Thank you for waiting so patiently for this post. I apologize for how long it's been. I will try to keep this short, and update more frequently! (Update: the short thing didn't work too well. Maybe next time.) First, a Christmas recap.
Christmas was wonderful. We stayed home for most of it, making food, playing games, watching movies, and having a lovely time. The three girls made the annual trip down to Manteca to finish up Christmas shopping, and while we were there we picked up the best present of the day - Grandma Houghton! She stayed for about two weeks, although sadly I wasn't there for the last half-week or so. That reminds me- we had Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristen over for the first few days of break, and they were wonderful houseguests. It was fun to see them, too. They were great contributors to the weekly family ping-pong tournament; boy did we have some hustling going on!
In the week leading up to Christmas, we made truffles - mint, raspberry, orange, and cherry. I think I'm missing a few, but oh well. My mom's truffles are the BEST. I love them. We also went to see Tangled, which is probably my first-favorite fairytale, contrary to what some may think. It is super-cute, and heads-up for next birthday, I want a copy of Tangled and a cast iron frying pan. Oh yeah.
The day before Christmas Eve, the high schoolers had a crazy party. We were busy all day making appetizers and desserts - not something I'm likely to complain about :) I also got to go grocery shopping with Dad. With my love of grocery shopping, it shouldn't surprise you that I had a marvelous time with him.
I really had a wonderful time catching up with the family this Christmas, especially Mom and Dad. I really love you guys, you know. It was fun to see how everyone had progressed, although a bit sad to know that I've missed so much!
On Christmas Eve, we went caroling in our Victorian masks, which is always fun. That is one of the few pictures I have of all of us, because Dad put it up on facebook. :)
On Christmas Eve we also made tea rings (very similar to cinnamon rolls, but more beautiful), and took them + gingerbread cookies + other assorted treats to the people we visited. It was mostly an effort by Dad, Mom, and Grandma. Next year I'm going to help more. We also made eggnog rolls, which I love. I did help with those, and I need to get the recipe and pictures so that I can post them on my food blog.
On Christmas morning things went as usual, if a bit more orderly than in years past, due to increased age of the youngest few... :) We had our family friend Julie over, and it was wonderful to see her. She has since moved to England, which makes me very sad. She knows me quite well, and she gave me a beautiful length of silk for Christmas, as well as leaving me many of her kitchen supplies when she moved. I miss her already!
For Christmas, Santa Claus gave us some family gifts. Sadly, I don't have the picture of us all wearing our new swim caps and goggles. But here's a picture of the matching Land's End vests (picked out when they were on sale in November... :)
For the next week, Dad was off work and we were all at home together all week. I LOVED it. One of my favorite things in the world is just spending time with family. During that time, we took our first family pictures in ten years and I spent some much-needed quality time with my dear Tess, the only really faithful blog-reader I have besides Mom (*sniff* she is just so wonderful).
We had the traditional New Year's Eve appetizer party, which featured homemade focaccia, leftover black bean and mulligatawny soup, bacon-wrapped dates, cocktail sausages (when Mom says we have cocktail sausages, you'd better believe we have COCKTAIL SAUSAGES), crackers with my homemade jalapeno jelly (from October!), and pomegranate punch. We had other things too, but I can't remember what... :) The middle kids went to a church dance in Modesto and Dad, Grandma, and I had Dungeness crab. And guess what? I actually liked it! Enough that I even learned to crack open the crab on my own to get to the meat. Whoa. It was pretty much awesome.
On Saturday morning, I had a train to catch at 11:30 in Sacramento. Mom packed me a wonderful lunch/dinner and then I drove down with Dad and Grandma. We went for a walk along the river when we arrived an hour early, and then I had to catch the train. The fact that I met an old friend from girls' camp at the station and we sat together held me together, but it sure was hard to say goodbye to everybody and go back to Utah!
We got into SLC at 4:30, and I drove back to Utah in 5 degree weather, exhausted beyond belief. In spite of my best efforts I slept through church and had to go to another ward's sacrament meeting at 12. Ah well. The only problem was, that night I discovered that school didn't start until Tuesday! I could have left a day later! Sad story, but it's probably good that I had a day + to unpack, grocery shop, and sleep. Anyways, that was Christmas. I'm still sad that it's over. You should all email me or comment so I don't feel so un-familial-ized! I love you all!
