Family Fun Unwrapped

                                              Our Chorkie, Pancho in His Christmas Hat

We wrapped some gifts today and figured  out a budget and hope it all falls into place for Christmas. The strep is now in our home along with the flu. We are trying to bring the Christmas spirit in the house, but when kids are sick and all hope seems to have flown out the door it kinda puts in damper in that idea. I played a board game with my girls last night, it was fun, no TV or video games , just a parent having a great time with the children and to my surprise my kids loved, it in fact they got mad when it was time to end the game and go to bed, so tonight I have a board game and a good supper waiting for them, it will be fun and it will last being it's the weekend they can stay up longer. And thanks to a great friend I will be baking later tonight some cookies and maybe some biscotti, so a little of that Christmas spirit is flowing in. When we are depressed , how can we let the spirit in, it's funny how things just fall into place after a long prayer to Christ. I just hope no one else gets sick and they are happy this season. The thing I have realized , is that children love attention from their parents, and when we bust out a board game it seems to allow that bond to renew. While with TV and video games we all lack just old fashioned communication.

Frickin Flu

The flu has swept through our little town, and of course our schools, my youngest who is 9, went to the hospital ,and we found out  she had influenza B, so they gave her some tamiflu pills , which was kinda dumb being she puked up everything she swallowed within 5 minutes of putting it in her mouth. They almost kept her , but she managed to keep down a small juice, she puked it up when we got home, she has layed in bed for 2 days , poor thing, suffering and with high temp, so I stopped the tamiflu and she hasn't puked since, so one of the side affects of tamiflu is vomiting , how could you really know when your puking non stop, crazy, now my 12 year old son has it, but with out the vomiting. Happy fricken holidays here's the flu. I think our schools need to have cleaners come in with some mega disinfectants, I'd be willing to volunteer to help clean it, this flu is bad and it is pretty bad when parents send their kids to school knowing they may have it, what if someones baby gets it, it could very well kill them, STAY HOME, YOUR PAY CHECK ISN'T WORTH A LIFE! OR THE SUFFERING OF A CHILD. Common since, if we have a wide spread virus help contain it by staying home then we can stop it, it just makes me so mad when people know that they or someone they are responsible for are very sick and risk the spread of it. I understand we don't always know for sure, but come on when ya know it be considerate.

Random house problems.

 It's been a Very cold winter here in IL. so far. Our huge house we recently acquired contract for deed has some hidden flaws that are going to create a disaster to fix, yep gotta remove some horse hair plaster walls to put in installation. Over the weekend we explored the attic, you walk up a flight of stairs through a closet that goes from one  kids room to another, kinda creepy cool. Turns out every inside door is on the floor planks to be able to walk up there and the new roof is built about 5 foot or so above and old roof that still has the shingles on it and to our surprise ...charred, all burned and black. Turns out this house had a massive attic fire from bad wiring years ago, and it still has the old nob wiring up there on the floor, so now we are looking at more electrical updating. And who knows how much interior wall damage from the water to put the fire out, it sure dose explain alot though. Seems this will turn into our money pit. Seriously we have to crank the heat up to 82 just to stay warm, so we went and plasticed the windows, and put covers in front of all the four exit doors and it is still a bit chilly ,so maybe we should just plastic the entire house, amazing what a house can hide in just looking at it.

Feeling Christmasy

  I start the day with wanting to try and make the best of the holiday season. I was thinking of making some Christmas goodies, maybe some fudge and cookies, with all those fabulous recipes out there, it's kinda hard to decide what to try. We all love fudge here but I am more of a white chocolate or maple fudge kind of person, I love peanut butter fudge if it's made right.

So I try and pick something we all will like. I usually make goodie trays for family and friends , but I think being we are like alot of our fellow Illinoisans and on unemployment the cash flow will prevent lots of tradition this year. It's sad but what is..is..we will manage we always do. So we will keep this Christmas simple, and still enjoy it.
 I love the recipes from all recipes, here are a few we enjoy.

