The Friendship Test

Remember Today 12.31.08

{remember} the traditional Chinese Food takeout dinner with the boys, and me going to bed at 9:30 and seeing zippo of the New Year's celebrations on TV. Just physically and emotionally drained this year. . .

Remember Today 12.30.08

{remember} bowling with friends (forgot my camera). Maddox's excitement at knocking pins down and his animation about the game in general was priceless.

Remember Today 12.29.08

{remember} playdates for L & C--Logan's friend stayed straight through dinner--L was psyched.

Remember Today 12.27.08

{remember} another day of nothingness that I so need and deserve (and a little nap).

Remember Today 12.26.08

{remember} a day of playing with the boys, nothing but playing: Rock Band, Wii Sports, Cadoo, hockey, skateboarding. This is my favorite day of the holiday season.

Remember Today 12.25.08

{remember} a wonderful Christmas: the boys' excitement at what Santa brought, spending the day with my family: giving, receiving, eating, laughing, crying, talking, oh and more eating; and crawling into bed exhausted and relieved that it's over and looking forward to a day of playing tomorrow. Merry Chritmas to all, and to all a good night.

Remember Today 12.24.08

{remember} a leisurely Christmas Eve day, delicious Christmas Eve dinner with Perry's family, and a teary-eyed Christmas Eve church service.

Cookies for Santa

This year I am incredibly late baking the Christmas cookies, which isn't necessarily a bad thing--they'll be fresher for Santa. This year we made 4 kinds:

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Thumbprint (these were Perry's faves)

taken from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 c flour

1/3 c baking cocoa (or grind baking chocolate pieces in the blender like I did to get 1/3 c of powder cause I didn't check my ingredients list before I began--I digress)

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

Combine the above in a small bowl.

Melt 1 c. semi-sweet morsels in saucepan, stirring constantly until smooth.

Beat 1 c. granuated sugar, 1/3 c. peanut butter, 1/3 c. softened butter, and 1 1/2 t vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy.

Beat in melted chocolate.

Add 2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in remaining package of semi-sweet morsels.

Cover and refrigerate until firm.

Shape dough into 1 1/2" balls; press thumb into tops and fill with 1/2 t peanut butter.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet for 10-15 minutes at 350--until sides are set but centers are slightly soft.

Cool on wire racks.

Sugar Cookie Cut-outs (the kids' faves)

my Godmother's mother's recipe

3/4 c. butter softened (can be part shortening, but I never have this on hand)

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

1 t lemon extract

Beat above until creamy.

In separate bowl combine 2 1/2 c flour, 1 t baking powder, 1 t salt. Blend into the butter/sugar mixture.

Chill dough overnight.

Roll dough to 1/8" thick and cut with cookie cutters and decorate with sprinkles (hence the boys' favorite cookies). Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in 400 degree oven for 6-8 minutes until golden but not browned.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

from Land-O-Lakes Holiday cookbook

2/3 c sugar

2 sticks butter softened (1 c)

1/2 t almond extract

Beat above in large mixer bowl.

Gradually add 2 cups flour. Blend until mixed well.

Shape dough into 1" balls. Press thumb into top and fill wth 1/4 t raspberry jam.

Bake at 350 for 14-18 minutes until golden.

Mint Spritz with Mint Kisses

In large mixer bowl combine 2/3 c sugar, 2 sticks softened butter, 1 egg, 1/2 t salt, and 1/4 t mint extract until creamy.

Gradually add 2 1/4 c flour until well mixed. Use a cookie press (I got mine for like $6 at CTS years ago and it works like a charm. Look at these perfect little flowers:

Bake at 400 for 6-8 minutes. Immediately after removing cookies from the oven place one mint filled chocolate kiss in the center of each flower. Cool completely before storing.

Enjoy!

Remember Today 12.23.08

{remember} a day of cookie baking with M.

Remember Today 12.22.08

{remember} being able to join in Logan's classroom holiday celebration and being witness to this class group hug--love this woman:

Remember Today 12.21.08

{remember} making the gingerbread house with the boys and being lucky we had enough candy after their "samplings" to decorate it.

Guess where Camden was? Yup, watching the Bruins on tv.

Remember Today 12.20.08

{remember} our annual family Christmas party at our home: lots of good food, seeing and catching up with family we don't often see, a Yankee Swap with lots of laughs--good Christmas cheer!

