The Gaylord

The Christmas joy continued on Sunday night as we took Colin to The Gaylord Texan to see their fantastical display of lights and fun. I am so glad we went...this continues to be one of my favorite things to do during the season. This was Colin's first trip and just as I imagined, he LOVED it. They have several model train exhibits, including one with bridges that go over your head, and Colin was thrilled beyond measure. In fact, there was one moment when Colin threatened to have a total meltdown over the prospect of having to leave. I could never have imagined how much he was going to love trains! :-) We walked all over the resort and ended up having a special dinner treat at one of the restaurants. Colin was SO good during dinner and we had such a great time. I can't seem to get enough of showing Colin all things Christmas...his reactions this year have brought me more joy than any present ever could. I am even starting to get a little nervous that we are in for major trouble when the decorations have to come down. He is loving this so much more than I ever thought possible. I am also coming to the conclusion that I may have a performer of some kind on my hands. Colin is all about dancing and singing right now and he does it ALL the time at home. He loves to hold household items, turning them into microphones, and putting on a show. He has now started doing this when we are out and about and it tends to crack everyone up that sees it. While we were at The Gaylord, we passed through the very center of the atrium that very much resembled a stage. Colin went straight for the middle of it and began singing and dancing VERY loudly. I tried repeatedly to grab him, but he was not having it. He really got into it, throwing himself all around and singing his favorite songs (that nobody but me would recognize). It was absolutely hysterical and undoubtedly what I will remember the most from the night. I was a total ham as a little girl (and still am, I suppose!) and I think Colin might be a chip off the old block. Lord help us. ;-) Here he is during his "performance".


Colin watching the trains from the best seat in the house.




He LOVED these trains SO MUCH!

Our little family!

Our first attempt at a self portrait using the timer...it would have been perfect if not for the flash bouncing off the wall!

Lights!

We are having a COLD and wonderful weekend! We took Colin to his very first tree lighting on Friday night at our city hall and it was an absolute blast...despite the frigid temps! It was 25 degrees before the wind chill, so the weather was less than ideal for an outdoor event. It started off badly...for some reason, Colin has been refusing to wear a coat. And by refusing, I mean literally losing his mind and acting like the coat is burning his skin off. Frankly, it has been rather upsetting to me all week; his problem with putting on a jacket has seemed extreme and I have been trying to figure out how to help him get past this issue since the cold snap hit. The problem came to a head when we got out of the car at the lighting; Colin went crazy when we tried to put his coat on and it was not pretty. Once we forced it on him, he stood screaming in the parking lot and pulling at the arms like it was hurting him. It was a lovely scene, let me tell you. ;-) We let him stand by the car and scream it out, determined to help him get past the problem and enjoy the night. I finally scooped him up and started walking toward the festival and he soon got sidetracked by all the lights and music. I think it helped that it was super duper cold...it did not take long for him to realize that the coat was on his side! We were SOOOO cold and Colin soon let me put his fuzzy hat on and wrap him in a blanket in his stroller, both of which are totally out of character at the moment. Jer showed him how to put his hands in his pockets, which he actually did! He walked around for a good bit like that...looking very much like a Gap model. He is just the cutest thing in the whole world!

He was mesmerized by the event...he loves nothing more than Christmas lights and once he figured out that he could get wrapped up in his warm blanket, I think he would have stayed out there all night! All the local dance teams and choirs performed on the steps of the square and surprisingly (or maybe not very surprisingly), Colin went crazy over the dancers. He stood there in the freezing cold and watched every single number (and there were LOTS) while demanding "AGAIN! AGAIN!" after each dance ended. Me being me, I got tears in my eyes over and over while we were standing there. I can't believe how much he is enjoying the season this year and it overwhelms me a bit at times. Standing there in the cold, surrounded by Christmas, watching Colin's eyes go as big as saucers when he saw the dancers...well, I truly can't explain what it feels like to see Christmas through your child's eyes for the first time. The difference between last year and this year is night and day; he really gets it this year and has begun pointing out all things Christmas related whenever he sees them. After we watched several dances and songs, we decided that we were just too cold and we ran over to Chapp's (a hamburger joint) for some dinner and much needed heat.

