Countdown: 4, 3, 2 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

In summation, we've been doing Christmas-y type things... delivered gingerbread houses, wrapped presents, and watched "It's a Wonderful Life."

old st. knick

Saturday night Nate and I stayed at his grandparents' house and talked with them until 11 pm about knick knacks and ancestors. We helped put up their framed felt hand-made creations for the twelve days of Christmas - Max handed a picture to me, I handed it to Katie, Katie handed it to Nate, and Nate placed it on its hook. We were like a line of elves in Santa's work shop. Max's grin reminds me of an elf, and he smiles more than he talks. Katie is easily moved to tears when she remembers her past, and hanging Christmas decorations took her back. Nate put his arm around her as Max smiled and I snapped a shot.

During my layover in Nashville yesterday, announcements of "Would Ebenezer Scrooge please report to gate C3" and "Santa's helpers, Santa's helpers, please report to gate C25 for departing flight 126 to the North Pole" were heard periodically. If I were a kid, and if I ever believed in Santa (which I didn't), I would have eaten that up. I also would probably have found the see-saw like bench amusing each time the large woman sitting on the other end shifted her weight causing my end to go up or down. Wee. As I bounced, I saw a guy and girl exchange numbers. I missed Nate instantly. With our weight combined, we would have dominated that bench.
Mom was flying back from Florida and met me in Cleveland where we got a hotel for the night. We watched late night TV and ate popcorn in our beds. When you have to get up at 5:30 am, you start to question if 5 hours of sleep is much better than 4. Needless to say, I was tired on our morning flight home to Franklin. Here I am in such a zombie-like state that I didn't notice the pilot pressed against the window.

The crazy pilot flew us safely home where 'Day 1 and Only (without Nate) 'till Christmas' went just fine and is now ending with this post. Nate is packing in a room upstairs at Max and Katie's house in Vegas, and I'm blogging in my old bedroom in Franklin. We're just two fat people on opposite ends of a wobbly bench. Did that not make sense? I should probably make up that lost sleep... right... about.....

Countdown: 5 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

Em and I kissed under some mistletoe right before I took her to the airport. We had to improvise the location of the MT.

Countdown: 6 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

This is Nate. Em just tried to post but she semi-threw her laptop at me in disgust after deleting her almost-post. (extreme exaggeration) Thus, this is my first contribution to our blog.

We stayed at the Anderson's last night. We slept as long as we could, then woke up and ate Cheerios for breakfast with Haven and Nash. I was still hungry so when Steve got up and had his breakfast burrito (with Chalula sauce, which I had never had) he offered me one too. I am always down for secondses (I ate the cookies that I grabbed from work yesterday too so that might count as thirdses). Em then went with Liz to Nordstrom Rack while Steve and I watched the BYU-UTEP game. The game left me in a holiday mood.

Em and Liz made gingerbread to make houses. Em made one for my Dunford grandparents. Hopefully they will like it. We are going over there for dinner tonight while Liz, Steve and the kids go to their ward party. Em leaves tomorrow for Cleveland. Life be good.

Countdown: 7 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

We sang Christmas songs in the car on the way to Vegas, harmonizing here and there. Easy day.

Countdown: Day 8 (with Nate) 'till Christmas

I spent the afternoon yesterday making cookies and truffles for a few families - Sheila and her son Sharod (we helped them carry a few things into their apartment when they moved in last week), our new neighbors in the apartment beneath us, the Duncans (friends from church), and the young couple in apt 1212 (we briefly chatted in passing last week). We went around to pass them out, but not a soul was home. Luckily the Duncans were at the basketball game last night. Brenley and I left to get ourselves burritos that made me sick, but at least we were able to hand off some cookies. The rest are probably soggy on doorsteps this morning. The truffle recipe is really simple and relatively healthy. I found it online a few months ago and tweaked it only minorly. Instead of coating the outside in cocao, I roll the truffles in coconut. They look better that way.


