Sugar Cookies!!

We made sugar cookies on Monday at Maga's house...They turned out "beautiful" (in the eyes of the Beholder and all that...) Anyways, the girls had a blast and that is all that matters.

Here's the recipe, courtesy of Emeril...YUM!

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

16 tbs butter

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp lemon zest

1 egg

Sift Flour and salt and set aside

Cream butter and sugar on med/high until light in color and fluffy

Add vanilla, lemon and egg

Beat 1-2 min. longer on low

gradually add flour mix

divide in 2, frigerate for at least 2 hours.

bake on 350 til light brown around edges

The Eve of Christmas Eve

What a crazy week! It all boils down to tonight...I like to have everything done by tonight so that I can enjoy Christmas Eve and Day. I don't think it's going to happen this year. Oh, I'll still enjoy it, just be a little more rushed than normal. We've been working all week, getting our fall cleaning finished and doing all the final decorating, on top of the usual laundry, dishes, laundry, toy collecting and sorting, and corraling of Our Fairy. I haven't even done the baking I really wanted to do; maybe we'll do it tomorrow. I also have to finish wrapping presents. We went up to the hospital today; they admitted my dad this morning after he went in for an MRI and ABI and almost passed out from low blood sugar(he's diabetic). His blood sugar has been at both extremes all day and they are keeping him overnight(hopefully not any longer) to monitor everything. This time last year he was in the hospital with a quad. bi-pass and so I know my sister and brother are feeling a little dejà vu (we were in El Salvador last Christmas, so this is all new to me). Anyways, this was my little minute of me-time...now back to cleaning, etc.

Christmas Cards...yay....

Got my Christmas cards done! Finally decided to just do pictures in front of our tree...It was hard to do without Oliver, he's my poser ;o) He gets them all in position and smiling so I can take the picture, but I had to do it all on my own tonight...just glad I was able to get them all to look at the camera and not cry, grimace, blink, suck various fingers or clothes...

Cereal Time!

Our Oso started eating cereal now... we started cause the doctor said we could...he's not really too interested in it...but he has been eyeballing us while we've been eating with that look on his face that says, "Where's mine?" So we figured we'd give it a try...

8 years and counting

Eight years ago today I was busy getting ready to marry the man of my dreams. Oliver fit the bill to a T: He was taller(by about 1/4 inch, but who's counting?), dark and handsome. He loved God, worked hard(had some mad muscles!), and loved his family; what more could a girl want?


He asked me to marry him in front of my whole family on April 27, 2001, which I know was difficult for him(his english was not nearly what it is now). Of course I said yes, how could I not?


My mom, sisters and I went the next weekend to Atlanta to look for my dress(I know, but I was excited!!)


Much happened that year between April and December...He moved out to Bonneau Beach(which is an hour away), but I saw him most weekends. We did our marriage counseling one straight week in July (THAT was interesting). September 11 happened. I finished another semester of school. We found an apartment nearby a week before the wedding. I couldn't wait to be with him. I had just finished exams the week of the wedding. My father was not a happy camper that we were getting married before I graduated, but I only had two semesters to go and I promised to finish. Both my parents jumped right in and helped make our Wedding Day memorable.


I often wondered what drew him to me; why he would be willing to be with me forever. But I am so glad he did. I truly made the best decision to marry him. There have been low points over the years, especially those first five as we struggled through the selfish tendancies and really got to know and love one another...but I can say the last three years we have been more content. Oliver is still all of those things he was on our wedding day(well, the muscles are hibernating...) and I look forward to many, many more years together!

The Truth About Christmas!

Our Princess and I had a deep discussion about Christmas, Santa and Jesus Monday as we put the last of the ornaments on the tree. We've never said that her Christmas presents come from Santa. As a matter of fact, we've always told her they come from Maga and Papa, even though they only say XOXO...but somehow she has gotten the idea of Santa Claus, from friends, I suppose. We've just never addressed it, I suppose thinking that if we never said anything, she would never ask? Naive I know. We just didn't want to make it official, you know? We didn't want her to be the brat at school who blurts out that there was no Santa Claus. We also didn't want her to believe in Santa Claus only to realize when she was older that we had lied to her. We want Christmas to be about Jesus, which we do push strongly at home.
So I sat down with her while we put up the Nativity under the tree. I told her about St. Nicholas, who was a man who loved Jesus so much that he spent his life doing good works. St. Nicholas loved children and often gave them gifts. He also helped the poor by leaving anonymous gifts(some new vocab for Our Princess) and often helped his neighbors in need. I explained that he did this to celebrate Jesus and his birth, not to celebrate himself. So he wouldn't want us to make Christmas about him, but about Jesus. Then we talked about why Jesus was born and why he was special. I told her about the story of Jesus' birth and Mary and Joseph and the angels coming to sing to the shepherds and the visit from the Magi...
Afterward we went through her toys and bagged up some that she doesn't often play with that are still good and took them up to the ministry center to be handed out when children come in. She was pretty good about giving them away; Our Fairy was a little (ok, a lot) hesitant, but she's still three... And when we went last night to work at the Ministry Center and she was able to hand one of her dolls to a little girl who had the biggest smile on her face, I think she realized the joy of sharing. Again, Our Fairy just didn't handle it well...we'll work on that.
I'm not sure how much she retained, but the explanation seemed to satisfy her enough. I did explain that it wasn't our place to tell other children about Santa, that we had to leave that up to other mommys and daddys...we'll see if it works.