Monday night when we arrived home, I pulled out a 9′ inflatable, holiday polar bear – to put up in my living room. Last year we didn’t put it up – I was afraid my then-infant would be smothered by it.
Now she’s the one smothering it! She’s in love, completely! We bought the polar bear several years ago after Christmas. My son loved it. My now-6-year-old, not so much. In fact, it freaked her out so much that we had to take it down.
All this we do for fun in …

Ok, so that’s not entirely true. We had a very eventful Christmas Eve. But in previous years, I’ve had some story to report after Christmas Eve Mass: my daughter falling into the fountain, the kids singing during the homily or shouting “Where’s Baby Jesus?!?” during the children’s presentation.
Nothing happened this year.
The kids were angels. They watched and listened. My daughter sang “Away in the Manager” with the choir at the appropriate time. We even got a nice picture of the grandkids with grandparents (a tradition) in front of the tree.
Then …

A friend posted a one-liner on her Facebook page the day after Christmas: “Collapse.”
Yup, I felt the same way!
With our hustle and bustle from one family to the next complete, we arrived home about 9, unloaded the car and sent the kids off to bed.
With few exceptions, everything is still in the spot it landed Christmas night: toys on the floor, the dining room table, the kitchen island; jackets over the stair railing, several chairs and, again, the floor; dirty dishes still in the sink.
It’s been, what, four days, since …

My daughter and I wrapped up our holiday baking over the weekend with a gingerbread house. I’ll say “baking” loosely since we didn’t actually bake the house. We just decorated it. We giggled and smiled as we picked out the candies, watched the frosting drip down like snow on the roof and snuck a few pieces of sweets in our mouths.
It goes without saying that we didn’t meet our goal to bake every night. We didn’t even come close. But we did enjoy the times we broke out the “baking …

Each year it seems my kids’ teachers get more and more creative with winter holiday parties.

What’s a holiday cookie without sprinkles?
My kids attend the same school for the first time, so they had holiday parties the same day last week. I attended my daughter’s in the morning and my son’s in the afternoon. I’ve never done so many crafts in so few hours! Their teachers amazed me with the organization of the stations and variety of projects.
In my daughter’s kindergarten class, the students: decorated cookies, …

During a college speech class, I once presented a talk on my history of cooking disasters. It wasn’t hard. Earlier that year I started a small fire in the dorm kitchen. It resulted in more than 150 coeds evacuating right as many were getting ready for a Friday night out.
So it comes as no surprise that I would have at least ONE dish not turn out while attempting to do more holiday baking than I’ve done in years.
After making fudge from a kit, I broke out my great grandmother’s butter …

This week is CRAZY (ok, so are the next few weeks). So when I bought baking supplies from the store, I picked up a few easy, put together kits (that bakes up goodies I don’t have to find recipes for).
I worked late last night so when I got home, there was only an hour before bedtime. I pulled out this fudge kit. The directions were pretty easy: dump the supplies in the right order into the sauce pan, stir it up then pour it into the pan. I gave my …

YUM! There are a two downtown Mesa locations that sell a treat called “magic bars.” If I go there for lunch, I often buy one.
Now, I can make them at home! (They look better in person.)
Once again I tackled a treat I’ve never baked – turtle bars. My daughter had a ton of fun sprinkling the nuts, toffee bits and chocolate chips on this one. I wasn’t sure she would like coconut (she didn’t when she tasted it before being cooked), so I only put that on half the bars. …

With so much that goes on this month, I’m snapping away with my phone camera. Each year, I create a digital scrapbook (using Shutterfly.com) to make a photo book of memories. I usually just capture the day, but this year, I’m hoping to capture the whole month. It’s been fun, with our new traditions (“Elf on the Shelf” and baking). Besides, years from now no one will remember the disaster my house was just two weeks before Christmas. Hopefully this book will show that!

We took a few days off baking because I was sick. Maybe I’ll make up for it this weekend.
Maybe I won’t.
I made my first cheesecake last night. As usual, I’ve discovered a few things. First, NEVER give a 5-year-old Oreo cookies to divide up without realizing she is likely going to lick off all the frosting rather than scoop it off with a spoon. Second, a springfoam pan is VERY useful (until yesterday, I didn’t even own one). And last, it’s important to WATCH the cheesecake cook the last few …