Christmas Eve Brunch

Last week we celebrated Christmas with our cousins.  We're not often able to reciprocate their hospitality, so we were happy to have them at our house for a Christmas Eve brunch which I decided would feature various dishes representing our family's cultures.  A meatless feast is traditional for Christmas Eve in Eastern Europe, so we prepared accordingly.

From Armenia: wedding pilaf - white rice served with dried fruit and nuts (we know that Ella's birth mother prepares a version of this for Christmas)

From the US: an apple pie variant

From Germany: Christmas Stollen

From Bulgaria: tutmanik (or mesenitza) - a traditional bread made with yogurt and feta and mishmash - a popular dish of eggs, roasted peppers and tomatoes

We also served fresh fruit and a bowl of nuts which are part of many Christmas tables in Armenia, Bulgaria and Germany.

From Our Family To Yours ...

... season's greetings

and warmest wishes for a joyous, peaceful 2017.

A Letter From My Daughter

In case you can't decipher this lovely note I received today, here's a transcript edited for spelling and grammar:

Dear Mama, You have been a wonderful mama for every single day of my life. I mean this to you.  Love, Ella.  Merry, merry Christmas to you.

Want - Need - Enjoy

As many of you know, Craig and I purchase three Christmas gifts for each of our children and we use the following guideline: something they really want, something they need, and something we think they would enjoy.

Here's what we got this year - everything has been delivered (online shopping all the way) and is wrapped.

Ella:

mermaid blanket (want) - $21.00
sewing kit (need - practice fine motor skills and creativity) - $23.00
dollhouse with all accessories (enjoy) - $158

Rex:

cup stacking game (want) - $12.00
socks via an adoption fundraiser (need) - $15.00
two new indoor swing attachments (enjoy) - $364 - covered by Rex's county funds, so really $0

Emilia:

new magna doodle and Llama Llama book (want) - $20.00
birthday cake cutting/pretend play set (need - practice fine motor and play skills) - $18.00
dollhouse with all accessories (enjoy) - $0

The girls are getting the doll house as a joint gift, so the cost of that purchase is essentially split.  Total cost of all gifts this year $267 - very reasonable.

Craig and I don't need gifts (unless it's the gift of quality time), but we have learned that giving and receiving presents is one of Ella's love languages, so we gave her an opportunity to earn some money between Thanksgiving and last Friday with the caveat that she could only spend it on others.  She's made some lovely and thoughtful choices for her siblings (finger puppets for Emilia and a light-up spinning toy for Rex) and has a surprise for Craig and me as well.

Another new thing for 2016 is that only one gift per child is from Santa.  Since we do not know how much longer Ella will believe in the jolly fella, we decided it was time to introduce presents from mom and dad this year to make the transition from one to the other easier when it comes.  It ties in nicely with it being the first year Ella is giving gifts herself, so we shall see how it goes.

Here's to four more days till Christmas!

Marion & Dick

When Craig and I were newlyweds and living in our first house, we made fast friends with our neighbors, Marion and Dick, a retired couple married over 50 years.  Marion and I grew a beautiful friendship through our shared interest in gardening, cooking and baking.  Many recipes were exchanged over four years, pies and breads made their way across the lawns to be tasted, and countless hours were whiled away in Marion's sitting room.  As a new wife, I so appreciated the wisdom and support of my much older friend.

Marion died several years ago of complications from breast cancer.  I wish she could have met our kids - she would have adored them just the way they are, exactly the way she did her own grandson with special needs.  I think of Marion often and definitely every spring when her irises bloom in my front yard and every December when I bake her molasses cookies with a recipe that has been passed down in Dick's family for about 120 years.

This year, I introduced Ella to the art of making Marion's molasses cookies and told her all about my wonderful friend.  Then we packed up a few cookies and sent them on their way to Dick, now nearly 90, in hopes that they would bring back a flavorful hint of his childhood and married years and let him know we love him.

I miss you, dear friend.  A part of you is here with me still and will be as long as irises bloom in spring and cookies are baked at Christmas.

Picture Of The Day

Someone lost her first tooth this week.

Lunch Love

Almost two years into her academic career, Ella still loves to take this kind of lunch to school and I still love to pack it.  Her lunch box is a variation of this combo every day: fruit, vegetable, protein and carb.