Auld Lang Syne

The last week has been a whirlwind of presents, parties, overflowing plates of scrumptious food, playing with new toys, loading my sparkling new iPod with an entire lifetime of music (YAY!!), watching many movies and sleeping in.

And here we are, the last few hours of 2009. Its been a hard year for many people. I'm feeling so very fortunate to be here, happy and healthy and looking forward to all the things 2010 will bring - Dylan turning 7, Logan turning 4. Creating more memories and many laughs with our wonderful family and friends.

Its my goal this coming year, to live inthe moment of each day and truly enjoy the simple, wonderful things in life.

And so here are some of the highlights of our Christmas holiday this last week of 2009. May you have a wonderful journey into the New Year!

The boys set out cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve...

Santa came! Santa came! (We weren't always sure if he would...)

Christmas vests in front of Grandma Lynn's tree..

Someone's in the kitchen with Grandpa Robby. Its Josh, Logan and Maya!

My Mom and Robby

Jay (my stepsister Heathers' husband) my brother Chris, and Andrew

Here we are, The Lopresti Four

Merry Christmas

"Our hearts grow tender with childhood memories and love of kindred, and we are better throughout the year for having, in spirit, become a child again at Christmas-time."

~Laura Ingalls Wilder

Merry Christmas. May you and yours plunge into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice.

pumpkin bread

The level of excitement is increasing every minute. 36 hours from now, the kids will be rolling in a pile of discarded gift wrap, in a complete and utter toy coma.

I figured I better make a nice quick breakfast bread to sustain them through the frenzy.

I found this recipe on one of my favorite recipes sites, All Recipes dot com.

Utterly delicious, moist and makes three loaves. Buy the 3-pack of foil loaf pans in the baking aisle. This makes the perfect amount of batter to fill them and make 3 perfectly scrumptious loaves of goodness.

Decadent Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray three 7x3 inch foil loaf pans with non-stick spary.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 - 60 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Enjoy plain, or toasted and topped with a little butter or cream cheese. Wrap extra loaves in foil and place in ziploc bag to freeze and pull out after the holidays, too.

naughty or nice?

We've been encouraging good behavior around here with reminders that Santa Is Watching Your Every Move (Buster)! My friend sent me a link to make personalized videos for our boys, and they are rather convincing.

Here is the video for Dylan. And here is the one for Logan.

I love how their eyes grow huge as they see their photos in Santa's book. And as we are still snowbound in our house and getting a little stir crazy, I have a feeling I'll be needing to pull these videos out more than once to remind them SANTA IS WATCHING!

snow-arific

We got somewhere between 20 and 24 inches, but whose counting? It took four snow shoveling sessions to get the driveway and sidewalk cleared. Sledding was a no-go yesterday as the wind was blowing too hard and the fluffy stuff was just, well, too fluffy.

These two photos were taken yesterday at about the halfway point of the accumulation.

Today, however, the sun is shining, the snow has stopped and thanks to the local teens at the sledding hill, the slopes were packed into nice paths by the time we arrived (sans camera, so it wouldn't get smashed).

Here is the scene around our house. Assuming this sticks around for the week, we're going to have a white Christmas for the first time I can remember in many years.

With a little help from the front yard snow mountain, Dylan is as tall as our lamp post.


Kid Bliss.

Christmas House.

Swirly roof snow.

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies

You know when its a Paula Deen recipe, its going to be good. I made fudge earlier this week, and with the snow piling up outside today, it was pretty cozy to whip up these cookies this morning. I saw the recipe - white chocolate, cherries, two of my favorites combined. Delicious!

snow what?

In the Metro section of the Washington Post today, usually a serious newspaper, this is how the weather forecast reads:

"It’s going to snow. For hours and hours. Snow in the morning. Snow in the afternoon. Some of it will be heavy; some, moderate. By tonight, the snow will start tapering off. But by then, it will hardly matter. Totals could reach 22 inches, 10 on the low end. Hope you bought milk and bread."

This will be the deepest snow the boys have ever seen (Andrew included), 20 inches or more. We may have to build an igloo village in our front yard. Grandpa Joe is here visiting, he can help.

