Christmas

I've been a real slacker in the blogging department. I wish this was more interesting and creative than just a recap of the holiday... but it's not. We didn't take as many pictures as we should have to document the festivities, so these will have to do.

Of course we didn't take many pictures on Christmas Eve, when a lot of the fun stuff happened. If we had, you would have been able to see the pine-and-berry garlands we strung up, the gingerbread cookies we made with our nieces, and the tasty Palestine dinner we ate on our living room floor. (Can you use the word tasty in a sentence that involves valu-brand fish sticks? We definitely learned our lesson about those!) The Palestine Dinner is a Christmas Eve tradition from Paul's family that includes foods that were probably eaten during the Savior's time: fish, olives, grape juice, unleavened bread (or, in our case, tortillas), etc.

Although all of our picture-worthy gingerbread cookies have long since been eaten, you can still have the recipe. It's the only one my family ever uses, and you can just file it away for next year, if you want.

Gingerbread Cookies

2 3/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour, baking soda, salt and spices onto waxed paper. Beat vegetable shortening with sugar until fluffy in a large bowl; beat in molasses, egg, and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time, blending well after each addition, to make a soft dough. Wrap dough in foil and chill 4 hours, or overnight. Roll out dough, one quarter at a time, to a 1/8" thickness on a lightly floured pastry board.Cut with 3" cookie cutters. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 8 minutes, or until cookies are firm but not too dark. Remove to wire rack with spatula, cool.

I ignore the sifting part and just stir all the dry stuff together. I also found, thanks to my mom, that using powdered sugar instead of flour when you roll out the cookies works great!

We watched The Nativity Story, which we love. When I watched it for the first time last year at Paul's parents' house I was barely pregnant and it was very emotional for me. But even this year, although it wasn't so emotional, I was still struck by the thoughtful, if artistically embellished, depiction of that sacred story.

And here's where we did take pictures. With kids in bed we wrapped up last-minute gifts and helped Santa fill everyone's snow boots with goodies.


Christmas morning dawned with fresh white powder on the ground, and delighted squeals were heard as our nieces KristiAnne and EmmaLee saw their boots filled to the brim with treats and toys. Poor Benjamin's little boy heart was almost broken when the girls raced out for fear that they would take the precious matchbox cars Santa had left for him.


The babies chilled out on the floor while everyone else opened gifts.


Benjamin was delighted by a new set of toy kitchen pans and an apron with a Cougar "Y" on it that's just his size. Legos from Grandma Key were also a big hit.

And many giggles were heard as this awesome gift from us to Jason and Katie filled our living room:


The final gift was the doll that Paul made for me this year. It is a tradition that he has carried on from his dad, and something that we both look forward to each Christmas.

I love this doll. Paul calls it his "most abstract doll yet." I think that it's perfect for where we are living right now: It's made out of wood and pine cones from our backyard, and is carefully draped in shimmering strands of hot glue that remind me of the icy winter that we just had. I wish the picture did it justice, but it really is a creative piece of work!

Finally, who could pass up a good romp through the snow on Christmas Day? Paul and Jason (his brother, by the way) erected this "Matterhorn" of sorts with a tunnel through the bottom.


And that's (basically) it! I'll try to be better next time about documenting the details more carefully and punctually.