There are some wonderful things about growing up in a small town. One of them in Kincaid is that if you want to go skating you just call the guy in town with the key and he goes and opens the door for you. We had the entire rink to ourselves. It was lots of fun.
Christmas afternoon we had to take Adam’s new sled out for a spin. But apparently I didn’t actually get a picture of the new sled. Trust me, it is very cool!
We tried this hill.
Then we walked around town a bit. And surveyed the lay of the land.
It wasn’t all that cold that day but it was windy. Which made it feel very cold!And then we tried another hill. Ed decided that the hills were a lot bigger when he was a little kid. Funny how that happened.
And then we tried another hill. Ed decided that the hills were a lot bigger when he was a little kid. Funny how that happened.
It didn’t matter too much though. We still had a great time.
Adam was up about 6am on Christmas morning. What a stinker, we just wanted to sleep but it didn’t take long to absorb some of his excitement. This is a small sampling of what he was like.
The kids were absolutely spoiled and we all had a wonderful time giving and receiving.
This is my favourite gift. Ed’s mom and dad created one for each of us. They cut the mat and made the frame and got the glass cut. The pictures are from http://www.atozillusions.com/. I absolutely love it!
Look at these two beautiful kids!
We went to church in a small community about 25 minutes away, in a beautiful church.
When we got home we started to sing Christmas carols.
Paul had brought lyrics for us so that we could all sing along.
Michelle has a beautiful voice!
Yvonne and Paul came all the way from Kelowna.
Ed and his sexy look.
Mark brought his guitar and got some good practice following along with Paul. But he won’t sing!
This night became a late one. We started to take Christmas song lyrics and putting them with the music of popular songs. So much fun, impromptu, and not repeatable and we laughed….. a lot! It was about 1:45am when we shut everything down.
Even then we all went to bed because we needed to get up in the morning not because we were done.
Our first stop on our trip to Saskatchewan was a stop in to see my Grandma. Can you believe that she is 94? She is still in her own, in a seniors lodge but she still cooks for herself etc. Amazing!
We stayed overnight in Rosetown and then went to her place on Christmas Eve morning.
She loves to go to Dairy Queen! So we try to take her there when we go, she has a cheeseburger with no mustard and a coffee. But really her motivation for going there is ice cream. For as long as I can remember her and my Grandpa were crazy for ice cream. They would eat it whenever they get the chance. It felt weird to be eating an ice cream on Christmas Eve but it sure didn’t stop the kids!
She had little baggies of toonies for each of the kids. They thought that it was very cool to have their own money. I brought her some peppermint patties and some almonds, I hope that she enjoys them.
Do you have any recipes that you are known for? Well this is one of mine. I have been making these for years and have refused all that have asked for the recipe. Why? I am not really sure but I wanted to be able to give them as gifts to people and they wouldn’t need them if they could make them themselves. But for whatever reason (probably because I have found other good recipes to give away) I have been sharing. They are different, a bit sweet and definitely savory, and have a bit of heat to them but you can of course control that. I have little ones in my house that like them with a little less spice.
I get really great almonds out at Costco. They come in bags of 9 cups so I make two batches out of one of those bags.
Looking all sticky and good!
They turn this wonderful colour as it cooks. Delicious. I love these, I hope you do as well.
Spicy Asian Almonds
2tbsp butter
1/4 cup corn syrup
1-1/2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 tsp hot pepper flakes
4 cups whole almonds, skin on
2 Tbsp sesame seeds
salt
Melt butter in large microwave safe bowl by microwaving on HIGH 15 to 30 seconds. Stir in corn syrup, butter, soy sauce, salt, cayenne, garlic and hot pepper flakes. Microwave on HIGH 90 seconds, until mixture boils. Stir in almonds and sesame seeds coating nuts well. Spread out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in 250 degree oven for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes to keep nuts separated. For an extra flavour hit, sprinkle with some additional salt during baking. Remove nuts from foil (I used parchment paper and it worked even better than foil as less of the stuff got left on the paper)immediately after baking and cool. Store in sealed container. Makes 4 cups.
Spicy Asian Almonds
These cookies were so good! This is the second year that I have made them for Christmas and they were a big hit.
I had some help cutting them out.
But it didn’t last long!
I outlined the cookies and then asked the kids to help me put the candies on. I thought they would be all over that. But I guess I let them eat too many candies as they could not sit still!
They each did a couple of cookies and then they were off leaving me to do the rest. Oh well!
Here is the recipe. I got a photo copy of it from one of Isla’s teachers. It looks like it came from the Company’s Coming for Christmas recipe book.
Gingerbread Figures
1/2 cup Butter or Hard Margarine softened
1/2 cup Granulated sugar
1/2 cup Fancy Molasses
1 Egg yolk (large)
2 cups All purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Ground cinnamon
1 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Ground cloves (I didn’t have cloves so I used allspice)
1/4 tsp Ground cloves
1/4 tsp Salt
Cream butter, sugar, molasses and egg yolk together until light.
Add next 8 ingredients. Mix well. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 1 hour. Roll out. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Arrange on baking sheet. Bake in 350 degree F oven for 10 to 15 minutes. Cool. (I only put mine in for 9 min)
I have really bad pictures but it was good concert. I thought that both of my kids were awesome, but I have no idea what any of the other kids were doing as I only had eyes for my two.
A new Christmas recipe! We loved these and these are the second batch. I have been passing them out to teachers and friends and well we have eaten a lot of them as well. Delicious.
Here is the link to the recipe.
Our house looks pretty good and there were a lot less licking fingers this year. Have I said this before they are getting so big!
A few years ago the kids made these Advent trees at their sitters house. It has been so much fun each year decorating them bit by bit each day. We were a couple days late getting started so they got to put lots on that first day.
Wow these two just keep growing! We put on some Christmas carols and decorated. Gone are the days of all the ornaments on one branch. They did a wonderful job and it was lots of fun!
This may be the last year that Ed will be able to lift both of them at the same time. But good for a laugh.
I was being a bit sneaky, I volunteered to have the office potluck Christmas party at our house so that we would finish our renovations. We have been so busy that it just hadn’t gotten done. I love it, Ed did a wonderful job.
Before:
After
Before
After.
We changed the colour in the kitchen as well, I didn’t have any to match the existing so I went totally different. I sure like the new colour!
It has been too long, so I will try and catch up.
A couple of weeks ago Isla got to bring the Joy Box home from kindergarten. It is full of stories, a Nativity scene to set up, and advent wreath and candles and a special treat from the family that had the box before us. We had so much fun looking inside, eating chocolate cookies and lighting the advent candles.
She was so excited for it to be her turn. She counted the days. Oh to be 5 again.
The day was also the day that her dad got to be parent helper in her class room. That was also a really big deal! Such a big deal that she wanted to do a Thank You Card for him. Can you believe it?!? I am at the school as much as I can be, I do the driving, dance, music etc, etc. And she wants to do a Thank you card for her dad?!? I have to say that my feelings were hurt. I think that she does appreciate the things I do but this was a bit of a blow. I think that I am getting over it but I do feel a bit taken for granted.
