Would You Like Some Gumbo With That?

It is the official cuisine of the state of Louisiana. Think Lousiana and you think jazz, French Quarter, cajuns, beignets, bayous and, of course, gumbo. I grew up eating home-made gumbo, especially during the holidays, and when I found out several family members would be making the trip to my house for Christmas, I had one request--make me some gumbo! 

Gumbo can be made a few different ways, but one of the most common ways (and the method my family uses) is to create a thick flour base called a roux. It is the combination of flour and oil--or a fat of some kind--stirred constantly on low heat until just before the flour burns. It turns a deep red.

A leftover smoked turkey is slow-simmered for several hours to create a savory stock to which the roux is added once it is ready.

Vegetables, like onion and bellpepper, are sauted and simmered in the thick broth. Shredded smoked turkey (and/or sausage) is added into the soup and allowed to seep and cook for several hours. The process is long. The end result is a fabulous, tasty broth-soup that, when poured over rice, is a wonderful sensation. It is also a very savory dish. Not for the faint of heart...or faint of stomach, as it were.

I was so excited for my family to come for Christmas, and I spent weeks preparing for their arrival. Washing sheets, pre-baking meals, buying and wrapping gifts, stocking my pantry, and I told my mom before she came that no one, and I meant NO ONE,  could get sick while they were here. It seems as though each visit comes with its own mini-catastrophe and chaos, and I decided to have NONE of that this Christmas.

Everything was fine. Wonderful, even. My parents called during the last leg of their trip and said they would be here in 2 hours. All was well.

And then I got a phone call from Abby's preschool.

I should have known! I shouldn't have answered the phone! ha!

She had gotten sick at school. Like, really sick all over, and I had to come pick her up.

And you know the things you tell yourself when you or your child is throwing up? Like, maybe it was just something she ate. Maybe it was a one time thing. Maybe she is isn't really sick!!

But I brought her home and tucked her in bed, and very soon after my parents and my grandmother came through the door and I felt helpless. You can't cancel Christmas, for which your parents had just driven 6 hours and your grandmother had flown in from Louisiana! Abby continued to be sick for the rest of the evening, but felt better by morning. The next day we went to the movies and ate dinner together. My sister flew in from Louisiana on Christmas Eve day and we all attended a Christmas Eve service.

That evening I gave the girls their traditional Christmas Eve gifts: pajamas. Every year I give the same present, and for the past 3 years Abby's reaction has been the same. She gets super excited to open a gift, and when she realizes it is only pajamas, she makes funny faces.

Joe had to explain to her that this was going to be a tradition, and she better get used to it. And also act like she likes it.

I love the precious gowns I found for them this year. Every year it is a challenge to find them matching PJ's that I like. This year I won. :)

Aunt Katie helped the girls make a gingerbread house after dinner. Katie's "what in the world am I doing with this frosting?!" look is presh.

The girls just ate, and/or licked, most of the decorations.

I didn't get a picture of the finished product, but believe me it was quite finished and most definitely NOT falling apart at the seams.

And on to our Christmas morning. It was perfect. Everyone felt great. The girls loved all of their gifts--of which they got very many.

Abby got her snow globe and she was super pleased with it. She told me later that she was so happy Santa brought her a snow globe from New York where she hopes to visit one day. (On a funny note: the snow globe also plays music when you wind it up. It plays "New York, New York" and that was an interesting backdrop to our Christmas morning.)

Audrey Kate found her candy stash and went to town. Nothing like a big sucker at 9 am! (Check out the bed hair--whew!)

After opening a few gifts, we all had a breakfast of cinnamon rolls and sausage casserole, then we went right back to work opening more gifts. It was a busy morning, I tell ya!

Then my in-laws stopped by for a late Christmas lunch.

I didn't take pictures of all the food, of which there was plenty, but I did want to show you this pie. It is homemade chocolate with homemade meringue. LOOK AT THOSE PEAKS! My grandmother is something of a master meringue maker. A meringue ninja if you will.

I tackled a homemade apple pie per Joe's request and even attempted a lattice-work crust.

Right? I am calling it rustic. Oh yeah, and delicious.

Unfortunately this is where my picture-taking ends.

Because do you remember that stomach virus that Abby had on Thursday that by now, Sunday--Christmas Day--we had all pretty much forgotten about? Well, it came back.

And it slowly, over the next two days, took turns with most of us.

Obviously my Christmas break plans with my family did not turn out quite how I had planned. There was no girls day out or day after Christmas shopping or late-night card games. I just tried to keep the bathrooms clean and enough towels and blankets for everyone to be comfy.

Plans just go awry sometimes, don't they?

But the greatest casualty of it all was all the food! It nearly broke my heart to throw away so many delicious leftovers that no one had the ability to eat.

