New Year's Eve

We originally had two party invitations for New Year's Eve and had chosen to attend the first one that had invited us. But at the last hour, their family came down with the crud so their party was cancelled. We were able to take the Hartman's up on their invite to eat snacks and play games though! Had a fun time with the families (and extended families) of the Wagner's, Hartman's and McLaughlin's. There was lots of food to munch on all night - soup, pizza, snacks( we brought Cougar Gold cheese & crackers) and dessert. Played a game called Dizios, described as a new twist on Dominoes. It was fun! And we played many sets of Sequence, a favorite of ours. Fun time ringing in the New Year!

White Bean and Ham Soup

WHITE BEAN AND HAM SOUP
2 pounds dried white beans, like Great Northern
1 ham bone with meat
1 large onion, diced
1 cup diced carrots
2 stalks of celery, diced
2 dried bay leaves
1 can chicken broth
6 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste

Rinse beans and place in soup pot. Add water to cover. Bringing to a boil, turn off burner, cover and let soak for 1 hour. Pour off the water. Place the beans back in the soup pot on the burner. Add the ham bone, the chicken broth and the water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover.

Add diced onion, chopped celery & carrots to the pot with the bay leaves. Cook, covered for about 1 1/2 hours, or until the beans are tender. Beans will smash easily against the side of the pan when they are done.

Remove the ham bone from the beans and cool until cool enough to handle. Take a big spoon and smash some beans against the side of the pan and stir them back in. Do several times until the soup begins to look creamy.

After the ham bone has cooled enough, take the meat off the bone and discard any fat. Put the ham into the soup and season well with salt and pepper.

Kindergarten Reunion

Audrey attended kindergarten at Orchard Prairie in 1998. Not only was it her first year in school, it was also the first year that Mrs. Schierman taught. Audrey was in a class with Kaleb, Shaylee, Levi, Camille, Christopher, Jared and Colin. So there were only 8 students in their kindergarten class. What a fun time!

When we attended Jared's Eagle Scout presentation today, we were pleased to see that Mrs. Schierman was in attendance. And since Colin (Cutler) and Jared (Nelson) were also there - we took some "Kindergarten Reunion" photos!!
Left to Right: Colin, Kirsten, Jared, Audrey

Movie with Steve

When the first Sherlock Holmes movie came out, we went with John's brother Steve and his wife Angela. That year it also came out near the end of December, which worked perfectly as a birthday movie celebration. Well - guess what? The next Sherlock Holmes movie had great timing as well and was released in December. So Audrey contacted Steve to make sure he planned to go with US to see the movie. We met him at the Valley Mall and had an enjoyable time. Fun flick.

Christmas Menu

In addition to making another batch of the cranberry jello salad (from 12/18) and the recipes below, we had honey baked ham, stuffed pimento/cheese celery and store bought pumpkin pie. It was nice that we could have everything made the day before and just heat on Christmas Day.


PRALINE SWEET POTATOES
29 ounce can of cut yams, drained and placed in un-greased 8x8 pan
Combine:
2/3 c. chopped pecans
2/3 c. coconut
2/3 c. firmly packed brown sugar
6 T. flour
6 T butter, melted
Sprinkle over yams. During last 10 minutes of cooking time, top with 1 c. mini marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes or until bubbly.

POTATOES ROMANOFF
6 potatoes cooked in jackets until fork tender. Peel. Shred into large bowl.
Stir in:
1 pint sour cream
4 green onions, thinly sliced
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (reserve 1/2 c. for top)
1 & 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Put in 2 quart casserole. Top with remaining cheese. Sprinkle with paprika. Refrigerate over night. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes until heated through.

Christmas Day

With Christmas Day falling on a Sunday, we decided to hold off on presents until after church. The choir was performing, I was on the organ today and I was accompanying most of the musical numbers, so we made sure to get to church early enough to practice with everyone before services started at 9AM. We were pleasantly surprised to see the McMackin's, including Donna, show up at our ward. Brianna and Brian even joined in with the choir as they are excellent sight readers. What fun!

Church Program:
Congregation "Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful"
Primary "Samuel Tells of the Baby Jesus"
Vocal Solo, Susan Clifford "The Angels Came to Sing"
Ward Choir "I Wonder as I Wander"
Congregation "Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains"
Ward Choir "Joy to the World"
Duet, Jessie & Emma McLaughlin "Guard Him Joseph"
Ward Choir "Glory to the Newborn King"
Closing Hymn "Silent Night"

At Home
After church we had plans to stay inside with just the three of us, so we popped into those Santa PJ's and put our Christmas Dinner in the oven. We sorted out the gifts under the tree and took turns opening gifts.

