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A Mother’s Day card with a personal touch.

Happy Mother’s Day!

While I am away from my own mother and mother-in-law today, I wanted to share with you our attempt to send a bouquet of hugs to them for all the love and support we receive from them on a constant basis.

Our family is blessed with tons of amazing women and Mother’s Day is our chance to recognize all of the important work that not only our mothers do but also anyone who engages in the difficult, unpaid and under-appreciated work of nurturing and loving people that is so vital to us all.

I went looking for an idea for a Mother’s Day card and found Martha Stewart’s treasure trove of handmade Mother’s Day card ideas. To me, Mother’s Day conjures up a sort of nostalgic, old-fashioned vibe. We are reconnecting with fundamental notions of nurturing and love that have existed throughout time. I thought Martha’s ideas were lovely and I particularly liked her pressed pansy notecards. The only problem was, we don’t have any pansies in our garden.

But looking around, I realized that we had no shortage of blossoms to admire. In Virginia, we are just finishing azalea and dogwood season.

Azaleas in bloom.

The dogwood blossom is the state flower of Virginia.

So, I thought we would try using flowers from our own garden for an extra personal touch on our cards.

I gathered up some enthusiastic flower-pickers.

Cutting the dogwood blossoms.

Martha suggested that you include some leaves along with your flowers when you press them and that was a wonderful tip. Kids in particular just want to focus on the flowers but we made sure we cut a few stems with leaves as well. We also included a few “weeds” like dandelions and buttercups in our flower pressing.

In the past, I have experimented with various methods of pressing and drying leaves. The best method for preserving color was another tip from Martha to use the old-fashioned tried and true method of pressing the flowers in a large book between waxed paper. When I was a kid, my parents had a huge dictionary that we always used for this purpose.

For this project, we lined the phone book with plastic wrap (I was all out of waxed paper) and put our flowers in.

Pressing flowers in the phone book.

My son was not so into the flower picking aspect of this project but boy did he have fun pulling out the plastic wrap!

It’s a good thing we have plenty of plastic wrap!

Then, we gathered up all the “heavy” books in the house. My daughters knew instantly which books to choose. Many of these aren’t books we read regularly and I was surprised to see how readily they knew which books in the house were the heaviest. We piled them up high.

The pressing tower.

After about a week’s worth of pressing, my children were excited to see what had happened to our flowers.

Unpiling the book stack.

As expected, the colors were beautifully preserved with this method.

The pressed flowers after about 1 week.

We used a variety of craft supplies from around the house to turn them into cards. Some designs were simple and others more complex. I love how all of them turned out!

A simple dogwood blossom.

Getting a little fancier with an azalea bouquet, some glitter and decorative stitching from the sewing machine.

A mixed flower bouquet.

We mailed them out just in the nick of time and it seems that the postal service came through for us and got them delivered promptly.

Thinking today of all the people who support and inspire me in my work as a mother– my steadfast and patient husband; the tremendous examples from grandmothers, mothers, aunts, sisters, sisters-in-law, cousins and dear friends; the love and support from the men in my life–my dad, father-in-law, uncles, brothers-in-law, cousins and friends; and of course, my precious children, the lights of my lives who provide me with no end of creative challenges, questions to answer and the deepest love. Love and thanks to you all!

Mmmm….the tempting Passover dessert.

It was just before Easter and I was browsing The Washington Post when I came across an interesting photo slide show of Passover foods. For some reason, I was drawn to these foods. I knew that the cooks who made them were making the best of a tough cooking situation where their ingredient combinations were limited. The matzoh recipes in particular reminded me of a great southern cookbook I picked up while road-tripping through Tennessee that has numerous recipes for making desserts out of soda crackers. A truly good cook can take any ingredients and make them delicious.

The two recipes that caught my eye from the list were the matzoh lasagna and the lemon layer cake. I loved the write-up next to the matzoh lasagna where the woman said that growing up she though that lasagna was supposed to be made from matzoh because that was the only kind she ever knew.

Now, I know almost nothing about the kosher and dietary rules for Passover. From what I understand, there are two big rules:

1. Any wheat/flour used must be sanctioned Passover wheat/matzoh and no yeast can be used to make bread.

2. You cannot combine dairy ingredients (milk, cream, yogurt, cheese, etc.) with meat. So if you plan to serve any meat at your meal, you have to make a dairy-free dessert or make your guests wait 6 hours after eating meat before serving a dairy-containing dessert. (Note to self: if I ever have to cook a Passover meal for anyone, it will be vegetarian for simplicity!)

Matzoh Lasagna

The super-simple ingredients for matzoh lasagna.

This recipe is super-easy to make, requires no specialty ingredients other than matzoh and is vegetarian and relatively low-calorie too! I easily found the matzoh at the grocery store. While perusing the kosher section, I noticed that an even better choice for matzoh would have been the whole wheat matzoh version (which was sold out).

