New Year's Eve Traditions

I'm still here - I just caught a horrible case of bronchitis. I hope to be able to update my blog more regularly again by next week but I wanted to quickly share some of our New Year's Eve traditions, it's one of my kids favorite nights of the year.

New Years Eve for us is a family night. We stay up until midnight playing all the different games the kids (and adults) got for Christmas. My parents did this when I was a kid and I remember loving that we had their complete attention for a good 5 hours. We start the night with pizza and soda - this year I making double stuffed crust pizza at the request of Spencer. I try to have pictures out at the table of the past year and we talk about our year and the year ahead. We try and make at least one family resolution for the new year. Then we break out the games!

Some other things we do to make the night more special -

- We set all the alarm clocks in the house to go off at midnight.

- We each eat 12 grapes as the clock strikes midnight to bring 12 months of good luck.

- We watch the countdown together and then go bang pots and pans. I think this year we are going to have everyone leap off the couch and chairs (i.e. leaping into the New Year).

- I try to make (or buy) different fun snack food that the kids don't usually have.

There have been years where we have done nothing but play games and eat pizza, and years where I have gone all out with extra stuff - but what the kids remember most is the time spent with them.

This year if I feel up to it, we are heading down to Old Town in the evening to participate in some of the First Night Family Activities but we will be home in plenty of time for family game night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We have so enjoyed the family time this past week (even with bronchitis and all). I would love to hear your New Year's Eve plans. What do you do to ring in the New Year?

My Favorite Nativity 2008

12 Days of Christmas - Nativity

I am so in love with this idea of counting down the 12 days of Christmas with the Nativity. Every day you add a piece to the Nativity and read the poem or story that goes along with it. We started tonight and will end on Christmas Eve but if you want to do it there is still time to start tomorrow and end on Christmas Day. It couldn't be easier - all you need is the nativity. And if you don't have that, I would find pictures on the internet, print them up, and add them that way.

My MIL gave us this nativity a couple of years ago and it is one of my favorite things to get out every year at Christmas time. The kids can play with it nonstop without fear of damaging it. Ella has been moving the pieces around for days as she tells the story of Jesus's birth in her own words. She also has been adding her own version of the story as she goes along, I think once I even heard mention of McDonald's somewhere in there.

Tonight we took all the pieces away except the trees and put them in a box. This really got her attention. We told both kids that we are celebrating Christ's birth in 12 days and we are going to learn each night a little more about the event. Tonight we started with Mary. Along with the poem found on the link above, I included a scripture and talked about the different things thatMary did as a mother. We then placed just Mary on the nativity. Ella loved hearing about Mary because she is playing her in her preschool's Christmas program.

This whole thing lasted approx. 5 minutes. We did it right after dinner while everyone was still in one spot. I'm hoping that by focusing on one character each night, it will give the kids a greater understanding of the significance of Christ's birth.

Thrift store to the rescue

I know we have all moved on to Christmas but indulge me with a Thanksgiving post - I never got a chance to get this up!


So I've mentioned that we hosted Thanksgiving this year at my house at last minute notice. Have I mentioned that I'm a perfectionist?? That once I have an idea in my head I can't let it go??? I really wish I could change this about myself - so does Lance :)

Well . . . upon finding out that we were having Thanksgiving here, I decided I had to have all white matching dishes, among a billion other things to make the day perfect. I knew I couldn't justify it to Lance though. Enter Goodwill. I was there gathering up some cheap frames to alter when I got the brilliant idea to check the dishes. I had to dig and dig but ended up walking away with 16 place settings for just over $30!!! Pretty spiffy, huh? They are such nice dishes that I ran through the dishwasher which made them look sparkly and new. I also was able to score some great Pottery Barn Thanksgiving dishes for the kids table . . . I will have to dig up a pic of that.



For the runner I got a piece of burlap from Walmart for $5. I like it so much both the pinecones and runner are staying up through Christmas. I think it goes well with my nativity and garland. It will be super easy to change the place settings to a more Christmasy feel by just changing out the napkins and wheat.

I got so many compliments on Thanksgiving. I usually feel the need to divulge all my good deals but kept my mouth shut for once - pretty impressive for me - although now all my secrets are out.

An oldie but a goodie - recipe

I got this recipe from my SIL Michelle when I was a young newlywed (11+) years ago when Lance and I were both in college. We loved it but hardly ever made it because in those days a dish that required both cream cheese and parmesan cheese was too expensive for our tastes. I forgot completely about it until yesterday afternoon when suddenly I had such a craving for it. Strange that I can remember something clearly from over a decade ago but ask me what we did yesterday and I'll have no idea. Anyway, I checked our family recipe book to see if the recipe was in there and it was!

When I made it, I used a bunch of chicken tenderloins (approx. 14) instead of the 8 chicken breasts. I grilled them instead of boiling, chopped them up, and set aside some for Spencer before adding to the broccoli and cheese sauce.

Dinner was so yummy last night. Perfect winter dish. Did you know that broccoli contains omega-3 EFAs? It is great to eat dark green veggies in the winter months because they contain omega-3s which helps boost our moods during the months when we are getting less sunshine. Pretty cool, eh? So while you're lamenting the fact that you are eating a calorie laden divine sauce of parmesan cheese and cream cheese, just remind yourself that you are getting LOTS of broccoli with it which your body needs (at least that is what I told myself - I'm the queen of rationalization).

Here's the recipe -

2 big heads of broccoli
3/4 cup parmesan cheese
8 chicken breasts
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic salt
2 cups milk
2 packages of 8 oz. cream cheese

Cut broccoli into mini trees and place on bottom of casserole dish. Boil chicken and cut it into thin slices. Put sliced chicken on top of broccoli.

Cheese sauce: On low heat, combine milk, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, salt, and garlic salt. Beat until smooth.

Pour cheese sauce over chicken and broccoli. Bake on 350 for 25 minutes, uncovered.

Garland Party

Okay ladies, after hours and hours (not kidding) of wrestling this garland, here's the end result. The garland is hung over the sideboard in my dining room which is where we place our nativity. I wish I was a fabulous photographer and could show you what it actually looks like but you'll have to rely on my description. The garland looks much bulkier in real life, not so wimpy! I wrapped three strands of garland together (one prelit) and threw in some of these thingies:



I also added some more pinecones where it looked bare. This next picture is the most true to life - it escaped the yellowy glow!



Here's the garland from another angle. Check out the cute elf's clothes we have hanging on a clothesline in cut-out into our kitchen. My mom picked those up this year. So fun!



Here are a couple more close-ups. I surprised myself by not needing my handy dandy glue gun. Everything is just twisted and placed in. Super easy. The hours and hours I spent were trying to secure the HEAVY garland. When mere nails wouldn't do it, my husband stepped in with some majorly strong screws.





I'm happy with the end result. I might throw one more string of white lights in the mix. I'm finishing up the kid's garland over the fireplace in the basement. We have a total 1950's retro theme down there and the fireplace is turning out surprisingly cute. I will post pics soon!

Thanks Nester for your original garland post! Can't wait to see everyone's garlands!!

MIA . . . again!

After blogging every day for the month of November, I can't believe it has been so long since my last post! I caught the flu right after Thanksgiving (yuck!) and then my chronic illness flared. I wish I could say I've been bedridden (that sounds glorious!) but I've been super busy with joy school, Young Women's, work, and all the fun stuff that goes along with Christmas. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow morning for a new symptom that I think might be a major clue to what is going on with my body. I'll be blogging more this week. I have so many pictures to share - We scored a private tour of the West Wing of the White House!!! Spencer was in heaven. Can you believe there are only 15 days until Christmas???