Baking Overload

Is it possible for me to burn out on baking? If it's actually possible, it might have happened in the month of December. I baked A LOT (sometimes multiple times a day) and was a little obsessed with cookies and anything involving both chocolate and peppermint.

I knew things were bad when I made an emergency stop at the grocery store late one Friday night in fancy heels (had just gone to a Christmas party) to buy three pounds of butter. I'm telling you...out of control.

So here is the holiday baking season in pix...it was fun while it lasted! (I told Brian that I thought I needed a break from baking, and he wisely predicted that would last about a day.)

Love this photo because one child is really happy and one child is really not. Of course, Addie's meltdown has to do with the molasses cookies inside the cookie jar. :)

Gingerbread boys (and snowflakes and snowmen and gingerbread girls)....and frosting of course.

My favorite cookie this Christmas...chocolate ganache peppermint cookies.

And lots of sugar cookies...I made a batch for Addie's school Christmas party and was up late trying to make them look pretty (and creating a disaster in the kitchen). Then of course she got sick and couldn't go to school!

I love cranberry orange bread, and it is pretty tasty in muffin form too.

    

And let's not forget peppermint ice cream! It's one of my favorites (and Collins's too), and I ate it many a night while looking at our pretty Christmas tree. Unfortunately for my waist, I usually paired it with a cookie or a big helping of Nutella. Remember that peppermint/chocolate obsession of mine? Oh, and I also made a homemade version of peppermint ice cream for Christmas Eve dinner. It was a fattening December at the Fork house, but I'm pretty sure it was worth it! 

Nerves for the Church Pageant

There was LOTS of hesitation among the Donkeys Sunday School class upon performing in the Christmas pageant this year. My child was one of many nervous 4-year-olds that morning. Since most of the kids have been in the pageant the last two years (and it's the same script every year), I would have thought most of the nerves would have ended by now. But that wasn't the case. Good thing we had six Sunday School teachers there to try to keep these 20 fragile donkeys together!

Collins only had one small meltdown and then belted out the songs beautifully. Despite not having stellar practices, Collins did a great job of learning the songs this year. Having her randomly sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" throughout the course of the day was so neat. And the fact that she sang it so often around our house that ADDIE learned it, made it extra special! Hearing their tiny voices sing a Christmas carol was definitely a highlight of the Christmas season for me.

I'm pretty sure some of her hesitation this year was related to her being assigned the part of a donkey. She really wanted to be the more glamorous angel. One more year, Collins!

Brian reported that Addie and Tyler were probably the two loudest audience members in the church that morning. :)

The angel that Collins wants to be next year. She says angels are her favorite Christmas person because they have a long dress and get to wear wings. :) I was so impressed that she learned how to draw this!

Collins survived the pageant and was all smiles afterwards We then celebrated with brunch! 

Christmas Shows

Last year, we saw "Rudolph" for the first time and it was magical. So of course, I jumped on tickets for this year hoping it would equal last year's experience. We had a lot of build-up to this year's show with a new Rudolph book, Rudolph characters in the Advent calendar, and a countdown to the day of the show. I was a bit worried it wouldn't live up to the hype, but I was wrong. It was fabulous!

After a Bad Daddy's dinner (where else?), we walked up to a festive theater...

and caught our first glimpse of Rudolph and the Abominable snowman. Collins thought this was the coolest!

The show was equally as good as last year with many of the same actors playing the same parts this year. It is a fun show with lots of lively music, bright costumes, interesting staging, and a sweet story. It was so touching watching Collins's face light up throughout the show- especially when her favorite character (Clarice or "Corlise" as she calls her) came out and when it snowed at the end! (This was a new addition from last year.)

It was such a great performance. I just hope they keep "Rudolph" a Raleigh Christmas tradition! 

And speaking of...the next day Donna took us to see "Cinderella", one of Raleigh's longest-running holiday shows. It has been playing at the Raleigh Little Theater for over 20 years. I've wanted to see it ever since I moved to Raleigh so I was so glad when Donna asked if we were interested in going. And of course, Collins was excited to dress up twice in one weekend!

We loved it! The ugly step-sisters were played by men and were hysterical, they had some fun audience interaction, and there was some fairy tale magic for Collins. At one point, Collins was laughing so loud people around us were laughing with her. I can see why it's been popular for so long. 

I'm so glad Collins is into live theater, and that we can make these great shows one of our Christmas traditions!

Tree Lighting Plus a Surprise

So we decided last minute to stop at Chick-fil-a for dinner before the Capitol Tree lighting. Guess who just happened to be there?!? 

Collins was thrilled; Addie was confused. Elsa? Anna? Oh, and there was also a gigantic Chick-fil-a cow dressed as Santa. Needless to say, you could not peel Addie out of my lap and she did not eat a bite of her chicken. She was too busy saying, "cow, cow, cow, cow". Collins was estatic and said, "See Mommy! Elsa is real!" 

