Christmas

Christmas eve was a relaxing day here for us.  Dave had the day off, so we sat around watching movies, I did a puzzle and did a little sewing.  I baked a pie, a cherry pie this year because the commissary was out of pumpkin.  We ordered our traditional pizza and enjoyed a quiet night.

Nate spent most of the day tracking Santa on NORAD.org.  I think Santa was in Iowa when he was getting ready for bed.

Dave read Night Before Christmas then it was off to bed.

This morning there was some serious excitement when Nate saw Santa had brought him a Nintendo DS.

 The dogs were really excited too.  Especially since Anna thinks all the new dog beds are for her.  She had tried all of them out before lunchtime.

I made a breakfast casserole after we opened stockings. 

Once the casserole was in the oven we started opening gifts.

There was lots of ripping and tearing.

Nate got lots of fun stuff!

Bonnie made sure she was in the middle of the action.

I always think it's nice that I don't feel the need to keep Christmas morning tidy.

 We had our breakfast, then spent the morning playing with new fun things and watching movies.

Dinner is cooking now and we are hunkering in for our Christmas snow storm.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!  

As a little Flashback Friday I wanted to share this video from Christmas five years ago.

It makes me want to cry a little but I love watching it so much.

The Jolly Old Elf

We went to see Santa today.

Nate told him he wants an R2D2.

After going to Cabela's I got the roast in the oven and we made the gingerbread house.

It was a tasty job.

Moment of the Week

 There were other highlights this week besides the cookies and snow.

Nate lost a tooth! 

He also played Joseph in the Christmas Program.

And he made a giant gingerbread man.

It's been a nice week, preparing for Christmas. I finished my shopping and shipping.  Nate and I went to the Elks on Friday for a movie morning homeschool field trip.  We watched Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty and Rudolph.  We also squeezed in a family Wii night and have probably watched Elf five times (it's on ABC family nearly ever day!)  

This week should be relaxing.

Snow Day

A winter storm came through our area yesterday.

First was the fog freeze!

The snow was supposed to follow, but it took longer than they had forecasted, and we didn't end up with the snowfall they expected.

We got maybe four or five inches. 

That's fine.

I let Nate play in the snow this morning.

We are still going to do school later though.

Homeschool kids don't need snow days.

Christmas Cookies

Yesterday after church it was Christmas cookie time.

I made a double batch of the sour cream sugar cookies that Dave's family makes.

Here is the recipe:

1.5 c. sugar

1.5 c. butter

Cream them together.

Add - 1 c. sour cream

2 eggs

Mix

Add- 2 teas vanilla

dash of salt

1 teas baking soda

4 c. flour

Mix well.

The dough is very sticky.  It needs to be chilled for several hours or overnight.

These cookies are thick, so when you roll them out try for 1/2 inch thick.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes ( they always take 12 minutes for me)

I'm not sure where I got my tiny cookie cutters, but I always let Nate make a tray of them.

This year he hardly needed any help!

Lucky for Dave he missed the whole mixing, rolling, and baking of the cookies because he was at Zamboni training.  He even missed the dishes!

But he did the majority of the frosting.

I was on sprinkle duty.

The frosting really is what makes these cookies amazing.  

It's a thick buttercream frosting.

1 lb powdered sugar

1/2 c. butter

1/8 teas salt

1 teas vanilla

3-4 Tbsp milk

a big spoon of marshmallow fluff.

It's thick, and I usually always add a little bit of extra milk.

We always let Nate frost his own mini cookies.

We don't eat any of his because as you can see here, there is a lot of licking involved when he does it.

Now since I made a double batch....I went through eight sticks of butter.

That is why I freeze about half of them so God forbid we eat them all before Christmas.  

Dave took a dozen to work.

I will probably send another dozen or two with him this week and next.

that leaves us with five dozen....

Moment of the Week

This week just flew right by.

Nate had hockey and we went to The Nutcracker last Saturday.

Sunday was church.

Monday Nate had hockey practice and I had my friend over to sew.

Tuesday Nate had karate, and the boys had to run errands after supper.

Wednesday was grocery day, and WNL at church.... plus Dave had to work late.

Thursday we went to a field trip at a new indoor trampoline park .

Thankfully today is calm. 

I'm catching up with laundry, preparing for the next few weeks of school, making pizza dough, planning Christmas cookies, sewing a little. 

Moment of the Week

This week was great.

Busy, but great.

Nate had hockey practice on Monday.

We made time for a movie on Tuesday, going to see Pan.

Nate had hockey pictures and I had WNL on Wednesday.

Yesterday Nate had karate, and we went to Deadwood for Christmas with the Celts.

All of these things along with a reward lunch, grocery shopping, two trips to base, meeting Dave for lunch, pharmacy runs, and a chiropractic visit, made it was a busy week.

Today I am catching up, and preparing for a mildly hectic weekend.

In a good way.

Nate's hockey game, The Nutcracker, putting up lights outside, and getting the new cabinet in.

Hope you are enjoying the holiday season as much as we are! 

Hockey # 8

For the past couple of month Nate has had practices a couple times a week.

Just before Thanksgiving the practice was held at the Rush's ice.

It was a big deal to be on the pro's rink!

They were given their jerseys and team assignments. 

Nate had a great time, and he did really well.

There were Rush players out there with the kids.
After the practice we got a tour of the locker room!

(It was stinky)

Last Saturday Nate had his first game.
He did really well again!

I stopped counting after his 7th goal.

Eventually the coach started blocking his shots because he was scoring so much.

He really had fun, and eventually he started practicing passing it to his teammates.

We are so proud of him!