A Very Slacker Christmas

Dear readers, please do your best to bear with me, as I attempt to explain my thoughts on this Christmas season.

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We are having a very slacker Christmas.

I have a couple of non-negotiables for the season:

1. We will send cards (you don’t have to, really, but it’s something I love to do)
2. Santa will bring us stockings filled with goodies (I just know it)
3. We will go to church on Christmas Eve

But that’s kind of it. We have a tree, but the whole house is a mess, and don’t have much else in terms of decorations. We decorated a gingerbread house, but I threw it out during Gooplet’s nap one day because he could not get over staring at it and asking to eat the whole thing. And Larry, our beloved Elf on the Shelf, is taking some time off, because he realized just how much Gooplet is terrified of him.

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I don’t hate it.

And all that sounds so grinchy, and goodness knows every single blogger’s house looks like a very plaid version of the North Pole right now. But there’s something about this year that has me taking all that in, appreciating it, and being able to do what Amy Poehler taught me in her book, which is to say, “Good for her, not for me.”

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We’ve had a couple wonderful surprises come about unexpectedly – an evening I got to sneak away to a party I wasn’t sure I could make, a morning singing carols with friends, and if all goes according to (5 toddlers’) plan, a second annual book swap I wouldn’t trade for anything. But above all, I’ve been thrilled that almost all of the fun above falls in line with my new little rule for making plans. Aside from that, I’ve turned down virtually every invitation in the name of rest (we try real hard to get that around here), quiet time, and family. Tis the season, after all.

Stocking Stuffers

Shopping for stocking-stuffers might be the most fun I have all year. Ever since I became a real-live grown up, I sort of stopped caring about having a Christmas List. I’m fortunate enough that if I want something, I may have to save for a bit, but I can buy it for myself. And we all know about my decluttering binges, so mostly, I’m not looking to amass more crap. None of us are.

But shopping for stockings is my favorite, because you can find the quirkiest, funniest stuff. Bonus points if it’s useful to the recipient as well. Almost everything here (click on the pictures to see where it’s all from) is geared towards toddlers and men because that’s whose stockings I’m always looking to fill. But if you’ve got ideas for stocking-stuffers for others, leave them in the comments, because I’d love to hear!

Color-changing spoons ($6.95)

Kid Made Modern Confetti Crayons ($12.80)

Stop Talking Cards ($9.95)

Personalized ornaments (this one is $11.95)

Glow in the dark stars ($5.50)

Snowman mini-spatulas ($9.95 for two)

Superfight game ($29.99)

Fish toothbrush holders ($6.50 for a set of 2)

Braided phone charger ($19.95)

Little People super friends ($17.99)

Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints ($2.95) because no stocking is complete without candy. I got these in my own stocking this year, and they did not disappoint.

Gifts for Toddlers

This glorious gift-giving idea comes straight from the same place as all my best ideas, and that place, of course, is the internet. What I love about this approach is that using it year after year creates a holiday tradition. And it sets the stage for reasonable expectations on Christmas morning. The kids are getting some gifts. They will be for fun, and will not just be new socks. But we’re not going crazy here, people.

Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.*

Oh my gracious, it’s brilliant. Four gifts, each with a distinct purpose. Here’s what I’ve bought Gooplet in each of these categories, click on the pictures to take you to the sources.**

Something he wants:

As soon as I saw this in the Hearth and Hand lookbook, I knew it was going to be mine. I bought it the day it came out. Now to figure out how to assemble it.

Something he needs:

Gooplet never has enough pajamas. The cheap ones seem to stretch out too much after just a couple of wears. These are my all time faves. That blue on blue stripe action is as good as it gets.

Something to wear:

You know how much I love ThredUp, so when I saw some corduroys from Castaway for $12, it was a done deal. (They’re usually $75! For toddler pants!) He’ll wear these to church on Christmas Eve.

Something to read:

I don’t know what he’s getting in this category yet. That’s a whole other tradition for a whole other blog post. Check back soon.

*I have seen this idea in a gazillion places, and can’t remember if it was Design Mom or Tsh, who alerted me first.

**But also, sorry if this breaks the rules, but we are totally doing stockings as well because they are the most fun part of Christmas morning. If you’re lucky, I’ll pull off a gift guide before it’s too late for Amazon to ship you anything.

Let’s Talk Leftovers [classic tater tot hotdish]

The alternate title for this post could be, “Eat Your Hearts Out, Duggars!” Because they make this tater tot casserole, and it’s Internet famous, and I tried it and thought it was gross.

But ever since then, it’s stayed in the back of my head that the idea of tater tot casserole is far from wrong. I found this one over the summer and promptly made it a billion times in a row for any event for which I was required to bring food. It’s darn good, and easily adapted to fit whatever is in your refrigerator, as long as you have enough eggs.

But that’s decidedly a breakfast casserole, and my vision of a hearty, dinnertime tater tot casserole, just wouldn’t go away.

ugggggh, the picture I want to use isn’t loading, and I really want to get this recipe up today, so …. insert mental picture here!

