Christmas traditions

This is my very first year not being with my mom, dad and sisters for Christmas. The sad thing is, it won't be the same, the good thing is, we can start making our own traditions as a family unit!

Here are some of the traditions we hope to incorporate, or have already done this year.

Christmas tree lighting downtown. This is a fun event with lots of Christmas carols and music playing downtown. The shops are open late and it is a fun way to celebrate the season with the community.

(picture from 2008, forgot the camera this year!)

Cutting our Christmas tree from a local, organic Christmas tree farm. At the farm we go to, any tree you cut is $10! This is a tradition that my parents started, but we would tag our tree and cut it on separate weekends. (2008)

(2009)

Christmas Eve
Gingerbread house making
Chicken fricot for dinner
Church service
Ice Cream making with Tim's parents (they have a real, old-fashioned ice cream maker)
Open our new, cozy pajamas for a cozy sleep Christmas night! (This one is carried over from my childhood!)

Christmas Day
Read the Christmas story in the Bible together and pray together. Focus on why we are celebrating and rejoice in Jesus' birth!
Open our stockings and gifts, taking time to thank the giver and enjoying the gifts.
Have a yummy brunch of homemade pancakes, real maple syrup and mounds of fresh fruit!
Spend the rest of the day with Tim's family, his sisters, and her cousins.
Eat a delicious Christmas dinner together!

Boxing Day
Drive to visit my family and enjoy Christmas with them.

What are some of your favorite family Christmas traditions? In the future, I would like to focus more on homemade gifts with lots of thoughtfulness and time going into them, but I have to work on my crafty/artistic side plus have lots of time! I think a lot of planning will have to do into this in future years!

Menu Plan December 21 - 25th

Time is flying... I don't know where the days go sometimes. Tim has been working every day and night until 10ish, and all weekend as well. I am somewhat tired and certainly ready to have him home for a bit! Our holidays are going to be a bit different this year. I have been home with my family every Christmas, for my whole life. We had lots of traditions and I really enjoy spending Christmas eve and morning with them. Then we would spend Christmas afternoon, supper and evening with Tim's family. This year, we are staying home for Christmas day! It will be different, but good, as we decide what traditions to keep and what to do differently, changing and revising our plan every year. We will visit my family on Boxing Day. Kathryn and Tim will also be here to spend Christmas eve and Christmas morning with us which will be very special.

Here is the menu plan for the week which for some reason, was really hard to come up with this week!

Monday: We ended up getting Wendy's.... lack of menu planning and busyness caused this!
Tuesday: Homemade pizza, which I didn't get to last week. I will be using this recipe for the crust.
Wednesday: Omelets and hash browns
Thursday: Chicken Fricot (a dish I have never tried before, but was recommended by a friend, and thought I'd like to do something easy and different for Christmas Eve!)
Friday: Christmas dinner with the in-laws

Instead of the BLT guacamole I was supposed to make for the potluck last week, I made the Appetizer Wreath suggested on Laura's blog. It was so easy, and delicious AND pretty! A huge hit, and I will definitely be making it again, either for Christmas dinner as an appetizer, or next year!

Check out Organizing Junkie for more menu planning ideas. And Merry Christmas!

Menu Plan Dec 14 - 18

My favorite recipe last week was Armenian Lentil Soup. I made a few adjustments: 1 tbsp of lemon juice and 1 tbsp of soy sauce instead of two each... 3/4 tsp of salt instead of 1 tbsp and I omitted the dill weed. It was hearty and delicious, perhaps because I love the texture of cooked spinach. (Those that don't would probably not like it as much.) I also used chopped fresh spinach instead of frozen. Yum!

We had a little snowstorm last week and so our small group potluck was postponed. My sister and I decided to test cook our dishes for our hubbies anyway! (We had a meal of appetizers!) Her mushroom and onion dip was AMAZING (company's coming recipe) and my cheese balls were boring and not very enjoyable. (They tasted like cheese and flour, which pretty much describes the ingredients!)

