Day 8. From My Paul

My Paul shared this sweet, sweet story with me tonight.

In the last few weeks since the play was over I have been walking myself home and stopping at the McDonalds to get a coke zero on the way home.  Since I have been in there a few times I have been noticing some of the same people are there too.

There is this one old man and old lady that come in together when I am there.  They are very old, and very sweet to each other.  I noticed that he always gets the food, one of everything and brings it back to the table where she waits, sitting next to the big Christmas tree they have there.  Then after they say a small prayer he sits with her while she eats.  He doesn’t even eat a french fry until she is done. Then he eats.

The last time I held the door for them as they were leaving and I told him I thought it was very nice how he always treated her so kindly.  I asked him why he always waited for her to finish eating before he eats.  He just laughed at me and said “I wait because they are her teeth we are using!”

Do me a favor? Floss really well tonight!

Day 6. Let it Go! Let it Go! Let it GO HO HO HO!

Christmas is the season for doing too much.  90% of the time I am ok with that.  Kat and I are certainly guilty of that.  In 1997 a pregnant Kathleen and I purchased our tree, brought it home and hung lights on it on a Monday night from midnight to 2am when we both had to work the next morning.  Why? Because Kat’s Tuesday night bingo group was coming to house after work.  Too Much?  A few years ago after we were living in Colorado and we decided to have our Christmas party back in Oklahoma not only did I decorate our home in Colorado, but I transported boxes, bins, and bags of decorations to decorate the hall where we were having our party.  I also transported a silver punch bowl.  When Kat expressed concern that not everything would fit, I volunteered to only take 2 pair shoes if that would help. TOO MUCH!

I have said before I am something of a mad genius at engineering these ‘perfect Christmas memories’.  They key is obsessive planning and the set up.  If you do that correctly, then when the actual moment arrives something will happen, and you just have to be there for it.  If you are lucky it is magical.  Or it is a disaster, in which case you have a hilarious holiday memory instead.  See? Mad Genius.

Tomorrow is our annual children’s ornament party.  I thought a great deal about it this year.  My boys are on the upper end of childhood, what if they and their friends are all eye rolling teenagers making jokes at my expense this year?  I am not sure I could handle that.  Lucky for me, when I asked Paul’s BFFL (Best Friend For Life) Katie about it she said we should definitely have it, because of course Hilda and Kyle are still kids and it’s usually fun even for the older kids.  Reason #1.  Now that we are back in Oklahoma I could invite my Niece Elisa Gail to come and bring her children Ella and Aiden. Reason #2 (Although her drill schedule interfered with this year).  Another benefit of being back in Oklahoma is my nephew Baby Scott (who just turned 25) could come with his wife and baby Seamus. Reason #3. 

How adorable and sweet and perfect would that be?  Scott came to the first ornament party and his child will be coming to this one.  I love that so much!

What does this have to do with letting go?  The plan for this year is gingerbread houses, and yes we are cheating and doing the graham cracker houses for the kids.  I also wanted to do 2 bigger houses and let the kids work together to decorate those.  I asked Kat if she could make the gingerbread houses for me.  And of course she agreed, because she is Kat and amazing.  So I borrowed a gingerbread house cutter kit and got the recipe for Kat.  Her plan has been to do it this week.  And then suddenly it was Friday.  Right after dinner Friday we went to the store for eggs so Kat could come home and make the gingerbread house pieces.  But then suddenly it was 10 pm and still no houses. So Kat made a plan to get up early today and make the gingerbread houses and the 9 batches of fudge she has orders for.

But of course things don’t go as planned, and the gingerbread houses didn’t get baked. Fudge yes, but houses no.  We had an event tonight and Kat said after the event she would make the gingerbread houses.  So when we stopped at the store for Diet Coke I purchased the pre-made kits.  Is it the same as homemade gingerbread houses? Of course not.  Will it smell as delightful and Christmassy? No probably not.  With either of those things interfere in any way with the fun that the children will have tomorrow or their memories of it? Absolutely not.  So that was me letting it go ho ho ho.

2013's Gingerbread House

Do me a favor? Bite the head off a gingerbread man for me!

Day 2. Christmas Cookies

I love cookies.  I know I blogged tongue in cheek about my top 12 cookies, but those were store bought cookies.  I love homemade cookies. Specifically the ones Kathleen makes.  Make no mistake, I am no slouch in the cookie department, I get requests for my cookie press Scottie cookies every year.  My Paul makes his version of Kat’s cup of everything cookies and calls them crazy cookies.  They are delicious.  Last year he made 6 dozen for our Christmas party and his high school friends ate every last one. This year, Kat perfected a browned butter snicker doodle that will make people who don’t love snicker doodles love them.  Matthew’s favorite are thumbprint cookies, I think because he likes the freedom to vary what you fill the thumbprint with; jellies, jams, nutella, Hershey’s kisses. . .