Ingredients

• 4 cups white sugar
• 1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow creme

Directions

1. Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish and set aside. Butter a 3 quart saucepan.
2. Place buttered saucepan over medium heat, and combine sugar, evaporated milk and 1 cup butter within. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F (112 to 116 degrees C), or until a small amount of syrup dropped into cold water forms a soft ball that flattens when removed from the water and placed on a flat surface.
3. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter and marshmallow creme. Beat vigorously until smooth. Pour quickly into prepared baking dish. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

Candy Cane  Martini: this sounds great... even though we don't drink much, I can see us drinking this

Ingredients

• 3 fluid ounces rum
• 2 fluid ounces peppermint schnapps
• 1/2 fluid ounce grenadine syrup
• 1 small candy cane

Directions

1. Pour the rum, schnapps, and grenadine into a cocktail shaker over ice. Cover, and shake until the outside of the shaker has frosted. Strain into a chilled martini glass, and garnish with the candy cane to serve.

 My favorite is candy cane pie but it's hard to find the right recipe this one is very good.

Peppermint Candy Cane Pie

9-inch chocolate cookie crust
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 c. cold milk
6 to 8 peppermint candy canes
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs, separated
1/4 t. salt
1/8 t. red food coloring
1/2 c. heavy cream
1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
2 T. butter or margarine
1 1/2 T. milk
1 c. powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt
1/4 t. vanilla

Soften gelatin in 1/2 cup cold milk. Crush candy canes;
measure 1/2 cup. In saucepan combine 1 cup milk, 1/4 cup
of sugar, slightly beaten egg yolks and salt. Mix well.
Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly
thick. Add softened gelatin and stir to dissolve. Blend
in food coloring. Chill until mixture begins to thicken.

Beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar
and beat until stiff. Beat cream until stiff. Fold gently
into custard, then fold in egg whites. Chill until filling
holds its shape when stirred. Stir in peppermint, then
spoon into pie shell and chill until firm, about 4 hours.

Melt chocolate and butter together. Blend in milk, powdered
sugar, pinch of salt and vanilla; blend until smooth. Thin
with some cream if necessary. Serve over pie


OK so now I have a nagging sweet tooth and must go bake some goodies.

What Is..... Is

  I am very blue this holiday season more then usual, Christmas lights and seeing snow fall out a window takes me back to last years Christmas watching my dad suffer and pass away. He died of pancreatic cancer on Dec. 27th at 10:23 pm, I stayed over night the night before his death and watched a heck of a snow storm cover an already white carpet on the ground, from the couch near his hospice bed in his living room I watched out the big window behind me and the street light made the snow look of diamonds and I daydreamed it would be his jeweled path to Heaven, my dad loved Christmas and loved all the lights ,sad these great things that we all shared bring up a memory so dark, then again I know God took him with him and what a better way to die then in your favorite time of year, I try to look at it as my dad got to Meet God for Christmas. It's weird how our minds associate our experiences in life to small things such as snow or a Christmas light but when we as humans feel a deep emotion we somehow imprint a time and a place and a picture in a memory and when we later see these things it seems it can take us right back to that same feeling we had no matter how long it's been, very amazing how our brain works, we can recall sounds , sights, and even a smell all in our mind. I get upset with myself when I start to feel sad about all this being I have four children and a step son that deserve to have a wonderful holiday .I find it so hard to even get of the couch to go bake Christmas goodies like I do every year. I certainly don't want stop  a tradition in our home and taint it with my own absorption of sorrow, so how do we move past the pain of imprinted memories...simple... we don't we just learn to live with that new emotion that attaches itself to our present. I try to smile and try to cope and be Merry, ho ho ho but really I just want to crawl in bed and dream of when my dad was alive and how he'd be over eating goodies and playing games. So this Christmas I wear a smile for my children because indeed their happiness is my goal and I bake the goodies and know my dad would not want me to break our family traditions and wallow in my own pain. So I cope the best way I know how and that's just deal with it on the inside and make sure I don't spill it on the outside, after all the children are what makes Christmas fun. I tend to hold in my emotions being what's the true since in letting them out when nothing will change.... a good cry in private is all I need, and it seems to release some of the woes in live, but it would sure be nice if it didn't ruin everything...sorrow , regret, guilt, love, all the emotions ...what is.. is..  and always will be.