Our Holiday in Review

The National Harbor

We had a wonderful Christmas—it was filled with doing not much of anything, which is exactly what we all needed.

Baby, it’s cold…inside

We did go to a spectacular ice show at the National Harbor. They advise you to dress warmly and then give you an extra parka before entering, as it is nine degrees inside. The theme this year was The Night Before Christmas—everything is made of ice (except a few ornamental items).

The ice slide that Amanda, my dad, and Alex and I went on--it was so fun. 

Teaching him Eskimo kisses. 

   

They also had a Christmas in NY section, which reminded us of home (only a bit colder).

Driving an ice cab. 

  

The final scene was the nativity—this was my favorite, as the clear sculptures were truly breathtaking. It was a marvel!

When we got out of the show, we went back inside to ride…guess what? Yup, a train! Alex ended up riding this several times.

Christmas

This was a banner year for Alex—Santa (and Busza, Grandpa, Aunt Amanda and Uncle Aaron) were all incredibly generous.

Driving his new car. 

His new train set. 

I love this photo of my mom--she is opening the gift from my sister (a fabulous gift!). 

We took lots of walks (Alex loved walking the dogs), ate lots of food, talked till the wee hours of the morning, and Andy and I even had a date night! It was fun, relaxing and, most importantly, it was filled with love and laughter.  The perfect Christmas. 

Feather in One’s Tree

We spent this Christmas with my family in Maryland (more on that later). My mom came up with an amazing idea for an outdoor Christmas tree—one that was fun for Alex to help create, and drew a variety of wildlife to the backyard for him to watch.

Birdseed ornaments

My mom started by using cookie cutters to cut out shapes from slices of bread. She let the bread go stale by letting it sit out for several days.

Once the bread was stale, we punched a hole through each shape and strung it with red, gold or silver string.

Afterwards, we spread a thin layer of peanut butter on the ornaments and then dipped them in a bucket of birdseed (this is where Alex helped out). My mom also dipped several ornaments in a bag of worms, which are supposed to attract more exotic birds. We set aside both types to hang on the outdoor tree.

Pine cone ornaments

For the pine cones, we made sure each pine cone had a hook attached to the top, then rolled them in peanut butter and dipped them in the bucket of birdseed.

Finished pine cone ornaments. 

Garland

We made garland for the tree by stringing peanuts (in their shells), popcorn and cranberries.  

My mom with her finished garland. 

Birdseed icicles

My mom found some bird seed that looked like icicles. She attached wire to the top of these and we hung on the tree.   

The finished product!

My sister, my mom and I trimmed the tree with the finished ornaments. Although Alex helped, he was more interested in the dog next door. My mom covered the table where the tree sat with a plastic tablecloth to protect against any bird residue.

Cookies for Santa

As we always do, we made sugar cookies for Santa. We used a variety of shapes and decorated them on Christmas Eve. Santa clearly loved them, as they were gone the next day.

  

The sugar cookie recipe I use makes quite a bit of dough, so I divide into three parts, wrap each portion in saran wrap, and keep in the refrigerator until I am ready to use. I make cookies in batches over the course of a week using the dough (otherwise, it is too many for me to decorate at one time).

Alex helped decorate (in between eating the frosting). 

INGREDIENTS

 1 1/2 cups of butter, softened

 2 1/4 cups of white sugar

 4 eggs

3 teaspoons of vanilla extract

 5 cups of all-purpose flour

 2 teaspoons of baking powder

 1 teaspoon of salt

Original recipe makes 5 dozen

DIRECTIONS

• In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
• Bake five to eight minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely before decorating.

Cinnamon Coffee Cake

I went to visit a friend of mine who recently had surgery. I wanted to bring something that was comforting, so decided on cinnamon coffee cake. I often use shortcuts when strapped for time, and this recipe is perfect for that, as you use packaged cake mix.

INGREDIENTS

1 (18.25 ounce) package white cake mix

1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix

 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant butterscotch pudding mix

 4 eggs

 1 cup water

 1 cup vegetable oil

 1 cup packed brown sugar

 5 tablespoons of ground cinnamon

Original recipe makes one cake

Directions

·         Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

·         In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix, vanilla pudding mix, and butterscotch pudding mix. Add the eggs, oil and water, mix until well blended. In another bowl, stir together the brown sugar and cinnamon. Pour half of the batter into the pan, spread evenly with half of the cinnamon mixture. Cover with the rest of the batter, and sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon mixture.

·         Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, then turn the oven down to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.

For the presentation, I cut the coffee cake up, packaged in a white box and tied it with a red bow.  

Elf on the Potty

We have begun the Elf on the Shelf tradition and, even though I think it is a little bit over Alex’s head, he still loves looking for his elf in the morning. This year, we have had a lot of potty themed elf shenanigans, considering that we are in the midst of potty training Alex.

My mom actually sent me this idea and I decided that, in honor of Alex using the potty for the first time that day, we would embrace his excitement over his accomplishment and let him celebrate the elf doing the same.

For the peanut blossoms, I actually used one of the peanut butter cookie bags you can find in any grocery store (sometimes, I just don’t have time for made-from-scratch, so I settle for semi-homemade). I did not put any chocolate kiss on two of the peanut butter cookies. 

Alex helped to make the dough. 

  

Then, the elf did his work during the night. Alex loved that the elf was doing what he was learning to do in the potty. Our elf has been an excellent way to make potty training more fun!

Other mischievous nighttime endeavors our elf has gotten up to: 

He went fishing in honor of a visit from Alex's Papa (who is an avid fisherman).

He built a recliner and lamp from several sets of blocks.

He was reading orange and blue books in honor of a visit an aunt, who attends Syracuse University. 

He decorated his own little Christmas tree.

He roasted marshmallows one night. 

In honor of our first snowfall, he made a snow angel
(the snow was made from a mixture of flour, sugar and white sprinkles). 

We burned a few sugar cookies and the elf blamed these on Alex.
His hat and apron were made out of two paper towels--it took me about five minutes to make!

The elf also blamed Alex for his drawings on the mirror. 

We are loving this tradition and hope that Alex loves it more with each year.