So.... I am going to try another recipe this week! Here is the plan:

Monday: Chicken fajitas (boxed kit, bought it for an easy meal on the weekend, as I usually take the weekend off/do everything the easy way!)
Tuesday: Date night out
Wednesday: Small group potluck. This time, I am going to try BLT Guacamole from Rachel Ray's Big Orange Book. Pretty similar to this version I found online, she just uses romaine and 2 lemons.
Thursday: Pork Roast with veggies (potatoes, carrots, onion and parsnip)
Friday: homemade pizza

I experimented with Curry Chickpeas this week as a little snack to take along to the potluck. It didn't turn out as I expected (they didn't get crispy) but I think I will bake some this week with the spices to see how it works. This recipe is also from the "Big Orange Book" by Rachel Ray. (I got it from the library..... before I started menu planning there was no way I'd be interested in getting cookbooks from the library! Now I actually read recipes for fun......................)

I have another potluck with my mom's group this week, and we are going a cookie exchange. My brilliant sister thought of peanut logs which are easy, and you don't have to bake them!! I am going to make them today, and will post the info later on! I am also going to make a couple of loaves of bread from the breadmaker to take.

Busy busy cooking week! For more menu planning ideas, check out Laura's blog. I LOVE the idea of the Appetizer Wreath!

what we have been up to....

I plugged my camera cord into the computer today, and discovered that my picture taking has been few and far between. My folder titled Nov 21 - Dec 8 09 with a total of 37 pictures in it. Here are some snapshots of our life in the past few weeks. Full of family and wonderful memories.

The background is my old high school, we were headed to basketball game on our trip to NS for early Christmas. Charlotte's aunt and uncle (pictured) were headed to South Korea to teach English... little did we know, plans would change shortly....


And they ended up not going and living here for a bit! Uncle /t/ is helping out Tim with his business and Nina is spending loads of time with us and we are loving it! They needed a fridge for their apartment and I have always wanted a full size fridge. (We had a 9 ct. one, and now have an 18!!) I put an ad on kijiji and ta-da! Nina and Charlotte have a marvelous time cleaning the fridge (well, Charlotte did anyway) and there was water.......... everywhere!!


Charlotte is growing up so much. One of her favorite words is "no" and she loves to express herself through words and sign language. She can draw and I gave her a little "writing" book that is similar to my little notebook. She is quite adapt at holding pencils and pens (with supervision of course)!



She has a beautiful personality and although she doesn't talk much in groups, she is a chatterbox at home. She loves to explore and find out how things work. She also asks for a book pretty much every time we sit down to nurse together. (Milk and books go together now!)





We just had the joy of celebrating uncle /t/'s birthday party! (I write /t/ because Charlotte makes the sound for "t" to say Tim's name.) We had a yummy blizzard cake and (my) Tim took both of these incredible pictures!


We are enjoying every moment with Kathryn and Tim and will be very, very sad when they have to leave. But we are not thinking about that, and are thankful for the time we have together now. We share many meals together and Kathryn and Tim are amazing babysitters!!
I must get ready for book club... there are so many fun parties and celebrations these days, I barely have time to post! But I will get back to regular posting soon......... promise! ;)

Menu Plan Dec 7 - Dec 11

Well, it's not exactly Monday and my dog is running around like a maniac while Charlotte sleeps, so I suspect she won't sleep for long.

Here is the menu plan for this week:

Monday: DH - leftover chili, Moi - out with the Mom's group mom's for dinner
Tuesday: Veggie nachos and homemade guacamole
Wednesday: Pot Luck with our Small group Bible study, I am making Baked Cheese Balls from Company's Coming (I can't find the recipe online....)
Thursday: Armenian Lentil Soup with homemade (breadmaker) bread
Friday: Nacho Salad (at hubby's request)

Check out organizing junkie for more ideas!

the babe at Christmas

I came across a blog that was linked to another blog.... ah the joys of "surfing the web" as we used to say! I love this post... had to share.

Thinking about births and babes and breastfeeding this Christmas!!

Menu Plan Nov 30th - Dec 4th

Another week is almost done and I am posting this way too late. But here is my plan for this week:

Monday: Scrambled eggs and spinach on bagels
Tuesday: Date night - out for supper
Wednesday: Homemade spaghetti, with garlic toast and ceasar salad
Thursday: Pork chops, with rice and asparagus
Friday: Baked Pasta with Chicken Sausage

I want to try this Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe. And I've been using the breadmaker fairly frequently which has been great!

My sister and her husband are here temporarily while Tim helps Tim with the piles of work he has right now. It's been wonderful having them here. My blog has been neglected, and I do miss the outlet for writing. Hopefully I will get back into it soon. Thanks for being faithful readers! (And please say hello in the comments!!)

Check out Laura's blog for more menu planning ideas.