Another Year Over And a New One Just Begun

On the weekend before Christmas, Chris, Kelsey and the children came to our house to spend one night before we all headed west to Nanny's (my mom's) house, in Carlsbad. Because transporting the dollhouse to Carlsbad was not feasible, we decided to let Clara see her Christmas present early. I tried to get some pictures of her first reaction, but I didn't do a very good job. Most of the pictures came out blurry. Maybe I was shaking a bit with excitement! Anyway, here are a few.

Walking in the door . . . Clara's eyes go directly to the house (Robert's eyes, too!)

A little confused . . . is this for me?

First time to open the front door of her new house

Soon after the kids arrived and a very quick lunch, Dan and I took the kids to see Sesame Street Live, which was playing at the Expo Center. It gave Chris and Kelsey a rare chance for a kids-free movie date. I chose to leave my camera behind, thinking I'd get good enough shots with my iPhone, but, sadly, somehow the iPhone setting got set to "Fade" mode, and I didn't get even ONE good photo. But here are a few, anyway, to prove that Robert and Clara got to meet Elmo and Bert. The show was fun -- lots of music and dancing, with encouragement from the stage for the kids to join in. Lots of character interaction with the audience. We had second row seats, but Clara made her way into a front row seat, thanks to a family whose son wanted to sit on Mommy's lap.

Clara has "scary eyes" in this one, but it was the best I could do with those poor photos.

The next morning we all hit the road, in two very tightly packed vehicles. Besides the six of us, there were Christmas presents, luggage and food for most of our up-coming meals at Nanny's. It's about an 8-hour drive to Carlsbad from Temple. We made good time, and the kids were wonderful travelers.

On Monday Tim arrived. His new job at UNM gives him a long holiday break at Christmas time, for which he was very grateful. He hadn't seen the kids in over a year, so there were lots of changes.

Despite not being together in a while, it didn't take much time at all for the kids to warm up to Uncle Tim.

On Tuesday, Christmas Eve, Chris, Kelsey and the kids drove down to Pecos, TX, where Kelsey's parents live, to spend the day with them, her aunt and uncle, and her brother and sister and their families. Her family always does Christmas in a big way, including a piñata party and a visit from Santa Claus. They drove back to Nanny's that evening, and we got the kids all tucked into bed before Santa's arrival.

Christmas morning was delightful. The children were so good about enjoying what everyone else was opening, as well as their own presents. Robert gave Clara a tent and camping gear for her new American Girl doll, Julie. And Clara gave Robert a wonderful, stuffed Michelangelo (he's a big Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan, especially since his birthday party of that theme).

Santa brought Clara a new bicycle, since she has outgrown her first one. This new one is a beautiful, classic style, powder blue bicycle, with a pink wicker basket. Just exactly what Clara asked of Santa! After breakfast, she hopped on it and took off with no trouble at all.

She also got roller skates. It was her first time to try skating, and she found it a little more challenging than the bicycle. But she was persistent and definitely made progress. Here's a picture of her very first fall. OUCH! But no tears! Grandpa taught her a new riddle related to skating, and she definitely understood it: "What is the hardest thing about learning to roller skate? The cement!"

The first fall :-(

By the second day, she made it through a skating session without a single fall. She and I came up with a slogan for the day, "A few close calls, but no falls!"

While we were there, we enjoyed quite a bit of outdoor time -- walks along the river, feeding the birds, and playing at the park playground.

Clara and I enjoy taking pictures on our walks together

Finally, on Friday, we all packed up and headed home. For most of the way, Chris and Kelsey led the way and we followed, so this was the view from our front window. There's a rather complicated story about the bicycle rack, on the back. It involves a trailer hitch, a missing key, and some bolt cutters. But Chris wouldn't want me to go into all of that. So I won't. ;-) In the end, Clara's gift from Santa made it home in perfect shape.

When we all arrived in Temple, the plan was to spend the night at our house, and, then, for us to go with them the next morning, to deliver the dollhouse, because their vehicle was packed too full. But the plans changed, and Chris, Kelsey and Robert ended up driving home, while Clara stayed with us a few days. Yesterday, New Year's Eve, we drove her and her dollhouse home. We celebrated New Year's Eve with them, watching several animated movies and snacking on all sorts of wonderful goodies. This morning we all went out to breakfast together, after which Dan and I returned home.

It was all wonderful, but we are happy to be home and getting back to some sort of a routine. I ended up with a cold, which I am hoping I did not pass along to the Houston Judds.

Christmas and New Year's Day are only memories for us now - very good memories.

52 in 2013 - #40 Theme of the Week: Off Center

Cookies and Cocoa

We had a few friends over this evening for cookies and cocoa. There were lots of goodies to add to the cocoa, including homemade marshmallows. Yum!

Cookie Time

I went to the liquor store this morning.

I know. I'm a teetotaler (spelled correctly, per Wikipedia, here; I always thought it was spelled teatotaler). So what was I doing in the liquor store?

As I mentioned, recently, on one of my posts, my mother is half French and half Scottish. But, surprisingly, it is the Scottish side of her family that has, for generations, made these waffle-like cookies, and called them French cookies. One of the important ingredients is a splash of Brandy. We've tried making them without the Brandy, and they just aren't the same. 

I remember my Great Aunt Agnes making these cookies when I was little. And after we moved to Alaska, she faithfully sent a box of them through the mail to us each Christmas. By the time they arrived, they were usually all broken up, but they still tasted delicious.

When Aunt Agnes made them, she used an old, HEAVY cast iron iron that had to sit atop a stove to get hot. It only held one cookie at a time, as I recall, and she had to cook each one for awhile on one side and then turn the iron over and finish them off on the other side. When Dan and I moved back to Oregon, and my parents followed us there a few years later, Mom would borrow that heavy iron from Aunt Agnes or mom's cousin, Margaret, at Christmas time so she could carry on the French cookie tradition. 

In later years, both Mom and I discovered an electric iron that holds two cookies at a time, and makes the job so much easier. (Mom tried a couple electric irons before she found one that made the cookies thin, like we like them.) So, today I bought the Brandy, heated up the iron, and made French cookies. I'll probably take most of them to Carlsbad at Christmas, but will use some at the Cocoa & Cookie party we're hosting at our house next week.