Once we ate, I thought Colin would be more than ready to head home, but he surprised the heck out of me by announcing "MORE DANCERS, MOMMY!". Ah, that's my boy! :-) We all bundled up and headed back to the show. Luckily for Colin, we found a performance of The Nutcracker going on and he got to watch a good bit of that. City Hall was open and we were able to warm our hands inside, as well as see some great gingerbread houses and tour the Christmas city again. Colin was more than pleased to show it all to Daddy this time. He was wearing his hat during this time and I got a funny compliment...I was taking a picture of Jer and Colin from across the table and a woman asked me if Colin was a girl or boy. I looked at her kind of funny, but realized that he was wearing his hat and nothing but his coat was visible from where we stood. I told her he was a boy and she said very sincerely, "He is probably the most beautiful boy that I have ever seen.". I thanked her profusely...even though I doubt Colin would appreciate being mistaken for a girl. ;-) He is certainly a beautiful little boy, both inside and out. Colin ended up watching more dances outside before we called it a night; he would have stayed forever, but I was finally just too cold to stand there anymore! It was the most wonderful evening in the world and I am so glad that we stayed the course at the beginning with the coat fiasco. Colin worked through it and the night is a precious memory for me. Here is the moment when I was asked about Colin being a boy and Colin's view of The Nutcracker performance. :-)

On Saturday morning, I took Colin over the the children's Christmas party at Jer's office, which is also my old office. He got to see Santa, make some crafts, do some coloring and have breakfast. We got to see lots of my old friends and their kids, which was so great. Some folks have new babies and some of the kids were so big now that I did not even recognize them. We got to hang out with our best buddies Ellen and Aubrey, which was a treat. Colin is sleeping at the moment and when he wakes up, we are taking him over to The Gaylord to see the lights and decorations. My only worry at the moment is what we are going to do after Christmas...Colin is having so much fun seeing his world bathed in lights and I don't think he will be very happy when they come down! But I just won't worry about that at the moment! :-)

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

Typical of North Texas, it got COLD completely out of the blue today...and SNOWED! I honestly don't remember the last time we saw anything white in the month of December, so we were VERY shocked! This is only the second time that Colin has seen snow and he certainly has no recollection of the first time, so this was big news! Colin woke up at 6:00am this morning, so I raced into his room and got in bed with him in hopes of getting him back to sleep. It worked, so at about 7:30 he pushed me awake to go "get juice". I stumbled after him into the kitchen to find Jer with a grin on his face and pointing to the big window. Sure enough, it was really snowing. I thought I was dreaming for several minutes...I had not heard a peep about the possibility of snow on the news. I raced to grab Colin's shoes and coat since I knew it would not last long and I wanted him to see it. I only managed to get his shoes on before he demanded to run outside...sans any outerwear. We caught the moment on video and I snapped a couple of pictures. It was so beautiful and just so Christmas! It has already melted, but it is barely 40 degrees outside with a wind chill in the 30's, so it certainly feels like winter. I think random snow in early December is a sign that we will have a very blessed Christmas. :-)

After our crazy early morning, I bundled Colin up for some errands. We went to the library to trade his books out, which has become one of our favorite things to do. Our town library is currently located at our city hall building while the new one is under construction. I frankly would be happy if they just stayed where they are now! The building is new and beautiful and they have temporarily housed the library on the second floor in a couple of rooms. It is tiny, which makes it very easy to pick out books with a two year old. Colin also gets so excited over the choice of taking the huge marble staircase or the elevator and picks a different one every time. It is so adorable. When we went a couple of weeks ago, they had the big Christmas tree up on the square, which Colin thinks is amazing. Today, however, was even better. Inside the foyer they have set up one of those huge model Christmas cities and Colin absolutely went crazy over it. He must have spent 30 minutes walking all around it slowly, pointing out each building and tree and truck. He showed me the Christmas trees, the lights, the ice skaters, and the fire trucks. He did a pretty good job of understanding that he could only look and not touch, although on our way back out of the library, he made a real effort to take one of the firetrucks. I only convinced him to leave it without a battle because I reminded him that there were puddles outside. ;-)

Here he is watching the skaters. He LOVED it!

Once upstairs in the library, we picked out three new Christmas books and we were checking out when Colin spotted their little "Letters For Santa" display. They had pencils and special paper to make a list, and a little mailbox that goes directly to the North Pole! Colin thought this was VERY cool and insisted upon sitting in one of the chairs and "make Santa list". Even the librarians were blown away by his cuteness. :-) The view turned out pretty special...you can see the city tree out the window! What a special day my little man is having!

I think Santa will be pretty impressed with his letter. ;-)

Finally, I leave you with a picture of our very merry Christmas hound. He was feeling rather left out. :-)

Hugs

My little family was laying on the couch last night watching television. Colin and Jer were sitting on one couch and I was sitting across from them on the other. Colin climbed on Jer to hug him and demanded that I come over, too. "Mommy, come hug!" was his exact comment. So I head over and lay on top of Jer and Colin, making a Colin sandwich. Colin requests this move frequently, so this was nothing new. As I laid on top of them and we all mushed together in a hug, Colin said "I'm hugging my family!". I had tears well up in my eyes immediately and we hugged him even tighter. Just when I think he can't get any more adorable, he does. I am so blessed.