So when Molly Yeh posted her classic tater tot hotdish, I knew the time was ripe for a second try. That it’s called a hot dish and is not made with cream of anything soup meant that my hopes were high, and boy was I thrilled with the results. If you aren’t a native midwesterner, you may not know that tater tot casserole is basically a pot pie filling with tater tots on top.

Her recipe calls for ground beef, but I kept thinking how great this would be with leftover turkey. You could so easily swap in mushrooms, bell peppers, or any of those half-used-up bags of frozen veggies that seem to multiply in the freezer (that can’t just be me, can it?).  Try it for me, dear readers, and let me know how it is!

Thanksgiving, 2017: The Plan

Normally, you all get a free preview of my meal plan on Tuesdays, but Thanksgiving has us all kinds of out of order, and with a few days ahead of us to start prepping, I’m sharing this year’s plan today, in hopes it may give you inspiration if you need it.

Spoiler alert: Dear guests who are also readers – don’t keep reading if you want to be surprised, but also, we’re mostly having what we always have. (These photos are from Thanksgiving, 2015)

Turkey

Mashed potatoes

Green bean casserole (made two days before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Stuffing (made the day before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Sweet potatoes (made two days before, cooked while the turkey is resting)

Brussels sprouts from my sister-in-law (usually roasted with pancetta, and whoops, now I’m drooling)

Cranberry sauce (made whenever my husband wants)

Biscuits (made in the morning and warmed up before dinner)

Apple pie (gifted by a friend)

Pumpkin pie (sold by a neighbor who is a far superior baker)

And this pecan praline sauce because I’m not making the usual bourbon pecan tart (made a day or two before)

And ice cream, because, duh

And orange cookies, because I can’t not bake anything. Hopefully they’ll be amazing, and you’ll see them before too much longer. (made the day before)

The rest of the week, if you’re interested:

Sunday – Sausage and tomato risotto, which is a forever favorite.

Monday – hot dogs and tater tots, and some sort of veggie. Yep. That’s it.

Tuesday – A veggie and chicken stir-fry (love this teriyaki sauce the most) if I’m home early, and leftovers if I’m not.

Wednesday – whatever we didn’t do on Tuesday

Thursday – LOL, see above

Friday – PIE and only pie.

Saturday – Oh gracious, I don’t know yet.

Favorite Things

But can you read that title as Oprah, please?

“It’s time for Favorite Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiings.”

You know, deep and sing-song-y?

Dear readers, Oprah has truly out-Oprah-ed herself this year, by gifting us with these promotional photos. She is just the ultimate best; shining so much light into an increasingly dark world.

Here’s what I’m loving from this year’s list.

(These are not affiliate links because I am not that fancy.)

Just ordered a little bluetooth speaker for the main floor of our house. We reconfigured our life a little bit, and lost the one we had there. I was agonizing about what to get in its place – a nice speaker felt too expensive, I still don’t understand why anyone needs an Alexa for anything except playing music, and then this little dude popped up for $30, coming with a whole bunch of 5-star reviews. Done and done. He arrives in two days (God bless Amazon Prime), and I can’t wait to listen to Disney Pandora with him. I think this is the first time in my long, storied history with Oprah’s Favorite Things that I’ve ever seen something and bought it right away.

I have a very different relationship with Sundays now that I’m not working full time. Simply put, I love them. Hands-down my favorite day of the week. They are slow, they start with a fancy breakfast (read: pancakes or French toast) and church, they are mostly for family, until dinner, when we welcome friends, and share a meal. Dream. Day. Oprah knows Sundays are for saving your best stuff, too, and she put together this book with some insights from her Super Soul Sunday guests.

Love me a mom shoe, and if these are good enough for O, they are surely good enough for me. Vionic Slip-On Shoes look perfect for wearing with jeans. The hardest decision on days I wear real clothes (don’t judge my activewear habit) is almost always what shoe to wear. What’s stylish is rarely comfortable for someone popping up and down off the floor all day, and what’s comfortable are Nike sneakers, which don’t go with the whole, look, I got dressed in real clothes thing.

A Year With Goop [best birthday cake]

We did it! We kept our son alive, and quite adorable, for a whole year! A celebration was in order.

A celebration, of course, approved by my introverted husband. We took a trip to the zoo, and came home for cake and presents. Perfection.

Though I love to bake, I’m just not a cake-decorator. I kept it classic with Deb’s best birthday cake. But, I did cover the whole thing with Lucky Charms marshmallows. One big box gave me all I needed to completely coat a six-inch, two-layer cake. I got 18 cupcakes out of the batter in addition to the mini cake, and stuck a leprechaun hat marshmallow in the center of each.

p.s. I often love what Janssen is doing over at Everyday Reading, and she wrote about making mini cakes for each of her girls on their first birthdays. One of their other birthday rituals is sugar-y cereal for breakfast in bed. Love that.

Halloween Beans [frankenbeans]

Just about a month ago, I made How Sweet’s slow cooker bourbon baked beans, and they left me wanting something a little more timeless.  And then shortly after that, my new favorite book ever, How to Celebrate Everything arrived, and within the first couple of pages, out popped the classic baked beans recipe everyone needs in his or her arsenal.  She makes hers on Halloween for her great launching of the children, and we used ours in much the same vein.