John received speakers for his computer from Audrey. And a computer keyboard & wireless mouse, 2 pair of jeans, a white dress shirt, a tin of Almond Roca and a mini foosball set.

Audrey received the already mentioned red stapler (it was on her list!!), a Hallmark POTC ornament, Big Bang t-shirt, a mug set, Lord of the Rings Blue Ray set, some Xbox games, Scrubs DVD and a Tiggerific Disney Traditions figurine.
I received the Just Dance 3 for Wii from Audrey. John made new wood shelves for my china cabinets and give me some Pampered Chef cooking scoops, Zumba for Wii and a cream turtleneck. And when I thought I was done - there was another box that contained a Kindle Fire!

Christmas Dinner Menu
Honey Baked Ham
Cranberry Salad
Potatoes Romanoff
Yams
Rolls
Stuffed Celery
Pumpkin Pie

Christmas Eve

We came home from mom's and I'm really not sure what John kept saying to make me laugh - but laugh I did. So hard I was crying!!

Our tradition of opening our Santa gift on Christmas Eve has been fun through the years. I think this year takes the cake though...

Santa always knows we need PJ's around our house - since it is so chilly. Here I am with my new black PJ's with pink polka dots.

And Audrey opening her....Stapler!?!!?!!?!!!?!

I (whoops, I mean Santa) labeled the gifts so there would be no confusion on Christmas Eve, since he happens to use the same color of wrapping paper that we do.

And now Audrey is REALLY opening her Santa gift = which is always (....almost) PJ's!

Christmas Eve

We had our annual breakfast-for-dinner at Grandma Gramlow's house. We made Davenport Coffee Cake. Other items on the menu included scrambled eggs, bacon, orange juice, eggnog and the McMackin's made waffles. After (breakfast) dinner we cleaned up the dishes and the kids sorted the presents. We wait until all the presents are passed out and then we can open them at once. But we then go around the room and everyone gets a chance to "Show and Tell" what they received and who gave them what. We also draw names, so each person brings one gift and receives one gift - but we all get Grandma a gift and she gives us a gift.

Mom got me the Lion House Cakes & Cupcakes book and made a "nest" necklace. Dakota had my name this year and gave me a Vanilla Bean hand soap set from Bath & Body Works, some Plum Jam and Ferrero chocolates. John received a huge jar of pistachios from mom and a blue solid dress shirt from Brian. Audrey received the Madagascar II soundtrack, a pirates book and a large assortment of Coca-Cola dishes from Grandma. She received a family pack of Oreos and a pirate blanket from Shaune. We were able to give gifts to Kathy (a cookbook), Cameron (Lego Hero Factory) and Dakota (Star Wars items).

There is a crazy story about the Star Wars items... Dakota had hinted that he liked the Star Wars popcorn tins. There were 4 different ones. I asked mom to pick up 2 for me while she was getting 2 for her to give - - so he would end up with all 4 patterns. Well, evidently mom was busy so sent Michelle on the errand. When they delivered the 2 tins to my house, Dakota was in the van so they sent him inside. Audrey was home and said Dakota dropped them off and said "These are for Aunt Sam". That's pretty bad when you deliver your own Christmas gift AND think it is for someone else!

Below is a picture (left to right) of James, Dakota, Cameron, Mariska, Brianna, Cheyenne & Audrey. They sure are growing up! Note the pictures in the background? Right beside Mariska's head is "me" and just to the right of Brianna's head is Kathy's baby picture.

ALTON BROWN'S BASIC WAFFLE RECIPE

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 TB sugar

3 whole eggs, beaten

2 oz unsalted butter, melted

16 oz buttermilk

In a medium bowl whisk together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl beat together eggs and melted butter, and then add buttermilk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir until combined. Allow to rest for 5 minutes. Preheat waffle iron, ladle recommended batter on iron, close top and cook until golden on both sides. Serve immediately.

Davenport Hotel Coffeecake

DAVENPORT HOTEL COFFEECAKE

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

TOPPING
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a Bundt or angel food pan; set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Gradually add dry ingredients. Mix until the batter is smooth. Spread half of the batter in the pan. Combine the nuts, cinnamon and brown sugar. Sprinkle half of the mixture over the batter in the pan. Add remaining batter and sprinkle remaining nut mixture on top. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in center comes out clean.

OPTIONAL GLAZE
Combine 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 1 teaspoon vanilla and 3 to 4 tablespoons milk or light cream. Mix until smooth. Add more or less milk to make a thinner or thicker glaze. Drizzle over cake.

