I'm Happy

I often imagine what Christmastime will look like long before the day ever arrives. I wonder if the kids will be happy and if it will snow. I visualize where I'll put the tree and where to display cards. I always think of the big picture, not the little stuff.

When the day finally arrives it turns out that the smallest moments are the ones that fill my heart most of all. Watching my children play happily at the park is always a good way to start the day.

 

We went to the Woodland Park Zoo and as I was photographing the children jumping across large boulders a man walked over and said, almost in a fatherly way, "Get in there, I'll take the picture." I did what I was told, handed over my camera, and put on a big happy face.

And I really was happy.

The big cozy scarf is a Christmas gift from my mom. It's cableknit and it kept me super warm. Thanks mom for another much needed winter accessory. I love it.

We played at the Zoo and for the most part smiled the entire time. That is, until Alex took a wee tumble off of the play structure.

Alex put on a good sad face for us. In the end, she was just fine, not a scratch on her. She was off and running again no problem.

In between the outdoor fun, the girls had some quiet time in front of the TV.

Jon bought me a new camera for my birthday/Christmas present. Alex is reading up on how to operate the dang thing.

While I hoped for snow, we didn't get any. Instead we got a beautiful blue sky which made spending the days at the park and Zoo so much more enjoyable.

A few days before Christmas we went inside for some snow.

These small moments were the highlights of my Christmas. I hope you too found joy in some of the small moments happening in your life.

Gingerbread Boy Pancakes

A few days before Christmas I asked Sammy what she wanted for breakfast on Christmas morning. She said she'd like gingerbread pancakes. Knowing my girls, I figured I better stick with our normal pancake recipe and instead just make the pancakes in the shape of a gingerbread boy. {I'm positive that the taste of gingerbread first thing in the morning would not have gone over very well}.

The girls decorated their gingerbread boys with mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Had I put more thought into this project I would have bought cranberries, blueberries and other stuff for decorating. I had raisins and forgot to put those out. Even still, the girls had fun. Oh, and the syrup was the glue that held everything in place.

Isn't he cute?

Holiday Tea

Holiday Tea at the Queen Mary for Sammy and friends.

Tea at home for Alex and her friends.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Shortbread

Coming to you once again from the pages of Sunset Magazine, December 2009 edition, only this time with a Shortbread Cookie recipe. This cookie may look like a lot of work but it really isn't. I probably made mine a little too fat and a little too large. I don't own a round cookie cutter so to cut the circles, I used a regular drinking glass which now I think was too large around. Anyways, that's really neither here nor there as this recipe taste good at any size. Enjoy.

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 cup cold unsalted butter cubed
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325. Mix flour, butter, sugar and salt in a bowl of an electric mixer on low speed until just blended. Increase speed to medium and mix until dough is no longer crumbly and just comes together.

Form dough into a disk, and chill 30 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough 1/8 in. thick. Cutout cookie using either a round cookie cutter or glass. Make sure you have an equal number of each shape to form a top and bottom. Reroll scraps as needed. Arrange cookies 1 in. apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Chill on sheets 15 minutes; then bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool. Spread each whole cookie with about 1/2 tsp. raspberry preserves. Sprinkle powdered sugar over cut-out cookie tops.

Cookie Decorating Party

My friend Lori threw a spectacular Cookie Decorating Party yesterday and it was so relaxing and fun {no kids, no men folk -- just us ladies}. Lori had everything done before the guests arrived. She baked somewhere around 8 dozen cookies {both gingerbread and sugar}of all shapes and sizes.

Lori had each guest bring cookie decorating sprinkles and icing.

I love this idea. Lori filled these bottles with the Royal Icing she made. It made cookie decorating mess free. I'm stealing this idea by the way. I think my girls will have a better time with these rather than using pastry bags.

Everyone participated. With so many cookie decorators involved we managed to put together a beautiful assortment of colorful cookies.

 

At the end of the night we each got to take home the cookies we decorated.

Here's one I made. I'd show you the others but they are sad and pathetic looking. I think this one was my best work.

Someone more creative did these. I love the dresses and hair.

Thanks Lori for the fun afternoon. You did a great job putting this together and I can't wait until you do it again. Next year perhaps?

Teddy Bear Suite

Yesterday I celebrated my 40th birthday. It was to be a low-key event spent with my two girls and hubby. To kick things off, we took the girls to The Fairmont Olympic Hotel located in downtown Seattle to see the Teddy Bear Suite. {Just because it was my birthday, I didn't want the day to be all about me and instead wanted to do something the entire family would enjoy.}

We thought surprising the girls with a trip to the Teddy Bear Suite would be a grand treat and instead the girls were less than impressed. While many other children there embraced the room, my girls did not.

My heart sank. You know that scene in Tarantino's Kill Bill when David Carradine gets hit with the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique by Uma Thurman he clutches his chest in disbelief and then slowly descends to the grown in agony. Well, my trip to the Teddy Bear Suite felt a little like that. I was almost in tears. I wanted to scream at my girls, "Today is my birthday and you're supposed to be enjoying this festive event!!"

The girls finally loosened up a little bit to take a picture with dad and enormous teddy.

After I picked my heart up, scraped it off and placed it back into my chest, I decided to just enjoy the moment. I started snapping pictures of every teddy bear I spotted, Christmas tree and decoration. I was going to absorb it all even if they weren't.

Who wouldn't want to set their peepers on a bathroom like this, huh?

We finally left the suite passing by the Nutcrackers before getting on the elevator. Good-bye Teddy Bear Suite That Only Comes But Once A Year And So Everyone Should Enjoy It While It Lasts.

We moved on to the lobby where there were plenty more decorations.

