Christmas Break 2019 and Seattle Snow 2020

Some how, we have gotten to mid January and I'm not quite sure how, until I stop and think about all of the things we've been up to since the last time I wrote a blog post.

The Wednesday before their Christmas break started, the kids participated in their school's annual Christmas concert. Both kids did a fantastic job and had so much fun. Annika sang with her 6th grade class, with the entire middle school, and as part of the student choir. Conor sang with his 4th grade class and as part of the student choir; he also played drums as during the beginning band's performances. 

Once Christmas break began, we (very happily) eased up on life's accelerator pedal and sloooooowed way down. I had to burn time off from work, so was home with the kids throughout their entire break. Eric's office closed from Christmas Eve until January 2nd. It was marvelous to have all of us home and able to catch our collective breath. We played countless games and Conor even took up playing cribbage! (Yes, he is VERY proud to let everyone know that he not only learned how to play but skunked me ... LEGIT skunked me)

You KNOW we did plenty of baking and cookie-based activities over the break. There are a few required cookies that MUST make an appearance to celebrate Christmas: shortbread (I make those soon after Halloween so they can season .. easy one!), krumkake (Norwegian cookies that I learned how to make from Eric's mom waaaaaaay back in the day), pizzelles (a family tradition from my childhood), sugar cookies, and spritz cookies. (No shortage of sweets, let me tell you!!)

Just to make sure we had some contact with the outside world (and I forgot to get it done earlier in the fall), I got the kids in for their annual eye exams. Annika's Rx didn't change, so her existing reading glasses were still good to use. Conor was told he'd benefit from reading glasses, so he picked out some frames (strong, flexible ones geared for kids) and we got them ordered.

Christmas was chaotic, energetic, and so much fun! On Christmas Eve, the kids were altar servers at mass. While we were there, Eric made dinner (this year, it was breakfast sliders) ... because he's a rock star! We were even treated with some extended family members (Anna and Robert) joining us for dinner. Win!! 

Christmas morning was just the four of us. We opened stockings and presents, and then gobbled up the traditional Olson family Christmas Breakfast casserole. (SO GOOD!) Later in the morning, Eric's parents came over for part 2 of Christmas presents and game times. A little after noon, we were joined by my brother (Troy), sister-in-law (Staci), and niece (Kat), as well as Eric's best friend (Dave) for more celebrating and a big family dinner. We were all in a food coma by the end of dinner, but in a good way!

For New Year's Eve, we were invited by another CKS family to ring in the East Coast new year, which was lovely and not too late! Three CKS families were there (including ours) and the kids were practically bouncing off of the walls with their play and bubbling energy. Together, we said goodbye to 2019 and hello to 2020!

Each year, the Olson Four attend the Woodland Park Zoo's WildLights display. We've learned a few things over the years - avoid going on a weekend, and going after Christmas helps reduce the crowd factor. We even managed to avoid getting rained on.... WIN! (During our traditional Zeek's Pizza dinner, we told the kids about our plans to visit Hawaii later this year. They could hardly believe it! We toyed with the idea of not telling them until closer to the trip, but thought they're old enough that they might want a voice in planning some of our activities. Now they are anxiously awaiting .... the long wait has begun!)

As January progressed, we started seeing snowflakes appear on our weather forecast app. We have learned after many years of snow being predicted and never showing up that holding our breath for a true snowfall is a fool's errand. This year, the forecast was (eventually) right. A few of the snowflake days didn't produce anything but disappointment, but Mother Nature eventually came through.

Annika spent the better part of two days playing in the snow with her friend Maddy (notice a lack of photos of Annika in the snow - we barely saw her!). Conor enjoyed some R&R at home, but did decide to do a little manual labor to earn some spending money for Hawaii. (Smart kid!)

Little did we know that our biggest snow fan would be Huck! He LOVED the snow and wanted to be in it (usually eating it) all of the time. We made him come inside to thaw every so often and he was anything but a fan of that approach. Whenever we'd bring him inside, he'd sit by the door looking at the snow and whining asking to go back out into it. He ate the snow, chased snowballs, laid in the snow (while eating the snow), and dug in the snow. We have a snow pup!

The kids' school was closed Monday and Tuesday, and had a 2-hour delayed start yesterday. After one last mini snow "blizzard" yesterday afternoon, our temps are now on the rise and most of the snow has melted. Much to our kids' chagrin this morning, they went to school on time and without nearly enough snow on the ground for their liking.

Christmas 2013

Before the new year arrives, I figured I'd better give a quick recap of our very fun, very chaotic Christmas.

It all started many, many years ago in a stable in Bethlehem.... well, I guess that's given ... let's fast forward to this year.

We invited our parents/the grandparents to have a sleepover on Christmas Eve and were so glad when they accepted the invitation. It is such a treat to have three generations under one roof to celebrate a holiday ... especially one as cherished as Christmas. Not long after everyone was here, the festivities began. And by "festivities", I mean Eric and his dad playing cribbage and the grandmothers diving in to any work that needed to be done! :)

One of our traditions for Christmas Eve is to have breakfast for dinner, and this year was no different. We had a breakfast casserole that a dear family friend/one of my adopted aunties gave to me years ago (thanks, Carolyn!) and my mom offered to bring the makings for the Pioneer Woman's apple dumplings, which she had recently had on two occasions and LOVED. (We were quick believers in the recipe upon first bites, too!!) After dinner, my mom and I packed up the kids and headed to church; due to the times of the mass schedules, we wound up at St. Luke Church and really liked the service. The fact that the priest made references to the movie "Elf" was a highlight for me! Come on! How much more in touch with the general population can you get during a homily than THAT??? After we returned from church, we did another family tradition of reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as a family, left out cookies and milk for Santa (as well as carrots for the reindeer), and then shuffled the kids off to bed. I adore the fact that the "Night Before Christmas" book we read from each year is the very book I read as a small child; in fact, I think it was probably my sister's book when she was a child. The book is tattered and well-read, but that adds to its appeal to me.

