Christmas Favorites

Christmas was lovely this year, so many things to love about it, but a few of my favorite things were…

-The gifts my boys handmade for me at school. Especially their faces and excited bouncing up an down when they presented them to me. “Do you love them mom? Do you love them?” I so do! Keeping them forever.

(Jonathan’s are glittered fridge magnets if you where wondering)

-The kids, freshly bathed and in their new PJs; all ready for bed on Christmas Eve.

-The way the family room looked in the soft glow of tree lights before all the madness began.

-That Jonathan’s only two requested gifts where a Spiderman puzzle (2 dollars) and a money bank with lock and key (4 dollars). One satisfied kid on Christmas (priceless).

-Movies! Entertainment for the whole family. My two favorite movies of 2010…’How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘Toy Story 3.’ Honorable Mention: ‘Despicable Me.’ I got as much (maybe more) enjoyment from these gifts as the kids did.

-My husband was so good to me this year. I loved my necklace and my favorite picture of the that Savior I’ve been looking for forever! I’ve been saving a special spot on my wall for years now. It looks lovely there too.

-A visit from the in-laws. We love when they come down to see us! Thanks for being so good to us Grandma and Grandpa!

-Putting together our traditional Christmas puzzle. I think I’m the only one who likes this tradition. I take full credit for the completion of this year’s puzzle since no one wanted to help me out.

-Playing Legos with the kids. Turns out I can follow instructions and by doing so, impress my boys beyond belief with my mad Lego skills. They loved the vehicles I made for them. They weren’t that impressive really, but now the boys think I’m a genius. Thanks for the Legos mom and dad. All the kids love them.

A few other favorites….

-Skyping with mom and dad in New Zealand
-All the delicious food
-Reading Christmas stories and talking to my kids about the birth of our Savior
-Having the chance to think of His birth a little bit more myself
-Spending time with my little family
-Receiving Christmas cards and letters from family and friends
-Taking down decorations (for some reason I love that part)

It was a wonderful Christmas. I hope you all had a beautiful one as well.

Until next year….

Our Christmas Food Traditions

The Christmas traditions of many include the special foods they make only at Christmas time. Our family is no different. Every year we look forward to one savory dinner and one sweet breakfast that are always part of Christmas.

Our traditional savory dinner is Italian Meatballs and Spaghetti, made from a old family recipe from my dad’s aunt Francis; an Italian woman who knew how to cook. I can’t remember a Christmas in my whole life where these meatballs where not a part. They are truly delicious and intensely flavored (you should see the amount of onions and garlic the recipe calls for) and always taste better the day after they are made.

With my parents on their mission this Christmas I felt obliged and honored to make sure our Christmas tradition was observed. I rounded up Mary Kate, popped in It’s a Wonderful Life, grabbed some peppermints to suck on and set to work…

Making these meatballs is not difficult, just incredibly time consuming. I thoroughly enjoyed losing myself in production though, especially with the story of George Bailey playing in the background. I felt very festive…and grateful too. My parent slave away in the kitchen every year to make these meet balls for a large crowd. It’s a ton of work. Thanks mom and dad for making it happen every year!

The secret to these delicious meatballs is mountains of onions and garlic (you should have seen my tears from the onion chopping), and mixing grated sharp cheddar cheese into the meat. It has to be sharp cheddar; it’s the essential secret ingredient.

I decided it was time Mary Kate got involved in this family tradition, since I’m hoping she’ll grow up and pass it on to her family some day. I kept her busy browning the meatballs. She did an amazing job.

After the meatballs are browned you throw them all into a slow cooker (or two), cover them with this savory sauce made from scratch and simmer them all day. The longer you simmer, the better they taste. Oh, my house smelled so delicious! It smelled like Christmas.

While the meatballs were simmering I made some Christmas fudge. I’ve never liked fudge really, but a friend brought some by this year that was so delicious! I’ve now decided I’m a fan and I’ll be making this fudge every year from now on as my own Christmas food tradition.

Had to make half with nuts and half without since I have some nut haters in my house

 

The meatballs were simmered and aged to perfection when my family showed up Christmas evening to partake. We usually serve the meatballs over spaghetti noodles, but this year we decided to make meatball subs. Good decision. They were delicious! We toasted the bread with some garlic spread, stuffed each loaf with meatballs and a little sauce, topped them with Provolone and more sharp cheddar and then melted the cheese under the broiler. WOWZA!

With a Caesar salad, some shrimp and cocktail sauce and raspberry pretzel dessert as accompaniments; we had a perfect Christmas meal.

And then…

…our last, but certainly not least, Christmas food tradition is Able skivers on Christmas morning. If you’re not familiar with Able skivers, they are little Danish puff pancakes, made with eggs, flour, milk, sugar, and folded in egg whites that have been beaten stiff. You cook these little fluffy delights in a special Abel skiver pan that my grandma Stauffer gives to each of her grandkids when they get married….

When Mike and I were opening our wedding gifts (many, many years ago), we unwrapped our Abel skiver pan from Grandma. Mike was delighted when he saw it. He knew exactly what it was, having served his mission in Denmark, and having eaten Abel skiver often there. The fact that we make these every year on Christmas morning is a tradition that makes Mike feel nostalgic.