First, you soak the matzoh briefly in very hot or boiling water. I thought it would fall apart immediately but you have at least 15-20 seconds before it gets too soggy. The water helps you to slice the matzoh into pieces to fit your pan.

Layer 1: Matzoh

Layer 2: cottage cheese

Layer 3: sauce

Layer 4: cheese (applied by an enthusiastic helper)

Repeat the layers about 3 times until done.

Lasagna after baking.

My children thought the lasagna smelled delicious while we were assembling it and while it was baking. They said it smelled like cheese pizza! It did! The taste of this lasagna is actually really good! The matzoh is a great substitute for noodles. I really enjoyed it and so did all of my children! The only thing I would do differently next time is to add some greens (spinach? collard greens?) to give it a little more vegetable flavor and nutrition.

My son REALLY liked the lasagna. He climbed up to the counter to spoon his own second helping and ate it right off the spatula!

While the lasagna was OK the next day, it does lose something in consistency. This is a dish that is best prepared and served the same day. It is so easy, though that it should not be a problem.

Lemon Layer Cake

The shopping list for this cake was a little confusing. It asked for things like matzoh cake meal and potato starch. Fortunately, matzoh cake meal was a standard item in our local grocery store. Potato starch was not so I had to substitute corn starch. I also could not find the pareve margarine and pareve whipping cream the recipe called for so I used standard margarine and whipping cream. As I understand, all of the recipe ingredients are special-versions of these items, perhaps made from various chemicals, to simulate these ingredients in a Passover-friendly way. The version of this cake I ended up making would not meet Passover standards but if the Passover version is even half as good as my version, it would be well worth your time to special order these ingredients.

First step, mixing the matzoh cake meal batter. The recipe calls for only a tiny amount of the cake meal.

The batter after mixing in the corn starch and matzoh cake meal.

Whipping up the egg whites for the cake batter.

The meringue-like cake batter just before baking.

The cake after baking. I used a slightly larger cake pan than the recipe called for so I shortened the cooking time by 10 minutes.

At this point I started reading the rest of the recipe and had a momentary feeling that I was in completely over my head. The recipe wanted me to do all sorts of cooking things I had never done before. But, since I had the cake part done at this point, I figured I would proceed and if nothing else, it would make a humorous disaster story for you, my loyal blog readers.

The first challenge: slicing the cake into layers. I was supposed to do 3 layers but my cake was only about 3/4″ tall to begin with so I settled on just slicing it in half.

Next, it was time to start making the lemon cream. When I looked at the ingredients for this (lots of eggs, some lemon juice, sugar, margarine) I wasn’t sure how this was supposed to make a “cream” or even anything lemon-tasting.

The lemon cream starts off looking like this. It sits on top of a double-boiler and stirred occasionally for about 25 minutes.

After 25 minutes, you have this sinfully delicious lemon cream that you put in a bowl of ice to cool it down.

The lemon cream is too delicious for words! It is far superior to the lemon gel in any danish I have ever eaten and better than any lemon bar. It is creamy and lemony and simply perfect! This part of the recipe alone is worth trying.

Assembling the cake: spreading the lemon cream between the layers.

After the lemon cream is spread between the layers, you mix the remaining lemon cream with whipping cream and frost the cake with it. There was something about this lemon “frosting” that was irresistible to young fingers.

The recipe had details about how to frost the cake specifically but I didn’t have time to follow all of them. I kind of glopped the lemon frosting on and put some frozen fruit on top. It still looked very pretty. Gourmet even!

Delectable! The sliced layer view!

This cake was awesome! It is the best cake I have probably ever made and may be my current favorite cake! I loved the texture of the cake. It was stiffer than regular cake but reminded me of the ladyfingers they use in tiramisu. The lemon cream is amazing! Even the frozen strawberries were a perfect pairing with the lemon. And for a cake, it is pretty low calorie because it has almost no flour in it. Everyone should try this cake! I plan to make one for myself for my birthday. It would be a wonderful and refreshing cake for a summer party as well.

Because the lemon “frosting” is so light and might slide off the cake at warmer temperatures, we stored the cake in the freezer so that it behaved more like frosting. I limited myself to eat only one small slice a day until it was gone. My husband and I adored this cake.

Despite the initial interest in the frosting, none of the children cared for the cake! They thought the lemon flavor was too strong. Great! More for us!

So, our Passover cooking (flawed as it was) was a great success and a lot of delicious fun! My children got a cultural lesson out of the experience as well.

Have you ever cooked for Passover or tried any of the above recipes? Please share in the comments.

A glass acorn ornament and natural dried hydrangea on a tree at the Museum of Natural History

Even if you don’t score tickets to view The White House Christmas decorations, there are still plenty of gorgeous decorations to see at the Smithsonian. Here is a small sampling of what we came across.

