A wrap up of our holiday season

Before we moved here, I was curious how I'd feel during the winter without any chance of snow.  I knew it would be strange to not get bundled up and play in the snow with the kids at all, and I felt sad that we'd lose that tradition.  I was worried I wouldn't feel the Christmas spirit if we were in flip flops looking at palm trees swaying in the breeze because I grew up in a place that pretty much guaranteed a white Christmas.  I wondered if it would feel like a holiday and not the holiday season.


Well, we are now almost a week past Christmas and closing in on New Years Eves, and I can assure you that it definitely felt like the holiday season.  It felt like Christmas! 

The weather made things different, but not in a bad or sad or disappointing way at all.  You can all breathe a great, big sigh of relief.  There will be no complaining from me ;)  Why?  Because I realized that it was the events and activities and traditions that we took part in that created the holiday magic and not the fact that snow could fall at any moment.   

Here's a recap of our holiday season.

I had grand plans for a homemade advent calendar this year.  I had seen so many great ideas on Pinterest, but November flew by and I didn't get myself as organized as I would have liked.  I did use a Pinterest idea, but it just wasn't one of the more elaborate and creative ones!  I hit up Goodwill, Value Village, Target, and the Dollar Tree for books and wrapped them all up so the kids could choose one each night.  (I must admit here that I forgot to have them wrapped for the 1st and so we started on the 2nd!!!)  They LOVED opening a book each night (I even had to change up the plan and have it so there were enough books for them both to open one each night).  Riley even sat and read 3 or 4, which is impressive for little miss never sits for a book.  And Leighton would take both that they opened to bed with him to read with Roy and then in the car with him in the morning to read while they drove to school.  It was fun to do, but I am not sure I'd choose it for our advent calendar next year unless I could incorporate a way to have a better gauge of how many days had passed and how close we were to Christmas (although, the fine folks at Trader Joe's did gift a traditional chocolate advent calendar to us one day while we were there shopping, so we had that to keep us on track!).

On the 12th, Riley and I went to our Wednesday morning play group for a special Christmas get together.  The kids all brought and traded one gift.  Riley got some Lego that she was very excited about because there were two ladies like in one of the sets Leighton has.  After snacking on some shortbread, we went outside to play a little.

 
That afternoon, after Riley and I got Leighton from school, we went over to Kroger to pick out a tree because I had been seeing their signs that they delivered them for free, and I was more than happy to not have to fill the car with needles while we transported it home.  Unfortunately, they stopped selling the trees the day or two before.  So, the next day, the kids and I went to Lowe's and found a tree to bring home.  The last several years, we got our tree from the garden center at Home Depot in New Rochelle, and, without fail, it was always the coldest possible day of the month that we ended up there shivering and choosing.  Not quite the same experience this year!

Roy and I wrestled the (very crooked) tree into the stand and let the branches stretch out a bit overnight before the big decorating day.  While we (and I use the term 'we' lightly since it is usually just Roy heckling me as I get the lights on ... and off because I didn't space them correctly ... and on again before taking them off again to try again to put them on ... and, well, you get the picture) decorated the tree, we listened to Christmas music and the kids and Roy drank some eggnog.  Well, Riley didn't like it so she had plain milk.  But the amount Leighton drank surely made up for it.  I kept meaning to pull out some rum to make mine and Roy's a little more festive, but I was too busy.  Taking off the lights and putting them back on again.  So no rum - or eggnog - for me.  The kids helped to put on some of the 'safe for children to touch' ornaments and I followed quietly behind spacing them out a little better since they seemed to really be concentrating all their efforts on two or three branches right beside each other.  Usually I take many pictures and videos of the tree decorating event, but this year I didn't even take one.  I was too busy I guess.  Probably fixing the lights again! 

I also got my baking underway so that we'd have a lot to share with our friends that came over for a little holiday play date.  I made 2 felt Christmas Trees (thank you, Pinterest!) and decorations for the kids to decorate as well.

To use up a bunch more of the baking, I made a large tray to send to the staff room for the faculty and staff at Leighton's school to enjoy.

I sent in all the baking because it's not just Leighton's homeroom teachers in pre-K that he is taught by regularly that I wanted to thank and acknowledge.  He also has his K teacher in the mornings and then the teachers for his ancillary classes each day (music, science lab, PE, etc).  And the librarian who has taken Leighton under her wing to get fully immersed in the Accelerated Reader program.  And the office staff is so lovely when we are there to pay tuition or for whatever other reason.  And the school nurse that took care of Leighton's cheek when he fell on a chair one day.  And the principal who we love and who goes out of her way to chat with us (and hug both the kids) every time we see her.  So, I thought the easiest way to thank them all was to send in some yummy treats.  I remember that the staff at the schools I've taught at in the past always appreciated food!

