holiday – Page 3 – Peaceful Reader

Happy Halloween

Alice’s Mad Hatter

We were invited to a neighborhood party for Halloween-not quite our neighborhood but darn close. Everyone gathers together and eats first (soup, salad, and bread with a few delicious Halloween desserts tossed in). I tried to two soups and they were both good and Groovy Girl polished off most of a bowl of chicken noodle soup. It was fun to do something different in such a nice event.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting.

Groovy Girl decided she wanted to make cupcakes to bring to the party. We searched online last night and found a perfect recipe and by that I mean a recipe she swooned over. We made the cake and frosting from Erica’s Sweet Tooth. Instead of the peanut butter cup on top she added one candy corn. She’s become quite an expert froster and the tiny cakes were a hit.

SuperGirl and the Mad Hatter

We’ve sorted the candy and have two large zip locks full, one of chocolate and one “other” and this year she even made a small bag of mom and dad candy-that includes Heath and Snickers bars. She truly has enough candy to last her a year. I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

My Vacation Reads

We just spent 15 days traveling and I can chart our journey by the books that I read. First up Strange but true by John Searles. I sat in the back of our Vue and loved the heck out of this thrilling book while I mentally thanked my husband and son for doing such a fine job of driving. Before leaving on our road trip I’d finished Boy still missing (his first book) which made me steal Strange but true right off my husband’s to-read book pile. I’m impressed with Searles’ creativity. His stories lean toward the bizarre and twisted yet are believable and oh, so crafty. If you have not picked up any of his books yet please do-you won’t be disappointed. He has a new book coming out in September, Help for the Haunted. I want an ARC of this book so much I would jump up and down to get one as I would be the perfect person to read and review it. Who do I have to beg…?

Next I read the historical fiction story The Sandcastle Girls so I could participate in my mother-in-law’s book club which gave me a reason to see Donna’s beautiful house. My review of Sandcastle Girls.

On the trip from DC to NYC I listened to my Audible downloaded copy of Tina Fey’s BossyPants. The last weeks of school I listened to this in my car and then summer hit and I let it slide. I’ve got to get used to working around my house holding on to my phone as I listen but as I’ve yet it’s more of a car activity for me. My son looked at me with his pitiful teenage eyes, shaking his head at me because I laughed out loud on the bus, subway, and street corner as we waited, rode, and walked. Laughed Out Loud. Now I want to go back and watch more 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live segments that feature her and Amy Poehler. I learned a great deal and found Fey’s life stories energizing and of course hysterical. Also she narrates which makes all the difference! I successfully clicked the finish button as we drove through Ohio on Monday.

College Boy read Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan while we lounged in Silver Spring. He read it quickly because he was engaged (a challenge…) and turned it over to me. This amazing tale combines the love of books with 21st Century technology and stirs them together with a great story. Clay Jannon, main character extraordinaire, finds a job at Mr. Penumbra’s book store where things are a bit weird and not many books are sold. Clay takes a closer look at the books in the back of the shop to discover why and with his quirky cast of friends ends up shaking up poor Mr. Penumbra and his bookstore! Excellent story!

Random Quote:

“To run Mr. Penumbra’s 24-hour Bookstore around the clock, one owner and two clerks divide the circle of the sun into thirds, and I get the darkest slice. Penumbra himself takes the mornings-I guess you’d call it prime time, except that this store doesn’t really have one of those. I mean, a single customer is a major event and a single customer is as likely to show up at midnight as at half-past noon.” (21)

I finished Sloan’s book and moved quickly into Sara Gran’s film noir mystery Dope. We swap books in this house like others share toothpaste. My husband read it on the way out to DC while College Boy drove, College Boy read it from DC to Penn Station and I read it on the car trip home. It’s only 243 pages long but packed with a slew of interesting characters and a gritty, intense story that takes place in 1950 NYC.

It begins like this:

“Josephine,”
Maude said my name flatly, like I was dead or she wanted me to be. I sat across from her at a booth in the back of the bar, where the daylight never reached and the smell of stale beer and cigarettes never cleared. Maude had been the mistress of a gangster back in the thirties and he’d bought her this bar to set her up with something after he was gone. It was on the corner of Broadway and West Fourth, and if you’d never been there before it would take a minute to notice that there wasn’t a girl in the place, other than Maude. {1}

And that’s it! This is why it is important to have good, long, wonderful vacations-to READ lots of great books (and to see a few amazing sights).