A lamppost outside the Smithsonian Castle adorned with evergreen pomander balls.

I like how the Smithsonian surrounded the base of its trees with poinsettias.

A tree inside the Natural History Museum Rotunda.

A butterfly-themed tree inside the Castle building.

A garland of poinsettias and other gilded greenery winding up a staircase.

The gardens at the Smithsonian were another wonderful source of natural decorations. The urns outside the Castle had sprays of orange pyracantha berries mixed with evergreens.

And, just as we saw at the Danish Embassy, roses!

gather/HYGGE at the Danish Embassy

During our hotel stay for two days in the Washington are to view The White House Christmas decorations and Ballet West’s production of The Nutcracker at the Kennedy Center, we happened to hear about one more Washingtonian-style holiday celebration . . . HYGGE (pronounced HOO-gah), an open house display of holiday spirit at the Danish Embassy.

The Danish Embassy is one of our favorites (well, of the perhaps 3 embassies we have ever visited in Washington).  It is elegant but also simple and understated.  It incorporates timeless mid-century modern design elements with a sense of nature.

The  HYGGE display showcased the works of artists Georg Jensen, Gugger Peter, and Anna Ancher, as well as the Danish toy company Maileg.  What was really clever about this exhibit is that it showed how you can create a lot of holiday spirit with very few decorations.

(Note: I am not sure if it is OK to post photos of the artist’s works so I will attempt to describe them best I can instead.  You can see a few photos of the works here.)

GEORG JENSEN

Georg Jensen’s work was primarily a display of open metal forms with a few holiday elements inside.  The forms suggested Christmas trees, such as a stack of open metal cube-shapes or a pointed cone shape but were really open to interpretation.  The forms had a definite modern edge and could be used easily when you are trying to honor many types of holiday traditions at one time. The shapes inside the forms were simple.  Sometimes it was a metal star or angel, sometimes a candle, or a sprinkle of simple silver ball ornaments and sometimes colorful shapes.

MAILEG

I had never heard of MAILEG before but it is apparently a line of specialty Danish toys and other home design elements.  It is sold in various specialty boutiques throughout the United States.    If I ever decide to do Elf on a Shelf, I am going to get my elfin creature from Maileg’s “Christmas Pixy” line.  These dolls are adorable!  They are rag dolls with cute pointed hats and clothes, full of personality.  At the embassy, they had a huge collection of the dolls somehow wired together in a curving diagonal line across a bookcase.  It was so fun and a great way to inject a lot of spirit into a small space.

The pig candle holders were also festive and added warmth with a bit of humor and fun.

GUGGER PETER

Gugger Peter’s work was based on weaving materials, primarily newspaper into textured canvases.  The entryway had a portrait of Barack Obama.  In the holiday exhibit, the subjects were “bolsjer” which Americans would recognize as old-fashioned hard candies with various stripes and colors to them.  They apparently are an old-fashioned Danish staple as well.  Mixed in with the woven paintings were interesting 3D cone creations from newspapers as well as jars full of bolsjer.

ANNA ANCHER

Anna Ancher will be the subject of an upcoming  exhibition at the National Museum for Women in the Arts.  It was not entirely clear whether her display consisted of paintings on the walls or the collection of colored paper cones of various sizes from about 12″ to about 3 feet with lights beneath that surrounded the paintings.  The cones had a wonderful way of suggesting a Christmas tree or “the holidays” without saying so exactly.

ROSES!

The most surprising “decoration” at the embassy, however, was the blooming pink rose in the embassy’s garden!  How did they get roses to bloom in December?!  I’m not sure if this is a magic trick, a special breed of rose or a product of the several warmer-than-usual weeks we had in the first half of the month.

A rose in December! What a luxury!

As we left the exhibit, the embassy provided free treat bags which consisted of a huge tin of Danish butter cookies (that were fabulous), some bolsjer (a great nod to Gugger Peter’s work), some informational brochures about the holidays in Denmark, including a recipe for abelskivers and instructions on how to make a woven heart basket ornament out of paper.  The bag itself was a reusable shopping bag emphasizing Denmark’s commitment to green initiatives and recycling.

This was perhaps the most diplomatic way of saying “Happy Holidays.”  I learned so much from seeing this exhibit and I am grateful to the embassy for opening its doors to the public.

Our Sugar Plum Fairy ornament "dances" onstage at the Kennedy Center.

We were treated to a double-dose of Nutcracker magic this year. I wrote before about viewing Washington Ballet’s Nutcracker and for our encore, we viewed Ballet West’s version that was brought for a special tour to the Kennedy Center.

