Christmas Prep 2018

December 2018

This year was a mix of holiday traditions and a shifting family dynamic. I see things changing and I see the strings that are familiar and strong tying us to our past and keeping us together in our future.

We unpacked our Advent wreath and Advent calendar. Jim's written schedule kept us on a fair track of who went when. On each girl's day they got to light the wreath candles, place the calendar magnet around the stable and this year select a dry good from our pantry to donate.

Christmas cookie baking brought out all of the memories of dough and measuring with each of my small ones. Johanna stepped right in with the struggle to wait to lick a bowl or spoon. We were incredibly efficient with some recipes and then we had a number of mishaps. I didn't double a recipe correctly and as Bridget was rolling the peanut butter cookie dough balls for our Blossoms, she kept saying that it didn't seem right. The first tray came out and didn't have the right consistency, we tasted them and the peanut butter sand consistency made us stop in out tracks. I had put in twice the amount of shortening. It turned into a project of how to reclaim the dough of 8 dozen cookies. We decided to bake then crumble the peanut butter cookies and turn them into bars. Chocolate graham crust, chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk pulled it together.  It was a tastey result but took a hunk of our time.

We made our seven layer bars, sugar cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip, and chocolate mint and M&M cookies. It took two days to get them all done. We packed them in the cookie containers to give to our family and friends.

Our rainy year continued into December and the day we designated to get and decorate our tree was rain soaked. We went right after Mass at OLV, our first stop only had smaller trees so we drove along the Patapsco which was well over it's banks. It was a muddy endeavor and Megan put shopping bags over her heals. She had commented that most years her tree always came in as the runner up but in the rain she quickly found a good fat one and we were happy to bring "her" tree home.

I got the lights on and we brought up the tubs of ornaments. We sorted out the girl's ornaments and got to hanging. Rachael never came up and Emma couldn't make it, so the younger three, Jim and I decorated together. I knew this would be like our years to come. It just happened earlier then I expected.  the tree Megan picked out was huge and had great branches. Even when we were done there were plenty of spots for Em and Rae to hang ornaments.  I draped the red and green bead garland and it tied out tree together. Megan had recently asked that some day she get to inherit the bead garland. I was surprised at the request, but pleased that something so simple made her happy.

When Emma was home the girls decorated mini gingerbread houses. They did a four elements theme in the Avatar style. Emma and Rachael spent some time together decorating the tree and then we started packing away the bins and getting ready to host. The girls are fun and silly and they make preparing for the Christmas holiday a time of filling my heart with gratitude.