Birthday Present Framed

My birthday present did not come framed, so we went together to the store to pick out the frame style. Very pleased with the final results!! Fun to pick it up a few days before Christmas.

Day with Kathy & Brianna and Andes Mint Cookies

Audrey and I had a fun day with Brianna and Kathy. They are visiting for the holidays from Denver and we had reserved this day to play. We baked cookies, talked, watched "Big Bang Theory" and went shopping (Target, Jo-Ann Fabrics, etc). Absolutely a joyful day - thanks for playing with us and for a great Girl's-Day!!


ANDES MINT CHOCOLATE COOKIES
1 Devil's Food Cake Mix
1/2 cup oil
2 eggs
1 package of Andes Mints

Mix cake mix, oil, and eggs together. (Use a STRONG mixer or hand mix.) Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 6-9 minutes. While the cookies are still very hot, place an Andes Mint on top of each cookie. In about 5 minutes, the mint will be melted. Take a spoon and smooth out each mint like frosting.

Gingerbread House

OK, this is totally the way to make gingerbread houses! We got a call from John's mom to come-on-up to her place. They had made gingerbread houses for the grand-kids to put together and had a few extra. So the gingerbread was already baked, assembled and set. The frosting was made and all the candy supplies were set out. So all we had to do was literally decorate. What a fun project! Thanks for doing all the hard work : )

Holiday Cranberry Salad

So yummy!

HOLIDAY CRANBERRY SALAD
2 small packages raspberry Jell-O
1 & 1/2 cups boiling water
20oz can crushed pineapple
1 can whole cranberry sauce
3/4 cup cranberry juice
1 cup pecans, chopped
8oz package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add crushed pineapple (juice and all), cranberry sauce, liquid mixture, cranberry juice and pecans, reserving some pecans to sprinkle on top. Mix it all together well. Mix well. Pour into a 9"x12" glass dish and refrigerate until firm. Cream together cream cheese, sugar and sour cream until smooth. When the first mixture is firm, spread the creamed ingredients on top. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top.

Holiday Pops

Went with mom to the Holiday Pops with the Spokane Symphony. Music for the evening included numbers by the Spokane Symphony Chorale and the Spokane Area Children's Chorus. The concert started with a jazzy medley on snow - "Let It Snow", "Winter Wonderland" and "Jingle Bells". My favorite new number was "Reindeer Variations" by Lucas Richman, but I also enjoyed "We Three Basses" by James Stephenson. And of course no Holiday Pops concert is complete without Santa directing the symphony on Sleigh Ride. But finally, there is always a Christmas carol sing-along.

Blue Bubble Dishes

These are the blue dishes that were used for family dinners when we went to Grandma Whisler's house. I loved these dishes. When she passed away, her son Bob got them. And there is a reason - he's the one that bought them and gave them to her in the first place!!

Bob and his dad, Don Bush, had cut timber and hauled it to the mill for a number of years. They took the logs north to Newport or Priest River or perhaps even to Usk. It was a way of earning pretty good income at the time. The dishes were a premium at the gas station he used to fill the logging truck - believe it was Enco stations back then. He was able to collect all the dishes over a period of time by buying gas for the truck. He gave them to Grandma for a present. This would have been between 1963 and 1966. It was probably the most expensive gift he had ever been able to give her up to that time and they were some of the prettiest dishes she had.

I would agree these are very pretty dishes - and hold very fond memories for me. Good food at Grandma's including homemade rolls, stuffed cheese celery, mustard pickles and mashed potatoes & gravy. Thanks Bob for entrusting the "Bubble" dishes with me!!

BD Movie & Lunch

For my birthday movie we headed downtown to see The Muppets - we thought it was great! Afterwards we went to Red Robin for lunch. Nice day with family!

Work Parties

Wow, just a bit of partying this month!

On December 2nd, I drove down to Moses Lake to attend a work party for the managers of the Columbia District. We had a short meeting and then headed to Michael's on the Lake. There we had yummy food and then a gift exchange. Everyone draws numbers and often gives gifts of liquor. I bring something I would like to take home - non alcoholic - and make sure to mark my brown paper bag so I know which gift to "pick" when it is my turn. Yay for me, I "got" a mini parfait dish set : )

On December 6th, I headed downtown to the Steam Plant Grill for the work party for the managers of the Spokane District. See, there is definitely an upside to have two bosses and two territories! Again we had delicious food, a short meeting and a gift exchange. I believe the number of non-alcoholic gifts were exactly 2. My district manager and myself. We kind of know this going in, so tend to bring a gift that we think the other will like. I made a Caramel Cider kit complete with clear glass mug, caramel syrup, cider packets and the recipe for making a mock-Starbucks one. He told me later it was delicious!