The Georgian Room. {This is where they serve the posh Georgian Holiday Tea} I took Sammy here when she was about 4 years old. It was so much fun.

A view of the lobby. At the bottom center of this image you can almost see the gingerbread city of Paris.

Before exiting the building we stopped at the cozy fireplace where Santa is checking the naughty/nice list.

The girls wanted nothing to do with posing for a picture with me and Santa so I had to go it alone. After this photo, we went home.

And what did I learn from this experience? My husband said it best, "Maya, you have an image in your head about how you want things to be and when they're not exactly the way you imagined it, you get very upset." He's right. I do. I do want everything to be picture perfect and I feel crushed when it isn't. I wanted my girls to walk into that room and gush, "OH MOMMY! WE LOVE IT SO MUCH! THANK YOU!" And when they didn't I made a pouting face {did I mention that I turned 40?}. I shouldn't have behaved that way and I certainly shouldn't have been upset.

I started off by saying that yesterday wasn't about me and yet it didn't turn out that way. Shame on me. But hurray for me for learning a lesson. My kids {and husband} continue to teach me something every day.

In the end I enjoyed a wonderful birthday. I even got cake with a bottle of extra cold milk from Icon Grill.

 

Tomorrow I'll tell you about the cookie decorating party that I attended earlier today. Have a good night.

1969 Was A Long Time Ago

Happy Birthday to me. . .

Scrabble Food

Always around this time of year I think endlessly about board games. My brothers and I used to play tons of them. I remember playing Battleship, Monopoly, Sorry and Life at the dining room table and Scrabble on the coffee table or on the shag carpet or outside on the front porch when the weather was nice. In fact, I still have my Scrabble game from way back when.

I busted this out a couple of weeks ago to show my oldest daughter how to play. She loves it by the way.

So you can imagine my joy when Nanny brought these home.

You may have seen these already but I hadn't until yesterday.

Now during snack time we can feed our bellies and our minds. Cool.

Tears On A Rainy Day

Alex has an ear infection. I got the phone call from our nanny while I was sitting at my desk in my downtown office. I felt so helpless but I knew Nanny would be able to handle the situation on her own -- she's dealt with worse. After a little Children's Tylenol and a few minutes of rest. {Yes minutes because her ear ached so much that she couldn't sleep}. 

Once I got home from work she was feeling a bit better but hadn't eaten much all day. She's entirely miserable the poor thing. And I'm sure the dark, rainy day didn't help much either.

Later in the evening when Alex was able to doze off on the sofa, she awoke, wailing with tears running down her face. And like the crazy blog lady that I've become, I started snapping pictures of her which only made it worse. I won't share those images with you as I'm sure they'll break you're heart.

Instead I waited until she was asleep for sure -- snug in her bottom bunk. Her face still a little moist from the tears.

Doctor gave us ear drops which I've tried to drop in every hour. Our girls have never had an ear infection before so this is totally new to us.

Alex asked if I would read her a story while she lay in bed. I thought Pinkalicious might be a good one considering it always makes her smile but she fell asleep before it ended. Little did I know that her big sister was listening in on our little storytime so I finished the story with an audience nonetheless.

Sammy requested that I include her in the blog post too. So here she is. What a ham. HA!

I do hope that Alex feels much better tomorrow. If not, we've got antibiotics to manage the pain. Wish us luck.

Holiday Chocolate Decadence Cookies

Tonight I'm off to a parent meeting/potluck social and I'm bringing with me Chocolate Decadence Cookies. {The name really suits these treats.} The chocolate is dense and the peppermint patty icing is refreshing. The recipe comes from the most current Sunset Magazine but the glazing comes from a Sunset Magazine version of the very same cookie from 2007. {Yes, I do keep many magazines as I like to go back and look at recipes}.

On Saturday my friend Cristin hosted a fabulous holiday open house where she had these cookies. She stuck to the most current Sunset Magazine version and used the peppermint patty icing between two cookies and then rolled the edges around in crushed candy cane. They looked marvelous this way too. I suggest doing an assortment of both versions for a little cookie drama.

Chocolate Decadence Cookies

Ingredients

10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks

3 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

Put chocolate and butter in a medium bowl and set over a pan filled with 1 in. simmering water. Cook, stirring occasionally, until melted, then remove from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in eggs and sugar, mixing until combined. Then whisk in flour, baking powder, and salt. Chill dough, covered, until firm, about 2 hours.

Let dough sit at room temperature 15 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat over to 350 and line baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1 tbsp. portions of dough, rolling each into a ball, and put onto cookie sheet 1 in. apart. BE SURE TO PRESS DOWN ON THE COOKIES. The recipe doesn't say to do this but if you don't, they'll come out too fat. I learned this trick from Cristin.

Bake cookies until they no longer look wet on top, about 8 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet before transferring onto wire rack.

Peppermint Patty Icing

Ingredients

3 cups powdered sugar

4 tbsp. milk

3/4 tsp. peppermint extract

Sunset Living in the West, December 2009.

Christmas Ornaments . . .

Yesterday we finally got our tree. Hurray!! I've been dying for one since Thanksgiving.

Everytime we travel to Lincoln City, Oregon {usually in the summer} we always stop by the Christmas store to buy ornaments. We each pick one out and then when we're back home, we store them away until Christmastime. Yesterday I pulled out the ones we bought this past summer and it was like seeing them for the first time.

This is the ornament Sammy selected. It suits her personality to a tee.

You probably guessed that this one belongs to Alex. Alex remains the silliest and most fun loving out of all of us so no wonder she picked the Groovy Bus ornament.

This is the one that I selected. This ornament comes from Russia where it was hand painted using tiny little brushes. I'm going to miss it when it's time to take the tree down.