Chocolate Coconut Truffles

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 3/4 cup agave nectar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 cup dried shredded coconut
• 2 1/4 cups cocoa powder, preferably raw, sifted

In a high-speed blender, blend the warmed coconut oil, agave nectar, vanilla, and salt. Add the shredded coconut, 1/2 cup at a time, and blend until smooth.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl and stir in 2 cups of the cocoa powder until thoroughly combined. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes or more to set slightly.
Place the remaining 1/4 cup cocoa powder (or coconut) onto a small plate. Spoon heaping tablespoons of the chocolate mixture and roll them into balls. Roll these in the cocoa powder (or coconut). Store the finished truffles in the refrigerator. Makes around 32.

Countdown: 9 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

Nate took me on a date yesterday for our own Christmas.

Mexican restaurant and the sunset that followed... which is what Nate loves most about Arizona.

Art galleries at Old Town Scottsdale... and the doors that complimented my coat.

Ice cream at the Sugar Bowl... and the pink vintage decor.



Christmas lights at the temple... and the twinkle-lit lemon trees.


We exchanged Christmas gifts when we came home. We'd packed each other's stockings and vowed to not peek until last night. About half of the gifts weren't surprises, but the half that were surprises were the most thoughtful gifts. Go figure.

All in all, it was a really nice night. I think my favorite part was holding hands with Nate throughout. It was perfect... except for the lack of snow.

Coundown: 10 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

I worked on some Christmas presents that I can't show you. I might show pictures after Christmas, but for now... just know today was labeled "Christmas presents" day.

Countdown: 11 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire... kinda. Not really at all, actually.

Step 1: Rinse and dry


Step 2: Score with an X


Step 3: Boil for 15-20 minutes


Step 4: Let rest for 30 seconds


Step 5: Peel


Step 6: Enjoy with eggnog!


We discovered a few things that will help us next year. First, score the chestnuts deep enough to cut all the way through to the nut, not just the outer shell. This allows water to creep under the skin which makes for easier peeling. Second, don't broil them after boiling. I saw that advice and took it only to realize it wasn't necessary and slightly dried the nut out. Stick to boiling only. Third, peel the nuts immediately after cooking them. Don't wait for them to cool. Again, this makes peeling easier. Fourth, watch out for rotten nuts. There are bound to be a couple.

I found my chestnuts at Whole Foods Market. I have no idea where else you might find them. They were $7.99/lb, but online they are upwards of $13/lb.

When we are back east for the holidays, we are going to take a quick trip to NYC. My cousin, Missie, mentioned the street vendors who sell "roasted" chestnuts (they boil theirs), so now I'm even more excited to eat some. I'm more than happy with being one-upped when I get to eat the one-up.

I can't drink eggnog. The flavor is nice, but I prefer a swig and not a whole glass. Next year I will make myself some hot chocolate with candy canes and marshmallows.

I forgot to post about Nash's gift. He asked me to deliver these colored and neatly folded and paper-clipped bundles to Nate for Christmas. He'd been making them the whole time I was visiting in Vegas and putting them in the Letters to Santa box. I guess he thought Nate could use a few.


And finally, I wanted to show you something surprisingly scrumptious. You know how I made that Zuppa Toscana? I had leftover Kale and potatoes, so I made Kale Mashed Potatoes. Simple enough. I found the recipe online and tweaked it a bit.
The flavor was rich and the color was so pretty. We want to make them a staple in our diets to get more greens. I couldn't help but think how sneaky it would be for getting kids to eat their vegetables. Nate said I should have made red gravy. Sick.

Only 10 days to go...

Countdown: 12 Days (with Nate) 'till Christmas

(Disclaimer: We're doing a mini countdown to Christmas. We're not doing the full 25 days because that's for people with kids. We're kid-less, so 12 days it is. And yes, I know that the twelve days of Christmas start after Christmas. It was just a good place to start. 12. Half of 24 days leading up to Christmas. We're starting tonight because we won't see each other on the 20th... so I tacked a day onto the beginning.)

