Christmas Wrap-Up

Here we are a couple of days after Christmas. It just flew on by, didn't it?? We got socked with our first major snowstorm of the season on the day after Christmas. I wonder if that is a foreshadowing of things to come? Last year, we got over 50" of snow, most of it during the month of February, which meant daughter's school was closed a lot. This time at least it fell on Christmas break, so no days missed.... yet. My family was supposed to come over on the 26th but couldn't make due to the weather, so we moved it to the 27th- and I think we should have postponed it even more because it was pretty treacherous. But, happy to report, everyone got here safely. I have not been out of the house for a few days... and I haven't minded one bit. The kids and hubby have been playing with their new Wii games and reading books they got for Christmas, I am actually catching up on the magazines that have piled up- too bad I finally got to read the Christmas issues on the 26th- I guess I will just have to file away some of those ideas and recipes for next year! And I finally got back into the studio today after several days off. Because, you see, when hubby and/or the kids have off, I do too- because I'm so easily distracted, I keep wandering out of my studio to see what is going on, and I get nothing done.

Some photos of the kids and nieces and nephews on Christmas....

The week before Christmas, youngest daughter and her dad went to the Father Daughter Dinner Dance at her school:

Of course we have been stuffing ourselves silly... and I didn't even bake cookies this year! The kids made one batch of our favorite sugar cookies. I did, however make this cake for company one night.... it is a Spiced Pear Upside-Cake with Ginger Cream Sauce....

A moment of silence, please..... Wow- It is probably in the top 5 desserts I've ever made. You will be able to find the recipe in my book which will be coming out in July.....

Oldest daughter got a very nice cookbook for Christmas, she is working on her second recipe from it for dinner tonight- some kind of Almond Chicken. Last night she made carrots with a balsamic maple syrup glaze. I love having someone else in the family who can cook! Both of my kids are getting pretty good at it.

Oh, and since Christmas morning, I have been trying to figure out how to use not this:

 but this:

 I was just figuring out how to use my old phone, which was 4 years old. So old, in fact, that they waived the upgrade fee. Sad, isn't it? I'm still not sure I'm ready for the 21st century, but I am trying. I am wondering if hubby should have gotten me the Jitterbug instead of the Blackberry- this may be a little too much for me..... will let you know my progress!