You serve these warm, steaming babies dusted with powdered sugar, with creamy butter and jam or syrup. I prefer mine with homemade Strawberry jam and a tall glass of cold milk. Oh boy!

My kids especially like this tradition. They think Abel skivers are like little doughnuts, and they kind-of are.

Of course the best part of food traditions is sharing the deliciousness with loved ones around the table….

Notice my fancy table settings and the gigantic mess in the background

Notice Jonathan’s face and lack of shirt while he tackles a plate of spaghetti and meatballs

The only part of all this I don’t like….

 

Not fun!

If anyone is interested in any of these recipes, let me know and I would be happy to share.

I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas eating adventures as much as we did. In fact, what Christmas food traditions does your family have? I’d love to hear about them.

Where the Tree Tops Glisten

It’s been warm and rainy around here lately (think March instead of December). My kids have been riding their bikes around the neighborhood without jackets and worrying that we wouldn’t be having a white Christmas this year. The other day Mary Kate declared that she was having a hard time finding the Christmas spirit without the snow. I’m a little bit like her in that respect, so when the temperature dropped late Monday night; and those first snow flakes began to form a soft blank of white over our dull brown grass, and collect delicately on the branches of the tree in our front yard, I felt happy. Snow isn’t my favorite thing in the universe, but I do like a white Christmas. I mean…what’s the point of living in a place with four seasons if you can’t have a little snow for the holidays? 

Now it looks like we’ll finally be hanging the bikes up in the garage where they belong this time of year, and where they will stay until spring. Hopefully.

I love that first picture because I love quite snowfall at night? I think it’s one of my favorite simple pleasures.

I also love how our street looks in the morning, covered with freshly fallen snow.

I was up early to capture this shot, before the snow plows came through and before the kids came out in their boots to track through it all…not that I mind kids tracking through it. The kids have been waiting so long for some decent snowfall that they really celebrated, pulled out all the stops. The whole neighborhood was out to celebrate in fact.

The snow was wet and heavy, perfect for packing. Snowmen of all shapes and sizes were being built in yards up and down the street.

I love that Mary Kate is doing ‘bunny ears’ on this unsuspecting snowman…as if he’ll download these photos tonight and be like…’Hey, what the….!’

The above giant cougar fan of a snowman (notice the hat) was created by the Larson family across the street, but we wanted a snowman in our own yard as well, so we created….daa da da daaa…

…Ooogly Gooogly, the alien snowman from outer space.

This extra terrestrial obviously didn’t come from Mars…much too hot on Mars for snow creatures. So…you scientists out there, which planet is the coldest, now that Pluto isn’t officially a planet anymore? Ooogly Gooogly must be from that planet.

He’s come a long way just to stand around motionless in our yard. Brought a nice scarf though. Don’t you think?

I like this last shot of our space snowman. It’s as if he’s watching the kids intently, longingly wishing he had the ability to move because he would so love to join them in their fun. Too bad Mr. Martian. The sun will decide your fate.

While we were enjoying the snow, Winnie was watching from the front room window, frantically scratching on said window, begging to be let out. Unlike Ooogly Gooogly, she can move and wanted to come out and play too. She was a bit hesitant about the snow this year. It took some gentle coaxing from MK for her to finally plunge in, but she eventually adjusted to the white fluff and ended up soaking wet, as usual. She spent the rest of the afternoon drying off on an old beach towel in the laundry room.

It’s warmer outside today and there’s a drizzling rain falling that’s turning the snow into nasty piles of slushy mush. The white beauty of yesterday is practically a memory. The snow might not stick around until Christmas (our snow alien is already a melted mound of slush with a purple scarf on top) but yesterday’s snow did give us a good excuse to stir up some hot chocolate and cookies (as if we needed an excuse), and it does feel a bit more like Christmas. We’ll pray for another temperature drop tonight and maybe, just maybe….

My Favorite

In the Bleak Midwinter is possibly my favorite Christmas song (tied with Still, Still, Still). I’ve heard it sung by many artists, but my favorite version is this one sung by Sissel, the Norwegian singing sensation whose voice is out of this world, so ethereal and angelic. I love this arrangement too. She sang this with the Mormon Tabernacle choir several years ago when she was the guest artist at their annual Christmas concert. I was lucky enough to be there at that concert and this just blew me away. It’s a moment I will  never forget…

The words…

In the bleak midwinter,
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron.
Water like a stone;

Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
Snow on snow, on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long ago.

What shall I give Him,
Poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd,
I would bring a lamb;

If I were a wise man,
I would do my part;
Yet what I can,
    I can give Him:

Give my heart.

p.s. If you want another treat, after you’ve watched this one and Youtube gives you more options along the bottom, click on the video of Sissel singing Like and Angel Passing Through My Room.

Amazing!

Being the James Taylor devotee that I am, I’m also a fan of his version of In The Bleak Midwinter. You can listen to that here.

Light Seeing

I love this picture. Everyone else is looking at the camera and Jeffrey…distracted by the crosswalk button. So typical.