Tonight we watched the First Presidency Christmas devotional. We watched in the dark which made it feel more wintry.

President Monson looks good in lights.

I don't think you're ready for this fat...

As Nate and I were sneaking out the back door of our ward Christmas party, an obese man sitting in a chair in the lobby asked, "Aren't you staying to see Santa?" to which Nate cheerily replied, "I broke Santa's leg when I was younger. I was a fat kid. Merry Christmas!" I think I laughed for a solid minute before unlocking the car. I had to explain to Nate that you don't say the word "fat" to someone who is currently dealing with the word "fat" especially when what you are communicating to this man is that being "fat" causes Santa pain. It's Christmas, for goodness sake. Even Santa's "fat" is referred to as jelly. Maybe that's where Beyonce got her idea. Anyway, I think Nate just put himself on the naughty list.

f - o - x

The thought of sitting in another office doing meaningless work depresses me, so I applied to a position in which I had minimal experience. But despite my lack of "real nanny experience" as they called it (something the other applicants had in abundance), the parents thought my background in English would be useful in helping their kids with homework. Thanks to 3/4ths of an English degree, I got the job. The only problem is that when I think of nannies, I think of Fran Drescher, Scarlett Johansson, and this scene from You've Got Mail -

Nelson Fox: You know, I stayed on this boat after... let's see, your mother... Laurette, the ballet dancer...
Joe Fox: My nanny.
Nelson Fox: She was the nanny?
Joe Fox: Yeah.
Nelson Fox: [laughs] I forgot that. How ironic. Then there was the ice skater.
Joe Fox: Also my nanny.
Nelson Fox: Really?
Joe Fox: Yeah.
Nelson Fox: That's amazingly ironic. And then there was Sybil, the... um... it's an "A" word...
Joe Fox: Astrologer.
Nelson Fox: Exactly. Yeah.
Joe Fox: Whose moon turned out to be in someone else's house, as I recall.
Nelson Fox: Just like Gillian.
Joe Fox: Gillian ran off with someone?
Nelson Fox: The nanny.
Joe Fox: Nanny Maureen?
Nelson Fox: Yes.
[Joe bursts out laughing]
Joe Fox: Well! Gillian ran off with Nanny Maureen, hmm?
Nelson Fox: You got it.
Joe Fox: That's *incredibly* ironic.

These are not good associations for "nanny." Maybe now I'll think of myself and redeem the word.

Beautiful soup, beautiful soup, soup of the evening, beautiful soup!

Nate's mom has assigned us one night to cook for everyone when we are there in a few weeks. Originally, Nate thought we should make lasagna - one meat and one spinach. But last night I made him Zuppa Toscana (based on Olive Garden's soup) and Parmesan Breadsticks.

Change of plans. We're going to double the batch and impress everyone with our ability to follow a recipe. I think it's my favorite meal I've made. That probably doesn't hold much weight since I've only really been cooking for 4 months, but this really is some seriously savory soup and breadsticks. We'll top it off with some Peach Pear Soda from Archer Farms (found at Target) and call it done.

I'm realizing how much I love to cook. I always had an interest, but I'd never had the kitchen and space and equipment and time. I told Nate today that once we have the budget, I'm going to make sure we eat like kings. I have so many recipes I want to try. Happiness can come in the form of cooking ALL THE TIME.

On another note, Nate and I enjoyed this clip of a comedian whose ideas are witty but whose language is dirty. This clip is clean.

I laughed aloud several times, and I loved when he said, "You're on a chair in the sky!" I often think about how ungrateful we can be when we don't recognize how easy we have it. Nate and I live in a home alone with ice in the freezer and warm water for showers and light for reading and homemade cookies for eating. We don't have to worry about finding some rice for the kiddies or walking several miles to get fresh water. Basically everything we do and enjoy is more than we need. We live in excess even when we live frugally and within our means. We could be considered "poor" by some standards, but we want for nothing. When we are in a position to occasionally contemplate our wants, we know we are doing better than fine.

