Happy New Year's Eve!

We've got a new game to try out and a movie to enjoy and lots of fun snacks to munch on while we wait to ring in the new year! The children have already emptied their book store gift cards at what has become our annual New Year's Eve book store bash. Thank you, Grammie! As soon as my hubby gets home from picking up a sweet friend at the airport, I will have all of my dearest loves tucked safe inside my home, just where I like them on a night like tonight.


 Happy New Year to you all!

 

Cozy in Momma's Tummy!

Go tell Jennifer congratulations on the new "little project" she's been working on!

 

Ham and Egg Cups

Ham and Egg Cups

1 dozen eggs
24-36 pieces of thinly sliced ham (I like black forest ham best.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease muffin tins. Place two or three slices of ham in each cup spreading out to cover the whole cup. Gently press into cup. Crack one egg in each ham cup. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes. Less time for softer eggs, more time for firmer eggs. (My family prefers firmer eggs.)

My kids eat them just as they are. Husband and I like to toast English muffins and eat them as part of a breakfast sandwich. I have never tried to make them ahead but I think you can as an easy make ahead breakfast sandwich filling.

From the combox:
Kathy says "If you did want to freeze these, you would want to scramble the eggs and then bake, cool & freeze. Egg whites get rubbery upon reheating if the eggs are not mixed (scrambled)."


 

Christmas Morning

Our tradition has always been that the children wake up early on Christmas Day, peek in their stockings to see if good old St. Nick returned and then get ready for morning Mass. It is such a quiet, uncrowded  Mass. The monks at the Abbey who have already said Midnight Mass and celebrated the arrival of the Christ Child are allowed to sleep through their usual 6am call to morning prayer so they join in community to say them right before Mass. It is beautiful to get to hear their chanting as you arrive for Mass on such a special day.

Off to church!

After Mass, the priests are usually still a little sleepy (maybe even a little slaphappy) but very cheerful and happy to socialize. One of the older Hungarian priests told us he was without any hot tamales this year. He made sure we understood that he liked them HOT! Not hot from the oven, HOT as in SPICY!!! Our friend, Fr. R. who grew up in San Francisco very much enjoyed the Ghirardelli chocolates we gave him. He passed the bag around to everyone who walked by saying "These are authentic San Francisco candies!"

We came home, put brunch in the oven (ham and egg cups, toasted English muffins, cinnamon rolls, left over Nutella Dream-Cheese Ball, clementines, biscotti and coffee) and then sat down to open some gifts.

The first gift we open is always the best gift. I usually place all of the baby Jesus's from the nativity sets we have on display (we have too many to count and don't always set them all out) in a wrapped or decorated box. The youngest child gets to open it. Once all of the baby Jesus's are all snug in their mangers, we move on to the other gifts.

My favorite part of the day was when the children opened the stack of books we had picked out for each of them. Some were books they had already read but that we didn't own copies of and some were new surprises. 

A hush fell over the house. 

Not even the tempting call of bigger presents under the tree could pull them away. 

Food however, did get their attention... if they could bring their books.

Everyone loved the other things that had been chosen for them. LEGO sets for the boys and some kitchen things and cookbooks for Shortcake, a play mat for Cupcake. However the best reaction was Sunshine's!

Guess what she wanted for Christmas...

She got it!

Nutella Dream-Cheese Ball

Miss Jennifer is to thank for this inspiration. We made this delightful appetizer to go along with our Christmas Eve mini-pizza buffet. I served it with graham crackers and apple slices. It sure was a hit! I mean, a-grand-slam-out-of-the-park-winning-run-the-Giants-win-the-pennant kind of hit! Yum!!!

Nutella Dream-Cheese Ball

8 ounces, cream cheese, room temperature
¾ cups Nutella
1 cup powdered sugar
⅔ cups mini chocolate chips
⅔ cups toasted chopped hazelnuts (I used almonds.)

Beat cream cheese in stand mixer until smooth. Beat in Nutella until evenly distributed. Slowly beat in powdered sugar. Lay out plastic wrap on a flat surface. Pour the mixture into the plastic wrap. Gather it together into a ball twisting it and secure it with a clothespin or rubber band. Place in a small bowl and refrigerate or freeze for at least two hours. While the ball is chilling, combine nuts and mini chocolate chips. Once fully chilled, roll it in the chocolate chips and nuts to coat. Serve immediately or wrap again in clean plastic and chill until ready to serve. Serve with graham crackers or fruit.

