Samantha's first blog

Building a Village

pamelamyers | December 11, 2017

Our last task of last night was gingerbread! Sam decided this year that we were making a gingerbread village instead of one house. Every year we try to mix it up a bit. Next year, we may be adventurous and try to make one from scratch! I do have the cutters, it just seemed a daunting task, but Sam is actually a good helper now, so we’ll see…

I never feel like you get enough frosting after using some to glue the pieces together, so I made a huge batch of royal icing to make sure we had enough. As you can see, Sam was happy to have the beater!

She got to work decorating like crazy. When we were at A.C. Moore a few weeks ago, she went bonkers throwing stuff in our cart to use for decorations. I think we have enough for the next 3 years!

This year, she let me help a little bit. The last few years, I wasn’t allowed to touch a thing!

We had a great time doing it and here they are!

My favorite thing is always the crazy little details Sam adds, like the melted snowmen in the left corner.

I think she did a really great job. My child is an artist! Ok, so her medium is frosting, but still. 😉

This is her ice skating rink.

I love the little packages. Mark gave her the idea for those. These ones Sam did herself and they are a bit messy. She blamed it on Penny, saying that clearly, Penny wrapped those.

The little things sticking up out of the chimneys are supposed to be Santa’s feet sticking out. Apparently, he sometimes goes head first!

Great job, Sam! I can’t wait to see what we manage to do next year!

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The Macy’s Tradition Continues!

pamelamyers | December 10, 2017

As we do every year, my mom and I took Sam to Macy’s in town to see the light show and Dickens Village. Well, almost every year. We skipped last year, and boy did we hear about it! Sam was so mad! So we made sure we went this year. It is hard to fit in now that Sam is in school all day. It only leaves weekends, which are already packed, and that much more crowded. But off we went!

Sam got a great spot right on the eagle to watch the show!

Yup, same show, different year, but we love it!

Sam loves the Dickens Village just as much as the lights. The dancing puppets are her favorite.

Every year I can’t resist taking pictures of her in front of these tiny doors. They look tinier and tinier every year though because Sam gets bigger and bigger!

Sam and her G-Mom!

I think she has asked me every single year to take a picture of this cat!

After the light show, we went home and made a quick detour to Kohl’s. For the first time, they had a Santa there that you could take your own pictures with. We really didn’t need to, but if you did, you got a $25 Shutterfly coupon. Come on, Sam! Get on his lap! She told me after she knew he was not the real Santa. I told her, nope, he was not, but we need that coupon!

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Pasta, Pasta, Pasta!

pamelamyers | December 9, 2017

This year we decided to keep things easy and make homemade pasta for Christmas dinner instead of raviolis. It’s a bit of a break from tradition, but…with time comes new things. We all want to hold on to traditions that we hold dear, but the idea is to make those traditions our own. Because it is so much work to make the ravioli, and the kids are always fussy about them anyway, coupled with the fact that everyone likes pasta, we thought that was the road to go down. To me, the important thing is that we all are having the Italian meal together, as a family. And we are. Krista offered to host dinner at her house, and also the pasta making. We weren’t sure how well it was going to work out, getting to Krista and Adam’s because of the snow, but we made it!

Sam couldn’t wait to help. She poured the egg and water mixture in the machine (and half of it spilled all over the place), so we had a rocky start, but eventually…

…it worked! Here come the rigatonis!

The whole process went really smoothly. The rigatoni came out looking great, there was little muss and fuss, and we are all pretty excited to be eating our own homemade pasta.

Mostly, we had Sam and Maddox lay the rigatoni out to dry, but there were so many, we all had to chip in a bit and help.

Ta da! Christmas dinner.

We finished up so quickly! We had lots of time to just hang out.

And also have Krista’s birthday cake! Sam actually tried a piece of the angel food cake but she said she didn’t like it. Crazy child! Happy Birthday, Aunt Krista!

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Cookies!

pamelamyers | December 4, 2017

When I was a kid, my mom made a million kinds of cookies every Christmas. We had dozens and dozens of so many kinds. It was a big part of Christmas for me. As the years wore on, she made less and less, and I sort of halfheartedly made a few kinds, but nothing major. This year, my mom and I decided we wanted to get back to old times and really bake. We planned on making all our old favorites. Some we made together and some by ourselves. Sam came home from school and was so mad that my mom and I made cookies without her. She really wants to be a part of everything. There is no way I could wait and bake the millions of kinds we had planned with Sam home, but I felt bad because she was so excited. I told her if she did her homework and was cooperative, we’d make cookies. I never saw that kid do her homework so fast!

I got out the cookie press and we got baking! Sam loved it! She got the hang of it super fast and did a great job.

I think her favorite part was the decorating, for sure. It took her twice as long to decorate as to press them out because she was so meticulous.

How great do these look?

Here’s the finished product. They look and taste great! I hope every year now we can make it a tradition, baking cookies together for Christmas. It’s something I love and I am glad Sam loves it too.

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The Lighting of the Tree

pamelamyers | December 3, 2017

Samantha and I went to the annual Springfield tree lighting again this year. Mark was a bit beat so he stayed home, but Sam and I couldn’t wait! Just like last year, they had free Santa hats, cookies, candy canes and hot chocolate.