Born and raised in Utah, I grew up watching Ballet West’s Nutcracker performances with my grandparents and parents. As a teenager, I auditioned to be part of the children’s cast and was granted a role as a “Lady-in-waiting.” It sounds impressive, except when you know that all the children’s roles are cast by height. Anyone taller than about 5’6” could only be a lady-in-waiting. The dancing in this role is very minimal and if there aren’t enough kids to do it, they often ask the moms! However, it was a wonderful experience dancing this role. We had to attend regular rehearsals in the Ballet West studios under the watchful eye of Bene Arnold. Sometimes we caught glimpses of the professional dancers rehearsing. We got to wear a wonderful costume, learned to apply stage makeup to ourselves and the younger children and had our moment on stage as well as having the privilege of watching from the wings as the professionals danced.

I danced the lady-in-waiting role for two years. During my tenure, there were always conspiracy theories among my fellow ladies-in-waiting that “next year” they would modify the choreography to make it more difficult. One time, someone mentioned this theory to one of the rehearsal assistants who informed us that it would never happen because Ballet West honored the choreography of William Christensen and it would “never” change.

Because I know the Ballet West Nutcracker choreography so well, it is the Nutcracker that I compare all others to. The Christensen choreography is mostly genius. It fits the music very well. It incorporates children perfectly and the solo dances in the second act from the various lands “Arabian,” “Spanish,” etc. are technically challenging for the professional dancers and audience engaging. Mr. Christensen’s background in vaudeville was likely a heavy influence and it is really a time-tested choreography.

So, I went into this performance with high expectations. My parents flew in from Salt Lake to enjoy it with us.

We slid into our high balcony seats. On our same row was a large group of girlfriends who seemed to be having a night out. They were all dressed in black dresses and they always sat down at the last minute. At every intermission their skinny little legs paraded past us to their seats in the middle of the row. It was almost a performance in itself.

My children did quite well during the performance. They only had to be told once not to kick the seat by a friendly but firm patron. They received many compliments on their dresses (modified versions of their Halloween costumes this year) and turned heads. One woman sweetly told me they were “The best dresses EV-er!”

Recycling elements of the Cleopatra look for the Nutcracker.

The Elizabeth dress matched the carpets at the Kennedy Center almost perfectly!

On the plus side, the professional dancers from Ballet West brought their A game. I had no complaints with any of the professional dancing and it was fun to see at least a few of the dancers we had been watching on the show “Breaking Pointe” dance live. We saw Rex Tilton and Allison DeBona dance the Arabian pas de deux. Ronnie Underwood was going to be dancing the lead Russian but was substituted at the last minute with someone else. The Ballet West style is to emphasize the romantic partnership between the male and female dancers and they did that very well.

The children in the cast, however, were a bit of a disappointment. The Clara role was danced very well but many of the rest of the children weren’t quite up to Salt Lake Ballet West standards. Of course, no one expects children to be polished dancers but it was lots of little things that brought the children’s performance down. The party boys never maintained a straight line when they were supposed to. From our view high up in the nosebleed seats, this was kind of a glaring distraction and made the party scene look messy. The “Pages” in the second act when I was dancing were usually the very best child dancers and got the best choreography. For some reason, in this version, the page choreography didn’t really stand out. Instead the “Oriental Servant” dancers seemed to be the standouts (and they did quite well). The “buffoons” underneath “Mother Buffoon’s” skirt were also a little disappointing. The big trick in Ballet West’s Nutcracker is that the lead child buffoon does a series of back handsprings across the stage (to raucous applause). Sadly, the lead buffoon was struggling to finish the tumbling sequence and nearly fell on her head on the last one.

I know the Washington area has really strong children’s dance programs so this uneven performance was really confusing to me. I wonder if there might have been some rehearsal coordination issues somewhere where the children were either not used to the Kennedy Center stage or working with the Ballet West team. It looked like each performance had a completely different cast of children to work with. This allows the most number of children to participate, but I wonder if it might have worked better to have just one children’s cast for all of the Washington performances.

The Ballet West blog notes that there were a few “bumps in the road” during the Kennedy Center run and I wonder if I might have seen an off night.

The really odd thing to me, however, was that William Christensen’s choreography, the choreography that “never” would be changed, was changed! The opening scenes where all the party guests arrive seemed shortened somehow and there were fewer children in these scenes. The Spanish routine, usually danced by three women was danced by two women and a man. The Mother Buffoon was transformed from one man in drag twirling around in a huge ballooning dress to a wooden float-like skirt vehicle with one man as the top and one man as the feet. Most disappointing, the Russian routine, which is all men and the most technically challenging Russian choreography I have seen (jumps way high in the air, lines of squat-kicks, one dancer vaulting a high leapfrog over the others, etc.), seemed to have been modified to something a little easier and less impressive. (However, if you look at these pictures from the Ballet West blog, it looks like the rigor was supposed to be there.)

In the Washington Post review, it acknowledged that Adam Sklute had modified some of the choreography to “restore” William Christensen’s original vision that had been edited out over the years. It may be. It may be also that my memory is failing me as to what I remember from my youth, but it just didn’t feel like the same Nutcracker I knew.