In 2000, when Paul was 2 Kathleen made cookies all the time for him.  I have vivid memories of a toddler Paul walking around our tiny house in Warr Acres with a cookie clutched in one hand and a sippy cup of milk in the other hand.  Kathleen used to call him the cookie monster.  :-)

Did you know that the perfect ratio of ‘pretty’ or ‘holiday’ cookies to ‘taste good’ cookies is 1 to 3?  Tollhouse test kitchen’s figured it out.  That means for every batch of my Scottie dog cookie press cookies, you need to serve a batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of orange creamcicle cookies, and a batch of oatmeal  cookies with dried cranberry and white chocolate chips.  You know that had to have been a fun job figuring that out. 

One of the best inventions in the known universe is the Christmas Cookie exchange.  As I understand it people get together and bring cookies to share so that everyone goes home with an assortment of delicious cookies to share with friends and family.  I guess the ‘delicious’ part depends on if your friends are good cooks or not.  Hey, I am aware that not everyone is as good as Kathleen.  I had a sugar free, gluten free cookie once. I felt sad for that cookie, because clearly no one was ever going to love it.

When we are in Oklahoma we do a version of a cookie exchange with our friend and children’s minister Kristen Rogers.  One day in December we gather at her house and bake endless batches of cookies together with friends.  It is a fun time to try new recipes, and everyone goes home with a TON of cookies.  I am already looking forward to this year’s cookie day.  Kathleen and Kristen are going to perfect a molded walnut cookie.  I’ll let you know how it tastes.

Keep all of this in mind when I tell you the other day that Kat got a message on her phone saying she was invited to a ‘cookie jam’.  I was so excited, I was certain it was some type of cookie exchange and that soon she would be bringing home delicious home baked cookies for me to sample and enjoy.  As it turns out ‘cookie jam’ is a GAME. No actual cookies are involved. Not. Even. One.  Who does that?  People who make and eat sugar free and gluten free cookies do things like this.

Eat a cookie for me!

A Christmas Memory - Day Three

Holidays I don’t write about.

If you have read the other entries I have written then you know that I will write about anything. I wrote about shiny pants didn’t I? I have written about my childhood, and my children, and my children’s childhoods. I have written about Kat’s family, and my family. I have written about my friends and their families, I have even written about people I have never even met. I have other stories to tell, but sometimes I try and I can’t.

There is a great story about shopping for a wedding dress with Jenni in 2000, but the back story sucks and sometimes it hurts so much I can’t breathe. Paul’s first Christmas is noticeably missing as well, because it was Stephanie’s last and I just can’t, not if Kat and her folks are going to read it.

Last year I shared something my friend Durlix wrote questioning when the melancholy creeps into the holiday. I guess I have to ask when is not there? My Paul already knows and he is 14. That hurts me because I want my children to enjoy the holidays, and not be sad, but I know that I can’t always take away their sadness.

So what are your off limit years? What years do you just want to skip it all together and pretend it is March? I honestly and sincerely hope that this is not one of those years for you.

Sweet Smell of Christmas - Day 2

My sister Jenni and her family came to Denver unexpectedly this weekend. They are in the process of adopting a child from another country and the adoption agency is here and was hosting a conference. We met up with Jenni, Kendrick, Keenan and Naomi Saturday night in Cherry Creek and had dinner at Zaidy’s Deli.

I love my sister, and I dislike that I never get to spend very much time with her. It was a nice visit. Her children? ADORABLE!! Do you know what her children absolutely are crazy about? Their cousins Paul and Matthew. The kids were literally hanging on the boys through the meal. When Naomi’s meal came her Dad asked if she needed help cutting up her pancakes, she told him no and gave him a look that said, “Dad! I am a big girl, I don’t need your help!” But then one minute later she batted those beautiful brown eyes and handed Paul her knife and fork and he cut up her pancakes for her.

Matthew and Keenan are almost exactly 3 years apart and some years the two of them struggle to get along, but this was not one of those times. They chatted all through the meal, so much so that Keenan’s dinner was largely untouched. Although, he did help himself liberally to Matthew’s french fries.

At some point Keenan and Naomi gave my boys their Christmas gifts for this year. Each boy got a gift card for Barnes & Noble in a gift bag with holiday chocolates. Keenan had prepared Matthew’s bag and it was stuffed so full it could barely be closed at the top. Keenan swears it only has about 8 of each type of candy, but every time he told Matthew that he winked at him, which makes us believe he may have been overly generous with his favorite cousin. Naomi prepared Paul’s and there were EXACTLY 8 of each candy, and those 8 candies were all wrapped n the same color foil. Naomi wrote the card herself and was sure to tell Paul that she did it all herself. I am not sure whose smile was sweeter, the giver or the recipient.

When I tucked my Matthew in he summed it up perfectly, “Cousins make Christmas awesome!”