Ahhh, the bookstores…{NYC}

Of course we ventured into a few bookstores in the city and bought a couple a books but mostly we just loved the comfort zone of books surrounding us.

{G.G. @TheStrand}

The Strand; Oldest daughter spent last summer in NYC working as an intern and loved pretty much everything about being a New Yorker. Her favorite book shop was this one. Groovy Girl and I met up in the children’s section and picked up the exact same picture book, read it, set it down minutes from each other and laughed about it when we realized we’d been reading the same book. I ended up buying the picture book as this was a pretty significant moment and later in life or even tomorrow I can look at this picture book, Tallulah’s Tutu by Marilyn Singer, and remember that we had this “in sync” moment.

Shakespeare and Co.: Big Daddy saw this bookstore just two blocks away from The Strand and we ducked in to see what we could see. It might have been a quick {ish} stop if he hadn’t found the downstairs script area. I think he bought about 8 plays to review for this coming year. They had a lovely selection of children’s book as well and we loved just browsing.

{G.G. @Shakespeare&Co.}

We could have spent hours at both bookstores just for the respite in-between walking. I’d wanted to find Books of Wonder but we never made it there, which means there must be another trip.

O what foodie fun!

We are now back in DC after three fun-filled days in New York.

{College Boy Relaxing at the Milburn}

Our Highlights:

The Millburn-fantastic, friendly staff especially if you get Adam on the phone. The suite we had was spacious and it was wonderful to have the kitchenette space. I could keep my water bottle cold and save the few leftovers we had. We’d go back if we wanted to be in that neighborhood again. I loved the romantic lounge, the breakfast, and the lending library. My husband picked a book for me from the shelf; Pete Hamill’s Forever.

{Groovy Girl w/ her Milk Bar Cereal Milk shake}

{Veggie Bun from Momofuko’s}

Momofuku’s flavors! I loved the veggie bun (David Chang’s) with an egg cracked on top as much as the cereal-infused shake. We hit this spot kind of late last night (8:00-Friday) for us and we walked back to the hotel with food in the bag and shakes in our hand. Guess who finished their shake first?? If you think me; you are wrong. (Groovy Girl took that honor as she sucked it bone dry before her dinner)

{Doughnut bench}

Doughnut Plant; unfriendly staff but delicious doughnuts. I loved my vanilla bean and jam but the big hit was the carrot cake cake doughnut! The cinnamon was powerful and made for an aaaamazing flavor combo.

{Favorite “Big Nick’s” Pizza}

College Boy loved all the easy places to get a slice of pizza and he sampled several “best pizza” spots around town. We had several on the fly meals from local spots like the fish and chips we ordered at 8:00 for dinner while Groovy Girl had a bowl of chicken orzo soup. It was greasy (the fish) but hit the spot.

Friday lunch we went to Lupa in Greenwich Village which College Boy had picked as the one BIG place he wanted to go. He knew about Lupa because Action Bronson worked there as the chef. I’d made a reservation and had talked to staff there before our visit but once we got there I felt much less excited. I knew it was expensive so the prices weren’t a shock but the staff and the ambiance did not provide a relaxing experience. The pace was frenetic and the space was cramped but the kids loved their pasta dishes. I had a lovely spinach salad with roasted fennel and spring peas. I wouldn’t need to go back though. Once was good.

I loved walking through Greenwich Village and as we window shopped I know I spotted Jane Lynch walking through with a beautiful brown leather backpack on her back. We also completely loved Central Park, which was the highlight when I was a teen as well. Groovy Girl and her dad rented one of the motorized sailboats at the pond. We also spent a long time hanging by the Alice in Wonderland statue. All in all it was a wonderful trip, too brief, but it was like giving the kids just a taste of the big city.

Weekend Cooking; Katie Workman's Lazy Oven French Toast

(source)

As she points out though it’s the cook that’s lazy not the oven. I love this recipe. French toast is easier to make than waffles or pancakes truly and this recipe makes it easier to enjoy all together at the table, especially if you have guests. It is assembled the night before so the bread soaks up all the egg while you are sleeping. I served it for breakfast for the five of us on New Year’s Day and it would be excellent and easy for a brunch.

