What we've been doing...

Ok, where do I even start? It's been a crazy couple of weeks! I haven't even ventured into the blogosphere for 2 weeks, so I'm terribly behind, and I'm sure I've missed out on so much. How are y'all?

I didn't even realize it had been so long until I started to receive some emails from some of you, making sure we hadn't fallen off the face of the earth. Yep, we're still here - and we're all fine, just insanely busy, and also maybe a little bit lazy, the kind of lazy that goes along with the holidays. A couple of us are a year older. A couple of us might be a pound or two heavier, we're not sure about that since we have avoided the scale like the plague these past few weeks.

And of course, when I say "we", I basically mean "me". But it makes me feel better to say "we".

So, what have we we been up to, you ask?

- A little Christmas Cookie Exchange.

- Practicing and playing piano for the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church - one of my favorite services of the entire year.

- A Christmas Eve dinner at our friends' home.

- A a quiet Christmas morning, spending time together with just our little family.

- A visit from my sister.

- Celebrating a certain someone's 3rd birthday.

- A real live date with my hubby to the movies.

- Ignoring my computer and sitting down to read Anne of Green Gables.

- Actually cleaning my house.

- And then New Years - is it really 2009 already?

The Monday before Christmas, I invited just a couple of my friends over for the Cookie Exchange. It was a very small party, but so fun to get together for soup and homemade bread and girl talk and no kids. And the cookies - sweet mercy, they were good. Fortunately for me and my waistline, the neighbors next door have 5 kids who were more than willing to take most of them off my hands. Ricardo's personal favorite was the chocolate sandwich cookies. And Savannah's? The chocolate covered cheesecake squares.



The Christmas Eve Service was absolutely beautiful. Listening to a handbell choir playing Carol of the Bells and Oh Holy Night. Looking out over a sea of candlelight as the congregation sang Silent Night with hushed voices. Focusing on Jesus - Savior, Redeemer, Lord.

After the service we were invited to our friends' home for Christmas Eve dinner. They are like family, and they always give Savannah a gift or two. She tore into one of them as soon as it was handed to her, and she pulled out a rainbow-striped hoodie set. She was still dressed in her fancy Christmas dress from church, but that did not stop her from pulling on both the pants and the top, right over her dress, which totally cracked me up. Tell me this isn't a fashion statement.

Christmas morning was quiet and peaceful, spent here at home, just the way I like it.

Remember my ambitions to start a new Christmas tradition by making homemade cinammon rolls? Yeah, that didn't happen. Honestly, I was so sick of sugar by that time - probably a few too many cookies from the exchange - and I knew that the following day I would have to start making Savannah's birthday cake. The very thought of doing more baking made me turn and run right of the kitchen. So that's a tradition that will have to wait until next year.

But I did make a turkey and potatoes and green beans. And I have a little confession - for some reason, I completely spazzed out and put the bird in the oven upside down. You know, breast side down. I have no idea what I was thinking. I didn't even realize it until it had been in a couple of hours, and I started to wonder why I couldn't see the little built in pop-out thermometer thing. Um, maybe because it is hidden underneath the turkey? So I quickly flipped it over, and sure enough, there was the pop out button. And then I wondered if the pasty looking breast side was going to cook before the rest of the turkey dried out - remember the turkey from National Lampoons Christmas Vacation? The one that looked like burned beef jerky? I was afraid that mine was going to resemble that one. Thank goodness it didn't.

My sister arrived Christmas evening, and we were thrilled to see her. She came last year around this time, too, and in addition to the fact that it is just fun to have her around, she is always a huge help in getting ready for Savannah's birthday party.

So the next day we started in on the cake. Which consisted of baking 2 big 12-inch chocolate cakes, layering them together with chocolate pudding, baking 2 more 9 inch white cakes, layering them together with vanilla pudding and strawberries, and then making mounds and mounds of buttercream frosting. Fun times. But I admit that somewhere around midnight I started wondering why I hadn't just ordered a cake from the bakery around the corner and been done with it.

In between it all I sent Ricardo to the store a couple of times - thank goodness for a sweet hubby who will run out in the freezing cold for more powdered sugar. And then I tried my hand at marshmallow fondant and spent the rest of the evening tinting and kneading and rolling and cutting out shapes. I really liked working with it and maybe next year I'll be brave enough to cover an entire cake with it.

In the end, it turned out pretty cute, although I wish I would have cut more off the top to make a flatter surface. But Savannah was happy - really, all she cared about was the Dollar Store plastic Dora topper that was the crowning touch.

And just like that, my baby turned 3. Happy Birthday, sweet girl - you are my sunshine, and you really do make me happy whether the skies are blue or gray. And I don't care if you are 3, you're still my baby.