snowflakes

We had just a bit of magical snow on Christmas Day. Huge, fat flakes fell from the sky - nothing stuck around but E had a blast running around catching flakes on his tongue.
He's been dying to make "snow cream" a la Little House on the Prairie so he collected snow for about an hour and then made a potent "cream" - adding in sugar, salt, diet coke, a tablespoon of wine and pineapple juice. He refroze it and later eagerly ate it up. It didn't' quite fit what imagined snow cream to be when Laura and Mary made it at their Grandma's house in Little House but E was thrilled. For me, it was enough to see snow on Christmas Day.

sweet marshmallow girl

I can't get enough of Little Miss in her special coat - a gift from Aunt CeCe. There is something just so very charming about babies swathed up in white. Isn't she just the sweetest little marshmallow?

tea for two

We went to our annual after-Christmas tea at the Heathman - a lovely way to wind down from the excitement. On a confessional note, I would much rather have coffee than tea but it's good to expand oneself . . . ha! So this year I tried the Citrus Nectar - a harmonious blend of hibiscus petals, orange zest, lemon balm, lavender, licorice root and sweet leaf. It was lovely.

Here is the rest of the menu:

smoked salmon salad profiteroles

goat cheese crostini

pate maison

classic cucumber sandwich

deviled egg

heathman scone

lanai banana bread

parisian opera cake

haupia - coconut cake

lemon bar

devil's food chocolate tea cupcake

fresh marshmallows

the best party of the year

The best party of the year always happens at Aunt CeCe's and Uncle Mike's on Christmas Eve - this year was the best yet. Tons of family, great dinner, fabulous conversation and lots of cosmos!
The party is so awesome that even Santa comes!

Em and her cousin Addie (born just a week before Little Miss) loved seeing each other again and kept grabbing at each other's shoes. E loved hanging out with his cousin Dylan and got to sit at his own table with cousin Tyler. I think their dinner consisted mostly of sparkling apple cider and prime rib. Not a single veggie was consumed.
Little Miss was held, loved and adored by everyone - she especially loves her Uncle Chris.
We rolled home at 11pm and stayed up until 1:30am getting everything ready for Christmas morning. It was totally worth it when E walked down the stairs, took one look at his loop-dee-loo racetrack and breathed out, "Awesome."

what does 14 dozen bon bons look like?

Another triumphant year for Jonesie and me at bon bon making.
He got the recipe in the early 70's from a fellow army guy's wife. We make peanut butter coconut and cream cheese coconut. They are out of the this world and the only way to control yourself to not eat a dozen yourself is to make them and get totally sick of the smell of chocolate. Mission accomplished.
Marfie and her big sis came down early this morning to crank out the krumkake. The Flotten girls ROCK at krumkake and my role was coffee supplier, taster, and infrequent roller. We are all set on yum yums for tonight and tomorrow (and maybe into next week).
Little Miss tried her very first solid food this morning- krumkake! Good for sucking on but nothing swallowed. What a sweet little Scandinavian bebe!

cookie exchange

Our annual cookie exchange came off without a hitch. We are a low-key, pretty small exchange - adding a solid new member this year that brings us to just six members - which keeps the stress low but the cookie tray pretty. I contributed chocolate peppermint crinkle cookies - with crushed peppermint candies - yum!

Peanut butter chocolate kisses

Almond sugar cookies

Jam thumbprints

Chocolate peppermint crinkles
Egg nog logs

Gingerbread cutouts - with lovely piping!

Our lovely tasting volunteers were E and Moo.

Today we are making the famous Jonesie bon bons and finally, very early tomorrow morning, Marfie and her big sis are coming over to make krumkake! huzzah!

I am off to pillage Portland of Dungeness crab, halibut cheeks, prawns, and manila clams. Cioppino stew - here we come!

what are you doing new year's day?

What are you doing new year's day? Me? Not cleaning behind my refrigerator - since Jonesie took on that task yesterday. In fact, Jonesie took on so many tasks I think he's nearly cleared off his to-do list and still has at least four days here.

