How to Make Chicken Over Biscuits

by Katie

Step #1 is very important: kill chicken DEAD

how to make the white sauce

Now you know.  You're welcome.

Christmas 2011

Figured I should get these up before Candlemas...

St. Nicholas' Day

Jojo likes his Joey Dress-up

a bear for The Bear

Making Our House Fair (As We Are Able)

window markers! I'm so happy about this impulse purchase!

trim the [banisters]...

and set the table...  (he does this when he is hungry and has decided it's Time To Eat)

Christmas Day

well, if you'd been woken up at o'dark thirty, your picture might be a little blurry too!

that's better.

Daniel loveslovesloves this doggie, given to him by Katie.  It is unbelievably soft and squishy, just like him!

yay! another Tails book to replace the one I destroyed!

who needs more presents?  read me my books, slave!

ain't I handsome?

this is the best shot one can expect from him these days...

For some reason I didn't think about taking a picture of the whole family (it's not like I had two big meals to make for guests or anything!), so you don't get the girls all dressed up in their Christmas finery, at least not until I have a chance to make everyone get all dolled up again and fake it. :)

Happy New Year 2012!!!

some of us are happier about our decision to stay up late to ring in the new year than others...

Merry Christmas from Handel and Quinhagak, Alaska

According to an email forward I just received:
"This video from the small Yupiq Village of Quinhagak, Alaska, was a school computer project intended for the other Yupiq villages in the area. Much to the villagers' shock, over a half million people have viewed it."

Actually, as of this writing, it's reached over a million views, when it was originally intended for an audience of about 200!

It's amazing what a group of 10 year olds with a video camera, some paper, and a Sharpie can do!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas.....

(didn't I use the same blog title last year?  well, it's still true...)

So until I figure out which blogger gadget turns on Smell-O-Vision, just imagine that scents of cardamom and razzleberry and baking bread with a hint of pine are wafting towards you, and then you'll know what our house smells like right now. I love the smell of Christmas Eve.

I am especially appreciating the smell of the Southern-Comfort-laced egg nog that is sitting next to my laptop right now.  I spent pretty much all day in the kitchen, and am now sitting with my feet up, until I have to get up and finish wrapping.  I had lots of help in the kitchen today.  I like the fact that the kids want to be involved in the process of making our family's traditional Christmas goodies, especially Pulla.  Making Pulla is a lot of work, but fun work, plus it's much more fun when you have an accomplished helper.

she shaped all three of the braids, God bless her!

my little Rapunzel is a very experienced braider

not much longer and I can turn over the whole process to her!

Nothing says Christmas Eve like Pulla, freshly drizzled, waiting on the counter for Christmas morning:

Aaaaaaand another Moment of Truth -- just to the right of that lovely view is this:

has anyone else's kitchen sink looked like this ALL stinkin day?

Despite the knowledge that my sink will look like this all day tomorrow too, I'm still so looking forward to the morning!  I love Christmas.  Once again I find myself wishing I had spent more time preparing spiritually for the feast, but I do feel very at peace this year.  And I'm still waiting with a joyful expectation for the coming of the Lord.

Merry Christmas!

I'm doomed. *Updated!*

Gentlemen, start your scissors!

UPDATE:  Mr. Pickles is an angel.  Two hours later we have this:

ahh, much better!

He also made cocktails.  So the actual wrapping became reeeally fun.  Do you think the kids will notice that some of our cutting lines are really crooked?

You better watch out...

Santa Claus is comin' to town!

These two are unbelievably cute together.  I wish I could follow them around with a video camera all day.

Okay, moment of truth here.  This is the first picture I took of them:

In addition to the terribly blurry nature of the photo, please note also the pile of laundry in the middle of the floor, the beast of a stroller hanging out in the living room, aaaaaaaaaand....

...a little boy about to be added to the "naughty" list for stealing from the electronics basket when Mommy wasn't looking!

I only include this photo to make you feel better about how you keep your house and raise your family.

You're welcome.