Lazy Oven French Toast
Serves 6-8
Vegetarian

Butter or oil spray
4 cups milk
6 large eggs
2 T granulated sugar
2 T maple syrup, plus more for serving (optional)(to which I say really, optional?, I don’t think so)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher or coarse salt
1 large loaf challah bread, preferably slightly stale, sliced 3/4 to 1 inch thick
3/4 cup whole raisins, chopped dried fruit, or chopped nuts (optional)

Fresh fruit such as berries, sliced peaches or pears, and/or confectioner’s sugar, for serving.

1. Grease a 13 x 9-inch baking dish with butter or spray.
2. Place the milk, eggs, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt in a medium-sized bowl and whisk to mix well. Set aside.
3. Arrange half of the bread slices in the prepared baking dish, cutting the bread so that it fits in a solid layer. Pour half of the milk mixture over the top, then evenly distribute half the dried fruit or nuts, if using, over the top.
4. Repeat, creating a second layer of bread and then pouring the rest of the milk mixture on top and distributing rest of the fruit or nuts over the bread. Lightly press the bread down into the liquid.

5. Cover the baking dish with plastic wrap (luckily my pan has a cover so I’m able to skip this step) and refrigerate over night. The bread will have absorbed almost all of the milk mixture. Uncover the baking dish and if there are dryer looking pieces on top, take them off and carefully tuck them underneath the bread on the bottom so that the more milk-soaked pieces are now on top (this is messy but it all works out in the baking). Note that any dried fruit sitting on top of the French toast will get pretty chewy when baked and nuts on top will get toasty; the fruit and nuts tucked into the French toast will be softer, so disperse the fruit and nuts as you see fit.

6. Preheat the oven to 425*F.
7. Bake the French toast, uncovered, until it is puffed and golden, 30 to 35 minutes.
8. Let the French toast sit for 5 minutes to firm up a bit, then cut into squares and serve it hot with your choice of maple syrup, fresh fruit, and/or a dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

On the side notes Katie adds perfectly helpful hints as to what the kids can do to help but since I created this at about 11:00 on New Year’s Eve Groovy Girl was too busy being silly with her older siblings to help me pour and squish. It was her first late night NY’s Eve and I can’t blame her.

I made this exactly as the recipe states EXCEPT since my kids are not fans of either nuts or dried fruit I did a cranberry twist. I made a compote out of one bag of cranberries, a little orange juice, local honey, and some lemon zest and let it simmer on medium heat while I prepared the French toast. I poured this in-between layers and on top. The cranberries were a pretty addition against the yellow/white bread/egg mixture plus they were tart and perfect with our real maple syrup.

This post is connected to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click her link to find many other food-related posts. Happy Saturday. I know have to cart Groovy Girl to a drama class and an art class. I plan to take my laptop so I can do some writing and a book-I am just about finished with Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card.

Happy New Year's Eve day; welcome to our geekdom.

How do you usher in the New Year? We hunker down as a family. Generally we don’t go out on the town or even to parties. Last year we did go to a family friendly bowling party and we had fun but the kids begged to stay home this year. We are grateful for this. In just a few minutes I will be in the kitchen preparing a few appetizers most of which are planned leftovers from friends visiting us the other night. I have homemade hummus and a delicious cranberry salsa dip to share plus Brie cheese to heat up. Easy.

For dinner I am making a Thai chicken curry using the leftover farm-fresh chicken from our Christmas dinner.
We have some bubbly to share and we’ll play a board game or two. Over the holidays we’ve played the card game, golf, Scattergories, Guesstures, and lots of PS 3 Jeopardy. Tonight will probably be Mexican Train and Pictionary. Last night we put together a Christmas gift puzzle of classic baseball cards. It was really so much fabulous fun. As I type though I think there may be naysayers in the crowd who may be thinking “boring” and that’s okay we love our inner geek! I’m happy my kids are happy to be home hanging out. We also watch crazy movies after Groovy Girl’s gone to bed. That list defies our goody-two shoes image with titles as diverse as The French Connection, GoodFellas, Pulp Fiction, The Day of the Jackal, and Seven. My husband loves cinema and wanted the teens to watch specific scenes in each of these movies which involves watching the whole movie of course!

