At the tale end of The Toffee Story, I mentioned that I was off to bake pies again for a mini-Morrison Family Pie Night on the road. It was only 9 pies this time (not counting the two that I prepped for my son, D, to take to a party tonight and baked last night), and they all got made, packed in the car along with our normal packing and most of the Christmas gifts (yes, we forgot the presents for the parents of the grandsons!) by 2pm. Which was just about the most perfect window of travel time we could have asked for - between the ice that our destination (Nixa, MO) woke up to Friday morning and the snow on its way from our departure point (St. Louis, MO) - we were able to travel without hitting either one. That is something to be thankful for!
We packed sooooo much into this weekend, that this could really be four separate posts, so here goes!
Post # 1 - Cinnamon Ornaments
E asked if we could make the cinnamon ornaments that I talked about when we set up our Christmas tree. Of course we could! These are super easy. Here are the ingredients.
1-1/2 cups cinnamon (about 2 and 1/2 jars if you buy this size)
1 cup applesauce
1/4 cup glue
That's it. Measure and mix together till you have a thick dough - similar to a slightly sticky cookie dough.
Let it rest for at least 1/2 hour. We let ours rest a lot longer while we ran to the grocery store (2) and to Wendy's for lunch. Roll it out about 1/8" to 1/4" thick and let your resident A-man and O-man cut them out.
Looks like A-man is cutting a candy cane here. Hi A-man!
And I believe O-man is working diligently to cut out a Snoopy. With little ones, ya gotta be careful that they don't eat the dough since it has glue in it, and chances are they will need a little help from a grown up hand to cut through. Poke a hole in them for the ribbon and then let them dry. This amount of dough makes about 1-1/2 dozen ornaments, depending upon the size of your cutters.
Turn them over morning and evening so that they dry evenly, and they will be ready to decorate more with glue, glitter, mod podge, you name it or hang "as is" in about 3 - 5 days, depending upon the humidity in your area. And I promise you, they will still smell of wonderful cinnamon years later. I believe R&E have plans to deliver some of these to some friends in a nearby nursing home, which is a fabulous idea. Even if they don't have a Christmas tree, the ornament itself is a pleasant aroma that just smells like Christmas!
Post # 2 - Christmas Dinner and Pie Night!
E set a truly beautiful table for our Christmas Dinner and Pie Night. I will let the pics do the talking for me...which is generally always a good thing...
Pretty already with a lace overlay from the thrift store and a scarf as backgrounds.
A beautiful lady creating a beautiful table. I love it!
Here is a close up of the greenery E is using. I wish I could capture the aroma!
Next came the Nativity center point - the focus of our table. Pretty!
Borrow a few ornaments from the Christmas tree, and the dishes...
...and voila! It's Christmas!
A-man is digging in to the Roasted Pork Tenderloin, roasted cauliflower and roasted carrots with dill. Recipes to follow in January!
And then...it was time for Pie! (After a singing of The Pie Night Song, of course!)
From back to front, left to right, we had Chocolate Meringue for K-man, Coconut Meringue for G, Mexican Chocolate Meringue for me, Dutch Apple for K, Apple for R, Blueberry for E, Banana Cream for A-man, Old-Fashioned Grand Marnier Pecan for E and Pumpkin for O-man. PLUS homemade ice cream!!!
I say Pumpkin for O-man, but he was really digging the blueberry...
Check out the Blueberry Claw!
And that, my friends, is where we will end Post # 2. I can't think of a better ending that the Blueberry Claw.
Post # 3 - Christmas Presents and Play!
Again, I will let the pictures tell the story, but there are two bits of back story.
1 - Jumpin' on Grandpa G & Grandma Deb's bed! Jumping! Cause by golly those blow up beds are just the perfect size and height for little guys!
And 2 - K-man and this motorcycle.
He was really enjoying this motorcycle. He pretty much wasn't interested in eating supper - which for K-man is saying quite a lot, because let me tell you, this boy can enjoy dinner! About the only way we could get him to the table was to promise that he could have the motorcycle right after eating. And sure enough, as soon as he was done eating, he began saying "mo-to-cycle" - undeniably even for a 22 month old! Pretty impressive, I gotta say!
And then came opening presents and playing with K-man and O-man...for those reading on smart phones...Playing with Blocks
A-man was much more dignified and played with building his new Legos. 5-yr olds are so much older, after all...
Gotta love quiet, special play time with Mommy...
And finally....
Post # 4 - Pics with Grandpa G and Deb
So...it's now about 9pm. We have one 5-yr old and two that are not quite 2-yrs old. We have played like crazy, we have filled their bellies with a really good dinner, that we then topped off with Pie plus Christmas presents, and then Deb thinks that pics with all of these little guys will be quick and easy in front of the Christmas tree.
Deb, have you ever had little ones? Let's just say, this is probably the best one we got...
And that was after multiple attempts at photo bombing the little ones in the back. I got so tickled by all of these attempts...
Such a quiet moment, right??
Where's O-man?
Trust me, there are lots more of these, but I think you get the idea....We will end with A-man's feet, because how else should you end four posts in one?
Ok, wait. There is one more. One quiet, special one of A-man and Grandpa G shortly before we left.
Good, Sunday afternoon building with Lego's while O-man is napping.
See what I mean? WONDERFUL weekend, right? A big thank you to R&E and K&E for sharing it with us and sharing their sons with us. Merry Christmas everyone!
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