Quick Takes Monday

I understand what parents of large families mean when they wish each of their children were an only child.  En masse, they're sort of a terror, but individually, they're delightful.  You really get to appreciate the gift of each one when you can focus on them without any distractions.  Even Joseph becomes the sweetest, most charming, utterly delightful little boy when we take him shopping by himself. (whereas today I would cheerfully sell him to gypsies for a nickel) (just kidding) (...mostly)
All this is to preface that last week Katie and I got to attend Mass together, alone.  (Even though it was only last week, I forget the reason why.  Probably one of the kids wasn't feeling well so we had to do tag-team Masses.) It was just so delightful spending time with her alone.  I moved her booster up in the car so we could chat more easily.  She kept asking questions during Mass, noticing all the changes.  (Wow!  She actually has been paying attention!  Who knew!)  We shared a missalette so we could sing the hymns together.  And then she whispered a question that made my day:

"Mommy, were you an opera singer before you got married?"

Awwwww.

Only a child of mine would think my voice sounded that good. :)  I explained that Aunt Mary could be an opera singer, but I only used to sing in the church choir.  She was still impressed with that. 

----------

Speaking of Katie, one of her birthday gifts was a set of beads for stringing into necklaces and bracelets.  It came with login info for some online virtual jewelry-making club for girls.  She begged and begged to join, so I visited the website, entered the secret code, and lo and behold, was welcomed to the website by a scantily clad, cartoon pre-teen! 

Are you JOKING me?  A short halter top and daisy dukes??

I was in shock.  The set seems to appeal to the pre-teen set, i.e. girls under 13.  You know, who have no curves yet.  The fact that the mascot for this site modeled a body image that was impossible for girls this age to attain just stunned me.  I know that our culture trains our girls to be dissatisfied with their bodies at a sickeningly early age, but I still felt ANGRY that this garbage had come into MY HOUSE to poison MY precious little girl. 

Katie begged to join, and I gave the evasive answer, "Well, I'll think about it..."  I should have just blurted out what I was thinking: "Over my dead body!" and then explained why I thought the site was e-vill.  WHY do little girls have to think about fashion and body image when they're 7?  Why can't they still be encouraged to stay in childhood and play dress-up princess?  WHY do we have to take this natural desire to be beautiful and to wear pretty things, and warp it into a desire for an unattainable standard and perpetual dissatisfaction?

Of course, we do know why.  "Show me a culture that hates chastity, and I'll show you a culture that hates children" (including their innocence).

/rant

Of course, big girls, even big girls raised in healthy homes with limited exposure to the culture of death, still feel the effects of unattainable standards and dissatisfaction with ourselves.  I've heard this book is excellent, and I want to read it:

It's so hard remembering what's important about oneself when all around you are images of only one kind of beauty, and the least important, at that.

----------

I went Christmas shopping yesterday.  On a Sunday.  A Sunday in Advent.  A Sunday after a long week.  Even though I found what I was looking for, and mostly enjoyed my time out, I still felt so conflicted.  I felt I was compromising my principles, betraying my identity as a Christian, falling short of Auntie Leila's ideal, and generally contributing to our misdirected consumerist society.  Was it worth it, to get that shopping done before St. Nicholas' day?  Should I have waited until tonight?  Of course, the easy answer is that I should have managed my time better so that I could have completed all necessary shopping before Sunday. (If I were that organized I'd be running the world.)  But we're talking about real life here, MY real life, which involves sick children and other unplanned events in addition to scheduled events and family members needing Mom's presence plus tendencies towards procrastination.  Real Life is messy.

I guess that's my answer -- even though the ideal is to spend Sunday afternoon at home, doing peaceful things, sometimes the fallen world breaks through and we have to choose which is more important to us.  Celebrating St. Nicholas' feast day by hanging and filling stockings is important to our family, and Sunday afternoon was the last chance Mom had to make sure that happened, so to the stores I went.  I still felt our Sunday was blessed, even if my feet were sore afterwards.  Mr. Pickles made a special dinner for us while the kids watched a movie, so we could spend some peaceful reconnection time after a hectic couple days.

But I think in the future that I'm going to try to keep Sunday afternoons sacred.  I face the week with a better attitude when I do.

