Gingerbread Shanties

Yesterday we had some friends over to decorate gingerbread houses. This was one of my favorite Christmas traditions growing up so I was super excited to do it ourselves this year. Well, I soon realized after I started building the houses that I had only decorated gingerbread houses all those years and that I had no idea how hard it was to actually build them.

The first one turned out ok but believe me, there's a reason I waited to take a picture until after the frosting and candy was on it. So the first one was done so I tackled the second.

Kind of cute in an outhouse kind of way.

I stopped shortly after this masterpiece.

This was the basic division of labor: Jude and applying the frosting and studiously sticking on M&Ms, Life Savers and the like. Eve and Lila were helping to organize the candy as you can see in the above photo.

Just don't ask what's in the frosting.

St Nicholas Day

We learned several things Saturday morning.

1- Make sure St. Nicholas's horse doesn't eat all the carrots left out with the shoes; leave at leave at least one whole one among the chewed up pieces for Eve to eat.

2- Eve must eat breakfast BEFORE she she is allowed to eat Christmas treats. Even if those treats are as "healthy" as cheese crackers.

3- Not putting chocolate in Eve's shoes doesn't matter if Daddy gets chocolate in his shoes.

Despite these learning experiences this morning we did have a good St. Nicholas Day and Eve loved her apron and Christmas book (How the Grinch Stole Christmas).

Two Days of Cooking; 20 Minutes of Eating

This past weekend we had my Dad and younger sister with us since my Mom was in Texas with another of my sisters who just had a baby. So cooking a full Thanksgiving dinner is exhausting but Dad watched Eve and between Scott my sister and myself we pulled it off.

Scott did the turkey which turned out really well and made the most amazing gravy. I used new recipes for the pumpkin pie and the yams which is always a little scary since those are two of the favorites. For the yams I just sliced them about 1/3 of an inch thick (skins on), tossed them with oil, salt and pepper and then roasted them in the oven. I did them on Wednesday but they were so good that Eve ate half of them and I had to make another batch Thursday morning.

The pumpkin pie recipe I used was interesting. It had yams, fresh ginger and maple syrup in it; all of which I love so of course I had to try it. I thought it was a little on the sweet side but the flavor and texture was super good. And as long as you got a good bit of crust (whole wheat and butter recipe) it tasted great.

Enough about food. The rest of the weekend was really fun. We went on walks (Arboretum, Seward Park) enjoying the lovely gray weather and did some Christmas shopping for my Mom taking advantage of her absence. I won't go into any more detail in case she reads this but let's just say that we did our part to help out the economy.

My Dad wanted to get us a house-warming gift as well as a present for Eve so we decided to head to Pottery Barn Kids and settled on a little table and chairs set. I don't know which Eve was more excited about: her own table and chair or being able to help Grandpa screw the table legs on.

While at Bainbridge Island we made a stop at the Black Bird Bakery (of course) and had some hot chocolate and toast and jam. Grandpa, bless his heart, insisted on having Eve sit on his lap the whole time. You know you're loved if someone will
share their hot chocolate with you.

More Christmas projects

With all this lovely gray wet weather I've been sewing more than ever. Lucky for my extended family I have now moved beyond just sewing things for Scott and Eve. We drew names in my family for the people who will be in Utah this year. A name gift is basically a special homemade gift that is opened on Christmas Eve. We are actually going to be spending Christmas Eve and Christmas day with Scott's family but my family is going to have Christmas 2 a couple days after the real thing.

This year Eve drew her cousin Lily's name. Lily is 4 and very much a girl. So we decided to make her a purse and then fill it will all kinds of girly stuff that Eve can help make and pick out. I got the pattern from a friend's blog and picked out fabrics that had the most pink and purple but mine didn't turn out nearly as well. Hopefully the next one will be better. Is it wrong to use a 4 year old as a guinea pig?

We have been struggling in a mighty way for what to give Scott's younger brother who's 16. This was even more complicated when you want to do a homemade gift and his interests are snow boarding, friends (and when I say friends I mean girls) and music. Finally we came up with an idea. We bought a long-sleeved t-shirt from H&M for $14 and I sewed on a Angus bull outline applique made out of some thin red corderouy scraps that I had laying around and then stitched on with a light blue thread. The stretchy shirt fabric gave me some grief but at least it's bigger than a onesie. Scott's also burn him a cd and we'll call it good. I know it's only sort of homemade but it's the best we could come up with.

Yummy Dinner

Dinner last night may not look so good in this picture but it was super tasty. It's just a mixture of Romain lettuce and spinach with sliced celery and grapefruit segments. Then I did some candied walnuts (sugar and walnuts over medium heat until it dissolves). The chicken was pretty easy too. I have a pot of thyme so I put of that on it along with salt and pepper and some oil (I use grapeseed), put a lid on it and cook. I don't have a lot of experience cooking meat so I ended up over cooking it but it still tasted good. The grapefruit was my favorite part. It would have been even better with some bleu cheese on top; maybe next time.

Sugar High

Our after-dinner treat the other night.

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Making sure horsey gets a bite too.

Getting the last vestiges of caramel.

And finally we get the lovely effects of all that butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and marshmallows (she's spinning with Bear to Manheim Steamroller). Anyone still want the recipe?

Happy Election Day!