Simply Festive

I’m trying to simplify this year. With my youngest child being a middle schooler, that automatically simplifies the whole Christmas thing. Santa finds prepping gifts for teens and adults a lot less complicated, although it is generally more expensive. I’ve also tried to simplify the many activities I have planned in the past as well as my cooking and baking plans. I still made our top favorite cookies, but I won’t be making six extra kinds on top of those. We purchased small things for a modest number of neighbor gifts instead of giving something hand made to nearly the entire neighborhood. We haven’t planned a ton of outings, and I didn’t even make a new Christmas tree ornament this year (although we did have half a dozen collected on our travels throughout this year.) Pretty much, I took what is most important to us and have ditched the rest.

Having said that, I can’t just eliminate the fun food aspect of the holiday season because I love fun food! However, I did take things down a notch by using canned crescent rolls instead of homemade bread dough to make our pigs-in-a-blanket wreath. And since Malia has decided that she likes loves asparagus now, there were plenty of options suitable for our simple veggie tree. 

The ironic thing is that Malia was actually not here for dinner this evening. I plan my menus a week at a time and frequently plan special meals even further in advance than that, so this meal has been on the docket for a while now. I chose this evening based on the fact that Matthew was actually here for dinner, which has been a rare occurrence of late. Malia received a somewhat last-minute invite to accompany a friend to the aquarium and have pizza for dinner afterward, so she was unexpectedly away for our festive supper. When I shared a picture of our fun food in our family group chat, this was her response:

So goes growing up. You aren’t always here for Mom’s fun stuff even though I try my best to plan around the kiddos’ schedules. Luckily for her, there are plenty of ingredients left to make more pigs for a later meal.

Simply Cute

In days gone by, Christmas cookie making days were a marathon event, especially sugar cookie days. All the kids wanted to help and as every mother everywhere knows, things take five times longer with kids as helpers. In past years, the dough has been mixed and chilled, the cookies cut and baked, the frosting whipped but not colored, and at the end of the day one very tired mother left the dishes piled up for the father to wash when he got home from work. And it was all a bunch of glorious fun. Every cookie cutter in the bin was used at least once. Many of the cookies were slightly deformed by just a little too much contact with warm little fingers. The dough was rolled and rerolled many times as the concept of cutting cookies as close together as possible was still a nebulous concept. And nearly as many scraps ended up in little mouths as in the pile to reroll. It really was an all-day adventure. 

Today was my sugar cookie day. All the kids were at school and based on a previous conversation, there were only a few cookie cutters in play. I rolled the dough, cut the cookies, rerolled and repeated until all the cookies were cut. As the finished cookies started coming out of the oven, I looked at the clock and was stunned to discover that I had only been in the kitchen for an hour. Yup. Solid proof that cookie baking time increases exponentially with each child involved. 

With so much more time available than planned, I not only whipped the frosting, I colored some. And then I decorated cookies to be consumed for our FHE treat this evening. And it was fun! A different kind of fun than cooking with kids, but the kind of cute food fun that I love. And once the cookies were all decked out, I shared the pictures with our family group chat. Because my family knows me, and they always appreciate my gastronomical endeavors. And this was the ensuing conversations:

And I meant every word. Grownups only cookie days lead to cuter cookies, but kids on hand cookie days lead to sweeter memories. And the fact that Nathan snort laughed in public totally made my day!

The Reason Why

I have spent the past sixteen years learning how to cook for Matthew. There was definitely a learning curve early on, but over the years it has become easier to navigate the world of allergen free cooking. Along the way, I’ve had many opportunities to share what I’ve learned with other people who are in varying stages of their allergy journeys. The allergy mama in me is always looking for ways to ease the road these food allergy kids travel, to help them feel included, to give them a bit of normalcy. And that is why I make the effort for my kids as well as other kids who cross my path. And every once in a while, I get a peek into just how much a simple thing can make a difference in the life of a child.

