Friday, December 5, 2008

O Christmas Tree!

We have Christmas fever around here. On Monday, Mike put up the tree and the boys hung out with me while I decorated it. I love all the ornaments we have. Almost every one of them has special meaning or at least a story to go along with it. I think that is way more interesting than doing a themed tree. Don't get me wrong. Trees that are trimmed in all red or all silver are pretty to look at, but they just seem impersonal to me.

My Nana & Poppops sent us kids an ornament every Christmas. It's fun to look back and see all the years stamped on them and knowing that they picked that ornament especially for us. I think that's a great tradition to keep going. Hopefully Nate will enjoy it as much as we do.

I thought it'd be a fantabulous idea to make cookies Monday night too. I was going to try Gina's "recipe" for lemon cranberry cookies. I called Mom for the sugar cookie recipe. I had everything except cream of tartar. I looked online for substitutes for cream of tartar which says to use some precise measurement of baking powder - or was it baking soda? (I was as confused by the directions that night as I am now - Mike had to explain it to me) Well, whatever it told me to use I don't recommend. It made the batter kinda foamy. I put it in the fridge for an hour so I could roll cookies, but it never stiffened up. Maybe it was all the lemon juice I had to use. Maybe it was a combination of the two. What was my point? Oh - why does a dog as spoiled as Bosco (see Exhibit A) still find it necessary to eat horseradish cheese or baby food bananas while we're not home?
*Exhibit A

2 comments:

Gina said...

It may have been the baking soda/lemon juice (remember the baking soda/vinegar volcanoes from school?).

Next time, try the powdered lemon (True Lemon, I think it's called) - way easier. I made another small batch and just used that, since I didn't have fresh lemons to zest and didn't feel like dealing with the juice.

My tree is like your - almost every ornament is special and I love it.

Cici said...

T always loved decorating the tree (now at 12 he doesn't care)and hearing who made what ornaments. Even though he never new his Great Great Aunt's who made them. A lot of mine are made by family or giving to us by family. I give T and my niece and nephew's an ornament every year. Something to do with whatever they were into that year. I love decorating our tree! My angel is the one my grandmother made with MY blonde hair! It's actually a dolls head attached to a wooden rod & toilet paper roll. A pretty dress with a halo. She is getting a little beat up so I don't put her on top of the tree anymore.