I sit here with a sleeping baby in my arms, a jazzy version of “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” playing through the t.v. radio. The rains have finally gone leaving a sunny, but chilly morning. I have the back door a jar and can feel the crisp air flow into the warm room. There’s a coffee cake Ellie and I made this morning (Ellie strapped to me in the Ergo of course), baking in the oven, filling the house with cinnamon smells. All of these festive sounds and smells give me a nostalgic feeling. I sit here staring at my new baby, thinking of my childhood Christmas’. The Christmas candy, the stockings my Grandmother made, the little wooden nativities hand carved by a neighbor in Hawaii. And later as I grew older, the choir shows, the get togethers with friends. These are all things I want of my own. I am no longer a child filled with the magical feeling that this season brings to children; I am an adult, a mother, who gets to create brand new memories with my own daughter. I get new magic. The magic of seeing through a child’s eyes. She’s much too young to know her first Christmas but I’ll remember. This is the beginning, the beginning of the magic I so missed but slowly and surely will get back.

*My first go at Just Write. I’ve been loving reading other’s Just Write posts and it reminded me of a writing class I took in college so I wanted to join in and try it for myself.

This weekend was a rainy, chilly one. December is here and it’s starting off on a wet note. We didn’t get much done this weekend. The rain tends to slow me down. We did make it to the farmers market though. The only time this weekend I think the rains subsided.

Jeff spent some quality time with Ellie, reading some books. It’s fun watching her explore things now. She’s so aware of everything and this was one of the first times I really think she was listening to Jeff read and looking at the pictures. Hoping we start her on the path of loving books. I know her Mom and Dad sure do.

With the weather and the turn of my December calendar, I saw it fitting to start baking. I came across this recipe for Molasses cookies and thought right then and there they would be a lovely beginning to the baking season. I was right. They are just the right amount of sweet and chewy and filled with spice. I’m certain these will be part of my Christmas cookie repertoire from now on.

Molasses Cookies

adapted from sweetamandine

4 c. all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat- it was the only thing I had on hand)
1/2 t. salt
2 1/4 t. baking soda
2 t. ground ginger
1 1/4 t. ground cloves
1 1/4 t. cinnamon
1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 c. vegetable shortening
1 c. plus 1/2 c. sugar, divided
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. unsulphured molasses
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (I used my hand mixer and that worked fine as well), beat together butter, shortening, 1 c. sugar and 1 c. brown sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat in molasses, and then the eggs, one at a time. Gradually beat in the flour mixture and combine well.

Pour the remaining 1/2 c. sugar into a small shallow bowl. Form the dough into balls (I use 1 T. of dough per cookie) and roll in sugar. Arrange the dough balls on the baking sheets 3-4 inches apart – the cookies will spread as they bake – and flatten slightly with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.

Bake for approximately 13 minutes, until the cookies are slightly puffed and golden. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Hope you had a nice weekend as well!

“a single photo (in this case two- I couldn’t help myself) – no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”  – {this moment} is a ritual adopted by Soulemama. If you like to share your own moment, please link below in my comment section!

Happy Friday Friends!

We’ll be in Boston this year for Christmas, spending the holidays with Jeff’s family. So we decided to go small this year with the Christmas tree.

We went to our local Christmas tree lot and very quickly found the perfect little tree. Ellie seemed to enjoy the outing. She was checking everything out and smiling at passersby.

Earlier that day we went to visit Santa for the first time with Gramma and Grandpa. It was a successful first Santa visit except for Santa scolded me for not keeping socks on the baby. I reminded him it was 75 degrees out and we live in California. And anyway, later on, no socks lent itself to getting to feel the prickly Christmas tree branches on bare feet. An experience no baby should miss.

We took our little tree and our sockless babe home and I got to bring out and reminisce with the ornaments Jeff and I had collected before baby was born. I strung the tree up with lights while The Carpenters Holiday Portrait played in the background and baby Ellie got her first homemade tree lighting.

Our little tree and our little babe… perfect. If I do say so myself.

I have a new appreciation for California. The beauty that surrounds me here in this part of Southern California is so much more appealing than my previous surroundings. I wake up with a lovely view, the early morning glow shining in on me.