Photos will come later this weekend.

spirit of the season

Unbelievably, they're predicting a pretty major amount of snow here starting tonight through Sunday. I can't remember ever having two big snows here before Christmas. With Christmas copious amounts of snow predicted, I spent the morning waiting in line at Super Target and Costco, along with half of our counties' population. And I have to admit I felt a little ridiculous out there with all the panicking people, buying milk and eggs and bread and TP and hot cocoa. But seriously, I was really out of those things, okay? And I would have been going to buy them today regardless of a snow prediction or not.

And boy, does this holiday/snow rush bring out the best in some people and the worst in others. I got cut off in parking lots several times, cut in front of in line at Costco, and it seemed everywhere I went people were Invading My Personal Space! Ugh.

But a friend of mine told of a different experience she had today at the Post Office. Standing in a huge line to mail packages with her 2-year old, a woman a few people in front of her in line actually bought her stamps for her. A complete stranger. Isn't that wonderful? There are kind people in this world, even this time of the year.

I also read this story in the Washington Post yesterday and it’s really a heart warmer. Especially at this time of the year, when it’s easy to get caught up in your own whirlwind of insanity. I am reminding myself to take time and enjoy every minute of the holidays... they go by so fast and there are so many memories to be made with the people we love.

Happy Holidays!

a queen Christmas

Just stopping in for a quick second between party planning, gift wrapping, homework, fudge making, gift wrapping, holiday card addressing, volunteering in the class and working and....

Christmas is a mere 9 days away and other than a few stocking items, I'm in pretty good shape (mentally, not physically *see Chex Mix recipe*). Winter Wonderland went off splendidly this past weekend at D's school. The only problem was, I was so tired I pretty much felt like I had a hangover for three days afterwards. A small price to pay for being part of such a fun event for the kids. Then it was time to throw the MOMS Club holiday party which was on such a smaller scale than the WW event, it felt like cake.

Now we're heading into the boys' school holiday parties. Dylan's is this Friday and even though I'm not his room mom this year, I'll be helping with the party. Its always fun, loud, and crazy to go into his class and spend an hour or two with 25 mostly wild but all very cute and sweet first graders. Today when I was volunteering at school, one of D's classmates told me a whole (somewhat disconnected) story about how his Dad used to have a weinreimer but he had to go to the Vietnam War. "Your Dad?," I asked. "No, the dog!" he replied looking at me like I was totally clueless.

And then there's Logan's party this coming Monday. They'll have a holiday program in the church sanctuary first, followed by a class party. Very little has been disclosed about this program; the teachers have been very secretive about it all. So the other day, we asked Logan what song he's singing at his concert. And wouldn't you know, he promptly answered, in all seriousness, "We Will Rock You". And after I stopped laughing, I could just picture it, an entire stage of three year olds rockin' the house Freddie Mercury style. Hmmmm, maybe I need to modify his outfit from a nice festive sweater to something more like this? Do they sell pleather pants in a 3T?

Grandma Unklesbay's Party Mix

Some recipes just never get pulled out until the holiday season and quite frankly, become a completely holiday tradition in and of themselves. This is that one for my family. Since I was a kid, my Moms' Mom made this every single year...it was as much as a part of Christmas as stockings and Santa. My Mom makes it every year, and got Andrew addicted to it. And now I make it every year too.


A sidenote. Yes, Unklesbay was my grandparents' real last name and we've never met another soul with the same name. My Mom became a Williams when she first got married and I'm sure it was quite a change for people to not do a double take when she mentioned her last name. And she is now a Jett, another easy one in comparison to Unklesbay. Its got a little pig Latin twang to it, right?


A couple of things have changed since my dear Grandma used to make this - the size of cereal boxes has gotten much larger, so don't use the entire box of each... 3/4 is fine. The recipe is very similar to the one found on Chex cereal box, but something about this just tastes better... I think its the extra baking time, and certainly the extra butter and Worcestershire sauce. If you don't have a roasting pan with a cover, just cover with foil the first hour, then remove. Your house will smell great while this is cooking too.


This makes a great munchie to keep around for the holiday season, but you can also put in tins to give as gifts. I love sweets as much as anyone, but sometimes you just need something to satisfy the salty craving. This photo is prior to oven roasting...it gets all nice and browned and crunchier after time in the oven.