Game day...er...Thanksgiving Recap

I made it. I hosted my very first Thanksgiving and I survived! WHEW! The holiday weekend is almost over and we have had a great time so far. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful family...everything was smooth sailing and that is mainly because of the amazing company in my house. :-)

So let's break it down! For overall performance, I give myself a "B". The house was clean and decorated, the place settings were all out, Christmas music was playing softly and the turkey was almost done when the guests started arriving. I had set my alarm for 6am, jumped out of bed and got the turkey in the oven and then took a shower and got ready. I was dressed right as Colin woke up, which was perfect. My parents and Alieson left Tyler bright and early, so they got to my house before the parade even started! That was awesome!! Meredith, Cory and their kids were not far behind and Mert came bearing not only sausage balls, but funfetti cupcakes. She brought these because they are Alieson's favorite things on earth. It cracked me up that despite all my slaving in the kitchen, the kids and Alieson were by far the most impressed with those silly cupcakes. ;-) We had a fantastic morning hanging out, drinking coffee and eating. Jer's parents arrived at 11:00am with another round of delicious food...we were in heaven!! They also brought their two dogs, who joined Mert's dog Annie and (of course) Enzo. There were dogs running all over, two boys being loud and silly, one baby strapped to Meredith and then all the adults. It was beautiful chaos! Jer carved the turkey and lunch was served at about 12:45. Everything was done and at least warm...some dishes were hotter than others, but I forced myself not to stress out about it and have fun. All the components came together and everyone seemed to be happy and having fun! Thank GOODNESS!! After we ate, we all watched the Cowboy's play and tried to take a few family pictures. It was a wonderful afternoon and it seemed to pass by like lightning...it almost reminded me of getting married; you prep for so long and then the whole thing is over in an instant!


I did learn a LOT of lessons during my very first experience hosting a large party. There is so much that you have to figure out the hard way and there is definitely a learning curve! First of all, turkey does not taste anything like chicken. Don't laugh. ;-) Let me try to explain...I have never really loved turkey. It has never been one of my favorite things in the world. I really thought that I could knock it out of the park if I cooked it my way, using the spices I wanted and etc. As it turns out, turkey is simply that...turkey! The turkey I made was good, cooked well and moist. However, it did not have that succulent taste that all of my roasted chickens have. It tasted like...well...turkey. :-) Second lesson: don't make a dish that you have not tried before! I really meant to try all of my dishes before the big day, but I ran out of time before making the green bean casserole. It sounded so yummy that I thought it would be a safe choice without a practice run. I was wrong...it was not very good at all. Nobody said anything, but it was a dish that I would certainly not make again. I always modify recipes after I try them the first time, so I should have known better than to try out a new dish for a crowded Thanksgiving. Third lesson: do NOT make stuffing the day before!! UGH! I made a giant batch of stuffing with sausage and apples on Wednesday night. I was on the fence about making it in advance, but I did not want to risk it. For all the other dishes, I did everything but bake them, saving that last step for the day of. At the last minute I decided to go ahead with baking the stuffing and just reheating it the next day. BAD IDEA! When I tasted the finished product, it was one of the most delicious things ever. It was moist in the middle, crispy on top, and the flavor was out of this world. On Thanksgiving, I poured stock over it and re-heated it and it tasted nothing like the day before! DANG!!! That was such a silly mistake; I cook enough to know better than to making something like that in advance, but I was no nervous about things not being ready that I failed to use my common sense. The whole meal was fine and I am sure that my guests will tell you it was all great, but I have a high standard for myself and I know I could have done a lot better! :-) I think the biggest thing that I learned was that while making everything in advance makes for a fun and peaceful day, the food is just not as delish as it is when you serve it immediately. It takes a little bit away from it. If I make one big change going forward, it will be to serve Thanksgiving dinner instead of lunch. Lunch has always been the norm, but I think that I will switch going forward. That will give me time to make things the day of and everything will taste so much better. Next lesson: you cannot make meringue ahead of time. I made the chocolate pies the day before and on Thursday morning, I whipped up the meringue and lopped it onto the pies. Then I belatedly realized that I could not put them into the oven until the turkey was done. In the meantime, the egg whites basically turned back into fluid and ruined both pies. OOPS!! I figured that the meringue was going to look a little sad because of the delay, but I did not realize they would turn into water. Obviously, those were not served!Those pies are another thing that I will not make in advance ever again. They are just supposed to be eaten immediately! Oh, and I learned one more lesson...I will cook more dishes in my style next time, rather than trying to make the traditional meal. I have so many yummy favorites that I did not make in lieu of sticking with the old school stuff. Next time, I plan to put more of myself into the meal. I love to cook more than anything and I would love to host an event that gave folks a taste of that. But I will say that I think I did a pretty good job this year for a first effort. At least nothing was on fire or undercooked and as far as I know, nobody was poisoned. ;-)

Here are some of the pictures from our wonderful day!!

