The Month of Christmas

December has flown by and we are two days away from Christmas. We are finished shopping. I was finished a week ago and George finished last night. For those of you that don't know my husband well, this was ahead of schedule. He is the last minute shopper and is so proud of himself for getting it WAY before Christmas. I just asked him if he was going to wrap the gifts tonight. He shook his head and said, "Definitely tomorrow." LOL.

This past weekend we headed up to New Jersey to celebrate an early Christmas with George's family. The drive there was brutal. It usually takes 4 to 4 1/2 hours and this was a good 7 to 7 1/2 hour drive this time. There was lots of traffic and a few accidents. We were told to expect snow showers in Virginia Friday evening and continuing through Saturday. In New Jersey it wasn't supposed to snow until Saturday and stop Sunday. Perfect for our travels. We saw a beautiful snow storm Saturday night in New Jersey and Jakob and his cousins spent hours shoveling the sidewalk, driveway and grass.

On Sunday morning they were all up at 7 wanting to go out. The snow was 6 or 7 inches by then. We made them wait until 8 and out they went for hours of snow fun. We set out for Virginia around 3 and made excellent time. We were home by 8 with a dinner break and some traffic in Virginia. We were amazed at the height of the snow when we got home. I would estimate 16 to 17 inches. We were very grateful to have the Pilot as we had to plow our way up our driveway and into our garage. We actually had to shovel out the snow we had plowed into the garage from the underside of the Pilot. It was a lot of snow.

Monday was a day off for all of Northern Virginia. They shut down everything from schools to military bases. We spent most of the day digging our way out. It took us 3 1/2 hours to get the driveway cleared. The major roads were fine, it was just the side streets the plows had yet to do

Tuesday we ventured out to see Santa and finish up George's shopping. Still no plow in our neighborhood. We have since given up on them coming.

Wednesday we went to an amazing event called ICE! at the Gaylord Hotel at The National Harbor. If you ever get a chance to see this take it. It was beautiful and a great family event. You walk-through a winter wonderland carved entirely of ice... TWO MILLION POUNDS to be exact. It is kept at 9 degrees and it was beautiful. We had a really fun time.

We will be on our own for Christmas this year. It is the first time for all of us. We are hosting a small get together Christmas evening and then my mom will be in the next evening. We are so grateful for a wonderful year. We've had our trials and our tribulations. We've learned many things this year and we are looking forward to another wonderful year in Virginia.

Have a Merry, Merry Christmas.

"I want to go to school today ...

because you won't be there!" This is what I heard from my 7-year-old. The first few words were music to my ears. We have been struggling for some time with school and how "un-fun" it is. I was thinking yeah this is wonderful ... or not. His last few words were said because I had told him to make his bed on a "non-making bed day" The horror. I let it go for a little while. I did say, "Nice," but then let him go brush his teeth. When he came back into my room I told him what he said really hurt my feelings. He broke down crying and apologizing. My sweet, sweet Jakob. I love him and his kind heart. And the bed was made with no extra comments.

Thanksgiving

Of course I am still behind in my posts.
This Thanksgiving we had George's parents with us. I have to say it was the best Thanksgiving meal I have ever made. My philosophy this year was to keep it simple. Sure you hear that saying all the time, but do you really ever try to live it? I had a few friends buy the prepared dinner from Wegmans or Whole Foods. That was definitely the simplest approach and I may try that some year. I did run around like a crazy person the week prior to Thanksgiving. Shopping at 4 different grocery stores, cleaning every room in the house and preparing the menu for the 4 days we would have guests. However, this year my "simple" was a pared down menu with some really good dishes. The preparation for the dinner was an all day event. But, isn't it supposed to be? My usual problem is trying to do too many dishes that were too complex. This year my menu was:

Rosemary Roasted Organic Turkey 13lbs
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Green Beans and Shallots
Cranberry Citrus Sauce
Carrot and Chestnut Soup
Rosemary Bread
Apple Pie w/ whipped cream
Mint Pie

To make things stress free Jakob, George and I made a few dishes before hand and really had a good time measuring and cooking together. I used a few Schwan items to cut down on preparation time and I only made one vegetable and one potato. George's mom made the apple pie. Dinner was planned for 2 PM and everything was on the table by 2:15 PM. All the items were hot and the turkey was moist and delicious. My favorite dish was the carrot soup. I have made it 3 times now and we love it. The bread was wonderful too and Jakob loved that everything was homemade. He was in awe. He said, "It must be an important holiday. Mommy is cooking from scratch. She never does that." In my defense, most of our dinners are from scratch. They are usually things like spaghetti or chicken and veggies. I think he was most impressed with the bread. I rarely make fresh bread and he got to help a lot.
It was a wonderful meal with lots of family time. We played many games and shared many stories. Jakob is starting to understand and appreciate traditions. We checked a book out of the library about pilgrims and have had a wonderful time learning about the pilgrim children and the significance of celebrating Thanksgiving.