what's happening right now.....Christmas 2015

Well, it was, "right now" when I started this post. I guess now that I'm literally DAYS into writing it, it's no longer, "right now."

So, (I have a lot of paragraphs that start with that word!) it's Christmastime!!

And, despite being super-behind on blog posts, I'm going to jump right in with the here and now. It has really been a wild ride these last couple of weeks, especially. How about starting just before that?

One of my focuses this Christmas has been to make memories for Emma. I think sometimes I forget that she hasn't had the experiences that the older kids have had, so I need to remind myself not to leave her out of some of the same things.

And yes, I think we were successful in making it memorable! You may already know what I mean by that.

So, we started off the Christmas season with our usual tree-decorating weekend, as soon as Thanksgiving was over.

Wow. Our numbers for our eggnog toast have sure dropped!

That night also means Poppy Seed Bread -- which I hope to be adding to the recipes page of this blog, soon. 

Golden goodness!

No, seriously. This is better than any other poppy-seed-anything that you've had. It really is THAT good!!

My centering for our family selfie was, ... not centered. 

There are no retakes on these sorts of things, so, ... oh well!!

The tree, eventually. The camera thinks that it's much bluer than it is in real life.

The house. Can I say again how thankful I am for having Todd and Cameron put up the majority of this?

As part of, "making it memorable," I took Emma to the lighted Christmas parade.

She loved it, but had totally forgotten that she's been to this event for two years previously.

And the stinker scored from the candy-tossers -- her Santa hat was stuffed full!

Years from now, she will find out that she and I were interviewed by a newspaper reporter that evening, and got named and quoted in the next morning's paper ... and she'll think it's totally cool all over again.

I feel I should warn you of a rant coming on. Feel free to scroll past this next part. I warned you.

My friend who does the cookie exchange every year, renewed my invitation, and again I was very hesitant about committing to it. It's not that I don't enjoy going to it, because I do. I like going, I like visiting with friends for the evening, and I like the idea of getting new, yummy recipes.

(You can hear a "but" coming, right?)

There's quite a number of "buts," actually. But, December is already crazy-busy. But, it's TWELVE DOZEN cookies, people. And even though you come away with 12 other dozens, my family still has their traditional favorites that they still want each Christmas. So, I'm not off the hook, because there will be dozens more for me still to bake. No joke.

And, my two biggest reasons for hesitating --- #1: you never know what you're going to get. Some cookies are actually good. But others? So what this means is that I'm trading off my good cookies for mediocre-to-poor cookies? This is not advantageous. People say, "Well,just give them away." But I have a problem with that, too. If I give you a plate of assorted cookies at Christmastime, you are automatically going to assume they were made by me. But these weren't made by me. And some of them are not very good. Now you're going to think twice about eating something I've prepared in the future. My cooking/baking reputation is on the line, here.

(By the way, I always hand out the cookies to my Seminary kids, with the announcement that, "I did not make any of these cookies." That is where most of my exchange cookies go.If I stop teaching Seminary, I'll have no place to send exchange cookies.)

(Well, you can see what I decided, right? That's halfway through the process of layering flavors on Twix cookies. See Pinterest for a number of recipes.)

And, my #2 biggest reason for hesitating to agree to this:

This is going to sound rather catty, but, I feel as though my efforts sometimes far outweigh the efforts of my cookie-baking counterparts. On the surface, you'd think that everyone is making the same 12-dozen-cookie effort. Well, yes and no. 

Two years ago, I made roll-and-cut cookie trees, with melted chocolate and sprinkles.

Last year, I was either dumb, or ambitious (both!) and made linzer cookies: twice the number (288!) of roll-and-cut cookies sandwiched with filling between them.

If I felt that my counterparts were all going to a comparable amount of effort, I would have less of a problem. But some of what I receive in exchange seems to fall short of that level of time/effort. (Did I say that diplomatically?) Some of what I receive ends up being rather minimalist: no-bake treats, bar cookies that are cut into tiny squares to maximize quantities, more-candy-than-cookie treats. And though some of these are actually the best stuff on the platter, the time required to prepare them was substantially less than I spent. Yep, that was catty.

Well, it's my honest feeling about it.

Everyone goes to some effort to package their cookies decoratively. This year, I went with a, "brown paper packages tied up with string" theme:

So, every December, when the cookie exchange is over, I have all these kinds of thoughts tumbling through my head. And I promise myself that next year, I won't do it again. Then when the next October rolls around, I somehow find myself agreeing to it again. It must be the social side of it that draws me in?