----------

So after the kids went to bed last night, Mr. Pickles and I watched Super 8.  When I first heard the title months ago I thought it was yet another superhero movie, like Super Friends or something. :)  But when I heard the real plot I was intrigued, although a little hesitant.  I don't usually jump at monster movies. (and by "usually" I mean "ever.")  But this was the kind of thriller that I could just barely handle -- it kept winding you up so tight, and then making you jump and shriek!  At several points I had to use Mr. Pickles' hand to shield my eyes.  We really enjoyed the movie, although it kept us up really late -- we had to wait a while for all the adrenaline to wear off before we could fall asleep!  I think I dreamed about spider-like monsters and trains and subterranean tunnels all night long.  I thought the kid actors were hilarious.  Mr. Pickles says he knew kids like that (especially the pyro) in high school. :)  I liked the scenes with the director-kid's family -- sometimes I feel like I'm living in that house (sans the scantily-clad teenager). :)

Good popcorn/snuggle-up-to-your-sweetie flick!

----------

We ordered pizza from Uno's the other night.  I don't really want to know how much butter was in the crust, but it was oh-so-good.  I don't know if we'll ever be able to go back to Papa Salt's cardboard pizza.

----------

And finally, for your linking enjoyment, here is Geek Dad's recommended 5 best toys of all time.  Some good ideas there.  I can vouch for every one of his recommendations.

Gratias Agimus Tibi

Happy Thanksgiving!  This is the second year in a row we've hosted family for Thanksgiving dinner.  My brother Dave and his wife Katie (of Chicago Married Life fame) graced us with their presence, putting up with our noise, runny noses (just a little something to remember us by next week!), and freezing cold basement.  They arrived Wednesday evening.  Uncle Dave and Aunt Katie are everybody's favorite kind of uncle and aunt, because they came with PRESENTS!!

playing Tri-Ominoes

It was great seeing Daniel bond with his godparents.  He took a particular shine to Dave.

Uncle Dave has a good lap for reading.

...and a great beard for fuzzing!

I really enjoy having extra family over for Thanksgiving.  The kids are still young enough that I know if I fix a huge feast, Mr. Pickles and I are going to be eating the leftovers for a loooooooong time.  So having a couple of other adults around gives me the excuse I need to Do Thanksgiving Right. :)

Also, this year I narrowly escaped potential disaster by reading a timely post that saved me from committing the homemaking sin of winging it on a major holiday.  Prompted by Auntie Leila (who deserves serious time off from Purgatory for all the wisdom she's imparted), I sat down and made lists and more lists and lists of lists, getting my thoughts and plans organized, especially meal plans.  I also made a couple dishes early (like cranberry sauce, which I'd never made before and which turned out AWESOME, if I do say so myself), plus extra cornbread for dinner the day before, so I could use it for stuffing.  We had to do homemade stuffing b/c of Mr. Pickles' white flour sensitivity -- but it's really so ridiculously easy that I didn't mind.

We tried to go to Mass Thursday morning, but the time was an hour later than we thought it was going to be, so rather than wait around for an hour trying to keep 4 children entertained, we just made a visit and then headed back home.  We were all miffed that we had gotten up unnecessarily early, especially since the grown-ups had been up way past our bedtimes the night before. :)  But it was such a lovely day, so after the children began bouncing off the walls everyone went for a walk to the playground while the cook stayed back to babysit the turkey. 

Looking back I realized that it would have been kinder to ask Katie to stay home and enjoy the peace and quiet with me. :)  From what I hear the adults got a pretty good workout too.

So the menu:
-13 lb. turkey with cornbread stuffing
-gravy that wouldn't thicken (not enough browned bits?)
-candied yams with lots of ginger and brown sugar
-green bean casserole (sort of a necessary tradition, isn't it?) with homemade mushroom soup
-cranberry sauce simmered with orange juice, pear, and ginger
-homemade rolls
-spinach salad w/pears and goat cheese, balsamic vinaigrette
-apple-cranberry Martinelli's for the kids (and the big kids) :)
-homemade apple pie w/white wheat flour (dense, but tasty)
-razzleberry pie (I cheated: this was from the freezer section)
-pumpkin pie ice cream

Making a feast is always a gamble -- for one thing, the turkey is never ready when I expect it to be.  But I was pleased with how everything came out (except the runny gravy).  And it's always satisfying feeding a crowd with hearty appetites.  "Hunger makes the best sauce," as Ma Ingalls said. :)  That and butter -- I think I used at least 2 lbs. of butter over the course of 3 days, maybe more.

Daniel is missing b/c he was totally passed out at this point -- being outside wore him out!