And the gumbo.

Oh the gumbo!

My mom and sister still made a valiant effort at making the gumbo since we had all the ingredients. I have it stock-piled in my freezer. But there is one thing they don't tell you about gumbo in the recipe book.

It is much more delicious eaten with people you love. Especially whilst watching some sort of Louisiana football on TV.

Unfortunately, the people I loved were not up for eating the heavy, oily soup. I don't blame them. Gumbo is not for the faint of stomach, remember?

I think, like my mom said, we are just going to remember Christmas 2011 as "that Christmas when..."

That Christmas when we all got a stomach virus. That Christmas when Aunt Katie locked us all out of the house. That Christmas when Ellen didn't get her gumbo night.

You know, that Christmas.

But still, we were together. We had hands to hold our hair back and bring us washcloths and pour us ginger ale and feed us crackers.

So, Merry Christmas to us.

And a Happy New Year to you.

{Cheers to good health in 2012!}

Lions, Tigers, and Puppies, Oh My! {And Angels and Fudge, too...}

5 Days til Christmas! Really? That makes it Christmas Eve Eve Eve Eve Eve.

And is my guest room STILL full of unwrapped presents and tape and scissors and wrapping paper scraps??

Yes, it is.

But ya'll, I made the best fudge in the entire world tonight (tell you about that later) so I am too happy to be stressed about unwrapped presents! Fudge will do that to you.

SO, lo and away about 5 days ago (because I am just very much behind) Abby played the part of an angel in her school Christmas play.

She had two speaking lines, and she said them with great aplomb and drama.

The whole play was super cute. It was just about the birth of Jesus, which I love. I am so glad they didn't feel the need to throw in a celebration of Santa Claus and candy canes. Those things are fine and all, but Christmas is all about Him.

My favorite part was when the little girl who was playing Mary got extreme stage-fright before the play had even begun, and she cried buckets of tears on stage and pleaded, "I just want to go hooo-ooome!!" until her parents finally escorted her away. No, that wasn't my favorite part, I felt awful for her, but it was right after that the teachers quickly dressed up another little girl as the new "Mary"--we said it must have been the understudy--to play the part. And she played it so well one would have thought she had been practicing the part of Mary all her 4 tender years of life.

She was a natural Mary.

The cuteness abounded copiously, and I couldn't keep the smile off of my face. And the tears from the corners of my eyes.

I love this precious girl. I love how sweetly she is growing up. I love her generosity and fearlessness and dimply smile. I am so glad that the Lord gave her to me and allowed me to be her mom. It is a blessing, and she doesn't know it, but she teaches me so much every day!

Yeah, well, on to daughter #2! ha! She teaches me so much, too, just in very different ways :)

She's sun and rain, she's fire and ice, a little crazy, but it's nice. But when she gets mad, you best leave her alone. 'Cause she'll rage just like a river... (NAME THAT TUNE!)

That about sums up my sweet Audrey Kate! Her love in recent days is all things Lion King. She has made these three stuffed animals--tiger, puppy, and lion--all a part of the unusual play she lives in called, "The Wion King." The puppy is Simba, the Tiger is Scar and the actual lion is "Wion King's Daddy" because I guess she can't remember his name is Mufasa.

These special friends are with her while she is sleeping and waking. And if one of them is missing she will call for it. "Wion King's Daddy, where awre you?"

I'm just gonna tell you right now that Miss Sun and Rain missed her nap today, and by the time 4 p.m. rolled around, it became very obvious.

She got tangled up in some packing tape.

Oh, I helped her get it off allright. Right after I snapped a few pictures.

DID I MENTION SHE DIDN'T GET HER NAP TODAY?

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah, FUDGE.

Right after I put little Fire and Ice to bed early, Abby and I snuck down to the kitchen and sampled this fudge I made. Oh Word. Oh my. Just so good.

Pretty easy to make and sprinkled with sea salt. Right? Just try it. The Pioneer Woman hasn't failed me yet!

I also poured Abby her first glass of Egg Nog.

I think she liked it.

I liked it, too! It goes really well with fudge :) The brand name of the Egg Nog I bought is Southern Comfort. (non-alcoholic, of course.) Now I have that song in my head. Carry on, Carry on, sweet southern comfort, carry on... (Man, I'm having a country music kind of night!)

Well, good friends, I am taking my Egg Nog and fudge up to the guest room that is full of wrapping paper and unwrapped presents,

and shall begin working on putting the two together in some semblance of cuteness. Wish me luck.

Cheers!

A God Who Gave

I love this time of year. There are so many opportunities to serve and give.

Abby's preschool arranged a field trip to a nursing home, where the children sang a few songs and gave the residents home-made Christmas cards.

