Merry Christmas!

Maria then wore her pjs outside to try out her new stilts before Mass.

Pop gave a serious and glowing art review on Maria's special gift for him.

Thomas is displaying a camp contributions.  All the boys were very excited for the increase in the camp fund today.

Charles helped Joseph build a Lego motorcycle set with 2 "guys".   It didn't leave Joseph's hand all day.

Cecilia's fireboat was a huge hit.

Despite the fact that it wasn't the historic gas mask he wanted, Anthony was ecstatic about this gift.  His adjustment to the region where King Tobacco reigns is now complete.  I just wish I had gotten a picture of him trying to eat his chocolate cigar and wear the gas mask at the same time.

You know your dad's in the Army if...

You ask if the "Kool-Aid" jody is on iTunes.

You wrap Christmas presents with duct tape.

(Please note we used festive red rather than our preferred OD green tape)

Any time you jump from something higher to something lower you yell, "AIRBORNE!"

My Brother is a Superstar!

He's the one celebrating Mass.  (You know how big sisters love to brag.)

Jingle Bell Fun

We are officially a road racing family. Yesterday all of us ran some version of the Southern Pines Jingle Bell Run/Egg Nog Jog in frigidly cold weather.  With snow flakes drifting over the runners at the 9am start, Maria, Anthony, Thomas and Bill took off while the other kids and I cheered them on.  Out of our family, Anthony finished the 5K first in 30 min, and Maria was only about 7 min behind him.  Maria especially worked hard for the race because Bill told her that if she didn't walk at all, she could have a banana split.  Our friend ran with her and encouraged her by saying, "C'mon Banana Split, you can do it!"

Thomas and Bill took longer because they ran the 10K (6.2 miles).  Thomas was one of only 6 kids between 1 and 15 to run it, and his training helped him keep a 10 min mile pace so he finished in just over an hour.  The best part was watching him sprint to the finish line so he could pass the runner ahead of him.

After our hardcore runners had finished their races, it was time for Charles, Cecilia, James and I to line up at the Egg Nog Jog start with our friends.  Sporting adjustable antlers and red noses from the cold, the little kids ran a quick lap and a half around the block--1/2 mile.  James got a sudden fit of nerves once we started, so he dragged his feet, looked worried, and helped me push Joseph in the baby jogger until he saw Bill on the sidelines.  Then his face lit up and he let go and ran as fast as he could to him.  Unfortunately, we were a half a block from the finish line (where I realized that a snow maker was contributing the snowflakes I had seen earlier) so he had a way to go before he was finally done and could slap hands (hooves?) with the Chick-fil-A cow.

Hair DO!

"Queen Crayola"

Another Failure

I love the flavor of pumpkin at Thanksgiving, but no one in our family prefers pumpkin pie.  More often we make a chocolate pecan or an apple pie for after dinner, so I came up with the idea of putting the pumpkin on the breakfast table in the form of empanadas de calabasas, yummy Mexican pumpkin turnovers which most of us enjoy when we are visiting my parents in California.

Unimpressed and even disgusted by last year's attempt, I decided to try another recipe for the empanadas today.  Last year I chose my recipe based on the anise seeds that are found in the bready part of this pan dulce.  I could only find one recipe that used anise, and I didn't look carefully at what else formed the dough to my deep regret.  In my mind, there is no food more disgusting than pie crust.  Flaky, dry and mostly flavorless, it is a revolting packaging in which to place sweet desserts.   The anise flavored recipe was nothing more than pie dough with pumpkin filling.  Yuck.

Today's recipe turned out better.  I looked for a dough which included yeast, hoping that I would avoid the pie dough recipes and find one for the soft, slightly sweet bread surrounding the creamy pumpkin.  With a little tweaking from the original recipe I ended up with creamy pumpkin filling in...a glorified pie crust.

Everyone was satisfied except me, so next year I will be searching out Yucca flour before I try again.
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Failure #2 Empanadas de Calabasas

(in case desperation makes me try this again)

Filling  Stir together 1 can of pumpkin, 1/2 C sugar, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp gr. ginger, and 1/8 tsp cloves.

Dough  Stir together 2/3 C water, 1/4 C sugar, 1 tsp salt, 2 pkg dry yeast, 1/8 tsp baking powder, 2 generous pinches cinnamon, and 2 tsp anise seeds.  Blend in 1 1/2 C flour.  Stir in 3/4 C veg shortening and 1/8 C brandy.   Stir in remaining flour and let dough rest.


Preheat oven to 350.  Divide dough into 16 balls and roll into circles about 4" in diameter.  Put filling on one half and fold over, sealing with a fork.  Bake 15-20 min, or until golden brown.  Watch them carefully since they burn quickly.

Yes, he's homeschooled

James had the opportunity to sit right behind me when we went to Food Lion last night.  On the way there he made the most of my being close enough to hear him.

"I turned the light off when I closed the door!"
"I'm sitting near the window that opens."
"Can we get a fire engine cart when we get there?  Can we get one every time?"

On the way home he had less to say, but it was surely a weightier comment than the earlier ones.

"Hey, Mom." he said.  "Hippopotamic means fat."