December 15th: Santa

My friend Denise showed me some cute strawberry santas back in November and I knew I'd have to make them sometime this month.  They are simple and healthier than other treats.  I think the instructions call for cream cheese.  I didn't have any on hand so I whipped heavy cream really stiff and that worked just fine.  We were having cousins over Saturday morning so it seemed like the perfect time to make them.

They all enjoyed making them and LOVED eating the finished product.

That afternoon we headed to my favorite furniture and decor store because it was the last Saturday their Santa was going to be there.

He may seem angry at Samara for laughing, but he's a pretty decent Santa.  Even the mall Santa is legit--he sports a real beard and all.

But you can't beat this sleigh, the atmosphere, and the fact that they email you the pictures for free.  How awesome is that?!

Lizzie was excited to go see him until we got there.  I'm not one to force a kid to sit with a strange man for candy.  But Lizzie, darling, you gotta tell me if I need to be in the picture so I can at least get dressed for the day.  Good thing I wore the festive red fleece pants--I rotate between these, a brown pair, and a blue pair because nothing else is comfortable.

They also have cookies and wassail to enjoy.

The wassail was delicious so I had to pick up a few packets of the mulling spices. 

We loved all the displays and the candy canes. 

I've visited this store every Christmas (that I've lived here) since I was a teenager.  My sister would often get my gift here.  I still love to pick out a new ornament every year.  They are very reasonably priced so it satisfies my desire to want to have everything in the store.  The barstool I asked about was $985--not quite in the budget.  

Ho! Ho! Ho! from our Santa to yours!

December 14th

This is a day none of us will ever forget.  Like all of you, I was shocked and horrified by the shootings that occurred in Connecticut last Friday.  I don't think I grasped the reality of it so I was able to keep my emotions at bay over the weekend. 

On Monday, Samara and I walked to school both excited for her class party.  When we walked up to the school's entrance and she saw the flag, she asked, "mom, why is the flag only up half way?"  I choked back tears as I tried to explain it in a way that wouldn't scare her from ever wanting to go to school again.  As the reality of what happened really sunk in, I struggled not to lose it as I helped the kids decorate their gingerbread houses.  Being there in a class full of kindergartners made me realize that what I'd read in the news indeed happened and that it could happen anywhere.  I still don't fathom how such an atrocious event occurs.

As they played the national anthem over the intercom and we said the Pledge of Allegiance, my eyes again welled up with tears, as I worried about the state of our country.  

On the walk home alone, I was finally able to let the tears come.  My heart aches for the victims whose lives ended far too soon and for the families of the victims.  I wish I knew how to make sense of it all.  My thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the tragedy.

December 13th: Santa Lucia

"The day is to honor Santa Lucia, a young Christian girl who was martyred, killed for her faith, in 304AD.  The most common story told about St Lucia is that she would secretly bring food to the persecuted Christians in Rome, who lived in hiding in the catacombs under the city.  She would wear candles on her head so she had both her hands free to carry things.  Lucy means 'light' so this is a very appropriate name.  December 13th was also the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year."

The holiday evolved in Sweden and is also celebrated in other Scandinavian countries.  I've wanted to start celebrating Santa Lucia for a couple years but this is the first year we've made it happen.   My great-grandparents emigrated to the US from Sweden and I really like Ikea so I'm practically a Swede myself--1/8 from ancestry and at least 1/8 from all the Ikea things we own.  

My cute mom served her mission in Sweden so we are glad she joined in our celebration.

Traditional attire is a long white dress with a red sash.  Good thing the seamstress made Lizzie's blessing dress to fit "newborn to age three" because she can use it as a Santa Lucia dress for the next couple years. :)  Please excuse the flash shawdow.

Traditionally the oldest daughter gets to play the role of Santa Lucia but we let them both dress up.  Though Samara got the responsibility of "waking" everyone up and serving them dinner.  Her pet Hugo was the star boy.  Crown pattern found here.  One of the traditional foods served is saffron buns.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find saffron so when I saw a bread wreath, I decided to give it a try.