On December 8th, yes my birthday, John's new job had their work party. It was held in a banquet room at a hotel and the bosses wife had brought in dinner. Lasagna, veggie-lasagna, salads, bread and cookies/pies. They also had a large chocolate cake on the front table. At the start of the dinner, Wil stood up and announced that they were actually celebrating my birthday, not having a work Christmas party. That was too cool for them to even think about me! (John had been with the company about 5 weeks at this time.) So they sang to me and had me blow out candles and everything. The evening continued with a White Elephant gift exchange. That was really fun! And then Wil and his wife Tambi announced that we were going to have the actual gift opening. As part of the decorations, they had a tree in a corner. Underneath were many packages. They had each employee go over and pick a gift. I think Tambi had a lot of fun at Costco as the gifts were all in the $100 range and were things like the entire Band of Brothers / Pacific DVD gift set or the red professional popcorn machine (like at the movie theater). John picked up the Sonicare double toothbrush set. Wow, what a fun night we had!

On December 9th our Distribution Center had their annual Christmas lunch catered by Clinkerdagger's. I was able to enjoy turkey, roast beef, potatoes, gravy, their famous pea salad and an individual size creme brulee.

And finally, on December 12th my bosses took me out to lunch (Clingerdagger's - my favorite) for my birthday and to celebrate Christmas. They gave me flowers and gift cards to Michael's and Kohl's. Since they had just taken me out to lunch for my 25th anniversary (they took me to Casa de Oro on November 28th), we did choose a date past my birthday to celebrate.

Sam's Birthday

Fun day! Before I opened my presents that evening, Jessie stopped by with this cake from Just American Desserts. Yeah!! She's been my best friend since 3rd grade and it was so nice for her to remember - especially with chocolate!!!

Here I am with my "stash". Mom gave me Joanna Fluke's Lake Eden Cookbook (she is a culinary mystery writer); Kathy sent me a set of mini old fashioned milk bottles for my kitchen (so cute!); Audrey gave me Michael Buble's Christmas CD; and John outdid himself. He gave me a light box set and the book Plate to Pixel, both requests that I had made to try to improve my photography skills. Then I opened the Thomas Kinkaid Disney Dreams print. Wow! Thanks everyone for making this birthday great. And if you were wondering, I turned 45.

Fun Boots!

I'm pretty sure these are very practical....OK, I bought them because they are CUTE!! Hard to see, but there is an adorable bow on each boot. And it does help to have only size 6 feet for "cuteness" factor : )

Nutcracker

Audrey went to the Nutcracker with Grandma Gramlow, Mariska, and Cheyenne. It was the first time that Audrey saw the State Street Ballet version. It was held at the Fox Theater and featured the Spokane Symphony. Some artistic licensing made this performance a little different for Audrey, such as instead of the Mouse King there was a Mouse Queen. She also mentioned the costuming was less dramatic then past productions she has attended. Afterwards, they all went to Cheyenne's choice of the Timber Creek Buffet! They had a fun girl's afternoon together. Thanks Grandma for planning this event!!

Ward Christmas Breakfast

We had a ward "Christmas in Bethlehem" breakfast this morning at the church. John and the rest of the Bishopric had parts as Wise Men in the program. I was asked to accompany the music including Primary numbers, solo numbers and congregation singing.

Here is John getting ready - with help from the bandanna expert!

This is how they had the cultural decorated - Isn't it fabulous!?

John, Bishop Cutler and Randy Scott - - they do look quite wise!!

And here is a shot that Arah took of me accompanying one of the special musical numbers.

The program started with the lights dimmed and Mary and Joseph entering the room looking for a place to stay. A narrator told the story of the birth of Christ, quoting scriptures. Emma M sangMary's Lullaby, Drew N sang Silent Night and a double quartet of youth sang Behold, God's Son. The congregation got to sing Joy to the World, O Little Town of Bethlehem, Far, Far Away on Judea's Plains, Away in a Manger, and We Three Kings. The Wise Men presented gifts to Baby Jesus near the end of the program. After the program was over, they presented gifts to all the Primary children and took photos.

Overall the program went very smoothly and was a great event to attend. Thanks to all the time and effort put in for this event to take place - writing the program, those in the program, the music, the set-up, the decorations, the food (breakfast casseroles & pancakes) and the clean-up. Very nice time.