About 7 years ago, there was a period of maybe 3 months where I was looking for a job while going to school part-time. I had little to no luck, and my monies were running out. I kept myself alive by eating pancakes every day for weeks on end. No joke. Thing is, I never told anyone... Pride is what it's called. Anyway, I actually learned what it was like to be hungry enough to eat the same thing everyday because it's all I had. It's not like I was eating ketchup soup or anything, but even that's saying something! My worst time where I was scraping the barrel resulted in pancakes! My worst is someone else's dream. So I think about those months when I'm starting to feel ungrateful. The memory keeps me in check.

Ketchup soup. Gross. How grateful I am to sit in a chair in the sky on my way to make and eat Zuppa Toscana soup at Christmas. And that's that.

a Parting and a Pear... Soda

Liz and I took the kids to see Tangled this afternoon, and Nash quietly watched during a romantic scene between Rapunzel and Eugene as they sing a duet while lit lanterns fill the night sky. Nash airily said, "This movie is sooo..." Liz and I leaned in to see his face, anticipating something ridiculously cute, when he finished, "...much longer than Scooby-Doo."

Later tonight, Nash allowed me to capture his signature move with my phone camera. I wasn't permitted to use video, so a brief moment of his quirky, twisted, butt-extended amazingness is all you get. You can't tell from the photo, but this a move executed whilst walking backwards.


It's my last day here at the Anderson's. We shared a cheese ball, wheat crackers, and some pear soda for dinner tonight. Festive, no? A bit after putting the kids down, Haven and Nash decided they wanted to play instead of go to bed (good decision) and proceeded to chase monsters around the living room. Liz told Nash that monsters hated Jingle Bells.


Peace out, Vegas. It's been real.

horses horses horses horses

nash and haven are dancing around the room with batons after having turned off all the lights but the christmas tree. they are making up christmas songs.


NASH:

jesus made different people, jesus made houses, the workers make houses, i know that picture was jesus that was born, christmas is jesus' birthday, heavenly fadder made santa, jingle bells, santa comes at christmas eve, yo ho ho, i know that because it's christmas eve, it's just a song because it's christmas eve, reindeers come at christmas when it's snowing, santa knows that and he needs the reindeer to fly this way because the reindeer have to take santa then the reindeer fly, yo ho ho, frosty the snowman, the children know how he came alive, darn it darn it, it's christmas now, christmas at last, let's have a parade, we're having a parade, havey we're having a parade because it's christmas at last, ha ha ha ha, one two three, one two three, stop everybody, clap, christmas, christmas, christmas, christmas!

do you want to hear another song?

rounding rounding, i had a necklace that you blow bubbles with, but it's gone and it's at grandma's house, and i know that it's christmas at last!

HAVEN:

ba ba ba ba ba ba ba! ra ra ra ra ra! it's your turn, nash!

NASH:

i know my A B C's because it's christmas eve!

I love those dimples.

adventures in babysitting

Yesterday, Haven got into some chapstick and smeared it all over the carpet. She then climbed up on the counter, got into the baking cupboard, found a bar of white chocolate, and gnawed and scraped it like a mouse. We didn't see any of this. It was evidenced by the red streaks in the carpet, the stool by the counter, and the teeth marks in the white chocolate. She's a crazy, crazy girl. Today while painting with Nash, I caught her red handed... er, green handed... with the paintbrush in her mouth.


Before Nash went to bed, he asked me to draw him a picture. Luckily, Nash is only 4 and can't tell that I still draw like a 3rd grader. He told me to draw a house, a trampoline, a tall building, a slide, a weed killer killing weeds, flowers, a sun and a moon, lots of birds, more weeds by the building, a normal tree and a palm tree, swings, a seagull drinking from water, and a long line that leads to the tall building.

