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Displaying articles for: December 2008
New Years Plans
With three young kids and a houseful over the holidays Max and I are looking forward to a low key New Year’s Eve. We don’t kid ourselves any longer about staying up until midnight. Last year we let the kids stay up late (9pm) so they could go outside and bang on pots and pans at midnight, East Coast time. We’ll likely do that again as well as a short, local hike on New Years Day to start the year off right. One of the traditions of my family is the Greek New Years bread – Vassilopita. The Greek tradition is to bake a coin in the bread and then on New Years day the bread is sliced in a “ceremony” that names each slice in order of age in the household. Whoever gets the coin in their slice will have good fortune in the New Year. With the birth of the kids my mom started baking a family bread for us to slice as well as mini loaves for each of the girls. We would give them the whole loaf and let them dig in when they were babies (kind of like their first birthday cake). The other tradition we have is to give a “silver coin” to the first person who comes into our house (also a Greek family tradition) on New Years Day – bringing good fortune to them for the New Year. What are your traditions?Festive Projects
Oneof the traditions we have every year is to build a gingerbread house.
We use a kit to keep it simple - the kids love decorating and playing
with the candy & frosting. It’s a great group project for those
winter afternoons when you really don’t want to be outside, and it’s
amazing how everyone’s “inner foreman/decorator” comes out (no shortage
of opinions in our family!). This year since my family is in for a
longer visit I wanted to find some other “food crafts” that everyone
would enjoy and which would allow for some showcasing of individual
“talent” among the kids and adults. “Festive Candy Ornaments” and
“Holiday Sushi Candy” on the Safeway Holiday site looked easy & fun
so we gave it a try – we had such a great time!
Gingerbrea
With Max out of town the week after Thanksgiving I was really pressed for ways to entertain Gabby and still take care of the chores I needed to get done each night without staying up until midnight. I remembered comments from some moms we talked with about our Holiday site - they thought the Gingerbread Man game would be fun for kids - so I gave it a try. Gabby loved it! She quickly got the hang of how to use all the tools and had fun saving and sending her masterpieces to her Nana. Now my mom and my sisters are decorating & sending gingerbread men back to the girls – the game is a little addicting… Favorite Cookies
When I was a kid my mom would bake many different kinds of cookies and bars to put into trays to bring to neighbors, parties, or family events. My sisters have continued to carry out this tradition in a more manageable fashion by focusing on everyone’s favorites - Butterscotch Chocolate bars, Chocolate Peppermint sandwich cookies, Fudge Bars and Lemon Bars. Max’s favorite are the Chocolate Peppermint sandwich cookies – my sister Marie colors the peppermint filling red, green and blue to represent Christmas and Hanukah, another small blend of our holiday traditions! I don’t have the time to make all the cookies like my mom and sisters but I did want to do something for the team at the office so I tried the sugar cookie pops on our website. I used a mix to save time and for the next batch I’ll add some extra flour and a little less butter (per the instructions) so they don’t spread out as thin. Gabby helped with rolling the dough in the sprinkles and putting the sticks in, I love easy projects like these with the kids!