I had never (gasp!) moved out my refrigerator - it came with the house and is quite tightly in place. We resorted to boiling water mixed with vinegar and rubbing alcohol to get all the grossness cleaned up.

I find having your fridge get the Jonesie treatment is almost as refreshing and clean feeling as a good pedicure. Almost.

ribby cardi

I knit this sweater at least a year or two ago but have never really wanted to wear it. I LOVE knitting with wool but I really don't want to wear it - so itchy and hot. It looks great on Jonesie - he is in such great shape!

But alas - his broad back makes the back about 6 inches too short to wear in public. I think maybe when E starts skiing, I might wear it to wear in the lodge while I knit and watch him . . .

Em is loving her time with Nana - though she is growing at such a rate - she's already filling out 9 month clothes at 6 months! Luckily, we have bags upon bags of the fashionable Moo to rely on.

i am relieved it's not 100% - that would be weird

Your Christmas Sprit Level: 80%

Your Christmas spirit is almost as big as Christmas itself. Christmas is definitely your thing. You celebrate Christmas with enthusiasm. You love every minute of the holidays. Your Christmas spirit is inspiring to everyone who runs into you during the holidays. You make everyone's day just a little bit brighter. And that's what the holidays are all about!

Do You Have the Christmas Spirit?

in the nick of time

I finished Em's stocking in the nick of time to make it up on the mantle before Christmas. I knit all of our stockings five years ago when E was first born and had saved just enough of the coordinating yarn for one more. I had forgotten all of the tricks to getting the stocking to come out right and had to unravel several times to get the foot to turn just so. But it's done and the house looks so festive and lovely.
Nana and Jonesie arrived last night so we are in the full holiday swing - baking, pedicures, movies . . . huzzah!

gingerbread love

Gingerbread house kits seem to make it easier and easier for preschoolers to build a very cool house. This year we got our kit at Trader Joe's. All we had to do was make our frosting. I know some people would think it's terrible to use a kit but when you're a working mama, it's fantastic. E felt very successful at building and decorating.
I think he would have liked to sample more but the kit was from Germany and nothing looked particularly fresh or soft. We added our own old-fashioned Christmas candies for snacking while we decorated.

one more celebration

E got to celebrate his birthday with his class. They made lemon cake with lemon frosting at E's request. He said making the batter and the frosting really tired him out! I like spending time in his classroom and seeing him in that environment. It's amazing what his teachers do to keep two dozen 4 and 5 year-olds moving through their day.
One more celebration - he feels officially 5 to me now.

i can't get my brain around it

E is 5.

5.

I can't get my brain around it. I am amazed and humbled, a bit sad tempered by fierce pride and love. It's going by all too fast and I just want to grab him and hold him and not let go. It's such a privellege (at moments like this) to be a mama and get to love someone so very deeply.

We started the day with an early breakfast of chocolate cinnamon pancakes from Tall House Double Cup. E loved the candle and it was a very sweet moment for the four of us.

He celebrated his birthday with family and some school friends at the Circuit Bouldering Gym. We survived 15 minutes of rules with nine squirming bodies just ready to burst with excitement - and then the climbing began - so much fun! E was up and over the wall at least 30 times! He was so very happy to have his cousins and best buddies with him.

The "rock" cupcakes were a hit and E was showered with presents that he adored. When we got in the car to head home, he pronouced it the best birthday party yet and almost as good as going to Manzanita (ultimate beach getaway) - which for E is high praise. We finished the day with a birthday dinner at Gustav's where he got to blow out a candle on piece of apple strudel! Three wishes for a very big boy.

birthday preparations

We are deep in E's birthday preparations. We made two batches of chocolate cupcakes using the Magnolia Bakery recipe thanks to Kecia who introduced me to these - along with their buttercream frosting. The turned out fantastic! Since E is having a climbing party at a rock gym, he wanted "rocks" on the cupcakes so he crushed up some oreos for the tops. Half got the rock treatment and half didn't - you never know who might balk at eating "rocks." The wine in the picture by the way, isn't E's!
Birthday party - here we come!

tuba christmas

It was our third annual trip to the tuba christmas concert downtown today. E loves to take the train in, shop a bit and of course, get a hot dog. But our excitement tripled when we found Star Wars stormtroopers ringing the bell for the Salvation Army.

