Taking Down the Tree

Until now, we have had a nearly perfect tree to call our own. It has stood strong even though we have hundreds of ornaments, and even though I forgot to water it most of its life. It was pretty, covered with bows and lights, and today, was its last day in our house.

Today, we took off our hundreds of ornaments and we put them away. We did the same with the lights, and with the bows, and then my dad carried it off.

What a dear tree it was, and it survived our house! We loved our Christmas tree, and hopefully we will remember it for years to come.

Post-Christmas Eve

I stayed up until eleven o'clock last night with our family festivities and now I am back to living at my own house, and doing normal things, like work.

We were only gone for a few days, but with all the presents and with all the suitcases, our house is in disarray. We also are grumpy, from lack of sleep, and so we are all as companionable as crabs. But, today might turn out exciting after all, I got a camera last night, and today I just got a memory card for it. Even if today is miserable, I at least will be able to capture it on film!

(Just a joke my mom would NOT permit it)

First, in this day, we invited our good friend and neighbor, Eleanor, came over. Then we started taking down our Christmas tree. (I"ll post more on that later) After this, I made "gourmet" mac 'n' cheese out of box for lunch.

Then, after working for a little bit longer, we made homemade apple pie for dessert for dinner.

To finish off our "terrible" last day of Christmas break, we drank some of our homemade hot cocoa with mint marshmellows covered in chocolate

Today turned out not to be as bad as I expected it to be!

A White Christmas

Every year for Christmas, my mom’s family gathers for Christmas, but this year it had to be postponed to New Year’s Day. You could say that New Year’s Day was like a second Christmas to me.

I had hoped and prayed for the longest time for a White Christmas, and you can imagine my despair when it turned out not even to be a green Christmas, but a muddy brown Christmas. I tried to chide myself and not let such a silly matter as this spoil my Christmas, but deep down, in the depths of my heart, I was sad.

But now, on this second Christmas of mine, I have had a White Christmas.

I woke up at 7:05 am this morning and I sleepily gazed at the bedroom I was sharing with my siblings. Then I spotted the snow. At first I didn’t believe it; I believed it would never snow, because the previous night it had been all but snowy, but then I realized that the snow existed.

At first I just whispered to myself, “It’s snowing.” As just a sort of afterthought, but then, each time I said it again, I got more ecstatic and by the time I realized the full glory of the snow, I was almost screaming. I woke up my siblings at once, and they, I am sorry to say, cared nothing for the snow, and only for the silly matter of me waking them up.

Then we went upstairs, to get a better view of the snow, since we were just in the basement, and we did get a better view of it. But staring at beauty lost its charm quickly for my siblings, and so we started watching Holiday Inn, staring Bing Crosby.  (We got about ten minutes into it before we were summoned to breakfast and then church)

I had an awesome “Christmas” , though shortly afterwards he snow melted.

(The following pictures are of what my Christmas was like)

(Doesen't my cousin look out of this world cute?)

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year’s, Day! Though the change of years takes only a second, so much seems to be left behind. I, however, am looking forward to this New Year because my family, this year, is choosing to embrace the New Year with a late Christmas celebration.  My mom, grandma, sisters, and I have been laboring tirelessly to make this celebration come through. We will open our Christmas today, so that added extra work to our mountain of cooking and such.

We will eat the spaghetti we made on Friday for dinner, and I think we will play Taboo. I know that this year will bring tough decision and adventure, and it astounds me to think that a whole new year started five hours ago, but I can be sure that is will be a very  happy new year.

A Day at My Granparents' House

After hours preparing to go to my Grandparents’, we finally hit the road and got in our car. The car was jam packed, (which was hard to do since our car is a suburban) and there was barely room to fit ourselves. But, despite the definite lack of space, and despite the difficulties that cramped children often produce, the car ride mostly went along uneventfully.

When we got to our Grandparents’ house, Ella and I quickly fell to work wrapping gifts for our cousins. After that, Ella and I assisted our Grandma in making spaghetti.

