It's a Wrap!

Christmas 2011 is in the books.  Since we were flying to M*ss. on Christmas morning, we opened our presents on Christmas Eve morning.  I wanted Sarah to have a chance to play with her toys before we left.  Her big present from us was a play kitchen, and she loves it!  She went right to work cooking, washing dishes, and organizing.  She had a few other small gifts, including her annual cloisonne ornament from China.  This year's was a panda. 

We went to church in the afternoon.  She looked so grown up in her dress!

Christmas morning, she was excited to get downstairs to see what Santa brought.  After opening her stocking, she tried out her new shopping cart.

The day was surprisingly low-key.  We left home around 10:00 for the short drive to the airport.  Both of our flights were uneventful and arrived early.  Sarah is a seasoned flyer and did wonderfully.  Although I packed lots of distractions, I pulled out very few, as she entertained herself quite easily with the brochures in the seat pocket and the cup and straw from her drink.  We arrived at my mom's in time for a late dinner.

We celebrated Christmas with my family on the 26th.  It was controlled chaos, as usual, and we all had a great time.  Sarah said grace at dinner -- "Thank you for the food we eat; thank you for the birds that sing; thank you God for everything" -- I was so proud!  Afterward, she and her cousins worked on their new Lego projects at the table (yes, it's in the living room -- it wouldn't be a holiday at my mom's house without hauling out the huge old hardwood table).

Sarah had four days of fun with her Grammy, cousins, aunts, and uncles.  She did her best to keep the boys in line, telling them, "Relax!" when they got a little wild.  I went out with some friends from high school one evening, and Don and I saw "The Descend*nts" one afternoon -- awesome movie, and not just because George Cl**ney is in every scene, although that doesn't hurt.  We had a yummy lobster dinner our last night there.  It was a wonderful trip.

Now we're settling back in and headed into one of my favorite times of year -- the winter doldrums.  I love the lull between Christmas and spring when I can catch up on neglected projects and maybe even enjoy some down time in the sunroom.  I'm looking forward to using my new favorite chair (a Christmas present from my thoughtful husband) while Sarah cooks dinner. :)

More Advent-ures

We've had a busy couple of weeks, with trips to see Grandma and Grandpa and Emily, Omar, and Sophia and a visit from Rachel.  Tomorrow, we're off to M*ss. to see my family.  Merry Christmas, Everyone!

Sarah showing the ornament Grandma made her (Grandma is recovering well from emergency brain surgery on Halloween)

Sophia and Sarah with Sophia's iPod

Sarah and Sophia ready for breakfast

Sarah playing Emily's piano

Sarah helping me wrap presents -- she had to fold all the corners (note the fashionable footwear)

Our hearth

Sarah's stocking -- I added some bling this year

Sarah and Big Sister Rachel

Rachel, Sarah, and Mom baking cookies

Sarah decorating cookies with Dad

Rachel, Sarah, and Dad with some of the finished product

Sarah and Dad at R*tary Lights in La Cr*sse

Sarah and one of Santa's reindeer at R*tary Lights

Mom and Sarah at R*tary Lights

Advent-ures

Everyone should have a three-year-old at Christmas-time!  Sarah is definitely into the spirit of the season this year.  She's focused on the festive activities, instead of the gifts, which Mom appreciates (and knows won't last forever).  When asked what she would like Santa to bring, she consistently replies, "A cow."  (Donkeys, goats, and chickens aren't enough for this Midwestern girl.) 

She is gradually warming to the idea of Santa.  When we passed him at the mall a few weeks ago, she gave him a wide berth and wouldn't even wave to him.  I printed a Santa Advent calendar off the Internet, and we've been adding a cotton ball to his beard every day.  On the first day, I explained that, when we get to #24, Santa will come that night and leave her presents.  "To our HOUSE???" she replied, horror-stricken.  I told her he would come downstairs, while she was asleep in her bed upstairs, and she wouldn't see him.  She was only slightly reassured.  Now, when she hears his name, she brightens and repeats it warmly.

We cut our tree last weekend and put it up Thursday.  I decided this was the year to bite the bullet and replace all of our lights with LEDs.  Our tree is a bit slimmer than usual, and it's packed with lights -- so pretty!  Sarah enjoyed hanging ornaments -- mostly on one branch, of course.