We were at Chick-fil-a so long in wonderment of Elsa, Anna, and the cow that I thought we would miss the tree lighting. But we didn't, and I'm so glad! I've taken Collins to the event in the past, and it was so-so. But for some reason, it was really neat this year. The girls got to see the tree light up, then we got to tour the decorated capitol building, we got to see Santa and hear pretty hand bell music, and then we heard church bells ringing as we left. The whole evening felt festive. It was a fun night!

Birthday Fun

I had an exceptional birthday this year! Everything about it was so much fun except turning 37. That just sounds way too old to be me. :)

I spent my special day doing fun things with my girls (and Collins was so sweet to me all day- you can tell she puts special precedence on birthdays), Brian cooked me a special meal, I got to celebrate with my friends later that weekend, and then got to take in the Carolina/Davidson basketball game. I stretched out the celebrating as long as possible, got some amazing gifts (Umstead spa- wow!), ate lots of cake, and felt very loved. You can't ask for much more from a birthday!

A Visit with Santa

Our tradition is to visit Santa at the Seaboard Ace Hardware. This always makes me laugh because it's not where you would expect to meet the big guy, but it's a low-pressure/low-crowd way to do it! This year, the Moores came along with us which made it fun. Tyler and Reeves were very excited to meet Santa. Collins and Addie were not.

I figured Addie would be scared to sit on his lap (and I was right), but I thought Collins would be eager to talk to him this year. But poor thing got really nervous! She got herself really worked up while we were standing in line to see him. I told her she didn't have to talk to him if she didn't want to, but she urgently said, "No, I HAVE to or he won't know what to bring me for Christmas!". (Girlfriend kept her eye on the prize with the presents!). So I was proud of her when she pushed herself to tell Santa that she wished for "magic fairy wings".

But this picture really says it all...no smiles and lots of hesitation upon meeting Santa this year!

Here Comes Christmas!

I was ready for Christmas this year. Normally, I start the Christmas festivities no earlier than December 1. Not this year! Back in October, I was already shopping, planning for Christmas cards, thinking about Addie's birthday, and generally getting excited about the holiday season WAY before Thanksgiving hit. I totally was that person I try not to be- the one who overlooks wonderful Thanksgiving for glitzy Christmas. Not sure why I was so overly eager this year, but I was...

So needless to say, I couldn't wait until December hit to get our tree. We had to go the weekend after Thanksgiving. Turns out, it was a pretty lackluster event because it was crowded and hot! We were SWEATING picking out our tree at the farmer's market. So not festive...but we did have a good time decorating the tree and the girls loved their new Christmas pajamas (when Addie finally allowed us to put clothes on her.)

 

Addie's favorite ornament...and the one she takes off the tree daily despite me telling her to "leave the ornaments on the tree!". 

Sweet Collins gets it honest...she is totally smitten with Christmas this year and the way we decorated her room. We decided it might be best for the unity of the family to put her tree up high where Addie could not destroy it. And then I figured out that there was space for the charming little snow village Baba gave Collins last year. We both loved this set up!

When I asked Collins what she was most excited about for the Christmas season, she answered with "the advent calendar." I have to agree with her on that one! It's so fun to get excited each morning about what fun activity we will do that day. (Although it's a decent amount of work for me on the front end planning something fun for every day in December!).

Collins had a moment of disappointment this year when she realized that Addie would be included in the Advent calendar this time around. She said, "but how will you fit two of everything inside those little doors?". Good question, Collins! 

Now that the tree is up and the house is decorated...the Christmas fun can officially begin!

Oh No...

Addie won't wear clothes. And if she does, she wants it to be a tutu, a bathing suit cover-up, or a monkey shirt. Maybe I shouldn't be picky if she has an actual article of clothing on because lately it's been a lot of this...

Let's just hope she is not setting a precedence for wardrobe (or lack there of) later in life!!!

Rivalry Game

Normally the Carolina/State football doesn't matter because by the time we get to the end of the season (when they play), they are both really bad. This year...a whole different story! I am beyond excited that BOTH of my football teams (the Tar Heels and the Panthers) are having one of their best seasons ever. This might be the best season I ever see in football so I am enjoying every minute. Winning is so much fun...who knew?

I asked Brian to get me a ticket to the game because I wanted to watch them play in person (and I wanted to watch them beat State in person). All the State fans were giving us no credit whatsoever; they said our easy schedule was the only reason we had one loss. Well, turns out they were wrong. We were up 35-7 in the first quarter and didn't look back from there! It was a great Tar Heel win! Not so easy when your hubby and half of your tailgate party is beyond mad, but I guess that's all part of the rivalry...

Before the game, we had a lot of fun tailgating with a fun crowd and a tasty pig. Brian worked really hard to give us a good party, and he gave Will a lesson in all things barbecue.

Donna and I made some "desserts divided". and Collins had a tough choice. You won't believe which one she chose...

Addie entertaining us again with "the face"... 

The manly men...

We finally made it in time to experience the whole pep rally before the game...

Collins was thrilled to get a picture with the wolves, and Addie was just plain scared of the wolves. The rest of the tailgate she kept repeating, "wolf", "wolf". 

 

Thank goodness I got to sit with some other Tar Heel fans to experience this big win. ACC Coastal Division champs!