MOVING ON.

This next one should surely count as memorable.

Todd's sister, Penny, took Miss Emma with her on the annual Toys for Tots motorcycle parade through our valley. Emma loved it! And I'm absolutely certain that none of the other aunts can compete with this!!

Emma started piano lessons last summer, and had her first recital in December, where she played, "Up on the Housetop," and, "Deck the Halls."

Pretty proud of how far she's come in such a short period of time.

Her school recital was pretty cute, too.

That picture makes me laugh. A bunch of first graders trying to wink! Emma did pretty well!

Fun Christmas surprises in big boxes!! (That's the shipment from Brandon and Cecilia.)

Our Darcie came home from college!!! Oh, how we'd missed her! 

Darcie helped Emma with assembly and decorating her gingerbread house kit:

We made the annual family trek down to Locomotive Park:

It just seems to get better and better each year.

Emma rang the bell on the engine and climbed up to turn the "steering wheel."

We love going there!

We also love the extended Huffaker family that came to town this year for the every-other-year big family Christmas. Even though these two had seen each other just a few short months ago, you'd think it had been ages.

Imagine Emma's excitement to wake up the morning after the sleepover, to find SNOW outside:

(That's my Christmas village, set up in the bay window. First time I've put it up since Emma was born, so it was all new to her. She helped with the setup,

My job is Provider of the Hot Chocolate, and Gingerbread Cookie Baker Extraordinaire.

Darcie headed up the snowman construction crew.

Colorful Snow People.

LEANING Snow People.

Who didn't last the rest of the day/

We decided to forego the tradition all of all going out to dinner, in favor of all going out to breakfast. It's nice to know that Todd can still silence a restaurant with his voice, if he wants to!!

We still missed those of our family who didn't make it here.

Cookie decorating is also traditional:

Christmas Eve festivities.... we love every bit of our traditions!!

Starting with re-enacting the nativity...

Joseph and Mary.

Oh. My. Goodness.

We laughed SO hard at these three "wise men"!!

We sang a few carols -- Emma helped me with the "bells" on, Jingle Bells."

And had our traditional egg nog toast -- yum!!

After that, we went home and made the 2015 version of the blanket fort:

Christmas morning!!

(Hair by Darcie.)

And our cinnamon roll breakfast!

Though, I'm considering a new roll recipe... I'm not entirely satisfied with my results. They're still good, ... just not quite there.

It snowed that afternoon ...

And Christmas dinner was at our house ....

Love our ribbon salad..... Recipe is back HERE.

Top of the menu that evening ... PRIME RIB, BABY!!

Todd cooked it outside on the Memphis Wood Pellet Grill, and it was SOOO yummy!

Plenty of food, and everyone helped. We are blessed!

(I couldn't resist adding another photo of that!)

Visiting with the family after filling our tummies. (Making room for dessert!)

The next day is always Girls' Shopping Day (and Boys' Cookout Day) -- so much fun to grab so after-Christmas deals with these lovely ladies:

And these pretties, too! 'Yummy lunch that day.

Which brings me to the now-infamous trip to the ice rink!

And the thing I'd said to Todd, earlier this Christmas season:

"I want to make this a memorable Christmas, for Emma."

Famous last words, right?

Todd opted out of the skating trip -- he's been working so hard this fall, in place of our regular installer, who injured his back. Because of that, Todd's concern was that if he were to get injured, we'd have no one to install stoves and fireplaces. Since this is our livelihood, I'd say that was a good call, on his part.

So, off we went to the ice rink!

Since Emma is a little pro at rollerblades, I figured she'd be a shoe-in for the transition to ice skates -- and she did great.

It wasn't long before she was skating all on her own -- no hand-holding required.

Huge smiles!!

I know. I don't look very steady out there.

Darcie and Cameron both did great -- ahh, youth!!

They even were warm enough to take off coats.

For me, that evening, it was a different story ...

That was the last moment that my wrist was still intact.

A couple of hours later, I was back home from the express care with a brace on my arm, and an x-ray printout that showed it broken in 4 places.

Go big, or go home, right?

I didn't know it was broken at first, ... then the pain hit hard, and I knew I needed to get it looked at.

A follow-up with a doctor, ... and a surgery appointment ....

 ... resulted in a plate and seven screws in my arm.

I'm like the Bionic Woman, right?

Can you believe it? My first break, ever,

It's about time, huh.

I find out later today what it looks like underneath the bandage.

Yes, it was memorable, all right.

Memorable for me!!

And you're a champ, if you made it to the end of this super-long December post.