All posts by Nichole

Flotsam / Jetsam

Child maintenance quandaries

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The children are playing together this morning. They sound very happy. And yet I’m worried. Because they’re playing in the bathroom, and the water is running in the sink, and I keep hearing things like:

“Oh, that’s perfect!”

“I look beautiful!”

“You look like a Muppet rock star!”

“Let the styling begin!”

I should put a stop to this, I’m pretty sure. But they’re having such a good time. And they’re not arguing. I’m just going to deal with the consequences later.

(The Consequences Later:

“Did you put soap in your hair?”

“It was the only way we could get stylish.”

“I see. Go get ready for your bath.”)

Diversions

New house, same decorations. For the most part.

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I thought I’d shared a holiday-decorating tour every year since 2007, but I can’t find any posts except the 2007 tour and the 2008 tour. Maybe I’m losing my marbles. Or maybe the grinchternet stole my Christmas pictures. Regardless of what happened to 2009 and 2010 (black hole? alien abduction? government conspiracy?), I am most pleased to invite you inside for a look at this year’s decor. I showed you the tree a few weeks ago. Today, let’s start with a closer look at a few of the ornaments.

My husband’s aunt sent the kids a package last year. In it were a few gourds, some paint and a “sample” that she’d painted herself. This dude was Poppy’s finished product.

On the other side of the tree is one of my favorite ornaments: Space Ghost. He shoots peppermint-flavored laser beams of holiday joy and also peace on Earth.

I mentioned awhile back that I was having a hard time with our mantel, because it isn’t your traditional mantel. It’s three mantels that span the fireplace wall. I love it, but it also vexes me a little bit.

Yep, that’s a faux-fire in the fireplace. It was left by the previous owners. I will probably get rid of it at some point, but for now the kids really like it. To the left of the fireplace is a basket filled with holiday books and a few snowmen to help prop them up. The stockings are from Pottery Barn; I laughed out loud when I pulled the enormous “Mom & Dad” one out of the box.

This is our first Christmas in our house, but I’ve mostly resisted the urge to buy new holiday decorations. I’m holding out for the after-Christmas clearance sales. This green guy is a new addition, though:

He’s a planter and a music box. How could I resist?

We also decorated a little bit in the basement this year. Because we have a basement! And a small artificial tree! It seemed meant to be.

I’m linking this up with The Nesting Place’s tour of homes, which is a good place to check out other people’s Christmas decor. I am very nosy about interesting in the way other people deck out their homes, so I’ll be browsing through lots of posts over the next few days.

recipes

How to make the season’s saddest cookie

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Church windows cookies are fun to make, regardless of the outcome.
One would think that Church Window Cookies would be very, very difficult to mess up. There are only five ingredients in it, after all, and pretty much the only thing you have to do is melt and stir.

And yet.

Let me tell you a few good ways to do it wrong.

First, make sure you don’t buy the right amount of ingredients. Next, pay no attention to that fact. Proceed with the recipe as written, using too much butter for the amount of everything else in the recipe. This will ensure that your cookies do not have the right consistency.

Second, get distracted while the butter and chocolate is melting. It’s best if you can walk away and not notice that the chocolate and butter are burning slightly in the pot. This will ensure that your chocolate is a little gritty and that the pot is just that much tougher to clean.

Third, forget to add the vanilla. Easy to do, as there are a whopping five ingredients to this cookie.

Fortunately, it’s hard for chocolate and marshmallows to taste bad. They can be ugly easily enough, as we have shown today. But they are almost always edible.

Church Window Cookies
1/2 cup butter
16-ounce package milk chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
16-ounce package colored miniature marshmallows
2 cups flaked coconut

Melt the butter and chocolate chips in a heavy saucepan over medium heat; mix until smooth and creamy. Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla and the marshmallows. Scatter about half of the coconut onto a large baking sheet. Form the chocolate mixture into two logs on top of the coconut. Use the remaining coconut to coat the logs. Refrigerate until the logs are firm, about 1 hour. Cut logs into 3/4-inch slices.