To someone without my history, I’m sure it was a fine performance and many of my criticisms probably went unnoticed. The Post review was quite glowing and deservedly so. With more exposure to it, I am sure I could grow to love this new version as much as the original.

It’s always hard to watch something colored by the memories of childhood change but in the end it’s usually a healthy process. There is probably a lady-in-waiting who will look back on this version as her all-time favorite and that’s a good thing too.

The best part of the performance? Sharing the memory with visiting grandparents.

This year, we were privileged to have the ultimate Washingtonian Christmas experience . . . viewing in person the White House Christmas decorations!

No, we are not good friends with President Obama, or have any other political connections. Anyone can request these tickets through their Congressional representative and they are completely free! The catch is, though that you have to be VERY flexible with your schedule. In our case, we put in our request through Senator Mark Warner’s office in July. You have to fill out a form for each person on the tour identifying them by Social Security Number (this is the White House after all!) for a security screening. If you pass that, then you don’t hear whether you received the tickets and when your date is until two weeks in advance. Even then, your tour could be canceled at any time due to national emergencies, etc.

Our tour time was 7:30 a.m.!! Anyone who knows me know that this is pretty hilarious for a non-morning-person like me. We decided there was no way we would make it through Washington traffic in time unless we stayed overnight in a hotel. And that’s what we did and it was so fun to be a “real” Washingtonian for a few days.

Sadly, one thing that is made clear when you sign up for the White House tour is that you cannot take any pictures on the tour. You are allowed to bring in a cell phone with a camera in it but if you attempt to take pictures on the tour, the Secret Service will confiscate your phone!

We arrived around 7:15 a.m. for our tour. While I have been on White House tours before when I was a child, this was the first one as an adult. I was curious to see what impressions the place would make on me. From the moment you enter the White House grounds, you are struck with a feeling that you are in a very special place. Everything is very well kept and the security is very tight. You know that people are always watching you but it doesn’t feel oppressive or weird.

All of the White House employees we met exemplified Washingtonian professionalism. They were polished yet friendly.

The White House itself was so clean it was practically gleaming and it smelled of fresh evergreens. There were dozens of decorated trees as well as garlands and other decorations that complemented the architecture and paintings. There were a lot of decorations but they weren’t tacky or overdone. Everything was done beautifully and with a great sense of artistry. Even at that early hour of the morning, there was live music, with a local high school choir providing carols and piano, which made the experience even more magical.

I was bordering on mild depression knowing that I could not take photos of any of this beauty. Then, in front of me, I saw someone whip out their camera phone and start to snap away. “Oh, this will be interesting.” I thought. But then nothing happened! I moved to where the photographer was standing and saw this sign, which I consider the Obamas’ personal Christmas present to me:

"My" Christmas present from the Obamas!

The lighting conditions were a bit dark for my camera phone and some of my pictures are a bit fuzzy but it will give you an idea of what we saw.

For some reason, everyone in our group looked to me when they wanted to know what they were supposed to wear to visit the White House. Honestly, I had no idea and there were no instructions on this. It seemed wrong to wear jeans to the White House so I told everyone no jeans. Since there was a possible fashion range from tourist casual to suits. I told everyone I was aiming for “festive casual” which for me consisted of a skirt, holiday sweater, tights and boots. I put the children in holiday casual dresses and my son wore a version of his George Washington outfit from Halloween.

My White House fashion choice. (Sadly, all that was really visible was my parka).

Unfortunately, I forgot to wear a more formal coat and there was no coat room on the tour so what I really ended up wearing to the White House was my casual winter parka! In general, most people wore nice pants and shirts, with a variety of shoes from dress to comfortable walking shoes (a Washington tourist necessity). You can’t go wrong dressing more formally and a suit would not have been out of place.

(I recently read the transcript of a very cute interview Michelle Obama did with children at Children’s National Medical Center so I am going to intersperse my pictures with some of this transcript).

A huge version of Bo Obama in the White House Christmas decorations.

Q Does Bo go to bed early in the morning?

MRS. OBAMA: The question is, does Bo go to bed early in the morning. He does. He actually gets pretty tired early. He’s usually a lump by about 7:00.

Q Do you give Bo a gift for Christmas?

MRS. OBAMA: I do. Let’s cover his ears. (Laughter.) He’s probably going to get some stuffed toys. He likes the stuffed toys as opposed to the hard toys, because he chewed all of his toys up. So he’s out of toys, and he loves the fluffy toys so I’m going to get him some new fluffy toys.

The Washington dining room.

I like how George Washington seems to be presenting this tree.

The Joining Forces Tree

Q What is your favorite Christmas tree in the White House?