On Friday we did our traditional touristy thing and went to see Gadsby's Tavern in Old Town Alexandria.  That was a fun little tour, and made us appreciate all the more some modern conveniences, like indoor plumbing, deodorant, and insecticides.  However, they did have ice cream back then, so it wasn't all bad.  We had lunch at the tavern restaurant, where the waitstaff wear period costumes.  Well, Mr. Pickles and I took turns having lunch, as we made what felt like a dozen trips to the bathroom with small people in tow.  The restaurant was surrounded by scaffolding, since one of the chimneys was damaged by the earthquake.  Afterwards we went to a candy store, and then walked to the Potomac riverfront.

Miriam got all miffed when a street magician made a joke at her expense after she wouldn't participate in his trick.  Like her mother, she doesn't like having unwanted attention drawn to her in public. :)

Friday evening for dinner, Katie made us her family's traditional Friday-after-Thanksgiving Turkey Gumbo.  One word: WOW.  It was SOOOOO good!  (and I'm not just saying that b/c I didn't have to cook dinner one night!)  I am a convert to Cajun spices.  I froze the leftovers so we can be sure to enjoy them again later!
 
Friday night we played a fun card game they brought, called Dominion.  It seems like it took forever for poor Dave to explain to us how it worked, but once we figured out what we were doing it was a lot of fun.  There used to be a cool game store in the mall nearby where you could find imaginative games like this, but it was replaced by some stupid trendy clothing store.  Thank goodness for online stores -- although they're probably the ones that are putting the brick-and-mortar stores out of business.

Before they left on Saturday, Uncle Dave gave us a concert.  It's always good to hear him play.

He plays so much better than I do.  Amazing what practicing can do!

hey, at least Joseph is looking at the camera...

We miss them already.  We loved having them -- after they left the house felt so empty (because, you know, there were only 6 people left in it). 

And now Happy New Year!  I have to admit I don't feel very Adventy yet.  We haven't gotten our Advent wreath out of the attic yet -- although from where I am sitting in my Sacred Mother's Corner I can see both the attic access and the ladder.  I've been thinking about ways I can make this Advent a better time of preparation than I have in the past.  It has a lot to do with giving more and wanting to receive less.  It may come as a surprise to some readers that I've been struggling with depression since before Daniel was born.  It came as a surprise to me even, when earlier this year I was finally able to give a name to that demon of acedia which had been tormenting me with feelings of despondency and inadequacy all this time.  I've been feeling like such a bottomless pit of need, never feeling capable of giving enough to my family.  So I think over the next few weeks I'm going to focus on giving anyway, as much as I can, trying not to think about myself and how I feel.  I think if I am able, supported by grace, to remain faithful to this resolve, that my Advent will be blessed.  Would you pray for me?

And speaking of Advent and prayer, what did you think of Mass this morning?  I found it simultaneously uplifting and amusing.  Everyone was so self-conscious, and I heard lots of garbled responses as people were trying to figure out what the heck it was that they were supposed to say.  At one point the recitation of the Creed totally broke down -- although that was because the rubrics were not sufficiently separated from the text, and people began to read aloud the instructions about where to bow.  (That was pretty funny.)  But despite the initial awkwardness I really like the feeling of the new translation.  I found myself much more uplifted by the language used, more like how I feel when I am able to attend the extraordinary form.  I am more inspired to pray, to adore, and to give thanks for God's immeasurable goodness and great glory.

Very appropriate for this weekend, I think.

Joseph-English Dictionary

Kids learning to speak languages is hilarious.  It's wonderful watching them try to wrap their little mouths around the big words they hear.

Here is a collection of some of our favorites (or "fravits") from the resident English-speaker-in-training, aka Joseph, age 3.

hocker-pocker/helipocter [helicopter]
pataytoe  [tomato]
fimfoop [swimsuit]
shlockit [chocolate]
ma-eel [oatmeal]
polka nuts [polka dots]
tigar [guitar]
brefkiss [breakfast]
chicken [kitchen]
Mr. Green Crebidle [the Incredible Hulk -- not be confused with "Mr. Crebidle," Pixar superhero]
cramma [camera]
Blue is my fravit!  [favorite]
Saduko [Sudoku]
smarshsmellows [you'll never guess...]