The Poppyseed Production

I must confess:  I make the world's best poppyseed cake.  Even my mom admits in her cookbook, "All our family loves poppyseed cake, but it is Teresa's specialty."  While I make this lovely cake on a fairly regular basis, I go a bit crazy during the Christmas season.

It all started back in the 1980s when I was putting Baird thru grad school while working at a law firm.  I wanted to do something for the people in my department, but we were poor as church mice.  I decided the cheapest easiest thing to do would be to bake poppyseed cakes in mini-bundt pans, wrap them up in colorful plastic wrap, make a cute little tag for them, and call it a gift.  I think I made half a dozen that first year.

Baird liked the idea so much that when he started working at Allstate, he asked me to bake a few for him to hand out.  When Kelsey started at Irving, she asked me to make a few.  Now, with three kids in three schools and a hubby who's worked at the same place for more than a decade, this "little project" has grown into a major production.  Baird's list alone is starting to push three dozen.  Drew wanted 18 for the teachers at Irving.  Erin needed another eight; Kelsey just asked for one big loaf.  I needed ten mini-loaves as thank-you gifts for the directors of the various AWANA clubs.  At this point, the count's up to seven batches, and I haven't even thrown in friends and neighbors!

Normally when I make my poppyseed cake, I throw it in a loaf pan.  The recipe's big enough that I can get a regular-sized loaf plus a couple of mini-loaves out of one batch.  It's a pretty straightforward process but it's a little time consuming.  I usually don't mind the process, but this time of year, it completely takes over my kitchen, all those mini-bundt cakes and mini-loaves hanging around.

Since Monday, my kitchen table's looked like this:

My countertops have been covered like this:

And my kitchen floor is covered in boxes that look like this:

I love my family.  I love poppyseed cake, and I love baking it.  I have, however, completely hit my limit this year.  I'm ready for this "little project" to be over.  Seven batches in two-and-a-half days?  Enough already!

Christmas Decorating - Finally!

When Erin was in 4th grade, Ms. Payton joined us the afternoon we decorated gingerbread houses.  She so enjoyed the experience that I thought we'd invite her back this year.  She is, after all, the only teacher at Irving with the distinction of being the 4th grade teacher for all 3 Shattuck kids.

Ms. Payton wasn't the only guest, as Kelsey and Erin both invited friends over to help them decorate their gingerbread houses.

The mood was festive as the houses were transformed from plain brown shacks into candy-coated wonders.

Once the gingerbread houses were done, it was time to trim the tree

As I sat in the living room with the house lights off and the Christmas music playing in the background, I couldn't help but admire our newly-decorated Christmas tree with its lights all a-glow.  At long last, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas inside my house!

2010 in Status Updates

I'll admit it:  I'm a Facebook junkie.  I love updating my status and getting quick updates from friends and family.  If my status updates on Facebook were written in Cliff Notes, the past year would look like this:

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With Strings

I hate doing crafts.  I would much rather spend a day or two in the kitchen making gingerbread houses and poppyseed cakes than try to make homemade Christmas decorations.  I'm convinced that I was off cooking somewhere when the call came in to get in line for the craft gene.  I don't knit.  I don't do cross stitch.  I don't paint.  Drew's only ten, and he draws better than I do.  You get the idea.

There's only one way to get me to do crafts:  invite me to Elissa's annual Christmas party.  Every year she hosts 20 or so women in her basement for a Christmas craft session.  I'm typically one of the more inept crafters in the room, but the company's always great and the vibe festive, and so every December Erin and I head out to Bensenville for good laughs and good company.

This year's project was learning how to make bows out of ribbon.  We needed about three yards of ribbon for each bow, and I learned that the distance between your nose and your outstretched arm is approximately one yard.  Here's Erin measuring out the ribbon for her bow:

I sat next to Joanne, who not only had me in stitches all night long, she helped me get my first bow together.

Once I practiced a few times, I realized this isn't as hard as it looks!  I was so proud of the way my bows came together, I'm inspired to try a few more once I get home.  I hope all my gifts wind up looking this good!

Thanks, Elissa, for hosting such a wonderful evening!

The Gingerbread Houses

Today I started working on the annual gingerbread houses.  For more than a decade, I've made gingerbread houses for the kids to decorate at Christmas time.  In a nod to The Pioneer Woman, here's what I do, at least three times over, to make the houses:

Lightly grease the molds with cooking spray.  Tip:  I've found that laying the molds on the inside door of my dishwasher while spraying them means there's no residual spray to mop up, either on my kitchen floor or my table.

Combine flour, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar at high speed until light and fluffy. 

Add molasses

 and egg yolk.

Beat until smooth.

Gradually add flour mixture

and continue to beat until dough is thoroughly combined.  Gather dough into a large ball.

Cut dough ball in half.

Press half of dough firmly into greased mold.

Bake for 20 minutes; let cool for 5.

Place a cooling rack over surface of mold.

Flip mold and cooling rack together to unmold house pieces directly onto the rack.

