It's the Most - Busiest Time - of the Year!

Despite the magic of the season, the holidays are always fraught with busyness and stress for most moms, and I am not the exception. The entire month of December tends to go by in one big - "oh my God did I forgot to do that again!!" - blur for me every year. Since my daughter was born almost *gasp!* 6 years ago, Christmas has lost a little bit of it's luster. Don't get me wrong, I still love the holidays... spending quality time with family, eating great food, and savoring every moment of the kids unwrapping their presents on Christmas morning. What stresses me out the most during this time of the year are all of the events that tend to be crammed into just a few weeks. December is a hellaciously busy month for my family. Along with the usual gift-buying and food-making craziness comes my brother in law and grandpa's birthdays (Christmas Eve) and my daughter's birthday (Jan. 4th.) This year add to the list that my husband and I are hosting a New Year's Eve get together - which is something I've always wanted to do (which is great, but you know what I mean about "adding this to the pile"... and ... oh great - now I'm rambling...) :)

At any rate, even though Marissa's birthday is in January, it sneaks up on me EVERY YEAR! It usually hits me two or three days after Christmas, when I start thinking about New Year's and all that entails... and I think - "Oh crap!!! Marissa's birthday!!!" Then the craziness ensues.... I try to find the time to go shopping (didn't I just get DONE doing this??), once I'm finally at a store I stare in bewilderment at the empty shelves (did I really think they were going to restock Dec. 26th?) and then send the party invites out about two days before the actually party is to take place (if the guests are lucky, anyway.) So this year, in order to try and prevent all of this mayhem from happening for the sixth year in a row, I've been trying to plan ahead. And where has this gotten me? Well, let's see.... the two birthday gifts that I had already bought ahead have turned into Christmas gifts because Jake's pile of gifts looked to be about three times the size of Marissa's.... and when I asked Marissa what she would like her party theme to be this year she has gone from Jasmine, to Pocahantas, to Strawberry Shortcake, to American Girl (you get the picture)... so needless to say, invites have not been started and party supplies have not been purchased. Ugh.

To save my sanity, I am actually thinking of only getting Marissa two gifts for her party this year and then taking her to our annual birthday Build-A-Bear store trip a couple weekends after her birthday. This would give me a HUGE chance to just b-r-e-a-t-h-e after the holidays. It's not like she needs to get ten presents for her birthday right after Christmas or anything. I guess the goal for my holiday season this year is to try and stress-less, and then hope that my family can pick up on that and I may not turn into the almost gray-haried monster I usually am by New Year's Day. I want to be able to take the time to stop and smell the pine -- to be able to enjoy Christmas this year without have to think of a million birthday-related things in the process. However, now that I think about it, I guess the invitations aren't going to do themselves...and Marissa has yet to pick a party theme. Oh, poop. :P

Gifts from My Christmas Kitchen - Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

This week, my friend Tricia over at Onceamonthmom.com invited a guest post focused on creating unique Christmas gifts from your very own kitchen. This post reminded me of some wonderful smelling ornaments I made a few years ago. Each year I have kept telling myself that "this year will be the year I make them again!" Yet, I never seem to get around to it. :(

Five years ago, I was (very) pregnant with my daughter and was desperately looking for things to keep myself occupied. Because it was the holiday season, I was definitely busy, but the later stages of pregnancy tends to cause many sleepless nights and there were many nights that I couldn't fall asleep until 1:00 a.m. or so. On these late nights, I would find myself busily preparing Christmas goodies in my (then huge) kitchen.... oh how I miss that kitchen. At any rate, one of the "goodies" I made in abundance that year was a big batch of Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments. I was amazed at how amazing my entire house smelled for weeks after making these things! To tell you the truth, they're very simple to make. I gave a few to my mother for a small gift that year.... when I walked into her home this past weekend after her tree was up and the decorations were hung (including those ornaments) I could still smell them!

I'm planning on making the first batch of ornaments since that year this coming weekend, and my daughter will be helping me this time! :) Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Applesauce Ornaments

Ingredients
1 cup ground cinnamon
1 cup store-bought applesauce (homemade tends to be too runny)

Instructions
Mix both ingredients in a medium mixing bowl until well blended. Form into a ball and roll flat on a flour-covered surface or wax paper-covered surface. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Poke a small hole in the top of each ornament with either a plastic straw or toothpick. Place each ornament on a wax paper-lined cookie sheet. Let air dry for 4-5 days. This seems like a long time, but the wonderful aroma that will fill your house will be worth it!

Once ornaments have dried completely, string a pretty ribbon through each hole and tie at the top. If you are giving these as a gift, wrap a few in wax paper before putting in another type of packaging. Brown paper and ribbon would suite this type of homemade gift well!

Voila - beautiful, fragrant ornaments that will last for years! :)

The Seger Virtual Christmas Card for 2009!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Savory Seger Sunday - Sweetly Devilish Eggs

One of the appetizers I always seem to make this time of the year (because of endless requests) are my version of deviled eggs. When I was younger, I never really cared for the traditional deviled egg recipes... they seemed to leave a bitter taste in my mouth for some reason. So, once I was old enough to cook and tote my own food creations to family get-togethers, I started experimenting with different deviled egg recipes. The second recipe I tried was an instant favorite of mine and boy, has it stuck! Now my eggs seem to be a staple at the "Good gatherings." If you have a sweet tooth - these are the deviled eggs for you!