For those of you who are familiar with Salt Lake City (that would be all of you I think) you will notice that we are down town in SLC and about to cross the street to enter the gates of Temple Square. Saturday night we convened with a few family members for our annual Christmas visit. It was a perfect night for light seeing.

In past years we have endured freezing cold temperatures and unreasonably large crowds, making our traditional visit to Temple Square less than ideal, but this night….warm weather, smaller crowds, happy children and a camera in hand. I had a great time dawdling behind everyone else snapping away.

I’m a true Christmas light enthusiast. I love me some lights; so the lights at Temple Square are one of my favorites things during the holidays. I’ll love the Mormons forever for putting on this glorious show every season.

We went early this year and arrived just in time to hear the oohs and awes of the crowd as the lights switched on for the night. One second it was dark and silent, the next a blaze of light and color.

Note to self for next year: Arrive early if you want to get a front row seat at the Nativity. The kids enjoy it much, much more if they can actually see it.

The temple was all lit up and looking glorious. I couldn’t get enough pictures of it. It took me a half and hour to decide which of all the pictures to post. This was one of my favorites because I adore the white lights. Temple = white.

My mom calls these four kidos her ‘Kindergarten babies born in the gravy’ and aren’t they just a motley bunch? They love being together and had a ball running through the crowds, bumping into strangers and dropping their outerwear into the various fountains.  Luckily we didn’t lose any of them in the swarms. That’s happened before in Stauffer family history.

Then there’s these two. I love how Jenny always hugs Mary Kate when I have them pose for the camera. It’s true love.

Speaking of true love…my two boys….and…

…my awesome husband. This picture is a bit blurry, but I still like it…a lot.

A little more lighted loveliness…

 

Love it!

After a dazzling tour of the lights we walked a couple blocks to the local Crown Burger where we partook of some good old-fashioned greasy hamburgers and fries…

 

While waiting for our order, Emily entertained herself by painstakingly sorting her Nerds to individual color piles….

…and Lydia made the best face ever captured on camera!

Awesome Ly-Ly! My feelings exactly.

Star Struck

I’m not usually one to go crazy over celebrities or other well-knowns. The people I admire most are usually the ones present in my everyday life, those I’m close to; but I have one big exception…Kelle Hampton. My sister-in-law Emily called me on the phone last February, crying over a particular blog post she said I must read…but only if I had a box of tissues in hand. I immediately went to ‘Enjoying the Small Things.’

I’ve been hooked ever since.

If you’re not familiar with Kelle and little Nella, grab a box of tissues, find yourself a quite place, click here, and lose yourself. Be prepared to add her blog to your ‘must read’ list.

On Fresh Take, the BYUtv show I’ve been working on, we produce often, episodes entirely dedicated to inspiring stories, in an effort to help others see the good in the world. As we brainstormed in a meeting trying to decided what stories to highlight, I immediately thought of Kelle and introduced the team to her amazing blog. They immediately saw the inspiration too, and we were lucky enough to convince Kelle to come to Utah to do an episode with us.

Yesterday I got to meet Kelle, Nella, and their friend Nadya in person, as they came to film with us in the studio. It was a total treat for me and I was most certainly star struck. I’m not going to lie, I was ga-ga. I’m afraid I probably made a really awkward first impression because I was so nervous; but Kelle was gracious and lovely and even better in person than on her blog.  And Nella…oh my goodness.

Thank goodness Kelle was understanding of my need to take pictures, her being a photographer and all, because I of course had my camera. I was certainly not going to miss the opportunity for photos on this day!

Nella and I getting to know each other…

…she even cuddled with me a bit and my heart melted into a puddle. She’s seriously the sweetest little thing. She’s got the love gene.

Kelle was great on camera, as I knew she would be. I’m excited to see how her interview turns out, all pieced together in lovely HD.

We had some girl bonding time while in make-up. I had to get painted up too. I was nominated to bring Nella out to Kelle on the set as part of her segment, and then put in a plug for finding more inspiring stories like Kelle’s to be featured on Fresh Take.

I’ve decided being on TV is not for me. It’s way too nerve racking!

This is my friend Casey, our Fresh Take casting director, with Kelle. Casey is an ‘Enjoying the Small Things’ reader now too.

I love Kelle because she is truly an inspiring person. She loves life, she’s optimistic, and her ‘high on life’ attitude is infectious. So, if you’re needing to catch some positive in your life, start reading Kelle. You won’t be sorry. She a beautiful writer, her photos are stunning, you’ll fall in love with her family, and you’ll love her music choices too. I knew when she added ‘Sweet Disposition’ by Temper Trap, and John Mayer’s ‘Heart of Life’ to her blog playlist, we were meant to be friends.

Hey, after today I can move Kelle’s blog from my ‘People I Don’t Know, Who’s Blogs I Read’ list, to my friends and family list. Yeah!

If you’re reading this Kelle…thank you so much…for everything.

Check out Kelle’s post today. I sent her to Sundance to enjoy some snow while she was here in Utah. She loved it there, as I knew she would. And guess what… you’ll even see me on her blog!