Festive

Last night we had our "family" Christmas celebration. We planned to get pizza from the restaurant across the street, but when we found out (at six) that it was closed, we made a spontaneous decision to go out to eat. It took us a few minutes to round up coats, hats, gloves, and gifts, and then a few more minutes to get into the van (the sliding doors freeze shut in cold weather), but eventually we were on our way to a nearby Italian restaurant. It was quiet on a Monday night, and we had one corner of the place to ourselves. We settled in to enjoy bread and olives, color, and chat while we waited for our food to come. The pizza and pasta were yummy, and everyone enjoyed their dinner. Heather and I each took a break from dinner to take a girl downstairs to the bathroom, and Cole kept signing "more" and putting away another piece of pizza. When we were finished eating, we brought out the gifts. I gave Claire two nightgowns for her birthday.

And all the kids got new Mützen (hats):

Heather helped to pay for my Christmas trip home, and she and the kids picked out some charming wooden German Christmas ornaments for me. Claire was exceedingly excited about the surprise for me, and almost as delighted for me to open my gift as she was to open hers.

Today was cookie baking day. I discovered that I miss filling a whole day with baking. As I organized my recipes and stocked the counters with flour, sugar, chocolate, and butter, I had a bit of a Le Panier throw-back -- and I liked it. I'm not sure that I really miss making 200 Bûche de Noël, baking eight or ten hours a day, five days a week, but there are parts of the job I miss. Sometimes when I do home baking projects I feel like I'm done before I've really started baking in earnest. Not so today!

Of course, falling snow and Christmas music and the smells of chocolate and caramel and baking sugar and butter might make even the Grinch perky. And how about a little boy, dancing to the Christmas music, wanting you to stop and clap, and announcing "hot!" (as he carefully climbs onto the stool to see what's on the stove) "loud!" (in reference to the KitchenAid), and "nummy!" (regarding the whole affair). Lilah says, "We're going to have dessert tonight, I fink so." Might be a good idea, Lilah.