We spend a fair amount of time reading as well. Oldest daughter is reading Emma while I’m reading Abarat by Clive Barker. The girls commandeered the television away from the football boys to re-watch the very first Downton Abbey just to begin to refresh. I want to be ready for the January 6th.

I also have to soak our black-eyed peas for tomorrow’s hoppin’ john. Time to get into the kitchen, pour a glass of wine, and start making some magic.

Hey, how are you spending the day?

Weekend Cooking; Almond cravings

I’ve written in previous posts about my love for lemons but I don’t think I’ve shared how much I love almond-flavored baked goods. We toss back a lot of almonds as a snack item here and did you know that a handful of almonds may help you sleep better? Yes, it’s true. This bar recipe combines both almond flavor with a nutty topping and they were delicious!

I made them for a holiday party and wanted something that would appeal to adults in the crowd, something a little more sophisticated.

Almond Toffee Bars
KA Baker’s Companion
about 48 squares

Cookie Base

1 cups (2 sticks) butter
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Topping

1 cup brown sugar, packed
5 1/3 T (2/3 stick) butter
1/4 cup (2 ozs) milk
1 cup (3 ozs) sliced unblanched almonds

Preheat oven to 350.

To make the base: In a medium-sized mixing bowl, cream the butter, then add the almond extract and the confectioners’ sugar, beating all the while. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and stir the dry ingredients into the wet. Press the dough into an ungreased 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking sheet (what my mom calls a jelly roll pan), pushing the dough all the way to the edges and up the side just a little. Bake the crust 15-20 minutes, until it is golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Topping: Combine the brown sugar, butter, and milk in a saucepan stirring over low heat just until the brown sugar is dissolved and the butter has melted. Spread this mixture over the cookie base. Sprinkle with sliced almonds. This is the only step I veered off recipe. I already had a mason jar full of whole almonds, I had all other ingredients on hand so when I put together my ingredients previously I just took from the jar and loosely chopped enough to sprinkle over the top. The end result was they were still delicious and had a more rustic look instead of a finished look. At the holiday party they were swooped up and talked about by several groups of adults. We ran out of them even as a table of ladies asked for more. Huge hit. Will make again. No photo exists.

Several other sweets I’ve enjoyed over the holidays:

I made The Brown-eyed Baker’s Salted Caramel for the second time. A friend of mine from school has been on home rest for about 6 weeks after a nasty spill she took off the roof of her house. Yes, real women DO clean their own gutters! She (thankfully) is a daily reader of my blog and had asked many times for this salted caramel recipe. Yesterday I made it for her and took it to her still warm in the jar. Enjoy Kay!

I’ve written several times about my friend Barbara who owns Marilyn’s Bakery in Hobart, IN. She sent us a tin of their to-die for English toffee. The tin is almost gone (small sob) and December is almost over. There won’t be any more until next December. Luckily I can always look back on the memory of my husband and I standing in the kitchen as we both read different sections of the newspaper while we nibble at the toffee in the tin. It was about 9 in the morning. You could order some for yourself but you’ll have to wait, just like us.

Life’s too short not to eat delicious things.

Happy Holidays.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads where you will find many other food-related posts.

A snowy yet green Christmas

(image)

I find it difficult to balance holiday cheer while staying true to my earthy self. There is mass frenzy to get so much done in such a short amount of time. I am always behind because I’m trying to do so much at school, at home, and at church. Here’s a rundown of my recent compromises that cause me small but real anguish.

Why does it bother me? I think it is just who I am.

At school:

All last week Janice and I made cut out Christmas cookies for each student and staff member at Highland. It is a huge project but so worth it when the classes line up at the end of their library time and see a tray full of cookies ready for them. They each get to pick one from the tray and carry it back to their classroom to eat. Too me this is one way to celebrate the wonder of the holiday as kids get to pick up a homemade cookie to enjoy. For me I balance the joy I feel at giving out the cookies with the huge process of cutting out, frosting each cookie with the fact that each cookie I just made has shortening, white sugar, powdered sugar, and dye in it. I understand it is just one cookie and my own kids have certainly enjoyed holiday treats like this but I cringe at the yucky ingredients that go into such a “treat”. I can’t justify the expense of doing an all-organic cookie though and their little taste buds would not care. I am happy it is a homemade cookie with out anything in it that we can’t pronounce!

