It Takes a Village - Christmas Edition

You may remember my Halloween Spooktacular Village from October. Here is the Christmas version!

I made the little brick walls four or five years ago, out of pebbles, foam and Gorilla Glue. Every year since, I say "I really need to make some more walls." and then I never do. Next year, really, I need to make some more walls.

I also need to get blue cloth for the background, as I think I'd like it better than the black. But, I had the black and I am cheap, so black it is. One day, ONE DAY, there will be a water feature. It will probably be the same year that the walls get made.

I wanted to, needed to, do something different with the mantel this year. Stockings hung with care by heavy metal hangers, within reach of an almost 2 year old boy, are not a good idea. Again, I'm cheap - so I got a rustic garland half off at the craft store for $7.99. A vase of pinecones with some curly junk and berries on top of some old books took care of one side of the mantel.

For the other side, I was able to reuse some old candles and make them not so old looking by tacking on some vintage postcard ornaments. I put them next to big fat Jeremiah Johnson-Santa. It's eclectic. Like me.

This is year three with the crazy orange feather-flower tree topper, and I still love it. The Husband is not a fan.

And I love my big, faceless Holy Family.

But my favorite decor thing is the Nutcrackers in the kitchen.

That is a horrible picture, and when I take pictures of the kids' tree in the playroom and the outside lights, I will get a better one of the Nutcrackers.

And what do the Southern Fried Children do on Black Friday? When it's 70 degrees and sunny, we play football. Sort of.

It is the most wonderful time of the year.

Football Shmootball

Apparently, there are some big games on today. Sean and my father in law, John (who's birthday is today, birthday shout out to Papa John!) are Green Bay Packer fans. From the looks of these yahoos, the game went well:

My brother Mike is a Pittsburgh Steelers Superfan, and it looks like he will be celebrating tonight as well.

And while Julia pranced around in her cheerleader outfit and Katie grazed on the buffet, Henry was soaking up all the dudeliness. All my efforts at gender neutrality were erased in one afternoon of grunting and high-fiving. Sean clearly enjoyed having THE BOY around. I'll admit it was sweet to see. Sweet, in a very manly way.

Football was king in my house growing up. My daddy was the NUMBER ONE DALLAS COWBOYS FAN OF ALL TIME. Seriously, like the guys on the local sports radio knew him. He would tape the games to re-watch during the week, memorizing every play. That is not normal. My father knew more about football, and about sports in general, than any person I've ever met.

Sports are okay. I would never sit down and turn on the television and start surfing and see a sporting event and say "oh, hey! I'm going to watch this basketball/football/baseball/whateverball game." I would certainly never plan my day around it.

I will, however, gladly plan a menu around it. Today was chili, a couple of loaves of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day! bread, cream cheese brownies and oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies. Sean made some of his really delicious wings and a friend brought this nasty-good hot bean dip stuff. It looks a little like dog food, but then you take a bite and want to roll around naked in a bathtub full of it.

My oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are fantastic, but I don't recommend rolling around in them. Too crumby. Here's the recipe:

1 stick butter, softened
1 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 1/3 C flour
1 t baking soda
1 t salt
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 C quick oats

Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir together dry ingredients and add, beating well. Stir in chocolate chips and oats. Drop by teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheet (skip this if you use a silpat. If you don't use a silpat, go buy a silpat. I love saying silpat.) Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 4 dozen.


The cream cheese brownie recipe is from Cook's Illustrated and they are pretty out of this world, too. As is the regular brownie recipe. It is so good that I have turned my back on the super yummy chemical in a box Ghiradelli brownies. Mostly.

As I type this, Sean is upstairs - alone now - watching the last bit of the late game. Occasionally, he will muttered instructions to the players, yell at an official, congratulate himself for his astute observations. As he looks forward to seeing his team play in the Superbowl, all I can think is "what am I going to make?".