I am a very much a novice baker especially with bread stuff.  Usually anything I try with yeast ends up flat and freaky but this turned out.  Actually following all the steps in the recipe apparently yields great results!

The bread is really good.  It has orange peel and an orange glaze.  It's just the right amount of flavor without being too sweet.

Find the recipe here.

December 12th: A Good Book

What did you do to celebrate the momentous 12-12-12?  

I am normally all for auspicious dates but totally forgot until five minutes before when Ben called to remind us.  Had I realized what day it was earlier we would have done something spectacular!

Reading a good book, by the light of the Christmas tree, with Christmas music playing quietly in the background, is one of my very most favorite things to do.

I finished Inside Out & Back Again tonight-- a most delightful and touching book.  The book reads very quickly--a few hours at most.  The story is based on the author's life experiences of having to leave Saigon during the Vietnam War and move to Alabama as a refugee.  She sums up the book with "No one would believe me but at times I would chose wartime in Saigon over peacetime in Alabama."  The book is a series of journal entries and is charming.  I fell in love with Vietnam during our visit there and am amazed by Vietnamese people and their strength and resilience.  We bought our mini-van from a Vietnamese gentleman who emigrated here during the war and then eventually sponsored his whole family so they could come emigrate as well.  I immediately knew when we called about the van that he was from SE Asia and really enjoyed learning more about him on our test drives.

I've read several books set in this time period and I think enjoyed this one the most.  This book gives you a great idea and perspective of life there during the war and the refugees' struggles emigrating but it wasn't too depressing or dark.  I delighted in her descriptions of life both there and here.  It's so easy for us to think everywhere else is SO foreign and odd.  But what a strange and somewhat annoying place the states would be to someone coming from there.  Her descriptions of learning English, their "cowboy" sponsor, and the way we process chicken (KFC) were particularly funny.

I highly recommend the book if you are looking for something to read.

December 11th: I'll be Home for Christmas

I've always loved the song, I'll be Home for Christmas.  And while we've been grateful for our visits to see family other years, being in ONE place and having our own SPACE really is the best!  I totally understand now why people like to stay close to home for the holidays.  The only downfall this year was Ben having to be out of town for work.  He returned today from a conference in Austria, where it snowed for five days straight.  They had time a couple of the afternoons to ski and snowshoe but then had meetings until 11 PM.  I tried to think only about the late nights and not about him getting to ski in the alps!  He flew in/out of Zurich and had strict instructions about bringing back some swiss chocolate. 

He came bearing my three favorite "C"gifts: Chocolate, cheese,  

and Christmas Ornaments.  

Gifts or not, we are glad to have Ben back!

P.S. Does anyone know how to attach a song to a post?

December 10th: The Good and Grateful Receiver

I love starting out the Christmas season with the LDS First Presidency devotional.  The messages bring a wonderful spirit to the season.  I was especially touched this year by President Uchtdorf's talk, The Good Grateful Receiver.  We hear so many messages about giving and how it's better to give than receive but I think being a gracious recipient is just as important.  Below is a small part of his talk as well as a video of the whole talk.

As we get older...our ability to receive gifts with the same enthusiasm and grace seems to diminish. Sometimes people even get to the point where they can’t receive a gift or, for that matter, even a compliment without embarrassment or feelings of indebtedness. They mistakenly think that the only acceptable way to respond to receiving a gift is by giving back something of even greater value. Others simply fail to see the significance of a gift—focusing only on its outward appearance or its value and ignoring the deep meaning it has to the sincere giver.

Isn't it so easy to feel like we have to repay our givers and/or equal their gift?

Every gift that is offered to us—especially a gift that comes from the heart—is an opportunity to build or strengthen a bond of love. When we are good and grateful receivers, we open a door to deepen our relationship with the giver of the gift. But when we fail to appreciate or even reject a gift, we not only hurt those who extend themselves to us, but in some way we harm ourselves as well.

Gifts I've received through the years definitely help me feel how much I am loved by others.