MRS. OBAMA: Oh, my favorite Christmas tree in the White House is — there is — the biggest tree in the White House is in a room called the Blue Oval Room, and it’s the biggest Christmas tree — it’s just under 19 feet. And this year we decorated it — we call it our Joining Forces tree, because the decorations — the main decorations on the tree are handmade ornaments from military kids who live in bases all across the world. And there are messages from those kids, a lot of them to their parents who are serving in the military; some of them are to the President. So if you come to the White House, you can look at those ornaments and see the messages. And that’s my favorite tree.

An eagle ornament on the Joining Forces tree.

Dolley Madison's nook at the White House: a fitting, elegant fruit-filled room.

One of Dolley's fruit-laden trees.

Lincoln dining room.

This year's gingerbread version of the White House!

Michelle Obama's addition to the White House ornament collection.

Q What’s your favorite ornament?

MRS. OBAMA: My favorite ornament? In the whole wide world? I love the shiny balls. I love the — yes, anything shiny. What about you?

Q I like shiny.

MRS. OBAMA: All right, how many people like the shiny ornaments? Those are the best ones. (Applause.)

One of many fireplaces at The White House.

Q Hi. How many chimneys do you have at the White House?

MRS. OBAMA: Chimneys, this is a good question. I just asked this. We have 26 fireplaces, and 12 chimneys.

Q Wow.

MRS. OBAMA: It’s a big house. (Laughter.)

Q Thank you.

MRS. OBAMA: So Santa has many, many options at the White House.

Q Does Santa have to go through Secret Service to visit the White House? (Laughter.)

MRS. OBAMA: Does he have to go through Secret Service? Well, Santa is probably one of the only people in the world that has his own Secret Service pass. I mean, everybody knows Santa — even the Secret Service. So they give him a pass.

Q Got it.

MRS. OBAMA: He’s got the highest security clearance there is.

Q Okay.

Visiting The White House was an incredible experience and one I hope every American has the chance to experience at some point. It was definitely worth the early wake-up and a great way to celebrate Christmas American-style.

Licking the (egg free) beaters of the gingerbread cookie recipe was my son's favorite treat.

While I am not a great cook, I have been improving in recent years and I have come to appreciate how wonderful a feeling it is to eat a delicious home-cooked meal for the holidays in your own home. Even though I am the one doing all the work, when I sit down to eat it, I feel like a lady of the manor.

This year, I left my Christmas menu planning to the last minute. Just a few days before Christmas, I had no idea what I was going to serve my family. We were on our own for the holiday so we didn’t have to worry about honoring anyone else’s traditional recipes or dietary preferences.

When I asked my family what they wanted to eat for the holidays, I received almost no input. So, I based the menu on what I wanted to eat. For some reason, I was craving lemon, ginger and the Southwest Chicken Salad from California Tortilla. Here is what we ended up with:

Christmas Eve Supper

A simple salad of spinach, dried apricots and cranberries, pecans and a strong cheese.

Avgolemono soup - foamy and lemony, a nod to my Greek heritage and a favorite of my preschooler.

Salmon with dill sauce - a favorite of the baby!

Gingerbread cookies with royal icing for Santa (and us).

Christmas Day Lunch

For the kids - a version of yellow curry chicken using supermarket curry sauce - a hit with my 7 year old.

For the adults - Southwest Chicken salad

Honey lime dressing for the salad - a close approximation of the "real" thing.

Christmas Dinner

Tortellini (with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes for the adults)

It’s an unconventional mix but it was delicious and not too filling. By the time Christmas Day dinner rolled around and my energy level was almost zero, I was especially grateful that I saved my easiest meal for last. I was going to make angel food cake with ice cream and strawberries for dessert but we scrapped that and gorged on the chocolate supply from Santa instead.

Recipe Links:

• Avgolemono with Orzo by Jane Resnick (I modified by using chicken bullion and added chicken)
• Salmon with Creamy Dill Sauce from Taste of Home.
• Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies from Sweet Pea’s Kitchen (unique because there are no eggs in this recipe!)
• Southwest Chicken Salad (improvised) with Honey-Lime Dressing from epicurious (I modified the dressing by adding two big dollops of sour cream and whipping it in the blender)

What did you feast on this holiday season? Any good recipes or meal ideas to share? Please share in the comments.

So exhausted, he fell asleep mid-lunch.

This picture of my son expresses our household at the moment. We have had a wonderful, jam-packed, fun-filled December but now we need some time to recover and process all of it. As for me, I am hoping to use this “down time” to catch up my blog.

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas and that you are readying yourself for the New Year. I am getting updates from several professional organizers that this is a great time for 2013 planning and 2012 review. Hope you are taking a few moments yourself to do this introspective thinking.

In November, the call came out from the local Red Cross office that at least 40 people were needed to make sure their Letters to Santa program benefiting needy children was successful this year.

One lesson about charity I have had to learn over the years is that when charities (or individuals) are in dire circumstances and sincerely need help the appeal is often made very subtly and in an understated way. You have to be listening and ready to step in when this type of call comes. If you are used to corporate pitches, where they hound you and hound you with multiple phone calls, emails and letters, and speak with exaggerated language, you won’t see that in charitable situations. The pitch is often so subtle or made in such a small way that it is easy to miss.