Given that I had to tackle Mount Washmore this morning, and that I'm still napping the afternoon away in an attempt to kick this walking pneumonia thing, this was as far as I made it today:  two houses baked, none assembled, none decorated.  Tomorrow's another day.  I think by Friday, along with the tree, the gingerbread houses will be complete.  Stay tuned...

The Best-Laid Plans

My friend Gina was mentioning recently that "life can be so uncertain with so many moving parts." I totally agree, especially this time of year.  It seems like no matter how hard I plan, the Holiday Gremlins throw me nasty, nasty curve balls during the holiday season.  Perhaps it's because I so thoroughly enjoy this time of year.  I love planning the big Thanksgiving Day meal...shopping for all the deals on Black Friday...decorating the house for Christmas...getting the tree..baking, baking and more baking...attending and throwing parties...visiting The Walnut Room and looking at the windows on State Street...well, honestly it all makes me downright giddy at times.

I've spent years perfecting the planning and execution of the holidays so that everything will be just perfect.  While I don't Christmas shop right after Labor Day, I am making calculated moves in early October to try and make sure everything runs smoothly.  For example, it makes life easier if I don't have to run to Target on December 24th for toilet paper or tooth paste, so I've stocked up on basic toiletries and household essentials by mid-November.  I've negotiated the holiday social calendar.  My wrapping paper, tape and bows were inventoried and re-stocked before Thanksgiving.  Fly Lady  (and others) insist that if I take care of the details early, I have control over the rest of the holiday season and I'll be able to handle anything.  I'm going to let you in on a little secret:  They lie, and I've swallowed their lie, hook, line and sinker.

Here are just a few of the things that have happened over the years that have made Christmas time a little more stressful, in spite of my best-laid plans:

*The heater broke and the house went down to 57 degrees

*All three of my kids came down with chicken pox - one right after the other - leaving me quarantined for three weeks in December

*Every single major appliance in our house broke at least once between December 1st and January 15th

*Baird woke up very early on Christmas Eve morning to muscle spasms in his back that were so bad he could hardly move. We spent the early morning hours in the ER where they shot him full of drugs. He slept the entire day, and was still so out of it he kept falling asleep at the dinner table with all the relatives. He barely remembers opening gifts with my extended family that night. A few days later, Erin wound up in the same ER with a 104.5 degree fever


*Car trouble on the way to Mom & Dad's left us stranded in a small-town hotel on December 23rd.  I awoke in said hotel in the middle of the night to hear my son hurling in his sleep, projectile vomitting in the bed he was sharing with his sisters.  Nothing says "Merry Christmas" like cleaning up a sick child and switching hotel rooms at 2am

*Kelsey was so sick one Christmas Day she didn't even want to open gifts.  We ended up spending New Year's Eve with her in the hospital as she fought off a kidney infection

So when my doctor recently told me, "You have walking pneumonia," it seemed a little early for the big holiday disaster, but I honestly thought, Well, at least we're getting the big crisis out of the way early this year.  Once I sufficiently recover, we'll be home free.  Oops.  I shouldn't have tempted the Christmas Gremlins.

This afternoon and evening were supposed to be set aside for getting our Christmas tree, putting the lights on, and decorating it. 

The upstairs toilet started leaking in a serious way, to the point we can't use it.  So while we were able to get our Christmas tree this afternoon...

...it still looks like this:

and it's destined to spend most of this week in this undecorated state.  I had a choice: allow Baird to work on the toilet so it would be functioning, or make him put lights on the tree.  While I want to see my tree decorated, the need for the upstairs toilet to be functioning is far greater, so I opted for a flushing toilet that doesn't leak over lights on the tree.  My best laid plans, thwarted once again.

Christmas Gremlins, I swear: you may have pushed me down, but I am not out. In spite of these setbacks,we will continue with our time-honored traditions and enjoy this Christmas season.  The theme of the second week of Advent is hope, and it springs eternal at my house.

Reconnecting with Old Friends

In our life before children, Baird and I hosted a Christmas dinner party at our house every December.  Kirk & Cassie and Peter & Sheri were part of a group we hosted back in the day.  Peter and Kirk are some of Baird's oldest friends:  Baird met Peter at the bus stop while they were both in high school; he and Kirk met in college and had a morning radio program at NIU.  Peter and Kirk were both groomsmen when Baird and I got married.  In fact, that's where Peter & Sheri met Kirk & Cassie, and they hit it off so well they spent the entire weekend we got married hanging out together, traveling back to Chicagoland from Iowa while Baird and I headed to Barbados for our honeymoon.

It's been more than a decade since we've all been together.  Tonight we had the privilege of hosting a casual dinner at our house.  I just served chili and hot dogs, since this walking pneumonia thing has sucked the entertaining energy right out of my body.  Peter remarked that the last time they were over for a Christmas dinner party, I'd served macademia-encrusted roast rack of lamb.  I know, chili's a far cry from rack of lamb!  I've promised them it won't be another ten years before our next party, and that next time, it'll be more than just chili.  Still, this reunion couldn't wait a minute longer, and I'm so glad we went ahead with it!