This little town has a quaintness about it. There is an east coast feel with the chill in the air but you know its on the west coast by the smell of the ocean so close and those palm trees always close by. Our daily walks with the dogs and baby have lent itself to lovely sunrises and sunsets. Last night’s sunset was pink hued with oranges and baby blues swirled about. My camera and photography skill did not do it justice, but the pictures still remind me of the way I’m feeling in this town and the way I’m feeling about this stage in my life… happy, excited and hopeful for what lies ahead…

This was a first Thanksgiving of sorts. It was Eloise’s first Thanksgiving, our first Thanksgiving in our new town and our first time hosting Thanksgiving. I think for this Thanksgiving of firsts, it turned out rather lovely.

Just my husband, baby, parents and siblings joined us this year and it was perfect. Jeff and I cooked. I used Martha Stewart and Sweet Amandine as my guides and created a Thanksgiving map to get us through. It worked like a charm.

I made a sweet potato pie from Martha’s recipe and Jeff was up the night before till midnight baking away his beautiful apple and pumpkin pie all from scratch and all sourced from our local farmers market.

My mom made the beautiful runner that really gave the table a festive glow. Plus lent itself to a great back drop for pie pictures. Thank you Mom! The day was a wonderful one, with good food, good company and a wonderful and chilly beach walk to end the evening.

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving as well!

People tell you, you will never know true love until you stare into the eyes of your baby. Or course I always believed I would fall in love with my baby the moment she was born and I truly feel like I did, but no one quite explains that you keep falling in love more and more every day.

I just can’t believe how much I love this little baby girl. I love holding her in my arms and watching her explore this fascinating world around her, I love singing to her and watching her light up when I sing a particular song she likes (right now it’s the theme song from Hook and One Less Bell to Answer).

I love how she’s wanting to hold my hand when I sit with her in the back of the car and falls asleep still grasping it. I love nursing her and seeing her tired eyes flutter open and closed while she rests her hand on my breast. I love when she pulls off and smiles a great big smile at me and then goes right back to nursing again.

I love reading to her and thinking about all the books I will someday get to read to her, all the stories and novels I have been wanting to read aloud like the Madeline L’Engle books and Pippi Longstocking and Where The Red Fern Grows.

I love that she’s starting to want me now. She’ll hear my voice and turn toward me giving me the look to pick her up or take her from Daddy. I love that she needs me next to her to fall asleep at night.

I love dreaming up what she may be like as a toddler, a teenager, an adult. I love watching her grow so quickly already. She’s no longer just falling asleep on my chest, she actually has to be put down for naps now. She’s starting to roll over a bit and is paying more attention to toys now.

She is my darling little girl and my heart swells with joy each morning when I get to see that smiling face. It’s an incredible feeling of over powering love that just seems to get stronger and stronger each day I spend with her. Yes, I am anxious all the time with this new role of mother and sometimes there are incredibly tough days with little sleep and lots of tears (by baby and mama), but I have also found that I’m singing more and smiling more and laughing more. And the love that I feel for this baby girl is so intense and strong. It is nothing I have ever felt before. Life is good. I’m in love.

“A single photo- no words- capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”

This moment is a ritual adopted from Soulemama. If you would like to share your own, please link in the comment section below!

Happy Weekending!

Jeff and I loved our old farmers market in Orange County. It’s one of the things I will miss most about our life there. We had formed friendships with many of the vendors, learned a lot from them about locally grown food and how to cook and serve unique produce. We looked forward to sundays and spending those couple hours connecting with the community and enjoying each others interest in good food. We even had a photographer take photos of us one last time at our beloved sunday market. So of course finding a suitable farmers market in our new area to replace our old one seemed like a daunting task. And I’m not sure any market will quite hold up to the one in Orange County. It wasn’t like the produce was even that special or extraordinary, it had just become a special routine to go every sunday, to fill our baskets with good fruits and vegetables and enjoy good music and good hardworking people. A friend who lives in our new neighborhood told us about a great market about 25 minutes away. We welcomed the idea of hopefully finding our new farmers market routine and if not, at least to get some local produce and check out our new surroundings.

The market was a lovely one. Tucked into a valley up in the hills, it seemed to be a hidden gem of a market. Beautiful locally grown apples, persimmons, leeks and onions, honey, candles, bread, grass fed meat and artisan cheeses. They even had a lady selling dairy free chocolates. It was a very nice outing and we were both impressed with what our new home’s surroundings had to offer us.