Another family and I through school has an adopt-a-family to buy gifts for and I finished wrapping my gifts on Wednesday and loaded them into the car, unloaded them at my house (so they would not freeze) and reloaded them back into the car yesterday to drop them off for the family. Luckily my extremely handsome husband drove me there and back because driving in snowstorm-like weather is not on my favorite to-do list. My hope is always to get the gifts to the family while the children are still at school-it takes a little of the magic away if you watch a young man unload the gifts from the back of an SUV-but since it was a snow day everyone was home and happy to see the gift boxes come rolling in. We tried to balance fun things for the family with four small children with practical things like shampoo and diapers. It truly is the thought that counts and we did our best and hope they are happy. My unbalance here came from the fact that I had to walk through the doors of a local Wal-Mart to buy a uniform item for the family. I haven’t been inside a WM store for about 10 years or so. I felt a little dirty but I made it through.

At home:

I’m trying to finish gift purchasing and every year balance my Target shopping with downtown small store shopping. I feel much better about the gifts I purchase from local retailers than tapping my toe in the long Target line. I purchased only three gifts this year using mega-Amazon market place-only gifts that needed to head cross country were purchased through them. I wish I could be so organized that I’d purchased special gifts all year long and had them boxed up and ready to go by December 1st. I wonder how my stepmother, mother, and mother-in-law get all this accomplished as all their gifts are already under our tree. Amazing.

Our meal for Christmas dinner will at least be farm fresh and healthy. We have a local chicken thawing, cranberries to simmer, sweet potatoes from our local co-op, salad grown locally, and a strawberry-rhubarb pie made in Southern Minnesota by a small local group.

At church:

I am on a committee that will serve breakfast this Sunday, which I love taking part in this community activity. The unbalance comes from the hot dish “we’ve” chosen to make for this breakfast. It uses boxed hash brown patties-which are just disgusting to me. I am a real potato kind of woman and would prefer to buy a bag of potatoes, shred them, and add them to the egg dish but then each one would not be just like the other. At least I’m not asked to dump any processed sausage material into the egg dish. People loved this dish last year and it is difficult to speak up for change for two reasons; I am the youngest on the committee of more formidable church ladies. It is one of those things I’m willing to let go for the trauma it would cause. No one else is going to want to put that much effort into creating a dish that many will eat in a short amount of time. Just me. We do at least serve a cornucopia of fresh fruit at the breakfast. Not seasonal but at least fresh.

The list goes on and on and it is so often difficult to justify my moral ideas of what I want to feed and gift my family compared to the masses. I don’t belong with the masses but often in trying to hold up my own moral high ground I add more work to my list when I should be relaxing with my family. It’s the circle of life with a picture of me yapping at my own tail as I go merrily around and around!

What kinds of compromises do you make to share the joy of Christmas?

Happy Holidays!

Weekend Cooking; Pinterest Oatmeal and my dinner plans

We’ve all been healthier this week and I’ve made a few good dinners. It’s been busy though and our tree is being decorated in bits and pieces. Unlike the beautiful ceremonial traditions of decorating the tree together that other families might participate in we’ve done a little here and there all week long.

Groovy Girl has an electronic addiction and can often be found watching HGTV before anyone else is up. One day this week we came down and she was watching a redecorating show that not only spruced up a couple’s condo but made it ready for Christmas as well. The couple have no children and were looking for a very neutral/natural look. Husband, wee girl and I were all transfixed as we ate our cereal and watched how they transformed their space into Christmas without splashing it with red and green. The next day husband and I chatted with GG about what we liked about the decorations and we formed our own plan.

We created our own natural ornaments using a big tube of green balls from Hobby Lobby. The matte and sparkly balls we kept and hung but the super shiny more traditional balls we wrapped in a natural oatmeal yarn I had on hand. We also happened to have a bag of pine cones from my mother’s farm and we’ve hooked those around the tree to blend in also. My husband hated the idea of spending $15.00 on new lights to decorate the tree so he loosely went round twice on the skirt and left them laying. Interesting. It looks great except when it starts to turn dark in the house and the ornaments have nothing to light the way.