The Savior taught that unless we “become as little children, [we] shall not enter … the kingdom of heaven.”³

As we watch the excitement and wonder of children at this time of the year, perhaps we can remind ourselves to rediscover and reclaim a precious and glorious attribute of children—the ability to receive graciously and with gratitude.

Not surprisingly, the Savior is our perfect example not only of generous giving but also of gracious receiving. When He was in Bethany, near the end of His mortal ministry, a woman approached Him with an alabaster box of rare and expensive oil. She was allowed to anoint His head with this precious gift.

Some who witnessed this event became angry. “What a waste of money,” they said. The oil was extremely expensive. It could have been sold and the money given to the poor. They saw only the temporal value of the gift and entirely missed its much greater spiritual significance.

Here is the whole talk.  It's 13 minutes long and definitely worth the time if you haven't heard it already.

My sweet niece went to the play with us and stayed overnight.  Ben has been out of town and it was so nice to have her stay over.  I slept so much better that night!  I was spent that day and was so dreading coming down to clean up after I got the girls to bed.   I'd cleaned up in the morning but then we'd had a playdate that went until we had to leave for the play so the house was a mess again.  To my delight, my niece had straightened everything up by the time I came down to watch a show with her.  Her act of service was the best gift anyone could have given me that particular day.  The next morning she had thoughtful gifts (I'll share the awesome vintage Peanuts TV I got in a separate post) for all of us.  Because our gift didn't equal all she gave us, I had to resist to urge to "mistakenly think that the only acceptable way to respond to receiving a gift is by giving back something of even greater value."  And simply be grateful for her thoughtfulness.

I really want to teach the girls to be "good and grateful receivers" and instill the ability to truly be grateful in them.  I think gratitude for whatever and however much we have been blessed with and not worrying about what others have that we don't is KEY to happiness.  

What are your thoughts/tips on teaching to kids this when we live in a world of excess?

December 9th: More Sweets

Sunday I had my freshman friends over for dinner and to make some goodies.  It's fun to have young friends! :)  They got a good "pre-finals" sugar rush. 

Hot Chocolate Truffles

The truffles are pretty simple to make though a bit messy.  The best part was the leftover chocolate in the pan.  Soooo good.

Recipe and photos from Your Cup of Cake blog.  We realized the girls actually knew the blogger.  She's also a BYU student.  I'm very impressed the blogger manages school and her awesome blog.

The truffles would make a darling gift though ours weren't quite as pretty as these.  You could even gift a mug with them.  You simply drop the truffle into warm milk for delicious hot chocolate.

Mint Brownies

 I'm making up for not baking much the past 4 years.  Having a functional kitchen is awesome!  

I found a few mint brownie recipes that looked great.  A couple of them called for the Ghiradelli Brownie mix you can buy at Costco.  The mix was a sample the day I went shopping at Costco that week and I thought the brownies were great.  So I decided to do a version taking ideas from the recipe linked above.  I didn't use peppermint extract in the brownie batter but I'm sure that would make them even better.

Left: Andes peppermint baking chips melted by spreading them on the warm brownies

Middle: White chocolate melted the same way and crushed candy canes

Right:  The buttercream frosting leftover from these

Samara's verdict for best version (and I agreed) was the buttercream frosting.  She made us all and anyone who came one the next day do a taste test and then sort of bullied everyone into agreeing with her. :)

I also want to try this buttercream recipe.

Deer Valley's Lemon Bars

My first season working at Deer Valley, I worked in the bakery.  It was only for about two months but my biggest regret was not "borrowing" all the recipes.  I found out they have a cookbook so I get to keep my honor and sweets.  Yes!  The best part is the book gives high altitude instructions, which really does help the recipes work better here.

If you like lemon bars, you will LOVE these.  They are amazing.  Really and truly amazing, especially for breakfast.  We ate a really healthy soup before we made all of these so that totally makes up for all the treats, right?!

What are your favorite Christmas treats?  Do you the same ones every year or try new ones?