Recipe for keeping the holidays real

Holiday stress has been more real for me this season than at any other time I can recall. Yet I can't recall a more wonderful long weekend.

Throw in the hassles of traveling 10-plus hours with children, their excitement just because it’s Christmas, the challenge of juggling schedules and no less than four time zones’ difference among the family members, and the worry of making sure that the rest of the family’s expectations matches yours (yes, even “greener” parents worry whether the kids are going to feel that Santa stiffed them this year).

And for a little extra spice, toss in an ear infection and pharmacies closed for the holidays.

Top it off with a blizzard, about-zero wind chills, snow that drifted hip-deep in places and popped exterior panels out of vans, a “check engine” light that glared surreptitiously in the night, a niece that was stuck a city away and highways that were closed.

Yep. It was a recipe for a Christmas disaster.

But here’s the thing about Christmas 2009. It was one of the best holidays we’d had in a long time. (And it was nearly as good as two years ago, when we brought my baby boy home on Christmas Eve.)

We watched my little guy with his new-found obsession with his train set, even without enough wooden tracks really to play with.

We watched my daughter prance proudly in her new gymnastics leotard, jumping up and down with joy when we told her that her grandparents got her gymnastics lessons when she returned.

We teased my niece – who arrived home literally after stomping through snowdrifts to get to her mother’s car after the worst of the snowstorm had passed – about her very toothless grin.

We saw aunts and uncles and cousins who hadn’t gotten together for a positive reason since, very likely, the Christmas we left Kansas City.

We watched the Chiefs lose on TV. (But that was no surprise.)

The road conditions and wild winter weather brought an added blessing: An extra day of togetherness. No racing to cram in Crown Center, the Plaza and other holiday activities. Just hanging out with one another. While I’m happy to finally be back home and in my own bed, sometimes a little slowing down with family is worth the wait. Happy holidays!

No beeping here

A word of warning to my family members who haven't done their shopping yet: No beeping, blinking, animated toys need apply.

Here's what we've learned in the week since the day care's Christmas party and a small family birthday celebration:

Out of a blinking, noisy dump truck, a noisy Thomas train, a Fisher Price dump truck (complete what's since been dubbed "Cool Guy" by the recipient) and a wooden truck, guess which toy won out?

The quiet one.

Yep, it's the truck and wooden horses sent from the grandparents that are the big hit. Those horses and truck have traveled around the house and back on a daily basis. The horses hang out at the kitchen table, climb into the crib, gallop on the hope chest and "neigh" the way across my bed. And yes, being in the hands of a now 2-year-old, they sometimes smash into one another as well.

Sometimes flash isn't as much fun!

Snowman bread

As much as I enjoy holiday baking, there comes a time when you're just tired of getting and giving plates of cookies to others. Which makes Snowman Bread a fun alternative for holiday baking.

I found this recipe on Family Fun's Web site and figured it was worth a try. You'll need to set aside about two hours for this project, once you factor in the need for the dough to rise and time for baking the bread. But it's a very simple project, and for the effort of one batch of dough, you end up with four breads that you can wrap up, decorate with a ribbon "scarf," share or just enjoy yourself.

In case you're curious, the nose is a dried apricot and the eyes and buttons are dried blueberries. I did find that while the recipe calls for them to be placed on the bread before going in the oven, the fruits all fell off as the dough rised in baking. Instead, I'd recommend, after baking, gluing them on with a small amount of powdered sugar mixed with milk.

Based on the size and what our family eats, I'd guess one bread feeds about four at dinner. Happy baking!

Christmas cookie recipe - 6 generations of munching!

Christmas cookies - everyone has the "must have" recipe. In our family, we've happily munched for decades on my great-grandmother's sugar cookie recipe. And while the recipe says "Christmas," it wasn't just for that. Each year, when we came up to visit my grandmother in Wisconsin, she would trot up a coffee can filled with these cookies from the freezer, just so we wouldn't starve on the way home.

I'll preface this by saying that this makes a lot of cookies. And I mean a lot. Even with my inpatience of simply making these into balls and flattening them, I still counted more than 5 dozen of these larger than normal cookies. Enjoy! We have for years - and our kids are, now, too.


Grandma Johnson’s XMAS Cookies
2 cups sugar
2 cups shortening
4 eggs
2/3 cups milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups flour or a little more

Mix altogether. Roll out on a floured board. Cut with cookie cutter and bake in 375 degree oven until light brown. Frost when cool, or sprinkle with sugar before baking.

Green journeys - Taking action

The materials of action are variable, but the use we make of them should be constant.- Epictetus (c.A.D. 50–c.A.D. 138)

“We have to join the Sierra Club,” my husband would announce once a year, cussing under his breath about the travesties George Bush would bring to the cause of the time.

And so, every 18 months or so, or whenever prodded in just the right manner, we’d concede and send off our student-rate check to join the Sierra Club. And that was that. No letter writing for causes. No joining local efforts. Just a card-carrying member.

Sure, they got our check. But they never really got our hearts.

For years, I thought I was environmentally responsible. I recycled my cans and newspapers. I turned off my lights. I combined my errands. I went to farmers markets. I even grew a few things that survived into the summer.

But I really didn’t think about it. What made the difference, though, were two little eyes looking at me. And I began to wonder what kind of world we’d leave for her. Would she have clean water to drink? Safe food to eat? Outdoors – that hadn’t been ruined by us – to enjoy?

And so, we started making more and more little changes. We cook more, and not from boxed kits or frozen packages. We actively look at the packaging we bring into our home – not to sweat over it, but to be smart about it. We try to offer more responsible in our shopping, from toys to clothes to care items. We get to know the people who help make our soaps, start our plants and grow our food.

Sure, it may not seem like a lot. I’m still not pounding the pavement to protest how endangered species are being treated or oil drilling. And once in a while, I do write a letter or two on saving the world. These days, though, I’m focusing on launching a quiet attack – by teaching my kids habits that can last for this generation and the next.

This is my submission for the December APLS Carnival on "Green Journeys." It's not too late to contribute yours - email consciousshopperblog@gmail.com by Dec. 15. And read about other bloggers' journeys on Dec. 18 at the The Conscious Shopper.