So, we stepped in, offering to help one child. The Letters to Santa program is extraordinarily well organized and has numerous rules to help make it run more smoothly. Among the guidelines they give to prospective Santas:

• Plan to spend between $100 – $175 but not more (if you can spend more, they wanted you to sponsor a second child rather than indulge one fully–probably to keep things fair amongst the children)
• No used stuff (except for some things like computer games)
• If you are buying a bike, you have to include a helmet.
• Wrap all items (or include gift wrap and ribbon so the family can wrap them)
• Try to honor the child’s requests.
• “You are this child’s only sponsor. What you purchase may well be all that they receive for the holidays.”

We were assigned a young girl, age 8 who wanted the following:

• a bike
• hair accessories
• clothes
• art/crafts
• games

The form also indicated that this girl was in need of a winter coat that we were expected to provide. I knew it was going to be an incredible challenge trying to find a bike, helmet and coat for $150, let alone all of the other stuff! But we did it, and I will show you how.

First, if I had this same list for one of my own daughters, the first way I would save money is to go used with the bicycle. And I can say this confidently because last year, I gave my then-3-year-old a bike for Christmas and we bought it used off of CraigsList for $25! We freshened it up with some new streamers and a zippered bike basket and it was good to go! Yes, the tires were a bit dinged and smudged, but she really didn’t notice and thought it was awesome. We saved about $40 this way. Good used kids bikes are all over CraigsList because they either sit in garages unused or the kids outgrow them too quickly.

My daughter's used (but new to her!) bike from last Christmas.

I often see the “no used stuff” restriction when it comes to charitable donations and it has always puzzled me. Why do these people object so much to used stuff? What if it is in really good condition? I have to chalk my puzzlement up to the fact that I have (fortunately) never been poor enough to know this circumstance.

I only began to understand when I read the book Below Stairs which is the terrific memoir of a 1920’s English kitchen maid that inspired the English dramas Upstairs Downstairs and Downton Abbey. Consider the contrast between the descriptions of two of her employers below:

Employer 1
“Talk about Christmas! When we got to the Christmas tree we deferentially accepted the parcels that were handed to us by the children and muttered, ‘Thank you, Master Charles, thank you, Miss Susan.’ Oh I hated it all. . . . The presents were always something useful; print dress lengths, aprons, black stockings, not silk, of course, they never gave you anything frivolous; black woolen stockings. How I longed for some of the things they had, silk underwear, perfume, jewellery, why couldn’t they have given us something like that? . . . So I hated this parade of Christmas goodwill, and the pretence that we also had a good time at Christmas.”

Employer 2
“They were the most thoughtful and kind people I’d ever met . . . . [T]he servant’s hall was an absolute revelation to me. This one was comfortably furnished and it had a colour scheme to it. We had comfortable armchairs, a carpet on the floor, a standard lamp, and other small lamps around, pictures and ornaments. Things that you could tell were bought specially for us, not cast-offs from their rooms. . . . Everything was done to make you feel that they really cared about you.”

–Margaret Powell, Below Stairs

Trying to keep the budget of $150 was a bit nerve-wracking to me. I stayed up late Thanksgiving Eve and ended up doing my shopping as my children and houseguests slept. Our Santa child was the first person I shopped for.

I found quickly that no one was beating Wal-Mart’s prices on bikes. Wal-Mart had a Black Friday in-store only deal on a 20” bike (the size I needed) for $39. You could add a helmet for just $8. I knew I had to have this deal to make the budget work. I was trying to figure out who we could nominate to brave Black Friday at Wal-Mart when all of a sudden the deal was available to purchase online! It was really one of those Christmas miracles. For $49.35 with tax, we had the bike and helmet but we also said goodbye to 1/3 of our budget!

Our $39 Black Friday bike deal!

The next major item to get was the coat. Wal-Mart came through on this too and we snagged an all-pink puffy coat for $19.84 with tax. For fun, we also added in a set of Lalaloopsy branded earmuffs and gloves to go with it for $10.39.

The pink puffy coat and the Lalaloopsy earmuffs my daughters covet.

I breathed a sigh of relief as I had the two most important items in hand. I now had roughly $70 to get everything else.

After watching Frontline’s Poor Kids documentary, I knew that basics like clothes were important. I picked up two outfits that I hoped the little girl would feel comfortable wearing to school. I knew my own girls would have no objections wearing them. The first outfit was a pair of jeans with a pink long-sleeve polo shirt; and the second a velour pants and sweatshirt set that came with a cute matching scarf. The clothes ate up about $25 of my budget. I added in a large package of socks for $9.34 since we are always hunting for socks around our house. I had about $36 left to spend.