Grandma Unklesbay's Party Mix

1 9 oz bag of thin pretzel sticks
2 cans of mixed fancy nuts (or 1 large can/jar)
1 box Cheerios
1 box Rice Chex
1 box Wheat Chex
1 1/2 cup butter (3 sticks. I know, I know, but don't skimp, it won't be the same...)
1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 TBSP garlic salt
1 TBSP celery salt
1 TBSP onion salt

Mix pretzels, cereals and nuts in a large shallow roasting pan (you can spread parchment paper first). Melt butter, add seasonings. Pour over pretzel/cereal/nut mixture. Mix well.

Bake at 225 degreees for 1 hour covered. Remove lid/foil and bake another hour.

Important - be sure to stir frequently during the 2 hour baking process, bottom will burn if you don't.

Enjoy, its totally addictive!

National Christmas Tree

So often, we tend to forget how lucky we are to live where we live, and what we have easy access to. Last night, we decided to brave the frigid temperatures and head into DC to show the boys the National Christmas tree. I hadn't been downtown to see it in so many years, and I thought the boys are at the age now to really appreciate this sort of thing. And it did not disappoint. The tree is just so magnificent its beyond compare. With the White House and Washington Monument off to either side, you just can't help but feel the magic of it all.

There was a children's chorus performing Christmas songs, a tree for every state, model trains and the gigantic yule log burning.

But we also stumbled onto a big surprise... Santa and his elves were there at Santa's workshop!

If you live locally and want to go down and check it out, parking along Constitution Ave. opens up weeknights at 6:30 pm and we found good free parking right away. Another tip, pick the coldest night possible and it won't be as crowded. We waited all of five minutes to see Santa. Thanks to my friend over at Tatertown for the cool idea, I think we'll add this to our list of yearly holiday traditions! Its totally worth keeping your kids up past bedtime. For more information, click here.

all aboard the crazy train

This week has been just a wee bit nutty ..... For one, I'm on the committee planning the Winter Wonderland at Dylan's school this coming Saturday and lately its been all meetings, errands and more errands revolving around event preparation. Saturday I will be up before dawn, helping to manage a pancake breakfast and four hours of holiday games and kid shopping at the school. This is the type of stuff I live for (sick in the head, I know) and once we're in the event seeing the kids having a blast, all this work will have been worth it.


Yesterday presented an unusual dilemma for us. Andrew had an all day meeting at the Pentagon, and I was asked to attend a meeting for my part time marketing job. My job is always very flexible and almost always from home. However, this meeting was a once of year type of situation and I really wanted to go. The meeting was two hours away and thus our dilemma for childcare. We've been very fortunate that we both have some flexiblity on this whole working from home thing and we can usually work it out between us when stuff like this comes up. But this time, Andrew was going to be an hour away in one direction, and I was going to be two hours away in the opposite direction, so it was time to call in Grandma Lynn for extra reinforcements. Logan needed dropped and picked up at preschool, Dylan needed to be fetched from the bus stop, guided through homework, dinner made... it was a full day with Grandma!


And when I wearily arrived home at 7:30 pm, I found this awesome gingerbread house awaiting (right before I fell over exhausted). Crafting with Grandma is a great way to spend the day, great job guys!

look out shaun white...

...there's a new kid in town, shredding up the hill by the library. With the fun surprise of an early snowfall this year, I dashed to Target yesterday in search of better gloves for the kids and came home with a snowboard for Dylan. Since he had used his regular sled to stand on the day before, and even jumped a ramp some kids had set up on our awesome sledding hill near our house... I figured he was ready for an upgrade for something more gnarly.

Despite the fact the snow was already starting to melt, he strapped it on and after some less than graceful falls, gained his bearings and even did a few jumps. He was back out there again today, on the very last of the snow in our front yard, ripping it up again.

Its comforting to know the ER is five minutes from our house, you know, just in case.

I give Logan a year, maybe less, before he straps on a snowboard too. He and Andrew were flying down the hill on the saucer, the faster and bumpier, the better.

walking in a winter wonderland

Is there anything more cozy than the first snowfall on a Saturday in early December, when you don't have to be anywhere, with the house sparkly and decorated, the pantry full of goodies and giant mugs of hot chocolate?

believing

I remember when I was little, we spent every Christmas in Ohio at my Grandparents. We made the nine hour trek every year as soon as school let out, the trunk of the Impala stuffed with gifts and cookies, my brother and I annoying each other by crossing over the imaginary line in the backseat.