My family makes all of our spaghetti homemade, and because lots of people would be coming to this gathering, it took a long time to make this spaghetti. First, we made our homemade meatballs. These, we seasoned with several main seasonings, such as parsley, Romano cheese, and saltines. We blended these flavors into the meat with our hands and it was then our meat stopped smelling like rotting muscle. We cooked these in a skillet till nicely browned, and then we set them in a large pot.

Next, we had to make our delicious sauce. We mixed sauce, Romano cheese, tomato paste, sugar, and water to this. Then, we poured the sauce over the meat balls and put it in the fridge for Sunday.

After this, we cleaned up and Abe and Daddy started watching the original batman movie. Tonight my mom and dad are going out with my grandparents and the kids are staying home alone tonight. We love going to my grandparents’ house!

Prep for a Late Christmas

Usually, on Christmas all my family on my mom's side gathers. (this is almost always a big achievement because my mom has eight children in her family and because there are seventeen cousins total) This year, however, my grandma and grandpa were not home for Christmas, and so we had to postpone the gathering to New Year's Day. We are leaving on Friday, even though New Year's  is on Sunday, and so today I have been baking a lot in preparation. But even though the day has been very busy, there has still been time to invite our close friend and neighbor, Eleanor, over, and to play our new video game.

Today I was kept busy by making my all time favorite bars, Dutch Almond Bars, and also my Dad's favorite, Ginger Creams. To top it off, my mom and I are making Tacos and Black Bean Enchiladas, family favorites, for dinner.

Our Kitchen is a mess, the house smells of cooking, and I am totally enjoying the rich experience of home cooking.

The dutch almond bars I just took out of the oven, and I am whipping up the delicious glaze that goes with the bars. I love making these bars! They have five ingredients and are so easy!

Next, I start working on the ginger creams. They are half way between gingerbread and molasses cookies. I frost them with my special buttercream and they are delicious. Because you have to chill them, I start scooping them onto the cookie sheets later then expected.

Now, I am working on the tacos meat. Cooking taco meat is not exactly rocket science, so I get this done quickly. Now I can ease into my dinner chair and relax.

A Tragedy Among Us

Dear Citizens of Earth etc,
The day that is now has brought upon us a tragedy, of which I now speak. Marwin, the beloved pet, and chicken has been beckoned into the light.  I knew not that this day would be so tragic, but it was, and I think I shall remember it all my life.

My day was just a normal day, full of normal things, but it went down hill fast when I received word that   Marwin had possibly received fatal injuries. My aunt and uncle tried heroically to save the poor creature, but her severe wounds did their job too well, and Marwin took her last breath and settled into an everlasting, finally peaceful, sleep. (i.e, Uncle Tim "put her to sleep")

I will miss you, Marwin, forever.

                                    

                                   

  

Announcement!! No.2

Dear Citizens of Earth etc,
My dog, Barnabas, I felt needed to be looked at by the world. So, I made him a blog. His blog has just been started so please pay him a visit.

P.S I know this is the shortest post in the history of the world.
From Mia

Monday Recipe No. 1

  Dear Citizens of Earth etc,

It has come to my attention that the world is deeply lacking because my family has not shared many of our recipes with it. So, starting this Monday, I will be sharing recipes with you. 

Double Fudge Brownies
From: My Grandma

You will need:

• 1 1/2 c. unsifted flour
• 1/2 tsp. bkg. soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 c. butter (1 stick)
• 1 1/2 c. gran. sugar 
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 - 12oz. pkg. choc. chips
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1 c. walnuts (optional)

Melt butter, add water, sugar, & chips. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla, flour mixture. Grease 13x9x2 bake and 325 degreed for 50 min.

Favorite Christmas Recipe No. 1

                                         Beverage Slush


From: Grandma (on my Dad's side)
You will need:

• 1 - 46 oz. can unsweetened pineapple juce
• 5 cups water
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 -12 oz. can frozen orange juice
• 1 -12 oz. can frozen lemonade
• 4-6 over ripe bananas

Puree the bananas in the blender with an additional cup of water. Mix all of the ingredients in an extra large mixing bowl. Freeze for about 24 hrs. Stir after every 6 hrs (or less)

To eat, scoop into a glass -about 2/3 - 3/4 full. Fill the glass up with Sprite. 

Fits into a 5 qt. ice cream pail. (barely)