If we had come across these guys earlier in the year, I think Tall House, Double Cup would insist on this being our Christmas card.

The rain held off almost the whole time. We lasted through over half of the concert. There was a bit more talking than group singing so the kids got tired - Moo and Little Miss both fell asleep.

Our holiday madness is going by a bit too fast for my taste. We really pack it in over the next nine days and I want to savor every minute of it.

NYC department store windows

The next best thing to getting to browse NYC's department store holiday window displays in person is checking them out online. I love department store window displays and the holidays is when they really pull out the stops. Check out a slideshow from Barneys, Bendels, Macys, Lord & Taylor and more here.

charlie brown Christmas

I love love love It's Christmas Charlie Brown. I watched it every year - even when I didn't have kids. I remember being nearly 9 months pregnant with E, sitting on a yoga ball (nothing else was comfortable enough) and crying while watching it thinking happily - this is the last year I'll watch this without my own child. Sappy, I know. But still, I fully acknowledge that I love holidays and traditions and my kids.
So we snuggled in together to watch this year. I tivo'd it so we will do this multiple times in the next few weeks. As a rule, Emme doesn't get to watch tv but she loves nothing more than to sit with E and watch him so we made an exception. Green rice crispie treats were the finishing touch.

rose festival onesie in action

I knit this Rose Festival onesie last May when I was highly anticipating Little Miss's birth. I can't believe it already fits and is even a bit snug. It's so warm and cozy - and I have to admit, a bit itchy. I think Little Miss is sensitive to alpaca like me. But I still captured a few pictures of her in it and will save it for her. Dark pink is her color!

zoo lights

We did our annual ZooLights trip with the Cedros clan - I think it's our fifth annual - maybe even our sixth. Everyone was properly bundled up and we were rewarded with snowflakes in the air!
E and Moo had giganto peppermint sticks that left rings of sugar around their mouth. E spied donuts in Marfie's bag and was angling for one as well but I had to put a stop to the sugar intake.
I finally got that hyper-holiday-happy feeling right about when Tall House, Double Cup took this picture. The train - the snowflakes - the lights - the kidlets - it was glorious.

cookie baking

E and I did a test run of the cookie we are making for our cookie exchange. I found a yummy sounding chocolate crinkle in the Food Day of the Oregonian but in the window we had to make our cookies, I couldn't find where I had stashed the piece of paper - so we went with Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Crinkles and added some peppermint oil. E's job was rolling the cookie in sugar before baking. He was also the official tester

They turned out great - though might need a double dose of powdered sugar - once before we bake and once after they've cooled. E dressed up and delivered a plate to our new neighbors. He rang the bells all the way up the street and bake - we are feeling very Christmas-y at our house!

oh . . .it's good

I was up past midnight finishing a fantastic read - I don't often blog about books - even though a read one or two a week - but this is one I have to tell you about. Nana found it first and knew I'd love it. Take The Secret History by Donna Tartt, mix it with Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov and finish it with The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield and you've got Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl. Oh . . . it's good. Told by high school senior Blue Van Meer who moves continually around the country with her professor father, you know right away that someone dies and you get the smacking huge 500+ pager to find out how and why. It's a lot to get through but as soon as I hit the final third, I couldn't stop. I felt somewhat smart in figuring a few things out but also got that totally satisfying feeling of being shocked by the author as well.
The author - Marisha Pessl is a young Barnard graduate who also illustrates the book. She also has a lovely - if pesky loading - Web site to preview the book http://www.calamityphysics.com/main.htm

super sitter

It seems like overnight, Little Miss has started sitting like a champ. She's totally into the lotus sit - especially when I surround her with toys she can investigate. She still loves putting everything in her mouth and thinks necklaces are very yummy. She's mastered squash, green beans and sweet potato - peas are next!