Postcards, presents, pastries and PLENTY of pictures
January 3rd, 2009
In the week since Christmas Day, I’ve written and addressed most of my Christmas cards, packaged up and mailed off almost all my gifts, and prepared and baked several batches of cookies and fudge.
I had planned to do all of this before Christmas, of course. But what with one thing (traveling) and another (three separate colds in two months), it didn’t get done. So I’m doing it now. Better late than never, right?
Some of the baking had to be done twice, because I accidentally burnt two dozen cookies. I may or may not have cried a little bit about that. They were my favorite apricot cookies, the ones I only make at Christmas because they’re a pain in the behind to make. They are also really, really ridiculously good. Which is why I was willing to make them twice.
My mom helped me make the first batch. I basically ordered her to help me, because these cookies are so much easier to make with at least two people on the assembly line. Baking isn’t really her thing but she kindly helped anyway. (I didn’t really have to order her. I just said, “Pretty please?” and she said, “Of course!”) When the first sheet of cookies was out of the oven and cool enough to eat, I presented one to her to try. She took one bite and said, “Oh, wow, these are good!” I asked her if she understood now why I persist in making these annoying cookies every year. She laughed and agreed they were worth it.
And I did reward my mom for her help with Christmas cocoa. Last year I made hot cocoa for Annalie on Christmas Day topped with whipped cream and sprinkles. She remembered it for an entire year. A day or two after Christmas she announced that it was "time for Christmas cocoa, with whipped cream and sprinkles!"
My mom and dad went back to Nebraska a few days ago. It was really nice having them here for Christmas, but I know they were both ready to go home. My dad has traveled more in the last couple of months than he normally does in a year! He really is a homebody and we appreciate that he was willing to fly out here for Christmas. And even though my mom misses us when she’s not here, I know she was ready to go home and hug my brother and go to her own church and see and my cousins and their kids again. But while they were here, we enjoyed it.
We always open one present before bed on Christmas Eve. Annalie had it all planned out which present she wanted to open: the very first wrapped present that showed up under the tree. It was a Cabbage Patch Kid doll from my mom, with blonde hair and a pacifier just as Annalie requested, named Greta Deena. Annalie was thrilled. I was just glad she opened a present she could actually take to bed with her, since she opened it a few minutes before bedtime.
Annalie gave us all a little Christmas present by actually sleeping in the next morning till 8:30. When she got up, we let her look through her stocking and open one present right away. Playing with those presents kept her busy while the rest of us cleaned up the living room a little (so it would look pretty for photos later) and got ready for church.
Don’t we clean up nice?
I know not everyone goes to church on Christmas morning. Some churches we’ve belonged to over the years don’t even have a worship service on Christmas Day; they just do a candlelight service on Christmas Eve and figure that covers all the bases. I grew up going to church on Christmas morning though, and I like it. There have been times over the years when I’ve skipped Christmas-morning worship and I always miss it. Getting dressed up and putting off the present-opening frenzy till after we’ve prayed and sung Christmas songs and celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the bright morning light puts the holiday in perspective for me, makes it a truly holy day.
Then we go home and change back into our jammies before we rip into the presents.
I think it’s safe to say we were all happy with our gifts this year. Annalie made out like a bandit, only child and grandchild (on my side) that she is.
Troy loved the Nebraska plate that Annalie painted, of course. Annalie was so excited when he was opening it that she was dancing around and giggling. She did such a great job of keeping the secret for weeks!
I was pretty much spoiled this year too, mostly with photography equipment. My friend Joe sent me Scott Kelby’s Digital Photography Book, which he no doubt ascertained I needed after our camera class a few weeks ago. Troy gave me a really nice tripod (no more haphazard piles of DVD cases on boxes on stepstools on chairs for me!) as well as a flexible tripod for my point-and-shoot and a nifty pocket reference for the Nikon D40 that will slip right into my camera bag. I also scored a couple of lens protectors, a polarizing filter that I’ve yet to try out, and a new lens! The Nikon 50mm f/1.8 D is a really cool lens that lets you shoot in low light without a flash for some really technical reasons I sort of understand but couldn’t explain to you if you paid me. Just trust me when I say that it rocks. (There are a bunch of groups on Flickr dedicated solely to photos taken with this type of lens, if you want to see what it can do.)
I took this photo of Annalie with the 50mm lens. She got a little make-up compact in her stocking and made herself beautiful.
What’s the matter, Annalie? Are you tired of having your photo taken? Ah well, I can’t say I blame you. You were quite patient with us pointing cameras at you all day long. Before I wear out anyone else’s patience with my zillions of photos, I’ll end this post. I think there are a few more on my Flickr in the set Christmas 2008, if you can’t get enough. Just one more here, the Christmas card we sent out this year:
Thank you so much to all of you who have read, commented, and emailed in the past year! Even though I write with my family and friends in mind, all of you folks who live in my computer make this blogging thing extra fun. I hope this is the year you get into grad school…meet your true love…run a marathon…finally quit that job…paint a masterpiece…or whatever it is your heart desires. May 2009 be the year we all find out that we are capable of more than we ever imagined. Happy New Year!