What have I cooked this week?

Monday-organic chicken breasts, baked potatoes, steamed broccoli, and salad. This meal was so “traditional” I felt like I wasn’t at my own house.

Tuesday-cheese quesadillas with salad on the side. I had these plated up beautifully but failed to take a photo of them.

Wednesday-$5.00 pizza for Teenage Boy. I slow cooked garbanzo beans that night though prepping for a later meal. One day of carry-out is still pretty unusual for us but we have two plays going on and I have forgiven myself already.

Thursday-Husband’s night to cook and he made/burritos which were yummy! I love it when he has a plan and carries it out. Thank you sweetheart.

Friday-we had leftovers and appetizers as we were all heading to different events. (I prepped and roasted the butternut squash, which is the last vegetable to be eaten from our garden!) I am always happy with chips and salsa for dinner.

Saturday-I am making a pasta recipe using the golden squash, some spinach, and some of the garbanzo beans based on this recipe from Epicurious and a recipe my mother-in-law sent me.

I made a wonderful baked oatmeal dish this morning that I found as I lay in bed early (like 5 am) and used my time to scroll through pinterest. At around 8:30 when I actually forced myself to get up I tossed this dish together in my slow cooker and it made the house smell so flavorful! Groovy Girl dismissed it as too creamy (yes, she is a brunette Goldilocks) but husband and I gobbled it up. He ran a Jingle Bell race this morning and I cheered him on so we were both chilly. The next time I make it I would chop the apples up more. I only sliced them using my OXO apple slicer and that was the first thing that bothered GG-huge soft apple slices in the middle of her bowl. Oh, the horror! Husband and I will be eating this all week long for an excellent breakfast treat.

(brown sugar, cinnamon, and sliced apples ready for oatmeal)

We are about to eat the pasta, butternut squash, spinach dish. I made large cheese curls from a Parmesan cheese triangle but I also have some fresh Gorgonzola from our dairy because their is something about squash that pairs well with Gorgonzola’s pungent flavor.

This post is linked to Beth Fish Reads Weekend Cooking meme. Click to her link to find other food-related posts.

In other news I really want these gorgeous purple shoes, love the price but hate spending $10.00 on shipping. What do you do? I am about half way through Louise Erdrich’s The Round House and love her writing.

Advent Joy!

Happy St. Nicholas’s Day!

Our advent season is a little wacky this year because Groovy Girl is spending Christmas in Florida with my mother, brother, and his son, her cousin. I wanted to do something special for her because she loves Christmas (duh, she’s a ten year old girl) and I know Florida will be fun but she will miss us here. We need to do plenty of pre-celebrating so she doesn’t feel she is missing things here.

Pinterest has a ton of cool advent ideas which spurred me to create one for her based on the fact that a purchased one would be left unfinished before she left and that is just the kind of emotional dilemma she doesn’t need as she leaves us all for the glory of Disney World.

I took 15 recipe cards one night while watching some television and tried out a few fun ideas for her to do. My husband found red and white envelopes to put each card in, numbered the cards, and taped them up in a tree design.

So far she has opened:

1. watch the (original) Grinch movie

2. one trip to Claire’s

3. read 3 favorite Christmas books with mama

4. Decorate for Christmas with Christmas music playing

5. make paper snow flakes and hang them.

We’ve done all of them except the Claire’s trip. We are going to do that one right before she leaves on her trip. Last night we did the snowflake one using a template I had at work. She folded them up origami style and I cut them out as the tiny grooves were hard for her to maneuver wielding a scissors. We now have snowflakes hanging around our house. No snow on the ground here but we are festive inside.

My stepmother has always sent my kids December 6th gifts to celebrate St. Nicholas Day which was a family tradition in her full German family so today Groovy Girl had an actual box to open instead of an envelope. There were plenty of treats nestled inside. The true celebration involves boots and St. Nick with a long flowing robe as he checks up on children-adding them to his naughty or nice list, I’m sure.

It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas around here. How are you getting in the mood?