Sweetly Devilish Eggs
Ingredients:

- 6-12 eggs
- 1/3 cup Miracle Whip (or similar generic brand)
- 3 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
- Paprika
- Parsley flakes (fresh or dried)

Instructions:

- Boil eggs until done. Peel eggs and cut in half length-wise. "Pop" yolk out of each egg half into a mixing bowl. Place each egg half onto a deviled egg serving tray or similar. After all eggs have been cut in half, add Miracle Whip and pickle relish to yolks. Mix well with a spoon or whisk. Spoon into egg halves. Sprinkle eggs with paprika. Garnish by sprinkling with fresh or dried parsley flakes.

*Miracle Whip and sweet pickle relish should be adjusted to desired amounts - the amounts given are simply an estimate. :)

Enjoy!

Being Thankful

Today has been a little rough for me, spending it sick and alone with Chipotle leftovers wasn't exactly the Thanksgiving I had in mind for this year. :( I love the holidays. It means spending time with family members we do not see enough of and making new memories for the younger generations to cherish for years to come... of course, there's also lots of good food involved too. :) I feel like it's important today for me to take advantage of the peacefulness that awkwardly exists in my house at the moment (hubby took the kiddos up north to "the farm" for Turkey Day celebrations) and reflect on all of the things I am thankful for, even though I am definitely not thankful for my sinuses at the moment...

My top ten list - I am thankful for:

1. A wonderful husband who seems to always know the right things to say at the right moment.
2. A healthy, happy daughter who blows us away with her creativity and generosity.
3. A healthy, happy son who can make us all laugh until we pee our pants.
4. Wonderful family and friends who support me, enrich my life and constantly remind me how to be a better person.
5. A roof over my head and food in my belly (even if it's leftovers.)
6. Being able to have a job that I enjoy and am passionate about.
7. A part-time job that allows me to keep my day job and stay at home with my children every evening.
8. Amazon.com - already have 75% of the kids' Christmas done and within our (small) budget. :)
9. A second-chance to spend a late Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, dad, sis, brother-in-law and niece and nephew in two weeks.
10. Long, hot baths and a good novel to relax with when I'm feeling under the weather.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Parents In Action: Plan for Holiday Spending

A new post has been added to my Extension blog - Parents in Action, click on the link below to view it. (Which, by the way, now has a new link - www.parentsinaction.osu.edu - add it to your reader! We could all use a little reminder to plan ahead for holiday spending - seems like it always creeps up on us each year, doesn't it? The post below may help!

Plan Now to Help Control Holiday Costs

Fitting In

I had my first run-in recently with the dreaded "public school social scene" and it wasn't pretty.

Something happened yesterday that I never thought would happen.... well, at least not until my daughter was in middle school... or high school.... Anyway, Marissa came home from school yesterday very upset. It took almost two hours for her to finally talk to me about what was bothering her - and an argument with her brother over who could tickle whom was the catalyst for her opening up... this is how our conversation went -

(Jake not wanting to be tickled) - "No, sissy, no! Owwwwwweeee."
(Marissa) - Jakey doesn't want to play with me either, I'm having such a bad day."
(Me) - "Why do you feel you are having a bad day sweetpea?"
(Marissa) - "Nobody would play with me at recess today AGAIN and now my baby brother won't even play with me either. I'm having the worst day ever!"
(Me) - "Ummm...... why didn't you play with anyone at recess?"
(Marissa) - "I asked everybody and nobody wanted to play with me! I had to just sit by myself on the ground."
(Me) - Speechless from having ugly flashbacks of instances when I was picked on in school.... and by the fact that I cannot think of anything to say to help her feel better. :(

I never thought this would happen to Marissa so soon and I'm really perplexed as to how a little girl who has always been a social butterfly can feel like she doesn't fit in with her classmates. One of my theories is the "big fish, little pond / little fish, big pond" theory - she went from being the "leader" of her preschool class to feeling like she can't find her place amongst her new classmates. But how in the world do I explain this to her? And what can I say to her to help her cope with all of the instances this may happen in the future..... because I know very well that this will be something that happens again... whether it's tomorrow or ten years from now when she ends up in one of those oh-so-great (not) high school girlfriend spats. :( I think the key is for Marissa to feel confident to be herself, but I'm not sure how easy it will be to teach this life skill to a kindergartener.....

I did have an inkling that something was up one day when I was home with Jake (he had a fever) and we went for a little walk in the afternoon when he felt better. Marissa's class was actually outside for recess when we went past the school. She didn't see us, but I spotted her right away and my eyes followed her as she skipped all over the blacktop in-between the equipment. I expected her to be playing or talking to any of the kids at any moment... but just kept on skipping around all by herself. She would stop here and there to look around or to sit down, but she never once went over to socialize with her classmates. This really concerned me because I had never seen her do this before; but I tried to convince myself that I was overreacting and that she would be fine. But when she became so upset yesterday, it made me realize that this just might become a real issue that we will have to deal with fairly soon.

Maybe I am overreacting... maybe I am just a concerned mommy who's heart aches when her daughter is upset over friends and school.... I'm just like any mommy. I know what makes my daughter unique and wonderful and wonder why on earth others can't see these things for themselves. No matter what, I need to do some research on this to find some strategies to help her cope. I honestly never saw this coming so soon and feel like such an incompetent mom for not knowing what to do to help her through it.