{Poor quality Iphone pic}

I took Audrey Kate with me, too, and she stood with Abby while the children were singing.

Sweet. Sweet. Sweet. 

In other news, I have been a baking fool these past few weeks. Cinnamon rolls, sugar cookies, pot pies, gingerbread cookies, casseroles. Some of it is frozen for when my family comes for Christmas. Some of it was made just to give away.

In fact, right after the nursing home performance, since my girls were already dressed so Christmas-y,

we strolled across to our neighbor's home and delivered some goodies to them.

I haven't been the best of neighbors this year, I'll admit. We are living in a rental home, so establishing relationships with people I won't live near for long seemed unnecessarily exhausting. I was wrong, though. It's always right to at least make attempts to get to know others, even if we have very little in common.

Our neighbor, a sweet "young-ish" grandmotherly type, invited us right in and gave us the tour of her home. We met the aging father for whom she is caring as he enters the end stages of his life. The girls played with all the toys she had out for her young grandson. We found out she loves watching the birds eat from her feeders, and that her husband and son tend honeybees in the backyard. I had no idea! She gave us a gift of some fresh honey.

I ask myself the same questions about this time every year. I ask myself questions about giving and what it means.

I wonder who I am trying to please.

So much of my giving this time of year, and at all times, can be selfishly motivated. I can wrongly assume that my giving is enough to satisfy God and appease His anger towards me for all the wrong I have done.

But if I am not righteous, as the Bible cleary states, and God is righteous...

If I am not holy, and God is holy...

If I am not good, and God is good...

If I am not worthy, and God is worthy...

If I am incapable of loving on my own, and God is love...

than how can any gift that I give be worth much, if worth anything at all?

Well, it isn't. Not compared to the lavish genorosity and overwhelming mercy of an all-knowing and all-powerful God. He saw me in my lowliest state: unable to save myself from wallowing in selfishness and unloving attitudes and bitterness

and He reacted with compassion and love. He GAVE.

He gave his son Jesus, the baby that would one day be the great sacrifice for the sins of man. For my sin. And yours.

It certainly isn't something I deserve, what with all the wallowing and unkindness and self-serving I find myself drawn toward.  I have nothing to give. My hands are completely empty.

But when I find pleasure in the hope of Christ and find joy in the gift of salvation

I can't help but want to be giving, as He has been giving toward me.

Because I have come to realize that it isn't necessarily the tangible gifts that I am giving to others that please God, but it is my heart dedicated to trusting Him and wanting Him above all else and seeking to serve Him

that pleases Him.

It is such a wondeful thing to be able to give gifts at Christmastime, and at all times throughout the year. I love the look on my children's faces when they receive a good gift. I love teaching them about giving and serving others.

But I can never, no matter how hard I try, out-give my need for a Savior. I can never out-give my own sinfulness. I can never out-give an awesome God.

And as much as I want to teach my children about giving and serving and kindness toward their neighbors, I mostly want to teach them about the One,

the helpless baby, fully God and fully man, who was sent specifically to give.

To give us life, to give us hope, to offer forgiveness and restoration. To point to our sin and to remind us that, alone, we aren't good. To tell us that with God, all things are possible. To bear the wrath of punishment for our sinfulness. To die and live again because death wasn't strong enough to kill Him. To love us undeservedly and spur us on toward becoming more like Him as we walk our life's path.

 To give us, wretched sinners though we are, a Redeemer.

I pray that any gift I give this Christmas beat with that same pulse.

                    Of a God who gave. A God who gave. A God who gave.                    

Tender Tennessee Christmas

Did anyone else's husband brave the crazy masses on "Black Friday"

and the next morning hand you a box of brand-new plastic containers and say,

"You would not believe the deal on got on these bad boys!"

And then proceed to give you the play-by-play of his midnight adventures??

JUST ME?!

(And yes, I was the sane one who went to sleep instead of shopping.)

I guess my husband had gotten fed up with the cabinet in our kitchen that holds all the containers, their lids, and any other assortment of items that find their way in.

I agree that it was becoming something of a hazard, since every time we opened the door

something fell out on our heads.

You'll be happy to know that I finally used his gift this week and cleaned up my containers cabinet.

I wonder how long it will stay this way?

Sunday night we took an impromptu trip to Dollywood.  We have season passes that expire at the end of the year, so we wanted to catch a visit before then.  I have grown to really like Dollywood, and it is most definitely neat at Christmastime.

Look, it's two of my favorite people! Joe is in the picture, too.

HAHAHAHAHA :)

We stood in line to see Santa Claus, since there were so few people there. Frosty and Mrs Frosty and some other dressed up girl were in front of us, waiting to see Santa. I never could figure out what they were doing, but the girls liked it!

