Giving Thanks
I’ve come to the conclusion that I am not a big family meal sort of girl. At least, I’m not the host-and-cook a big family meal sort of girl. I get absolutely no joy out of cooking. I mean zip. Zero. Nada. All that peeling and prepping and cleaning only to what? Spend the next two days cleaning up from it? All that for a roasted bird that I don’t even eat.
Once the guests arrive I typically forget to offer them a drink. I’ll forget to set out a main ingredient in the meal. I’ll forget to bring out the birthday cake (seriously, I forgot to do that at Callum’s afternoon party).
I think the biggest reason I hate hosting a big meal is because I’m not a real food person. I could happily eat mediocre food for the rest of my life and not care. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, all it has to do is keep me from starving to death. That’s all I ask. In fact, I would even go so far as to suggest that I prefer boring food. I could have something in a tomato sauce everyday. Add in some cheese and I’m yours for life. I am that person who would eat the pot of chili every day for a week because it meant that I only had to cook one meal.
So, it’s not that I have anything against the family meal. I’m all about family and spending time together. Even more so when someone else does the cooking. It’s just that quality time can be spent over a take-out pizza without the dishes.
Yet I enjoy setting a nice table. If you want to cook, I’ll come over and set the table. I might even make a center piece. oh! And napkin rings!
I also enjoy giving out a Thank You gift to people who come to my parties. I seldom throw a party making putting together a Thank You gift much more reasonable, but it is even more acceptable when it’s a kid birthday party.
As a party favour at Callum’s little shin-dig we gave out Haunted Halloween Gingerbread House Kits that the kids and I made. This was in lieu of a loot bag which I think is becoming a thing of the past. It seems most parents hate the loot bags, and are opting instead to do some really creative alternatives. Both Angela and Michelle had some fantastic ideas this year that I am so stealing as my kids get older.
Anyway, this kit looks exactly like the kit Michaels sells (unintentionally), except with that home-made charm which likely means the walls don’t line up with the roof.
I was really proud of these little boxes. Each box contains the gingerbread house pieces, some black food coloring, candies, little gingerbread skeleton dudes and gravestones, instructions, and chocolate windows. So much fun to put together and with the exception of the candies and food coloring, the kids and I made it all ourselves!
The little pumpkins on the box are those foam forms you can buy and I cut out random shapes that Callum glued onto the pumpkins. He was pretty picky about the exact placement of eyes and mouths and wouldn’t veer from that. Something I wasn’t expecting from a 3-year old and I’ll be honest, I was a bit disappointed. I was so hoping to see random eyes in the middle of that pumpkin’s forehead. There are, however, little eyes glued underneath big eyes…
Here is our house after Gwen realized that the fence? MADE OF CANDY. You should see it now… a sad little run-down shack with no windows and only half a door.
It of course still houses a secret gingerbread baby inside its walls, as all gingerbread houses must.
The Cake
For as long as I can remember, assuming I lived in the vicinity of my Mom or Grandma, I’ve always gotten a birthday dinner and cake. Dinner was typically my favourite meal (veal cutlets and fries when I was a kid, believe it or not) and the cake varied from elaborate princesses and unicorns to angel food cake and ice cream to store-bought. If I was extra special, and Grandma was in the mood to clean up the mess I might even get that pineapple cheesecake thing she makes that is to freaking die for.
These birthday dinners are fond memories for me and as a result I want to give my kids a special cake on their birthdays too. Sadly, for Steve, this desire doesn?t lend itself to husbands, just children. I don?t really care that much for baking and twice a year is fine by me, thanks.
This year I made Callum a tractor at his request (if you call gently suggesting to an almost 3-year old that maybe he?d like a tractor to be his request, and I do). I was really pleased with the results.
It was as simple as you can get – two loaf pans, and a square pan of store-bought Duncan-Heinz cake mix. Then I just hacked away at it until it looked like a tractor. It?s all cake, including the wheels, decorated with butter icing (the recipe on the icing sugar package) tinted with that fancy food coloring you buy at Michaels. I free-hand piped the deer onto the hood.
The trailer is holding cookies because we had two parties for the spoiled monkey this year, and I saved the cake for my Mom and Grandma (it?s been 35 years of cakes and dinners for me, I figured they can partake in Callum?s cake, you know?). The folks who came to his birthday party got a cookie. It sounds lame but his birthday party was late in the day and in the end the parents probably appreciated that I didn?t hop their kids up on sugar at 7:30 pm. Besides I thought the cookies turned out ridiculously cute. I mean, seriously, the sheep have swirls!
Of course I didn’t take a picture of all the cookies, but trust me they were super cute. There were cows with black spots, pink pigs, swirly sheep, turkeys with candied tails, roosters, geece, horses, cats and dogs. Also, how do people take such fabulous pictures of their crafts? Seriously jealous of that skill.
Making the cake was a cinch, but the cookies? Whoa-boy. The cookies were a family affair and I thought, rather naïvely, that it would be fun to let my kids help decorate them. Yea. Fun. Did you know that wet sprinkles are basically paint? No? Neither did I. And also? Callum takes cookie decorating very seriously.
Claire, does not.
You can imagine the sibling strife. It was a long afternoon.
I Did It!
The most commonly heard phrase around these parts lately is “I Did It!”, by both kids. Did I mention Claire talks? I don’t know if its the fact that she’s a girl or just the luck of the second born, but one day I swear she knew a handful of words and the next she walks up to me with a bottle of medicine that she wasn’t supposed to have and says “Mama, open this”. We went from a handful of words to sentences. I love it when they learn to talk, it makes things so much easier (well, right up until they learn to mouth you off, anyway).
She practiced all morning getting up onto that rocking horse and was bubbling over with pride when she could finally announce “I did it!” to the room.
Filling in the Blanks
I suppose I should update.
ok, then. I’m pregnant. Now you can talk amongst yourselves.
I had this grand idea that I’d tell you in some dramatic way, like a picture of the kids holding up the pregnancy test, but uh, if you think about that it’s sort of gross. I mean, it’s a stick you pee on.
It wasn’t planned, exactly, but you know. It is how it goes. I also had this idea I’d wax poetic on what it all means and reconciling the fact that I’ll be contributing to the over-population of the world but honestly, I’m too tired.
In other news, we bought a new camera, so when I get back into the swing of downloading pictures, I’ll start posting again more regularly. There has been a fair bit of crafting going on so I could always talk about that.
And the biggest news of all – Callum is three today! THREE! The time, it just slips away!