I followed Jenny’s recipe in terms of ingredients, but took her oven baked beans to the stove top.  She calls for these to sit in the oven for 5 hours, which sounds so dreamy, but I wasn’t going to be home for 5 straight hours on Halloween.*  As you can read in the recipe below I kept my pot on the stove all day, turning it on and off as I came and went.

These are a classic, and a new Halloween staple in our house, to be sure.

To make beans for 4-6 people, you will need:

• 1 lb. dry navy beans
• small onion, chopped
• 1/2 C maple syrup (the real stuff, please)
• 1/4 C ketchup (why yes, I did use this)
• 2 T apple cider vinegar
• 2 T light brown sugar, packed
• 2 T spicy brown mustard
• 2 T molasses
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 thick strip bacon
• boiling water
• 4 hot dogs, cut into rounds

At least one day before you need the beans: Soak beans overnight (cover with water in a pot and leave them on your counter).

This next step can be done the day before, or the day of: Bring water to a boil and let beans cook till tender, about 1 hour.  Drain.  If you’re not using them right away, put them in a container, seal it tightly, and refrigerate till you need ’em.

The day of: Bring a pot of water to a simmer.  In another large pot, combine onion, maple syrup, ketchup, vinegar, brown sugar, mustard, molasses, salt, pepper, bacon strip (yes, uncooked!) and whisk around a little bit.  Add beans, and just enough simmering water to cover.  Let that cook on the stovetop.  For as long as you want.  Keep adding water to keep everything just covered.  I probably simmered mine about 2 or 3 hours in the morning, another hour in the afternoon, and even another hour or two before we enjoyed them.

*Side note: Halloween as a parent?  Holy fun!  But holy exhausting!

Holiday Card Round Up

November 1 does not mean it’s time to start celebrating Christmas.

But. (I’m sorry.)

There are a couple things that I do early in November to help make Christmas a little easier, and one is order Christmas cards as soon as possible*.

This is the time of year when lots of sales are running, which I’m sure helps alleviate last minute stress for stationery companies.  My problem this year is I have this adorable child, whose photo must grace our card, and this opens up a pretty much infinite number of possibilities.

So I decided I’m getting a card from Paperless Post.  I have used Minted, Rifle Paper, Pinhole Press, and Paperless Post over the years, and there is not one company I prefer over another.  I choose my cards based solely on design.  But I knew that if I didn’t narrow down to just one website, I’d be lost in a sea of great cards, and 85 tabs open on my computer, until I found the right one.  Which I would then second guess after clicking order.  You do what you gotta do.

Besides nothing beats the crisp, white and gold box from Paperless Post.  When it arrives, my heart does this warm, fuzzy, jumpy thing, I get so excited to open it.

(I really want this photo to be black and white)

So all my favorites are from their site, but you can find great cards just about anywhere.

*This is also the time to order those Peanuts stamps you had to run to 5 post offices to find last year, just saying.

(Making Spirits Bright//The Year in Review//Red Bow//2016 in Review//Let Your Heart Be Light//Christmas Lights//Warmest Wishes)

The Point of it All/How to Celebrate Everything [half birthday cake]

I am six months into life with The Gooplet, and I often tell people that I feel as though I have maybe, finally, possibly stopped treading water.  I say maybe, finally, possibly, because I’m so hesitant to commit to saying the words out loud, lest everything we worked so hard the past half a year to establish be swiftly taken from us in one blow.  Because babies.

But I think, maybe, finally, possibly, we have a semblance of normal.

I was big on half birthdays in elementary school, as I imagine almost anyone with a summer birthday would be.  I lived in the golden age of elementary school, when you could still bring in cupcakes on your birthday, which meant that those of us who celebrated in June, July, or August got to spice up those boring winter months by adding our half birthdays to the slate of students celebrating the real day  January 26 was my (half) moment to be the center of attention.  And oh man, am I ever into being the center of attention.

Fast forward thirty-odd years, and here I am with a little person celebrating his very first half birthday.  There must be cake!  Half a cake, to be exact.  We’ve done this before.  We’ll do this every year!  I made the cake on his birthday, but I wasn’t paying full attention, and it didn’t turn out.  Like, sunk completely, didn’t turn out.  What would Mary Berry say?

There must be some piece of me that knew not all was lost, because I hung onto the cake, and lived life for three more days, when Jenny Rosenstrach’s latest cookbook arrived on my doorstep.  Jenny speaks my love language.  It’s family dinner.  She writes about people and food and the serious connection between the two in ways that get at the deep, mushiest parts of my soul.  That’s not an exaggeration.  Ina is aspirational,  Jenny is inspirational.  And her newest book tells us to celebrate everything.  Because babies crave routines.  Families crave rituals.  And the best ones are the ones that happen around the table.

So about a week after Gooplet’s half birthday, we celebrated his half birthday anyway.

With the ugliest, and most disastrous half-cake ever.  But we started something.  And I hope it continues for years and years and years to come.

Thanks, Jenny.