Sarah's favorite carol is Jingle Bells, which we listen to over and over daily.  For some reason, she's taken to a small book called Christmas Abundance, which I put out on the coffee table mostly for decoration.  It's definitely not a child's book, but she likes to flip through the pages and point to certain words.  The other night, she turned to the hymn O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  I sang it, terribly off-key, and she loved it.  She now brings me the book, and I sing while she does a funny interpretive dance that looks an awful lot like Tai Chi.

We've been baking Christmas cookies, which she loves (the process and the product).  I decided to try P*anut Blossoms (my all-time favorite).  Yesterday morning, I set her up at the counter to unwrap the Kisses while I rolled the dough into balls for baking.  I told her she could have one Kiss, then naively turned my back.  After about the fourth time of her asking, "Can you see me, Mom?" I turned around to check her progress and found she had taken bites from most of the Kisses in the bowl.  She's a master of semantics already!

We start celebrating with family this week, when we visit Grandma and Grandpa in the Tw*n Cities for a day and spend the weekend with Omar, Emily, and Sophia near Madison.  Next week, Rachel is coming for a couple of days.  We're flying to Mass. on Christmas Day for a week with Grammy, aunts (plural, now!), uncles, and cousins.  Ho, ho, ho!!!

The "Looking for Santa" photo-- I took one like this last year and decided it should be an annual shot.

(That's straight peanut butter on the spatula, not cookie dough.)





Thanksgiving

Okay, I'm a little behind....

This year, we spent Thanksgiving at home and were fortunate to have some new friends join us.  Mary Ann, Martin, and 15-month-old Emmett brought just the right amount of warmth and excitement to the house.  Sarah stressed for days beforehand about Emmett playing with her toys, but, when he arrived, she was gracious and big-sisterly.  She showed Martin and "Baby Emmett" her field guides and read a book to Emmett.  It was a lovely afternoon.

Embracing Her Swedish Heritage

This morning it was time for my least favorite Christmas tradition -- making Swedish sausage.  As someone (Otto von Bismarck, according to Google) said about laws and sausages: it's best not to see them being made.  That goes double if you're a vegetarian. 

I grew up a hard-core carnivore.  My family raised all its own beef, pork, chicken, and turkey.  Many of the animals had names and were still referred to by them at the dinner table.  I have warm memories of my father butchering (that's cutting up, not killing) meat on the big cutting board that also served as our kitchen table, while my mom, siblings, and I ground hamburger and packaged steaks and roasts. 

Over the last 30 years, however, I have moved steadily away from eating meat, first because I didn't know its origins, the way I had as a child, then for health reasons, and finally, in recent years, for environmental and sociopolitical reasons.  So, I'm not crazy about processing it in my own kitchen.

Ironically, Swedish sausage is mostly vegetables -- 10 lbs. potatoes, 2 lbs. onions, 2 lbs. beef, and 1 lb. pork -- and I think it's the potatoes that make it particularly unappetizing and messy to make.  They also turn a disgusting gray when the sausage is cooked, lending it a putrefied look.  It's obvious the Swedes eat to live, versus living to eat.  If you need further proof, do a search on "lutfisk."

Our first Christmas together, Don hauled out the century-old sausage press passed down from his mom and cheerfully announced, "Time to make Swedish sausage."  He set about peeling potatoes and onions and running them through the meat grinder with the ground pork and hamburger.  Then, he pulled out the salted pig intestines (euphemistically called casings), washed them, and cut them to length.  Next, he filled the press with the mixture, slipped a casing on the spout, and asked me to turn the crank.  Soon, we had a pan filled with pudgy sausages, resembling a snake hibernaculum.  Thus, was I initiated to a Hultman family tradition.

Given my distaste for everything Swedish sausage, I was happy to pass the baton to Sarah this year, who accepted it with gusto.  She not only enjoys the process but also relishes the end result.  The bland sausages are about as far from the spicy food of her birth country as you can get, but she loves them.  She and Don were all smiles as they shared a fresh sausage for lunch.  Meanwhile, I savored my yogurt parfait and bran muffin.  :)