Matt and I decided that if we want family game time during Christmas break, we'd better get organized. WE LOVE PLAYING GAMES!! But with little ones in the mix as well as big ones with schedules and jobs, it's much harder to swing.
OH! And would you believe between now and the end of the year, we have THREE kids with birthdays?
So Matt's working on a calendar to write down everyone's work and event commitments so we can see times we are all available for family time.
Meanwhile I'm working on food. Food, food, food!
Christmastime food is so much fun! I'm getting ahead because I want to enjoy our game times and movie times and all the Christmas fun times and not have to think about cooking.
Here's my current food list:
So far we've made and frozen these so we can pull them out and enjoy them during our Christmas break:
- Peppernut Cookies (I cheated and scooped them into regular cookies instead of spending the 5 hours I don't have to make them into tiny bites. They're great either way!)
- Several recipes from Simple Real Food Recipes (Do yourself a favor and get this book!!! The food is delicious and will save you so much kitchen time and energy!)
- Lasagna x2 (It is our tradition to eat this for our Christmas dinner. It's already made and in the freezer so that it can bake while we open gifts and enjoy it without any effort on Christmas day!)
- Simple Ham and Queso Soup x2 (This has become our new favorite soup! So easy, so flavorful, freezes well.)
- Cream Cheese Cut Out Cookies x6 (We make and freeze these then frost a few at a time as needed. Ha, needed. We NEED these.)
- Flourless Peanut Butter Star Cookies (Brayden has a lot of fun helping me with these, all the while, he has to talk himself into having self control to avoid eating EVERY STAR that he's supposed to be putting on each cookie. But oh-my-stars, it's cute.)
I've also purchased some of our favorite compromise foods with the idea of saving time and energy during the upcoming weeks. ;) It's Christmastime, after all. And while we love homemade, real food - I also have 7 children right now and two of them are babies who like to play in the toilet any chance my back is turned.
So I've got store bought nuggets, pizzas, summer sausage, and smokies so we can have fun treat meals that give mom the night off! Chips and dips are definitely in order.
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We use it for music all day long, but I especially love using it for school while we're reading and studying. Not sure how to answer a question your kid has? "Alexa, what year did World War 1 start?" "Alexa, what is the population of Canada?" "Alexa, tell us a joke."
Oh wait, that joke isn't part of our education...or is it? (It's a fun break in our lessons if nothing else.)
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What are your favorite Christmas time foods?
Are you a big turkey dinner family at Christmas time? Or you a snacky family? Or are you somewhere in between? Or shucks, all of the above?!
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