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Well, you know, it’s not the time line that’s important. It’s the quality time you spend with your family. I’m glad to hear that you’re feeling better and are finally in the Christmas spirit!
I have to say that apricot jam/jelly is my absolute favorite. Those cookies sound sensational! Pain in the butt or not :-)
You totally have your dad’s eyes!
Happy 2009 to you too. I’m looking forward to sharing another great year with you in the blog community.
Happy New Year Bethany!
I grew up going to church on Christmas morning as well, but when I left my childhood church for the one I attended for ten years before moving, they didn’t have the service anymore. I don’t know of any churches here that do it either. I miss it!
I hate when the first batch of anything doesn’t turn out, but the second batch looks great!!
Wonderful post Bethany. I love it all.
Your Parents are fantastic and it was really great of them to visit this Christmas. It is neat to know you go to Church Christmas morning. Even having a Dad as a Pastor we never went Christmas morning and only every other year went on Christmas Eve. That doesn’t mean we didn’t have Church at home, but we didn’t necessarily go out.
I showed Hubby the photo of Troy with his Rubic’s cube and he was thrilled that he isn’t the only one playing with it these days. He even got a 4×4 cube for his birthday from J.
Your Christmas photo is beautiful, so many great photos.
Happy New Year and may all your aspirations come through this year.
Maybe a Christmas morning service is what’s been missing from our Christmas celebrations. In Germany, we’d always go to church at 3pm or 5pm on Christmas Eve, then gather around our tree, sing carols, recite poems (oh yes, as a child I always had to recite a poem for the family), FINALLY unwrap all of our gifts, eat a nice dinner, stay up late, and sleep in the next morning (we don’t celebrate Christmas Day at all).
Got your card yesterday and MY GOODNESS, woman, but you wrote me a (long!) personal message. *faints* You are the Martha Stewart of Christmas cards for sure! I don’t even have the energy to personally sign my cards anymore. LOL
Thank you!
Happy New Year!
That lens is amazing – a must-have :)
Hi! Found your site off a comment on Flickr..we live in SD, CA. What part of Cali did you live in? Great card! I’m definitely going to do send a collage one next year, it’s too hard to pick just one pic!
Happy New Year!
:)
Oh, I love this post! It’s so sweet and I am sure Annalie is going to miss your parents so much! It’s a joy to have the grandparents around for a kid, and even more when you’re all together in the same house!
Oh, I loved the “thermo” mug, is it Bodum??? I am in love with Bodum’s thermo glass! I truly adore it but I broke 2 of them and I am feeling a bit too guilty to buy another one, lol…
hi! i loved your post. you can never have too many pictures. i love your Christmas card photo. what a great idea. and i totally feel your frustration on the burning of the cookies. my oven has started doing that to me lately, its horrific. i burned 3 batches of sweet spiced pecans and a batch of cookie bars just the other day. it may be time for an oven thermometor. thanks for sharing your Christmas with us, it sounded so sweet. happy new year!
I still have my Cabbage Patch Kid — a boy preemie with a pacifier and a tuft of yarn hair. According to the date on his butt (and actually, I still have the birth certificate), he was born in 1984. That’s one old baby!
I love your Christmas card, and the blessing at the end of your post. :)
Awww…thanks Sweetie! I am so glad you are feeling better and really ENJOYED this delayed Christmas Spirit. I think I’ll get around ot my cards tomorrow…but I’m pretty sure I sent yours off already. I’m kinda doing it in spurts. Thank you for the blessings! I wish for the same to you…success, happiness, good health and prosperity for 2009. Love you guys!
Happy New Year, Bethany! You guys do clean up nice! :-)
I spy Hungry Hungry Hippos… I loved that game. How come Annalie is getting a bunch of things that I received and enjoyed as a kid. It’s all coming back now! I loved my Cabbage Patch Dolls (even with their bizarre names).
Sounds like a lovely time and you’ve convinced me that it is perfectly acceptable to make holiday cookies after. I never got around to making some things and now I think I will!
Beautiful card! You have so many wonderfully creative ideas!
Great post! Made me feel warm and happy again after feeling a little blue about having to take down all of our Christmas decorations today. Wow, Annalie isn’t the only lucky girl, you got so many great photography goodies! Looking forward to all your pics in 2009, hope this year is filled with lots of blessings for you and your loved ones!
Aww Bethany, this looks like such a wonderful Christmas! Thanks for sharing it with us all :)
Oh the 50mm! It’s so fun! And, at least for me, having it actually made me start to learn about/understand aperture (I know, scary technical word, but it’s the key to the low light pictures).
Glad you had a good Christmas!
[...] more granola bars and some candied nuts, and I made the pastry dough and cooked the filling for my all-time favorite apricot cookies, and somewhere in there I hung Christmas lights in the kitchen [...]