thoughts | happy christmastime

I'm typing on my beautiful new macbook.  How's that for a happy Christmas?!?

Christmas day is such a surreal and special day for my family.  I was actually awake before the kiddos, which is no small feat when you have 3 little ones under the age of 10.  I was groggy and laying in bed waiting to hear the sound of their elephant tiny feet two stories up.  I heard Cal first and my heart kinda squeezed.  Do you know that THAT is one of the happiest sounds in the world. I got out of bed to brush my teeth, and, I'm not ashamed to admit it, put some mascara on my pathetic eyelashes.  That was the first gift I gave to my family.
Family tradition states that we must get our stockings from the mantle and pile into Mom and Dad's room.  Then we tear through them, the stockings that is, not our parents.  After that, its back downstairs for coffee (hallelujah, amen!) and dad reading Luke's gospel account of Jesus's birth (Hallelujah, Amen!).

And then presents.

My favorite gift that I gave this year was actually found last minute on Christmas Eve at an antique store.  It was an old storage crate with "microscopes" stamped onto the side and wooden dividers inside.  It went to my brother Daniel.  It was so eclectic, and he's eclectic, I figured it'd work.  It did!

Christmas dinner was much lower in intensity than thanksgiving dinner.  We has approximately 20 less people at our table.  My grandparents woke up to 9 inches of snow and couldn't make the drive to see us.  Welcome to the north.  Dinner was still delicious, even if the turkey didn't get as toasty as usual.  I suggested using my creme brûlée torch to finish it off.
It brings a whole new meaning to the song "Bring a torch Jeannette Isabella".  Maybe their turkey wasn't crisping up properly either?  I took to calling my sister Jeanette Isabella for the rest of the afternoon.  Let me tell you, she loved that.

I made the Southern Living Christmas cover cake.  Red Velvet Cheesecake Layer Cake with White Chocolate Frosting and Stuff!!!  I was so proud.  The recipe came together well, I definitely recommend taking two days to make this cake, it's easy to bake, just time consuming.  The frosting gave me the hardest time, the white chocolate got too hard before I cold get it onto the layers.  I had to keep running my knife under hot water and re-melting the chocolate.  The final product was amazing!

Oh, and the surprise that we pulled off on Christmas Eve...

Dreams do come true.