Christmas Traditions

I'm a sucker for Christmas, and always have been. From choosing the Christmas tree, to what treats to bake to what holiday songs will echo through the house, I take it all very seriously. I'm proud to say that I have definitely rubbed off on my husband. With a wee one on the scene, Christmas has an extra-special feeling this year. My husband and I had a discussion about what holiday traditions we would like our family to have. Peanut is still pretty young so we haven't implemented everything yet but we have certainly done a lot festive things with her this season.  Here is a list of the things that either my husband or I did growing up and would like to continue with and a few new ideas;

1. Giving back - My mother has always instilled in me the importance of giving back. She is by far the most generous person I know. She sponsors entire families at Christmas time, drops food off to the food banks regularly, and will even fight traffic to drive into Toronto to drop off care packages to teens in needs. She truly is the greatest woman. I want Peanut to know the importance of giving back too. We started this year, and will continue for a long time having Kinley go pick out a few gifts for children in need. We will make a big deal of  this and have her involved in every step of the process including going to the store, choosing the gifts and delivering them to the donation centre.

2. Family, family, family - Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without family. Yes, friends are super important during the holidays but as far as I'm concerned family trumps everything. Spending as much time together during the holidays is so important.

3. Decorating Day - This happens any day after November 11th and involved hot chocolate and great holiday tunes.

4. Christmas Tree - Our go-to place doesn't sell trees anymore so we will have to figure out a new place to go. I take this task very seriously - it must be perfect and I will take however much time is needed to find the right tree for our family. There is a lot of twirling with trees to see all angles. This, along with decorating the tree will be done as a family.

5. Christmas movies - curled up in our jammies with treats anytime in the month of December. Classics for me include Home Alone (1 & 2), Elf, and The Santa Claus. LOVE.LOVE.LOVE.

6. Santa treats - Left out on Christmas Eve and will include a carrot for Rudolph.

7. Christmas Light Tour - My mom lives in Oakville and holy shit, do those rich folks know how to do it right! Nothing beats grabbing a hot chocolate  (& Bailey's for the passengers) and driving the town for a few hours checking out all the amazing lights.

8. Santa Wish List - We always made a wish list growing up. We understood that it wasn't a list that meant we would get all of it but I'm sure it was helpful to Santa. I am a firm believer that Christmas isn't at all about the gifts. Gift opening is a part of the tradition of Christmas, but it isn't the biggest part and I want to make sure Peanut knows this. I hope her future wish lists will be this;
One thing to read:      ______________
One thing I need:       ______________
One thing to wear:   ______________
One thing I want:    ______________

9. Christmas Baking - I love to cook and I want Peanut to be apart of this passion of mine. I want her to participate in cooking as often as she can and Christmas baking will be no exception!

That's all I can think of for now. I'm sure this list will grow as the years pass but this is a good start. Have I mentioned that I love Christmas? Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la!

It still hurts sometimes.

Dear Diary,  (that's what this post feels like...lol)

Since my original Reality Bites post last September when I finally 'came out' about being infertile I have had many wonderful things happen including connecting with people who have a similar story and learning a ton about myself and my relationship with my husband. When I hear others fertility struggles regardless if I know them or not, I automatically feel a deep bond with them. I become invested in their story as much as I am invested in my own.  I cheer them on, pray for them, think of them, and cry tears of sorrow and joy with them. This isn't a fun road, but it's worth ever damn step if you able to find the beauty in it. 

First and foremost I want to say that I am forever grateful, thankful, blessed etc. that we were able to bring the most perfect miracle baby into this world. The feeling of complete gratitude to modern day science and the medical professionals that made our Peanut possible will never fade. We are so very lucky, however there isn't a day that goes by that I am not reminded that we struggled, and will continue to struggle with fertility. To be honest, I wasn't expecting these feelings to be here still. Pregnancy announcements can sometimes still be difficult but I am slowly working through this.  The emotional scars of our treatment struggles still linger in the back of my mind and the thought of doing it all over again is completely and utterly overwhelming. I've always been a 'follow your gut' type of girl and we know that our family isn't complete yet so we will be giving treatment another go when the time is right for our family. That scares the shit out of me. Last time I was going in blind; naïve to what it all entailed and I sort of liked it like that. I now know that the odds are against us and that statistically speaking we will likely have to do three rounds of treatment to be successful like last time. I will have to take time off work. I will need to lug little Peanut to may, may, may ultrasound and blood work monitoring appointments. I will have to be at my lowest, low...again. I will have to give myself injection after injection. I will lose a lot of hair. I will be scared. I will have hormonal mood swings. I will gain weight. I will spend too much money. I will line up before clinic opens in hopes to get out quickly. I will cry. I will be on bed rest. I will get angry. Knowing all of this, I will do it again because it brought us the most beautiful little girl on the planet and it worth doing again. This journey hasn't been easy, as many journey's in life aren't but my God, has it ever been worth it. It isn't over, and we know we may have a long road ahead but we are ready, whenever that might be.

Until next Diary...

FYI Search Me

For those of you who are looking for an archived post, there is a search bar on the top left side of this page. All you have to do is type in any keyword and it will bring up all of my related posts. Makes life a lot easier then what my Mother has been doing --- searching through every single one of my 400+ posts for my Green Smoothie recipe. Oh Mama...

Eggnog Cookies

I've had it on ice, mixed with spiced rum and even cut with milk but I just can't bring myself to like eggnog. I found a recipe on Pinterest the other day for eggnog cookies and icing - hmmm, this sounded like it could possibly be something I could enjoy. Probably more so if I added rum to them. Yes, great idea Jill. Spiced rum it is. As a non-eggnog lover I can confidently say that these cookies are delish, regardless if you like The Nog or not. After sampling one (see pic below) I put the cookies in the freezer without icing because I wasn't sure how they would freeze and thaw with icing on top. I froze the icing on the side and will ice them closer to Christmas when company arrives and when I won't dominate them entirely on my own. Here is my adapted recipe. Hope you like 'em too!

That awkward time I iced one cookie to try and
forgot to take a pic until after I bit it. My bad.

Cookie Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 teaspoons nutmeg, plus more for topping

1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

3/4 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

2 egg yolks

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup eggnog

Icing Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

3-4 tablespoons eggnog 

1 tablespoon spiced rum (optional)

3 cups powdered sugar

Cookie Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon. In the stand mixer bowl cream butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg yolks then add vanilla extract and egg nog. With mixer set on low speed, slowly add in dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Roll dough in tablespoon size (should take about 32 cookies) and flatten with a flour bottom cup. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until bottom starts to golden. Don't over cook! Cool completely then ice with Eggnog icing and sprinkle tops lightly with nutmeg.  

 

Eggnog Icing Method 

In the bowl of an stand mixer whip butter until very pale and fluffy. Add in rum and eggnog and mix in powdered sugar. Add additional eggnog or powdered sugar to reach desired consistency.