Advent Calendar: 25 days

So here goes on the advent calendar thing:

I have been waiting somewhat impatiently to watch my favorite holiday movie since Thanksgiving day.  It is normal for us to watch it on Thanksgiving night, but I didn't get a quorum on movie watching, so we just looked at Black Friday ads.  Well, tonight I will demand that it get watched.  Or.  I will watch it myself. 

My favorite Christmas movie is Elf!  My niece who has seen it with me a couple times says that I laugh at it every time like it is the first time.  And I do.  It is so classic to me - every single scene makes me smile and it kicks off the holiday season for me in just the right way! 

So, you might be wondering why I am calling this a foodie treat.  Feast your eyes upon this perfect scene:

There you have it, all that a holiday season should have:
Family dinners
the Four Food Groups
and guests that stay too long

Time for me to go pop some popcorn and pour myself a soda; it's 25 days til Christmas!!

What movie makes your holiday season?  Leave a comment and let me know what you will be watching this year.

Advent Calendar Event

One of my very favorite things for the holiday season is an advent calendar.  To be honest with you I have not used them very often, but I love the idea: the countdown, the little treat associated with each passing day.  They have a way of making each ordinary day in December something to look forward to and mark as a milestone. 
So this year, I have decided to do an advent calendar of my own for this here blog.  And I thought I would do a foodie one.  Starting on December 1st, I will be posting an item a day that will make a foodie smile and point to the wonder of the season.  If anybody would like to join me, leave a comment with a link to your blog - I would love to check it out. 

But in the meantime, here are some of my favorite advent calendar ideas:

From Family Fun Magazine

From Crafty Nest

From A Little Wonky

From Martha Stewart

Inspiration on Repeat

So Black Friday came and went and with it came Grace's initiation into our Black Friday traditions. 

Here they are:

• Discuss endlessly for weeks ahead of time how we are not really sure we are going to go this year because we really don't need anything.
• Go to CVS on Thanksgiving morning for pre-Black Friday shopping extravaganza (this gets me so excited that I am propelled through the rest of the day (including cooking and cleaning) by the high of getting so much for so little!).
• Drew checks out the paper while I cook and tells me the deals he sees as noteworthy.
• After all the guests leave and the dishes are done, I look at the deals and we sit down and decide where we are going to go and what we are going to try to buy.
• We go to bed and wake up EARLY!  None of this late night shopping for us.
• We shop a couple places and then THE REASON WE DO THIS EVERY YEAR: 

                             BAGELS!! 

Yes, we endure this whole Black Friday thing because all I really want for the day after Thanksgiving is bagels.  Not just any bagels, but the Gourmet Cheddar Cheese Bagel with plain cream cheese from Bagel Bistro.  Nothing beats it.  And as far as I know, you can't get a bagel over the internet.  Take that Cyber Monday!

So Grace got to experience all that for the first time, but I can just tell that her favorite thing was the bagels.  She is definitely her mother's daughter! 

But this year was really special because I got something at a great price that I have been wanting/needing for a long time: a food processor!

So, all these ideas are now spinning (pun intended) through my head of what wonders can be whipped up with this magical machine.  I am thinking pie dough and pizza dough because of the special dough blade.  Oh, and some carrot muffins.  And sliced veggies. 

Any suggestions of how to use my new machine?

Thanksgiving

So, it is the weekend after our first Thanksgiving with our precious little girl (now a sitter, I might add) and she sat in a high chair for the first time on Turkey day.  It gets me thinking that I cannot wait to feed her real food.  As much as I have loved nursing, I am so looking forward to each new taste and texture sensation that she will experience over the next year!  Also, I think the whole "food is love" mantra in my head keeps telling me that I need to make things for my baby in order for her to know just how much I love her (never mind the whole "my body is literally making food for you (without effort)" thing).  Someday I hope she too will cherish the times that I spoiled her rotten by making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for her daily. 

Which gets me thinking (in light of this Thanksgiving season): do I cherish my Father who has spoiled me rotten by providing breakfast, lunch, and dinner daily?  Having not broken it down into those bite-size pieces lately - I have to say, "no."  But I would like to resolve to do so...to relish in the fact that I have a Father who lavishes blessings on me daily.

Today we, our cute little family, went to lunch at Rubio's and then to our favorite yogurt place (Yogurt Island) and I had the rare opportunity of praying for us before the meal (Drew usually does this for us) and as I was praying I was just struck by how GOOD our God is in providing for us.  He has spoiled us rotten to the point that we often times forget that He does it at all.  Maybe I should remind myself that I am just like Grace - fully dependent on the goodness of my Father and from that should flow a heart of praise! 

Happy Thanksgiving to you! 

Hankerings

Although I have recently been brimming with thoughts of purging the house of unwanted and unused things, I have also been desiring a good shop-fest.  Since, I would hate myself for buying more stuff just moments after getting rid of so much and we are on a spending hiatus, I thought I would do a little window shopping:

I saw this a while back and am so intrigued.  A Colombian clay cooking pot you can use on the stove and in the oven.   Oh, the braising opportunities...

 

A clear example of the conflict between clean and clutter going on inside my head right now.  Maybe I can find the space on my countertop someday.  Oh, how I want one of these. 

Oh, these are pretty!

These have almost no useful purpose...but aren't they cute?!

 So, a little more practical, but oh, so lovely.