We did also organize a gift for Leighton's two pre-K teachers.  This was part of a whole-class gift that the very creative room mom came up with (again, thanks to Pinterest!).  It was an alphabet gift basket with one gift representing each letter of the alphabet.  Each family was assigned a letter and it was up to them to come up with whatever they wanted to give, which made it easy to keep the cost at whatever the family felt comfortable with.  Now, do you want to guess what letter we got?  Nope, not S for Sillitoe.  Nope, not even L for Leighton.  We got X.  Yes, you read that right.  X.  Some people immediately asked who I pissed off to get given that letter, but I have been assured it was a compliment and not a punishment!!!  Now, I challenge you to come up with something creative and appropriate to give a teacher that starts with X (nothing X rated and no Xanax!).  I had the easy option of doing something under the 'something eXtra special' but I just couldn't do it.  I HAD to find something that was more closely tied to the letter X.  I got some great ideas from some online friends (I've filed them away in case I ever need them again!) and stole one of them (Hershey's kisses to represent the X in XOXO) to incorporate into my master plan.  Here it is!

If you can't tell, it's a gas card for Exxon Mobil (that I had a crazy hard time tracking down because only one of the six or so gas stations I called or visited sold them!).  Smart, right?!?!  And the clever saying with the EXTRA mile.  I'm amazing, aren't I?  Go ahead.  Admit it.  You are impressed, aren't you?  You better be!


Here are the baskets all assembled (you can see one of ours in the bottom photo wrapped in the polka dot cellophane).

They were presented to the teachers at the class party.  I was there with Riley to volunteer to help out.  There were several other parents there as well, so I spent the afternoon taking photos.  Leighton was so amazing with Riley and took her around with him to all the stations.  Riley was incredibly well behaved and had such a great time (and sat there picking her nose like the rest of them!). 

We were invited to a friend's for a holiday play date, Christmas light walk, and dinner on the 23rd.  I made some snacks to take with us as a contribution.  I did the same caprese salad skewers that I had made in the summer and then some cinnamon sugar pretzels.  So yummy!  And easy.  Easy is good when there is so much other Christmas baking and cooking going on!  There was a nice sized group of us from our Wednesday morning playgroup, and it was nice to introduce Roy to the moms and kids we see regularly and to meet their Daddies and other relatives.

On Christmas Eve, we had a relaxing BBQ lunch outside.  It was so warm!

That night we went to our friends Luke & Douniazed's for dinner.  It was very casual and very nice to have another family holiday get together.  She told me they were doing a ham and so I brought some  scalloped potatoes as a side (My mom's recipe: make a roux with flour and butter, slowly whisk in milk, season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, and then remove from heat and stir in cheese to create sauce.  Layer the sauce and thinly sliced potatoes and bake til cooked.) .  But, I couldn't NOT make a dessert too.  Seriously, I think I might have a problem, lol!  I decided to make the yellow birthday cake that we all love and to layer it with the pastry creme from the tart that we also all love (as did Luke's dad when I made it for Luke's birthday party, so I wanted to have it there for him again, but he ended up not feeling well and not flying in from Jamaica until the next day).  I had seen an elegant but still winter/Christmas/holiday themed cake on Pinterest that I wanted to attempt, so I chose the swiss meringue buttercream (tastes SO much better than traditional buttercream) that we all really liked on Riley's birthday cake in white as the backdrop for my chocolate trees.

Before dinner, the kids played (and what holiday party isn't complete without a sword fight and a visit from the Christmas lizard??!!) and we had some snacks and champagne.  They even had sparkling apple juice for the kids.  Riley carried her glass around all night but barely stuck her tongue in to taste it.  Leighton was thrilled to have a special drink and refilled his glass many times.

After dinner, we went for a drive to see some Christmas lights.  In the Bronx, where it was always pretty cold, we'd bundle up and walk around.  Here, where it was warm, we drove.  We really have become Texans!  To our defense, our immediate neighborhood didn't have a lot to see in a short walking distance, so we drove around to see more in a short amount of time!

When we got home, the kids opened their last books of the advent calendar and got some new jamjams to wear to bed.

We then set out some cookies and eggnog for Santa and some carrots for the reindeer.  I could not get these two goofy kids to be in focus for a picture no matter what!


Once the kids were tucked into bed, Roy and I finished up wrapping, Roy put together the table and chairs my parents got the kids, and I got our breakfast maple cream cheese french toast casserole in the fridge and took some photos of the tree.

At last, SANTA CAME!!!!!  And apparently he got Leighton's letter and overheard Riley saying her wishes because both kids got just what they asked for! 

And some more from the big day ....

Here's a little sampling of some of our tasty sweet meals, snacks, and desserts.  I forgot to take a picture of my beautiful little turkey, but you can just trust me that it was golden and delicious!

There were several holiday recipes I didn't get around to making.  And some homemade ornaments I was wanting to do as well.  Oh, well.  Next year!!  But, that was our first Christmas in Texas!  And next year we will have a real fireplace to hang our stockings on (will give details about the new fireplace and the house that surrounds it shortly ....)!!!!