Celebratin
Celebrating Hanukah and Christmas has been a tradition of ours since we were married (Max is Jewish). We’ve created our own celebration by blending the two - “a little Hanukah with a lot of Christmas” and “a little Easter with a lot of Passover”. Getting a tree that first Christmas was a major adjustment for Max, so we opted for topping the tree with a plastic “Big Boy” bank. “Big Boy” has been with Max since college, he fits right in with the eclectic mix of “happy meal toys”, crafts, and ornaments that decorate our tree, and he has no known religious affiliations – perfect! Food has also started “blending” – we make potato latkes one night (family tradition for Max) and recently started making Loukamades (Greek beignets fried in oil) on another night to bring in something from my heritage.Thank You Gifts
For Christmas we like to give a small gift to say “thank you” to those who help us care for our family - sitters, after-school care givers, and teachers. We used to do food gifts/baskets but this year Max and I felt we should do something a little more practical like gift cards. I know some feel gift cards are impersonal, I also know how psyched I am when I receive one – part joy (a little extra cash in my pocket to use when/how I want) and part relief (something I will really use and which won’t end up tucked into a cabinet or in the “re-gift box”, the giver did not waste their money). Safeway added some really cute gift card bags and holders this year, complete with tissue paper - couldn’t be easier!Plan for the Holidays – The Calendar of Fun
With my family coming into town for ten days over Christmas the planning becomes critical. Every year I build a spreadsheet to keep things straight – five trips to two different airports, excursions (museum), activities (bowling, ice skating), local attractions (holiday lights), down time, and of course meals. This spreadsheet is now affectionately named “The Calendar of Fun” and it has become a valuable guide to ensure we make the most of our time together. For meals, dinner is the “main event”, and to keep things simple it’s DIY for lunch (leftovers) and breakfast (oatmeal, bagels, etc). Christmas Eve we’ll do something easy or maybe pizza, and instead of are “usual” lamb on Christmas Day we’re going to do the 2 Hour Turkey (I think my mom & sisters want to see how this really works!)What to Bring to a Party
My aspiration is typically overruled by my need for efficiency as far as host/hostess gifts are concerned. A bottle of wine is typically our gift of choice – on hand, easy to “wrap”, and always appreciated. Every once in a while if a party/get-together happens to hit on a day I’ve found time to bake I’ll bring a sweet (pumpkin bread, fudge, cookies), but that’s rare these days. Flowers are another easy choice but require an extra stop. Feeling the need to mix it up a bit I started surfing around Safeway.com for some ideas and I found a few things that I think I’m going to try to get me out of this rut. Holiday Sushi Candy – looks really fun, colorful, and unique. Sugar Cookie Pops – super easy if you use a mix (my plan) and would be a hit with the kids. Gingerbread Reindeer – love that you can use the same shape to create something new. And the winner in my opinion for a unique twist on an easy favorite, Skewered Tortellini with Tomato-Basil Cream – I never would have thought of pasta as a toothpick ready appetizer!Kids and Holidays - Elf on the Shelf
Last weekend we caught up with some friends we hadn’t seen in a while and they introduced us to one of their holiday traditions that we have decided to adopt as well. Each year, after Thanksgiving, our friends bring out their “Elf on the Shelf”. “Jeffrey”, watches the kids and flies back each night to report their behavior to Santa. Each morning Jeffrey is found in a new spot which is the “evidence” that he visits the North Pole each night. Max and I loved this! The next day Jeffrey’s cousin showed up at our house and the girls named him Matthew. Gabby continues to try and get close to see if he’s real or his eyes move (we’re getting lots of “is it real?” questions these days). In addition to helping “manage behavior” finding Matthew in the morning has turned out to be a great motivator to getting dressed and downstairs for school. Perfect timing too as Max is out of town again so I’ll take any help I can get!Bright Green
One of the things I’m working on is trying to be a responsible dweller on this planet by minimizing waste and taking some steps to live “more green”. Some of the things we’ve done so far – switched to CFL’s, eliminated paper napkins (use cloth), cut back on paper towels (use rags), and bring reusable bags to the grocery store. We purchase some organic foods & try and use our aluminum water bottles too, although these choices were initially driven by health concerns vs. environmental impact. Anyway, Safeway introduced a line of environmentally friendly home care products called “Bright Green” (cleaning, laundry, light bulbs, and paper goods) that’s made me stop and think more broadly about what I use and how it impacts our earth (there is a lot I need to learn!). As I’m running out of my regular products I’ve starting purchasing Bright Green replacements – dishwasher detergent, dish soap, paper towels, and laundry detergent – they work great!-
- I am mom to three wonderful daughters Gabby, Maddy, and Mae and wife to a great guy, Max. I work fu more...
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