Christmas Tree Bleg

Katherine's comment below reminded me that we are considering getting a larger Christmas tree for next year and now would be a good time to snag one on clearance. We think our space can handle an eight or nine foot artificial tree. Pre-lit is not a must, or is it? You tell me, we've never had one. I don't have time to go from store to store so I'm hoping someone can point me towards a good online sale or a for sure in-store deal at a store that would be in my area...someplace I could call or run in to quickly.

Any suggestions?

 

Christmas Eve

Making cookies...

Found here via Cay Gibson on FB. Thank you, Miss Cay!

Decorating the tree...

That would be my 13 year old son right there. Yes, sigh, we need a bigger tree!

Roaring fire on the television...

I put this on as a joke for the kids since our weather was very un-chestnuts-roasting-on-an-open-fire-ish. They were fascinated by it! Ooohhh, look at the sparks. Hey Mom, the third log finally caught on fire. Crazy kids!

 

We had Midnight Mass at the Vatican streaming on the computer in the other room. It was a very relaxing evening. Everyone went to bed excited to wake up, head to Mass to delight in our Savior's birth and then come home to enjoy the generosity of the season.

 

Christmas Cracker Cookies

I wanted to post this recipe here to that we can find it easily later. We made these cookies on Christmas Eve and it was so easy, the girls did mostly everything themselves. We played with different toppings... crushed candy canes, white non-pareils, toasted almond and mini-chocolate chips, marshmallows and sprinkles, so we opted to give them a new name. They were all good!

Christmas Cracker Cookies

8 - 10 graham crackers separated into individual pieces
12 oz - milk chocolate almond bark (half of a 24 oz block)

toppings:
crushed candy canes, mini-chocolate chips, chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc...

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or waxed paper. Melt chocolate according to directions. Dip one piece of graham cracker into melted chocolate. Using a fork, lift cracker out of chocolate and gently shake to allow excess to drip off. Place cracker on parchment paper and sprinkle with topping. Allow the chocolate to firm up again and enjoy!

 

Merry Christmas!

Thank you all for your gifts of love, friendship, and prayerful support throughout this past year. May God bless each and every one of you this year and for many years to come.

The best gift!

 

Outtakes

 

 

A Future Homemaker's Kris Kringle

BigBoy drew Shortcake's name in the family Kris Kringle draw. She has been loving her new role as primary kitchen helper since Cupcake was born. She has made several batches of pumpkin bread, banana bread and even surprised her siblings with a batch of Daddy's famous chocolate chip cookies. BigBoy gave her a HUGE hug for that act of service!

So he and I came up with an idea to decorate a recipe box for her. I thought we'd be able to find just a plain wooden box for him to paint but we had no luck in our craft stores. Jewelry boxes, yes, but no recipe boxes. So we opted for this photo storage box on sale at Hobby Lobby. He drew a picture for her to decorate the front and chose some recipe cards with puppies on them. I printed off the pumpkin bread and cookie recipes for her and made some dividers from some cardstock we already had. I added a bag of chocolate chips from the pantry to let her know that he would appreciate if she would put her new gift to good use... soon!

I won't be able to post the girls' gifts to their brothers because they are already wrapped and hidden away. Sunshine chose this map of middle earth poster (it was less than $5 when we ordered it but it looks like it's gone up a little) for The Professor along with a pair of fingerless gloves that she knit for him. Shortcake found a Family Circus comic book for BigBoy. He loves The Family Circus and was sad when we told him that Bil Keane passed away last month. It's a used copy, since most are out of print, but my kids don't mind. A new book is a new book even if it's been owned before.

 

A Christmas Manger by H. A. Rey

A Christmas Manger by H. A. Rey

If you are all done with your Christmas shopping, then put this on your list for next year right now because you are going to love this book! It arrived the other day for my children from their Grandma and Grandpa (Sean's mom and dad). I think we will save it and put it together for the O Emmanuel Antiphon night.

Who doesn't love H. A. Rey's books? Of course, there are his Curious George books but his Find the Constellations is also a favorite around here. This book, A Christmas Manger, tells the story of Christ's birth using text from the gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke and includes a punch out and fold manger scene complete with all the key characters, a stand alone manger and even chickens in beautiful H. A. Rey illustrations! That's right... no cutting, no gluing, no paper doll tabs, just punch out and fold. It even has pockets inside to hold the pieces once it's time to pack it away. It was originally published in 1942 and if they are smart, they will continue to publish it for years to come. I want to give copies to my grandchildren someday!