One of the girls in my primary activity group has very recently needed to go dairy free. Her allergy testing says she isn’t allergic, but she isn’t tolerating dairy well at all so they are thinking it is an intolerance and are avoiding all milk products so she doesn’t feel sick all the time. As I prepared a little Christmas gift for the girls, it took me all of about 2 minutes to assemble a dairy free hot chocolate mix to replace the Swiss Miss the other girls got. But it made an impact in her life and her mom was sweet enough to share that moment with me.

And that is why I do it. Even when it takes me longer than 2 minutes. 

Caloric Torment

There are pros and cons to having older siblings that live away from home. Cons include not having them around for all your performances and important events. Pros include fewer pile ups in the bathroom and having your own room. Matthew and Malia discovered a new pro today: Christmas cookie taunting. It was a virtual “neener neener.” Luckily for those older boys of mine, I will be stashing some in the freezer to be eaten when they come home for Christmas. 😂

His Height Grew Three Sizes That Day

Daniel and Nathan are very active in their ward. Just like when they are here, they are always ready and willing to be the ones who show up to help. Their ward Christmas party was this evening and Nathan got tagged teamed for a vital role. The bishop’s son was going to dress up as the Grinch but when he got called into work, Nathan got called into action. He didn’t volunteer, but when asked, he was willing to step in. He is such a good sport!

What Makes a House a Home

 Daniel and Nathan have heartily enjoyed having their own apartment with roommates they selected rather than living in the dorms with the “luck of the draw” roomies. They have settled in well over the past four months and to them, Logan is now home, and my home is where they visit. I’m totally ok with that, by the way. As Kev says, “Home is where your stuff is.” And as I say, “Home is where your life is.” And Logan is the answer to both of those things for my two oldest sons. When they were home (my home that is 😁) for Thanksgiving, they informed us that they intended to buy a cheap Christmas tree for their apartment. As soon as they got back to Logan after the last of the family Thanksgiving gatherings, they headed to the Walmart. Once they returned home with their tree, they turned on “A Muppet Christmas Carol” and began to deck the halls of their little abode. Over the past week they have shared their progress, and it has been fun to see! For a while Daniel’s Tardis ornament was the only one on their tree, but a visit to Hobby Lobby and some crafting with markers and garbage (because according to Nathan, they are too poor for anything else) filled out their décor. 

Nathan also left Herriman with his very own Pringles can sized Christmas tree. Daniel got a similar package on his mission, but Nathan returned home from Texas without spending a Christmas season away. I’m a huge fan of planning in advance though, so his tree was pretty much complete by the time he came home. He was living at home last Christmas, so he didn’t need his own little tree. I tucked it away and gave it to him this year which means he has a tiny tree all his own on his desk as well.

I’m so glad they are making their house a home! The years when my roomies and I liked each other enough to decorate and dig into the holidays like that were generally better years, so I take their desire to decorate as proof that they are happy with their living arrangements. 

Old-Timer

Daniel has officially entered the realm of adulthood. It’s not that he wasn’t considered a legal adult when he turned 18 or that he could have gotten legally drunk at 21, but at the ripe old age of 23, he has begun making his own birthday cake. I’ve been doing that for years so that I can get exactly what I want and then share it with my food allergy kids, but Daniel has not needed to bake for himself all that often. But today he pulled out the recipe and made his all-time favorite Swedish Swirl Cake to celebrate his special day. And because they are roommates, Nathan got to share Daniel’s creation. I don’t know if being 23 makes Daniel feel old, but having Daniel turn 23 definitely makes me feel old!

In addition to cake (and a birthday present that will be delivered tomorrow that Daniel doesn’t know about yet),  Nathan convinced the bishopric to sing “You’ve Had a Birthday” to Daniel in Sunday School, so we have been reassured that Daniel was sufficiently celebrated. 😂

Christmas Time is Here

One of the few perks of having late church (we much prefer going to church first thing in the morning) is the fact that we can go downtown and watch Music and the Spoken Word live without playing hooky from our ward. We went down once earlier this year when the performance was held in the tabernacle and went again today so that we could attend a performance in the conference center. The First Presidency Christmas Devotional is this evening, so the conference center was all decked out for the holidays. It was a fantastic way to start our Sabbath and the Christmas season!