Merry Christmas Eve!

Dear Santa,

So, because I seem to be completely out of creativity and inspiration for this blog at the moment, I am posting my letter to Santa from last year...after all, he has yet to answer it.

How are you? I'm fine. Can you believe the big day is only 2 days from now? I figured it was time to tell you what I want. But let me preface it by saying, I've been very good. I have been in zero fist fights this year. For that matter, I've only been in one fist fight in my life (except with my brothers, which, as I'm sure you know, can't be avoided), and I didn't throw any punches, so I think that should be stricken from my record.


You see, I was at my kindergarten best friend Monica's house, and we were playing a highly competitive game of Mempry. I was, as is usually the case, winning like crazy. So, words were exchanged, and after a certain point, Monica said, "If I punched you in the stomach, you would cry." I declared that I would not. So, naturally, she punched me in the stomach. And, though I wanted to cry, I held it in. As it happened, her dad came into the room during the aftermath of this punching, and so I asked him to take me home, and Monica and I were no longer best friends. But, I want you to know that I have forgiven her. So, please, don't hold this against me.

I have also not stolen anything this year. Again, I have only stolen once in my life - at the tender age of ten. I was in K-Mart in Yakima, and ate one of the candies from the 5 cent candy bins. I immedietely regretted it, and was terrified that the alarm was advanced enough to sense the candy in my belly (it wasn't). I eventually confessed this to my mom (by eventually, I mean around 23 years of age) so, since I punished myself with guilt and later repented, I think this should be stricken from the record as well.

I have not put a snowball down anyone's neck this year. This has only happened once - when I was about 13 and Chris was about 10. I paid dearly for that already, when Chris immedietely turned so red he almost burst into flame, and he screamed so loud all the icicles fell from the roof. So, since the punishment has already occurred, let's pretend this strike against me didn't, okay?

So, now that the formalities are done, what I would really like for Christmas is for Bill Watterson to come out of retirement and begin writing Calvin and Hobbes again. Is this too much to ask? I mean, I've been really good, and I really miss Calvin and Hobbes.


Thanks in advance,


Your friend,


Erin

Mom's Button Cookies

Last night I went to a Christmas party. It was the perfect opportunity to make my mom's famous button cookies. They turned out delicious, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1/3 cup light whipping cream
1 cup sugar
For the frosting:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
Red and green food coloring
Directions:
Mix flour, 1 cup softened butter, and light whipping cream together, kneading with your hands until dough makes a ball. Cover the dough and chill it in the fridge for an hour.

Preheat oven to 375. Roll the dough 1/8" think, rolling 1/3 of it at a time. Cut out small circles (I use the top of a shot glass). Put 1 cup of sugar in a small bowl. Dip each cookie round in the sugar, coating both sides. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet, prick them with a fork and bake for 7-9 minutes. Do not over bake. They will be a light golden brown. Let them cool completely.

Frosting: Mix butter, powdered sugar and vanilla and divide into two bowls. Add red food coloring to one half, and green to the other. Frost 1/2 of the cookies and top them with the other half.

Makes about 24 cookies. Enjoy!


Yes, this was my breakfast. Please don't judge me.

The Christmas party was great, complete with carols, Secret Santas and lots of food. Two of the girls even made ornaments for everyone, look how cute they are!

If you make the cookies, let me know how you like them! They're a Christmas staple in our home. Do you have a cookie you bake every Christmas?

On the time I was supposed to disect a pig

I managed to get through junior high and high school without disecting anything grosser than a flower. I was feeling fairly triumphant, disection is something I am more than happy to do without. But then I took biology lab in high school. It seemed inevitable. I was doomed to pass out while taking apart a smelly dead piglet. Well, far be it for me to allow a syllabus to take away my dream of a disection free life style. I cleverly planned my absences so I would have to miss that class. Smart, no? So, instead of heading to bio lab that evening I beelined for the cafeteria and ate with my friends, inwardly rejoicing in the success of my scheme.

Fast forward two weeks. I hadn't counted on my professor having an evil scheme too. But, as I was taking my midterm, I noticed students disappearing into the adjoining room for a few minutes and then returning to their desks. Suspicious, I thought. Thats when I turned the page of my exam and saw directions to go into said adjoining room and label parts of a disected pig. Oi. My plan backfired. If the question hadn't been worth multiple points, I may have skipped it. But my not so great grade wouldn't allow it. So, I mustered up my courage, held my breath and walked resolutely into the room. There, a teachers aid was pulling little pig organs with tweezers and asking us to identify them. Blech. Gross. But, I didn't have to cut anything open, so besides some mild revulsion I was none worse for the wear.

Until I got to dinner that night...pork was on the menu. Blllleeeeecccchhhh!

Is it bad...

...that I bought Tim a Christmas present from one of M+O's competitors?* I suppose it's better than buying something from Sam's Club. That would be like treason in this household.

We have 16 gifts under the tree right now. One is for me. Judging by the "wrapping" (silver box with silver bow emblazoned with Martin + Osa) it's probably a puppy. Despite only one gift under the tree for me, Tim has brought home a mysterious M+O bag every night with orders not to look in them. Evidentally he's bought me so many presents that one of his co-workers asked to marry him if I was ever out of the picture.

Anywaaaaaay, I sold a few more pieces, I'll be sending them off tomorrow. And I got my first feedback so my store now says 100% positive! Yay!

Hope everyone is doing great!

*pssst - don't tell Tim

How are you spending your morning?

Mine is being spent job searching with lots of coffee by the tree. It would be perfect if I could switch job searching with reading or watching a Christmas movie, don't you think?

Christmas at our House

This is what our place looks like this season:

The door to our living room

Our little tree

The pillows I made

My nativity, courtesy of my mom and dad

My little reindeer

Some little friends I got on clearance last year

An assortment of houses from my mom's collection and my own.

Red curtains brought in just for the season

My holiday Jellybeans print (another is in the mail)

There you have it - holidays ala Tim and Erin