Such joyous, magical memories of cozy evenings at the White Gift Service at the Presbyterian Church on Christmas Eve decked out in our festive fancy shiny clothes, hearing my Grandma sing in the choir, then back to their house for food and friends, and the occasional fart joke that I wasn't supposed to hear. Waking up on Christmas morning way too early, and convincing my younger brother to go wake everyone up (he was younger and therefore wouldn't get in trouble like I would've). Sneaking out to the pitch dark living room to take inventory of everyone's stocking contents and memorizing who each gift was for under the tree.

But mostly, I remember feeling confused. My Grandparents didn't have a fireplace and without a fireplace, how in the ho-ho-ho was Santa going to deliver our presents? No chimney to shimmy down, and there were usually so many gifts we had to move my Grandpa's brown recliner in front of the front door to make extra room. How would Santa get in? It was enough to keep me awake at night for weeks in angst.

There was a large air vent near the ceiling at the front of the hallway, and my parents convinced me that Santa's big butt could fit through that thing, after he used his power tools to unscrew the screws and pop off the cover. I remember being skeptical but alas, every Christmas morning there was a bountiful, shimmering pile of loot under the tree, many of them from Santa himself, and I figured he must have just wedged himself just right through that air vent and plopped right down in the hallway right outside of my bedroom door.

It didn't hurt that one year, when I was being particularly rebellious about going to bed my Dad staged a phone call to me from Santa. The phone rang around 10:30 pm and my Grandma told me it was for me, it was Santa! This was before cell phones existed and I remember wondering how Santa could possibly be calling from his sleigh? Or horrors, was he calling to tell me he was stuck at the North Pole sick and unable to come? I picked up the phone in a flash and Santa on the other end told me in no uncertain terms I better get my rear end in bed or he would be passing right by my Grandparents house and giving my presents to other less fortunate children. Speechless, I gulped and hightailed it down the hallway to bed faster than Clark Grizwald flew down the hill on his metal saucer sled coated with non-caloric silicone-based kitchen lubricant.

I don't remember when I found out that Santa wasn't real, or even how I found out. In all honesty, a part of me still believes. And I've been wondering, how much longer do we have for Dylan to believe? He's 6 1/2. Maybe a year or two? I wonder how he'll find out. I've been careful this year to hide the wrapping paper that I've used to wrap their gifts, so he can't figure out its the same kind Santa uses. I'm not even putting name tags on the gifts in case I can't disguise my handwriting well enough. And once Dylan finds out, can we keep him from spilling the beans to Logan?

I hope so. Because this time of year is truly magical and I think we all need some magic in our lives no matter how old we are.

the bribe

Our boys both have ziploc bags in their underwear drawers with some cash they've collected from birthday cards, chores, the Tooth Fairy (in Dylan's case), etc. (If you are a robber and reading this, I assure you there is not enough cash in there to buy anything but perhaps a small kitchen appliance or maybe these days, a Tiger Woods trading card.)

Last night, behavior before dinner was, well... it was just plain ridiculous. And as a result, we took Wii privileges away from the boys until this weekend.

Today while Dylan was at school, Logan continually asked to play Wii over and over again. And I continually responded with a "No, remember its been taken away because of last night..." And he'd just ask again 15 minutes later and I'd repeat myself.

Finally, after several hours of this, he asked again and I again responded no. He thought about this for a moment, then gave his sweetest smile and with a twinkle in his eye said "You can have my money Mom."

I still said no.

a few of my favorite things..

This weekend, I loaded up the Advent calendar drawers with abundant sweets. As a kid, is there anything more thrilling than the countdown to the glorious gifts of Christmas morning? To quote Ralphie, "We plunged into the cornucopia quivering with desire and the ecstasy of unbridled avarice."

This advent calendar is new to us, I usually just got the kids the cardboard ones from Wegman's with a little chocolate piece behind each door. This year, we're going full gangbusters with both versions.

Next up, one of my favorite Christmas tree ornaments - Stoned Santa. Just look at those eyes. He's been hitting the ganja, I know I saw a hookah in the sleigh and a bag of Funyuns. You could blind fold him with dental floss. Smoke it up, Santa, ho-ho-ho!