Posted on by jsmith

On the eleventh day of Christmas…

…I went to bed at midnight, exhausted. Right after posting. Oh, and after:

  • Going to three stores to find gray leggings in extra small (no luck, hopefully the mediums will fit)
  • Making salsa, fudge, make-ahead mashed potatoes, peppermint candy brownies, stuffed mushrooms and various other finger foods
  • Appreciating my mother-in-law who washed every dish I dirtied alongside me as I cooked
  • Visiting a few friends
  • Enjoying a “Bethlehem Dinner” (aka., carpet picnic) with six adults and six kids
  • Enjoying a “Nativity Play” (quotes intentional) with five kids and one reluctant almost-teenager
  • Enjoying much, much food and fudge
  • Enjoying going around the room and sharing our favorite Christmas memories (this will become a new tradition–thank you, dad)
  • Enjoying watching the kids open just one gift
  • Enjoying some good adult chitchat after the kids went to bed
  • Not so much enjoying my ultra-last minute run to Walgreens when I realized I’d completely forgotten to buy my kids their traditional ornaments and our family Christmas book this year.  Luckily, Walgreens provided (only store open until Christmas Eve.  Good to know.)  The ornament/book tradition was something I started years ago and have preserved mightily.  This year, I simply forgot.  Both of them.  Totally and completely spaced it.  Until at nine o’clock tonight, when Megan looked at me and said, “What about our ornaments and the book?”  I looked back at her and said, “We’re not doing them yet.”  She replied, “Why not?  Because you forgot?”  “No,” I lied.  “Because our relatives don’t have that tradition, and we don’t want to make them feel bad.”  She looked at me like I was a puddle of pathetic and I knew that she knew I was lying.  But isn’t that what Christmas is all about:  lying to your kids?  She’ll get over it.
  • Enjoyed writing this post and wrapping up (literally) Christmas Eve.
I’m tired.  The house is a wreck.  But we. are. done.  And by the time you read this, you will be done too.  Congratulations!  (I think Congratulations should be the mother-to-mother version of Merry Christmas.  You?)
Posted on by jsmith

On the tenth day of Christmas…

…I took my gorgeous friend out to lunch for her fortieth birthday.  She is stylish and fabulous and fun, and she showed the rest of us just how good forty can look.  (Are you reading this, Michealyn?  See, even her name is cool.)  As I sat at the feet of this woman who really has made forty “the new twenty,” I couldn’t help but think about how forty was just a knockin’ on my door, and how I had a lot of work to do between now and then to ensure that my fortieth birthday would bring me the same fate.  (Funny how I never heard that “forty is the new twenty” when I was twenty.)  If forty is to become my new twenty, then I have a year and a half to:

1.  Erase all my wrinkles.

2.  Lose ten pounds of fat and gain three pounds of muscle.

3.  Convince myself that majoring in English will lead to some kind of employment after graduation.

4.  Re-learn how to flirt.  (See #3.  I needed a backup plan.)

5.  Think that I’m dressing hip when really I’m wearing a denim shirt tucked into white jeans. (True story.  That outfit was one of my faves at BYU.  I thought it was so crisp.)

6.  Dream of far-off adventures in faraway lands, with a happy ignorance to the fact that one day those adventures would occur within five miles of my parents’ house.

7.  Pretend to be recently “mature” while still fighting viciously with my sister over our favorite pair of cutoff jean shorts.  (They were hers, but I stole them repeatedly.)

8.  Think that Robin Hood is an emotionally harrowing movie.

9.  Go completely and utterly broke.

10.  Wait, I have #9 down.

 

Posted on by jsmith

On the eighth and ninth days of Christmas…

…I realized I was a day behind.  Oopsie.  I apologize to my vast readership of at least two faithfuls by now.  It’s Christmastime and everyone’s too busy to blog or read blogs, but I’m determined in my effort to see these twelve days through, lame and unread as my posts may be.  (Which wouldn’t make them all that different from the lame and unread posts I write the rest of the year.)

So.  On the eight and ninth days of Christmas, I ate a bunch of cookies.  A bunch.  Actually, I’ve been doing this since the first day of Christmas.  You see, I’m gearing up for a Big Fat (skinny) New Year’s Resolution of getting into uber-shape, so I figure the flabbier I get between now and January 1st, the more drastic and exciting my newly toned and chiseled body will be.  Do you subscribe to my theory?  I knew you would.

I should preface this post by telling you that the most exciting thing that’s happened to me this holiday season is my accidental stumbling upon the ultimate Christmas cookie.  I got the recipe from Sunset magazine–it won their annual contest–and I’m telling you, these cookies are good.  Crispy, chewy, pepper-minty, dark chocolate-y good.  My new all-time favorite Christmas cookie, hands down.  I made them for a cookie exchange I went to last week and, because we don’t sample all the cookies while we’re there (there’s far too many) I haven’t heard any feedback yet.  But I’m assuming that all my galpals were as smitten with the cookie as I was and are just too jealous to gush about it in front of me.  (Am I right, girls?  Did I win the unspoken Cookie Exchange Competition?  If I don’t hear differently, I’ll assume that I did.  Thanks!)  In all fairness, I must concede that there were some absolutely delicious concoctions at said cookie exchange, but since I made these, I’m partial to them.  And I’m telling you, they are so good, I’m thinking of changing my blog title to just a stray white christmas dream drop.  (What do you think?)

So maybe mine didn’t look exactly like the photo in the mag, but they tasted superyumalicious.  And be sure to dip the bottoms in dark chocolate–makes all the difference.

 

White Christmas Dream Drops

  • YIELD: Makes 32
  • TOTAL:1 Hour, 15 Minutes
  • COURSE: Cookies, Desserts

Ingredients

  • 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tbsp. coarsely crushed peppermint candies

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 250°. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a deep bowl with a mixer, using whisk attachment if you have one, just until soft peaks form. Add vanilla and salt. With motor running and mixer on high speed, pour in 1 tbsp. sugar and beat 10 to 15 seconds, then repeat until all sugar has been added. Scrape inside of bowl and beat another 15 seconds. At this point, meringue should form straight peaks when beaters are lifted. Fold in chocolate chips and 1/3 cup candies with a flexible spatula.

2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, using a bit of meringue at corners as glue. Using a soup spoon, drop meringue in rounded 1-tbsp. portions slightly apart onto sheets, scraping off with another spoon. Sprinkle with remaining 1 1/2 tbsp. candies.

3. Bake until meringues feel dry and set when touched but are still pale, 30 to 35 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through. Turn off oven, open door, and let cookies stand about 10 minutes. Let cool on pans.

Make ahead: Up to 2 days, stored airtight.

My little tips:  Could pipe the meringue through a large opening to get the “drop” look; otherwise cookies will spread and be a little flat, but still look cute and taste great.  Also, don’t crush peppermint too fine before adding to batter, or it will turn the cookie pink.  Also, remember to sprinkle coarsely chopped peppermint pieces on top–I forgot on my first batches, and when I finally did it, it made a huge difference in appearance and texture.

I am not a recipe-blogger, but I felt it was my Christmas duty to share this little gem with you, kind of like how Jacob Marley gave Scrooge all that unsolicited advice.  Maybe now that you’re done with the shopping and cleaning, you’ll have some time to try it.  This is always my favorite time to bake, when the house is clean, my errands are done, and I truly have nothing more to do (until Christmas Eve when I remember I still have nineteen things to do.  But I’ll worry about that on Christmas Eve.)  

Now I’m off to whip up a chocolate hazelnut cookie I’ve never tried before.  Hint:  it’s a sandwich cookie with Nutella in the middle.  How could we go wrong?