Holiday Recap

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Well, the leftovers are almost gone, the tree is up, and the Christmas music is in heavy rotation.  The holiday season has officially begun.  We spent a few nice days at my mother-in-law's house.  It was quieter than usual, but that's okay.  The first night, I was in bed at 8:45.  Thanksgiving night, it was 9:30.  The little boy was in the room with us, so it wasn't entirely restful, but still....I can't complain about the amount of time I got to spend in bed.  We came home on Saturday, which we've learned is definitely the way to go.  We then had that evening to get unpacked and Sunday to enjoy relaxing and decorating the house. 

The first thing the big boy said this morning was "Mom, I want my bag."  Forgetting that they are called stockings, he just knew that they'd be full of presents.  He was a little disappointed to learn that he has to wait a few more weeks.  Especially with his birthday in-between now and then, I think he'll survive.

Here are a few other things I learned this holiday weekend:

- Pumpkin Cream Pie is better than Chocolate Mascarpone Cheesecake Pots. (Woohoo!  We won Bake-off 2010!)  The gingersnap crust is what won it for us.  Delicious.  Since cream pies have won the last three years, I'm thinking next year we'll have to enforce a "no cream pie" rule, though. 

- The big boy is a fan of back massagers.  When we got home, he informed me that he liked Grandma's house better than ours.  When I asked why, he said, "because of the remote control chair".  I'm a fan too, truth be told.

- The little boy is a terror around a Christmas tree.  Fingers crossed that he loses interest soon, but so far he really loves taking whacks at it and throwing ornaments across the room.

- Baked French Toast is awesome.  So easy to pull together the night before, and then whoever gets up first just needs to throw it in the oven.  Once everybody is up and hungry, it's ready!  And nobody has to stand in front of the stove.  It's definitely a rich special-occasion dish but one I will gladly eat.  Those candied pecans! 

- It's good to give thanks.  Thanksgiving is such a lovely holiday.  I try to focus every day on the things in my life for which I am grateful, but how nice to have a whole holiday dedicated to just that.  I tried to remind my almost 4-year-old of it as well.  Every now and then I'd tell him something I'm grateful for and ask him what things would be on his list.  I got responses everywhere from "You and Daddy" to "glitter glue" and "my balance bike". 

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It's getting colder, and snow is in the forecast for the first time this year.  Maybe we'll get some early next week.  I will hate it in March, but for now I say "let it snow! let it snow! let it snow!".  I'll try to stay this cute all bundled up...

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