<3
Eliza
Christmas was wonderful. We stayed home for most of it, making food, playing games, watching movies, and having a lovely time. The three girls made the annual trip down to Manteca to finish up Christmas shopping, and while we were there we picked up the best present of the day - Grandma Houghton! She stayed for about two weeks, although sadly I wasn't there for the last half-week or so. That reminds me- we had Uncle Chris and Aunt Kristen over for the first few days of break, and they were wonderful houseguests. It was fun to see them, too. They were great contributors to the weekly family ping-pong tournament; boy did we have some hustling going on!
In the week leading up to Christmas, we made truffles - mint, raspberry, orange, and cherry. I think I'm missing a few, but oh well. My mom's truffles are the BEST. I love them. We also went to see Tangled, which is probably my first-favorite fairytale, contrary to what some may think. It is super-cute, and heads-up for next birthday, I want a copy of Tangled and a cast iron frying pan. Oh yeah.
The day before Christmas Eve, the high schoolers had a crazy party. We were busy all day making appetizers and desserts - not something I'm likely to complain about :) I also got to go grocery shopping with Dad. With my love of grocery shopping, it shouldn't surprise you that I had a marvelous time with him.
I really had a wonderful time catching up with the family this Christmas, especially Mom and Dad. I really love you guys, you know. It was fun to see how everyone had progressed, although a bit sad to know that I've missed so much!
On Christmas Eve, we went caroling in our Victorian masks, which is always fun. That is one of the few pictures I have of all of us, because Dad put it up on facebook. :)
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| Not the best picture, but that's what I've got. You get the idea. |
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| Dad holding the tea rings, and Grandma in the background! When they're done, the tea rings are much bigger. They're decorated with glaze and chopped maraschino cherries. We eat them every year on Christmas morning. Yum. |
For Christmas, Santa Claus gave us some family gifts. Sadly, I don't have the picture of us all wearing our new swim caps and goggles. But here's a picture of the matching Land's End vests (picked out when they were on sale in November... :)
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| Where's Dad? |
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| Also, Levi got shot in the eye. I told him he shouldn't have given Dad new nerf bullets for Christmas... |
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| And finally, all of us with classic books from Grandma. I got my favorite - Jane Eyre! |
We had the traditional New Year's Eve appetizer party, which featured homemade focaccia, leftover black bean and mulligatawny soup, bacon-wrapped dates, cocktail sausages (when Mom says we have cocktail sausages, you'd better believe we have COCKTAIL SAUSAGES), crackers with my homemade jalapeno jelly (from October!), and pomegranate punch. We had other things too, but I can't remember what... :) The middle kids went to a church dance in Modesto and Dad, Grandma, and I had Dungeness crab. And guess what? I actually liked it! Enough that I even learned to crack open the crab on my own to get to the meat. Whoa. It was pretty much awesome.
On Saturday morning, I had a train to catch at 11:30 in Sacramento. Mom packed me a wonderful lunch/dinner and then I drove down with Dad and Grandma. We went for a walk along the river when we arrived an hour early, and then I had to catch the train. The fact that I met an old friend from girls' camp at the station and we sat together held me together, but it sure was hard to say goodbye to everybody and go back to Utah!
We got into SLC at 4:30, and I drove back to Utah in 5 degree weather, exhausted beyond belief. In spite of my best efforts I slept through church and had to go to another ward's sacrament meeting at 12. Ah well. The only problem was, that night I discovered that school didn't start until Tuesday! I could have left a day later! Sad story, but it's probably good that I had a day + to unpack, grocery shop, and sleep. Anyways, that was Christmas. I'm still sad that it's over. You should all email me or comment so I don't feel so un-familial-ized! I love you all!
<3
Eliza
Eliza Dearest,
ReplyDeleteWeren't you already in Utah when you drove back to Utah, so I am kind of confused...Another thing we had on New Year's Eve was crackers with your jalapeno jelly and cream cheese. I love how I am not even mentioned in passing ONCE. I am starting to regret my opening, but oh well. Name some of the things you did during vacation (going to see your new second favorite fairy tale, first family pictures in 10 years-that kind of thing)-it is much more interesting when you do that
Love,
Tess
Great recap, no matter what Tess says. She's editing your blog writing now? You remember more details than I do, except I don't remember playing ping pong with the Kindts. Did you make that up? You didn't mention the candy cane day in Columbia. Glad you're back on the blog. I was missing it!
ReplyDelete