On Christmas morning, Annika, Eric and his parents were up before 6 AM (no surprise, considering Annika was practically exploding with anticipation the days leading up to Christmas... and Eric wasn't far behind her!). Before Annika "woke me up" at 6, I stayed in bed and listened to the sounds of our family tromping around above me ... all was right in the world, and yet, I still wasn't quite part of it... I was more of a silent observer for just a few moments. As soon as Annika and Eric popped through the door, Christmas was in full tilt! I barely made it upstairs before Eric and Conor made an appearance in the kitchen and I could tell from Eric's sheepish look that he woke up Conor... oh those kids (even the grownup ones) and their Christmas enthusiasm. After the kids woke up my mom, the presents opening began.

Our kids do a lot to entertain us on a fairly regular basis, but Christmas took that entertainment to a new high. Annika and Conor's faces were alight with the thrill that is a tree brimming with presents.... and knowing many were for them. We did force them (evil parents that we are) to open their stockings before commencing with the tree presents. Once we gave the green light for the presents, the kids opened their presents from Santa. Annika received the remote control helicopter that she'd been longing for, and watching her open it and realize what the package contained made my heart leap with happiness. Conor liked his remote control pick up truck from Santa, but felt a wee bit disappointed that he didn't get a helicopter, too. (He needs a few more years and better gross motor skills before he can have one, Santa decided after receiving the shipment!) Thank you to EVERYONE who was responsible for a gift (or gifts) under our tree!! Your generosity was beyond touching ... in fact, it was overwhelming at times. (Yes, I did tear up when I saw that Santa gave me my own Muppet... I'm not ashamed to admit it!) :)

After the presents were unwrapped and the living room floor was (mostly) cleared of the shreds of wrapping paper, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast of our family's traditional Christmas breakfast casserole (cleverly called "Christmas Breakfast" ... a special thanks to Eric's mom for making it!!) and some tasty, albeit not fluffy enough, cinnamon rolls made by yours truly.

In the early afternoon, my brother and his family joined us at our house for more festivities and (probably more importantly) our prime rib Christmas dinner. There were stories, jokes (thanks, Dad for your joke about the guy who sold the fishing supplies!), laughter (much due to the fishing joke), and silliness ... all the perfect definition of a fun holiday. We told stories of "back in the day" that stemmed from both sides of the family; I love that over the years, Eric's side of the family and my side of the family have really become one. Not only does it make holidays easier and more enjoyable, but it reinforces for our children that they have an enormous support network filled with kind, loving hearts ... no matter which direction they turn.

To everyone (both near and far) who made our Christmas special: Thank you, we love you, and hope you enjoyed your Christmas!

As I took photos of my Christmas cookies, Eric's dad decided he needed one. Talk about getting caught red handed!!

The grandmothers conquering the apple dumpling process (notice how I stayed out of it and just took photos?? No dummy am I!)

Eric and his dad playing cribbage

Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"

Annika opening her slippers

Conor opening his slippers

Annika realizing she actually received a remote control helicopter

Conor enjoying the view from his kaleidoscope

Eric's brother and sister-in-law gave the kids the cutest animal hats ... great for cold weather and dress up!!

Annika modeling her elephant hat

My very own Muppet, who I lovingly named Wilson!

December 2012 Daring Bakers Challenge: Panettone

Ever since I began doing the Daring Bakers challenges (about 1 1/2 years ago), I've experimented with a lot of new recipes. One thing I've really enjoyed is the fact that because of the monthly challenges, I've been exposed to recipes from other cultures. This month's baking challenge was to make panettone, which is a traditional Italian Christmas bread that is sweet and filled with lots of fruity goodness. Think if it as if a brioche and a fruite cake had a baby...

Traditionally, it has raisins, candied orange peel, and candied lemon peel. Well, I'm not a fan of raisins and simply didn't have time to candy the peels (funny how time seems to fly by a bit faster as Christmas approaches ... kudos to everyone who did have the time to complete that step). I substituted dried cranberries for the raisins and simply omitted the candied peels. I am so glad I took this approach. The bread was quite sweet and the candied peels might have put it over the edge for my tastebuds. I did include the orange and lemon extracts that the recipe called for, so we still had the flavors of the citrus, but not the extra sweetness.

Panetonne bakes in these really neat paper forms. I had to order them online and am really glad to have them.They're sort of like an oversized cupcake cup (perhaps 6" in diameter) and made out of a waxy brown paper. They worked beautifully for this project.

Everyone who tried the bread gave it a big thumbs up and I have a feeling it'll make a repeat appearance next Christmas ... if not before! I bet it would make a great French toast base!

Panettone cooling in its paper form

Anyone up for a slice?

The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!