Remember Today 12.19.08

{remember} an early release day for the boys due to snow, and them building snowforts with friends in the neighbor's front yard.

Simple Act of Kindness

Today I dragged Camden and Maddox around on several last-minute holiday errands after picking C up from school. He absolutely despises having to go anywhere after school, but with Christmas next week, I had no choice. He moaned, groaned, complained and whined every step through every store: "I just want to go home and play Webkinz" over and over and over again. We finally pull onto our street and as we drove along I noticed a little old man struggling to clear the ice off his driveway before the next batch of snow was due to hit. I thought of how "Hallmark" it would be to help him, but my mind quickly raced through all of its censoring that adults just seem to have: what if he doesn't want our help, what if he's too proud to accept help, what if he's particular about what type of shovel scrapes across his driveway. "Camden, wouldn't it be nice to walk up and help that man shovel his driveway?" I called to the backseat, expecting him to cry out, "No, I'm playing Webkinz." He replied very simply, "Let's do it." Ahh, to think with the simple mind of a child, and none of the complicatedness of an adult.

Remember Today 12.18.08

{remember today} shoveling out an elderly neighbor's driveway with C & M.

The Snowy Day

The view from our backyard this morning:

Today marked the first real snow of the season. After the boys got off to school, Maddox asked if he could go out to play in the snow, something he never did last year. Despite the cleaning I had to do to get ready for a family party this weekend, there was no way I could turn down his precious request. So geared in snowpants, boots, mittens, hats, and coats we trudged out into the one inch of snow. He had a ball and I got some great shots:

Note the snotty nose in this one. Guess it's time to go inside.

Remember Today 12.17.08

{remember} the neighborhood kids (and then some) having a blast sledding down the hill in our backyard. It didn't matter that the snow was only an inch thick (if that), or that it was getting dark, or that they'd been at it for an hour and 45 minutes. Does anything compare to the first real snow of the season?

The shutter stayed open way too long for this shot, but I love the rainbow of color from everyone's jackets.

Yippee!

A few days ago I sent a layout to Donna Downey's inbox based on a sketch she had posted on her blog from her book. I hadn't scrapbooked in months, and it felt so good to drop everything at this crazy time of the year and scrapbook. Well, I just checked out a new posting on her blog, and guess what? She picked my layout as one of her favorites! I am beyond excited. Go check it out here.

This afternoon, as is our daily ritual every school day at 3:45, C & M & I walked out of our house to go down to the bus stop to greet Logan. Except, today, unlike any other day, there was a large, full-color box in the driveway with a highly-detailed picture of a drum set on it. Did I mention this box was large and full-color? The two boys squealed with delight and ran to the box, saying "Drums! Is that ours? I want that!" I followed quickly behind and did my best to cover up the shipping label with items I had in my hand. But, of course, even with the shipping label covered, Camden spots the address hand-scrawled in large Sharpie letters, with, what? our street and house number! "It is ours, see," he exclaimed leaving me clamoring for the right words. "Uhhh, I think UPS messed up. This can't be ours. I don't know. I'll have to check with your Dad {to consult on the lie that we will concoct to cover up this huge blunder of gift giving}. I have one question, at this time of year what is BJ's thinking sending a box in it's original packaging?
So now we are left with a few lies options: tell the boys that Daddy ordered this for a friend at work to give to his child {might raise the question of how sneaky parents can be to hide presents from their children}; tell L & C that Santa couldn't fit this in his sleigh so he shipped it early and it's for M {starts them wondering exactly how does Santa fit all those gifts in his sleigh, and they probably wouldn't keep the surprise secret from M}, tell the boys that Santa has started some trial runs in preparation for his big trip next week, and this box must have fallen out of his sleigh {ok, really far-fetched, and the laws of physics would come into play here, even for a 5- and 7-year-old}. So here's the one we settled on, thought up by my brilliant husband: we'll tell them that UPS messed up in the delivery, but Mommy saw how excited you were when you saw the box that Daddy made a trip to the mall after work to ask Santa if he could possibly bring drums for you. Whew, problem solved. Now let's just hope they BELIEVE. And if this starts them questioning the reality of Santa, we'll just bring out the movie Miracle on 34th Street.