Gross. That was my attempt at drawing simply so Nash would recognize everything. Nash thought it was great.

I'm such a good aunt... half the time. Nash gets pictures while Haven gets brain damage. At least I made her chocolate chip cookies to wash down the paint.

snow on snow on snow

This is us about to head out the door to church today. I'm going to miss that mug on the right next week. I'm being shipped off to Vegas so that Nate can have 5 days to himself to study for finals. I guess I distract him. Although I would think anything would be more appealing than studying for finals. See how much fun he is having?

What you can't depict from the picture is that Nate's stomach is filled with homemade cookies, Bing Crosby is singing Christmas songs, and it smells like Christmas in our little apartment. We are trying to get in the spirit despite the lack of snow. To me, snow = Christmas.
I just interrupted my blogging to talk to Grandma Martin for an hour and a half. She found out recently that she has a malignant tumor in her colon and will be going in for surgery on Dec. 14th which means she won't be coming up to PA for Christmas. Bummer. No pun intended. (Grandma would laugh at that joke, so I'm leaving it.)
Oh, Christmas. I can't wait to see snow. I tried decorating yesterday and ended up taking down half of what I'd put up. It just didn't look right. Even though I've spent plenty of Christmas holidays with Grandma in Florida, I can't get used to red and greed elves prancing around my bookshelf while palm trees sway outside. I made that sound kinda nice. It doesn't work, I tell you. I'll have to get my fill in PA. Until then, I'm off to Vegas to make gingerbread houses.

French Breakfast Puffs

I made French breakfast puffs this morning! They were one of my favorite things that mom used to make, and Nate had never had them. They were just like I remembered - warm and fluffy in the middle, and buttery and sweet on the outside. Nate had 5. Here's the recipe in case I somehow lose it one day.

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease 15 medium muffin cups, 2 1/2x1 1/4 inches.
2. Mix shortening, 1/2 cup sugar and the egg thoroughly in large bowl. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg alternately with milk. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups.
3. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Mix 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon. Roll hot muffins immediately in melted butter, then in sugar-cinnamon mixture. Serve hot. Makes 12.

Like, Happy Turkey Day!

I'm relieved to say that Thanksgiving was a major success. It was my first time cooking a turkey, and I was more than a bit nervous. I mapped out the timing of everything the night before to make sure I'd have time enough to fix any turkey issues if they arose. I got up at 6 am to start to turkey. Over zealous? Yes, but I was prepared and stress-free all morning while cooking. Aside from turkey, we had mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, green bean casserole, fresh salad, dinner rolls (courtesy of Nate), limeade (also Nate), pumpkin pie (Costco - only $6! Who can pass that up?), and vanilla ice cream. We kept it pretty simple and skipped the stuffing and cranberry sauce. Neither of us like those much. The turkey was the best I'd ever had, and I think Nate said the same. We had the missionaries over - Elder Milne and Elder Reddish. They both said that the turkey was super moist, unlike all the turkey they'd ever had. Score! I'd found the cooking instructions on a cooking website - simplyrecipes.com. I cooked the turkey breast-side down and reduced the heat the longer it was in the oven. That's it. Simple, but it made a huge difference.

Here we are picking all the meat off the turkey. I don't know why it's blurry.


Here's our spread before the feast. We had glasses for the limeade, too. The plastic cups were for water. We're not completely ghetto. :)





Nate and I went to see Tangled at 3:30. He'd gotten free tickets. Nate's awesome like that. The movie was surprisingly good, a lot like the old Disney musicals. It reminded me of Beauty and the Beast, and I love that movie. Good music, good script, good story, good everything.

We spent the rest of the day lazing about. We had started watching Avatar the night before and so finished it in the evening. And then, of course, we had leftovers for dinner. Yum!