There is so much to be thankful for this year: health, love, family, friends, a business with great clients, and of course our baby boy. I may be the crazy Christmas lady that’s ready to roll and already has the Christmas decorations up but hey, if it makes you happy, why not?! I’m ready for the Christmas music, pretty lights, and all the yummy food!
Do you have a favorite family recipe you like to bust out this time of year? I am certainly no Betty Crocker. I am, however, the cook in our house. Mitchell’s cooking tends to consist of take out. He would likely agree though that I’m no Betty Crocker, but I try! Is it just us, or does every married couple argue over what to make for dinner? It is top three for tough decisions in our house! We love food though…I mean, who doesn’t? We just need a little help in the cooking department.
Every year growing up, we would make pumpkin cheesecakes the week of thanksgiving. Typically, we’d make somewhere around five cheesecakes, one for each gathering or someone special to deliver to. It is still one of my favorite things I look forward to eating every year at Thanksgiving since it’s the only time mom makes it. There’s something sweet and special about holiday and family traditions, even if it’s just a shared recipe. Now that we have Brayden, those traditions are even sweeter. I can’t wait to experience the holidays through his eyes and start some new traditions.
It seems like it is always the holidays that bring the best, most memorable stories. Those “Uncle Eddy” stories. I’m going to throw my brother-in-law under the bus with this one but it’s too good not to share. One of my brother-in-laws first holiday seasons with our family, think new boyfriend meeting the fam for the first time vibes, my mom asked him to help prep some things before everyone came over. She gave him the easy task of lighting the few candles that she had out. Well, unbeknownst to him, she had a few fake candles out. You know the battery operated ones with the fake wick that lights up? Well he actually lit those. To this day, I’m entirely unsure how or why those lit so easily for him. None of us were aware of this until about 30 minutes later when out of nowhere, something kind of smelled funny and there was a loud explosion. The candle exploded, shooting parts into the air and leaving a burn mark on the ceiling. Oh, and my sister choked on corn laughing while this all happened. It makes for a really great story years later.
It seemed to be inevitable growing up that my sister or I were always sick on a holiday. I’m pretty sure we had the chickenpox one Christmas. But mom and dad were always sure to make it fun, none the less. They should just be glad the elf wasn’t around yet. Although, there was one year in college when I lived at home, that mom busted out one of those darn frog stuffed animals (if you read my last post you know the ones). This one was a Santa frog that had bendable arms and legs. The whole month of December we played a game of guess where the frog is, each of us hiding it from the other every day. A majority of the time he was found in the fridge “drinking wine”. It was our fun adult version of elf on the shelf.
These are the fun, silly things you remember and laugh at when looking back at the holidays. So pleeeease, send me your favorite, easy holiday or every day meals! Tell me your favorite family/holiday traditions and something fun/new we should start as a family too! These are the “good ole days.”