My precious boy laughing at his Aunt Alieson on Thanksgiving night. He had eaten too much and had to take off his pants. ;-)
Sitting with my sweet baby niece, Pryce. She LOVES me. (that is her silly dog Annie in the background)

Jer's mom being silly while we took pictures. I love it! :-)

My favorite picture with my sisters...we were trying to get out of the direct sun for a picture and ended up falling down. My mom took this while we were laughing. I love my sisters!

Mommy and Colin

The whole Trawick clan...we were trying to get a picture for my parents Christmas cards. It was pretty futile with three little ones. This is one of the outtakes...we are all laughing at Jer's mom!

Mommy and Colin again...it is so hard to get him to smile for posed pictures!

My sister Mert, her husband Cory and their kids, Pryce and Jackson. It's a good thing I had the Christmas decorations up for all these pictures! :-)

A random shot taken by my mom while we were all eating appetizers.

My sweet Daddy and his only granddaughter, Pryce.

The Day Before...

It's the day before Thanksgiving and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, not even Colin. ;-) It is 2:15 in the afternoon and I have been cooking since the moment we woke up this morning! Jeremy and Colin just fell asleep in our bed so I decided to take a break, be quiet, and post a little update. My plan is going along GREAT so far! We put up all the Christmas decorations on Sunday and I did all the grocery shopping on Monday. We cleaned yesterday AND my wonderful husband put up the lights around the roof!! We all had a blast outside...Colin "helped" and I hung the twinkle lights in the bushes and helped Jer avoid falling off the ladder. We checked them out last night and it looks BEAUTIFUL!! There is nothing that I love more than a house lit up with lights!

This morning, I got things rolling by making the cranberry dish and both chocolate pies (with the exception of baking the meringue, which I will wait and do tomorrow before serving). Then I knocked out the regular and sweet potato dishes. I completed both of those up until the point of baking, which I will do tomorrow. As it stands so far, I am on target for each dish only needing to be popped in the oven. Thank heavens I planned ahead...I had no idea how long it would take for me to make all of this food! This is an all-day project for sure! Taking care of everything early has allowed me to really enjoy the day...we have been listening to Christmas music and having a blast. Jer ran out for a couple of gallons of iced tea and ice for the cooler, so all of that is ready to go. When Colin wakes up from his nap, I will start on round two of cooking...I need to make the stuffing, green bean casserole and gravy (all of which I can complete the majority of now and bake/heat tomorrow). Tonight I will dress the turkey to have standing by first thing in the morning and lay out all the other stuff, like place settings and last minute details.

I know these are probably the most boring posts in the world to read, but I want to document everything from my very first holiday hosting gig! :-)

The Thanksgiving Menu

This post is just for Dana...and anyone else that is just dying to know what I will be serving on the big day! ;-)

Roasted Herb Turkey: I bought a 14 pounder this morning...it is clearly the largest thing that I have ever tried to cook, but I am still hoping for greatness!
Homemade Gravy
Cornbread Stuffing with Apples and Sausage
Sweet Potatoes with Pecan Marshmallow Strudel
Green Bean Casserole (from scratch with fresh beans, no soup)
Baked Parmesan Mashed Potatoes
Cranberry Fruit Conserve (over the top name for homemade cranberry sauce)
Rolls (NOT from scratch...gotta draw the line somewhere!)
Chocolate Pies!! (I am only making two because I have TWO pie plates. There will probably be a battle for possession)

This menu is rather carb heavy, but what can I say...it's a special occasion! Jer's mom is making several appetizers and her pumpkin pie. Mert is bringing the sausage balls for breakfast. Good lord, we are going to have a ton of food. Have I mentioned how much I love a holiday that is centered around food?!? I got all the grocery shopping done today, with the exception of a liquor store run later today and any trips back to the store for things that I messed up or forgot. Example...Colin has already broken into the bag of marshmallows. I knew that I should have bought two! :-)