Audrey Kate talked a big talk about giving Santa a hug and sitting on his lap, but when it came time for her to go, she just stood there and refused to move.  I had to sit there and encourage her.

The best picture we got (and this was the park's picture) was with me holding Audrey Kate in my lap as close to Santa as possible.

She didn't want to be anywhere near him, but he was a sweet Santa, with a real Santa beard.

Abby asked for a snow globe and a reindeer.

I love that her requests, so far anyway, have been either the most simple things in the world (like a flashlight) or they are just utterly impossible (like a reindeer) ha!

She has been consistently asking for a snow globe for many weeks. I think that is the sweetest thing. Joe was in New York a couple of weeks ago and he found one for her there. Won't that be great?! A snow globe from NYC---that city is what I think of when I see snow globes, for some reason.

I don't know why.

We saw a show at Dollywood where they sang "Tender Tennessee Christmas." I hate to admit it made me a little weepy, and also that song is stuck in my head.

OH I know there's more snow up in Colorado, then my roof will ever see. But a tender Tennessee Christmas

is the only Christmas for me!

Now is it stuck in yours?

Feel Free to Call Me a Domestic Diva

Sometimes I get on a roll and I just can't help myself. I am not by nature a very creative, do-it-yourself type person, but now that I have young children, who love to be creating and making messes and getting their hands dirty, I try my best to oblige.

In a few different places, but first on my friend Adrian's blog, I found this "recipe" for making mini bird-feeders.  The recipe looked easy to follow and, crazy enough, I had most of the ingredients on hand: bird seed, corn syrup, unflavored gelatin, water and flour mixed together and pressed into cookie cutters.

We used Christmas cookie cutters to give it a holiday feel, and I know a few relatives and neighbors who might enjoy a specially made bird-feeder for their yard!

You just skewer a hole in the top and let the feeders harden for several hours.

Then, tie them up with twine and they make a neat gift! {But make sure to tell your husband that they are not, I repeat NOT, cookies.} {Not that I have any experience with that whatsoever.}

As if that wasn't enough crafting for one morning, the girls and I read the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats,

and made snowmen from cut-out circles. We added marshmallow scarves and m&m buttons. Just for kicks. {Don't you love that Abby gave Audrey Kate's snowman a frowny face?!}

And after lunch, the girls and I (or mostly Abby and I, since Audrey Kate + scissors = disaster) cut snowflakes out of tortillas, baked them for about 4 minutes, and dusted them with powdered sugar.

Like a homemade funnel cake! :)

Wait! Did you think I was all done? Oh no my friends. A true Domestic Diva's work is never done.

After dinner last night, Abby begged me to make some gingerbread cookies with her. How could I refuse? I think that gingerbread men are exceptionally cute, but I am not a fan of the strong spices found in gingerbread cookies.

I just left out 3/4 of the measurements of the strong spices: allspice, cloves and ginger. {Which pretty much means, I realize, that the cookies we made might not *exactly* qualify as gingerbread cookies, per se. I am cool with that.}

I actually thought the dough turned out delicious that way.  It was very mild and creamy and ginger-bready but not overwhelming. Even Joe got in on the dough-rolling action.

A great mess, I mean fun, I mean mess, I mean fun was had by all.

I ate only one of the cookies--a gingerbread girl with a hairbow. Sweet, right? And as I am looking at that picture... that is A LOT of icing, Ellen. Geez.

Abby's gingerbread man made me laugh hard. Doesn't he look horrified? (Maybe it's that awful pink dress he is wearing?) (And are his eyes bleeding?) (Oh dear, isn't it terrible that I am making fun of a 5 year old's cookie?)

I decorated a few more to freeze and give as gifts later this month. Yum!

Seriously, what is cuter than a cookie with a bowtie??

Ok, well, lots of things.

Those bowties are pretty jaunty, though.

So, that's how I spent the day as a Domestic Diva. I won't mention that I never got out of my pj's or how I went to bed with flour in my hair. You will only know about the amazingness that is...me.

And now that I have inundated you with thoughts of sugarplums and gingerbread and sugar and butter and all things delectable,

I would like to direct you to this post by my sister that I enjoyed very much.

She recently, over the past year, has lost a bunch of weight through

WHADDA YA KNOW?!

diet and exercise. *Gasp*

It's been really cool to watch her journey and to see her self-control and attitude and many good things grow as the rest of her shrinks. I am super proud of her, and if you (LIKE ME!) need encouragement or advice on how to stick with it,

then you should read what she has to say.

And then go bake some cookies. And then go exercise.

In no particular order.

That's what a Domestic Diva would do!

And seriously, if you want to begin referring to me as "Domestic Diva Ellen" or "Your Diva-ness" or "Your Great and Unyielding Paragon of Domesticity" 

or some other variation on that theme,

I am cool with it! :)