The outfits and socks we found.

I went back to the little girl’s wishlist. She wanted hair accessories, arts/crafts and games.

After looking at several options, I decided to combine two of the desires and get her an arts and crafts kit to make your own hair accessories for $10.50.

Make your own barrette kit.

I also found a small travel-sized game that contained just marbles and holes but said it came with directions to play hundreds of different types of games in both 2D and 3D spatial orientations. The educator in me thought this would be a terrific challenge for her and would be easy to carry with her as well. $8.89 later it was ours.

The Lonpos Colorful Cabin 066 Brain Intelligence Game at amazon.com.

It was important to me as a homeschooling mom to get her an educational workbook as part of her gift. My kids do a lot of these. I’m pretty sure when she opens it she will groan and think “Geez, what kind of Santa is this?!” but I hope it will impress on her that education for her is absolutely critical. The Poor Kids documentary pointed out that children in dire economic circumstances are often shuttled from one school to the next as they move homes and sometimes are out of school for periods of time. I also hoped that the workbook might help give her something to keep her skills up. I found a thick workbook with reading and math concepts for the third grade for $10.61.

The Santa gift my recipient will likely be least enthused about.

That left me about $6.

I picked up some note cards and some Twistables crayons (for drawing or writing down flashcards for school).

The Red Cross instructions mentioned that we should include some “stocking stuffers.” Since we didn’t have a stocking, I extended our budget by making a stocking out of some spare fabric I had. My 7-year-old helped choose the fabrics and design, informing me that all good stockings have a pocket on the front (like hers does). I embroidered the girl’s name on the pocket with my sewing machine. There was something about adding in a homemade gift that made the whole gift feel a lot more personal and meaningful.

Our homemade stocking, complete with pocket.

To fill the stocking, we stopped by the dollar store to pick up silly string, pencils, a candy cane filled with M&M-like candies and some ring pops, along with a pink cat to peek out of the stocking pocket.

Stocking stuffers from the dollar store.

We also picked up some cute Santa-themed wrapping paper and ribbon to wrap up all the gifts.

Wrapped and ready!

In the end, our grand total was about $159. So, we went a smidge over budget but not too bad considering this was our first time participating in this exercise!

We bagged up our gift per the detailed instructions. Our donations were due by December 8th. We dropped it off to an energetic Red Cross volunteer dressed in reindeer antlers. At least 10 other bikes and gifts were arriving at the same time.

We didn’t get any feedback about how we did and we don’t get to see our recipient open her gifts but I hope we did OK and that we will make someone’s Christmas a little brighter. We will certainly be thinking of her.

How do you think we did? Would you have spent the $150 differently? Could you stick to a $150 budget for your own holiday shopping? Please share in the comments.

*Other than being a donor, I am not affiliated with the Red Cross Letters to Santa program. Other than being a very small shareholder, I am also not affiliated with Wal-Mart.

This year, our family wanted to inject more charitable giving into our holiday celebrations. I posted on Veteran’s Day about the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign administered by the Red Cross. I decided to send in a few cards with a unique, military holiday design. My children call them the “military Santas.”

We think they are kind of fun and a great way to learn about our current military leaders and uniforms as well. While the deadline for Holiday Mail for Heroes has already passed and the Red Cross isn’t accepting more cards for this year, you can download pattern templates below to make your own cards for next year or leave off the Santa hats and use them for other military remembrance purposes.

Saluting Santa

Saluting Soldier inspired by General Norman Schwarzkopf

The Saluting Santa was inspired by this photo of General Norman Schwarzkopf. The key for this card was to find an appropriate camouflage patterned paper for the jacket and pants. Surprisingly, our local Michael’s store had no camouflage-patterned paper! So, improvising, I came up with wood-grain print. I am unaware of any military operation where wood grain would be an appropriate camouflage (surveillance of 1970′s wood-paneled basements or lumber yards?) but it does OK as a substitute for the current desert digital pattern.

All of these cards are pretty easy to make, but a little time consuming. Just cut out the pattern pieces and glue them on with a glue stick. You can add additional details if you like or facial features but I liked the modern look with fewer details and blank faces.

All of the parts of the Saluting Soldier Card.

• Download the template here: Saluting Soldier card

Reverent Soldier

Reverent Santa card inspired by Colin Powell.

The Reverent Soldier card was inspired by a photo of General Colin Powell standing with the first President Bush.

After seeing how the first cards I made came out, my 7-year old wanted to help. The Reverent Soldier card has quite a lot of small pieces to it so I had my doubts but in the end she did quite well! Of course, the soldier’s shoes are a bit askew and his hands were put on backwards but the rest was quite wonderful.

• Download the template here: Reverent Soldier Card

Striding Soldier

Striding Soldier card inspired by Janet Wolfenbarger.

My last card design was inspired when I heard a news report that the first female 4-star general of the Air Force had been appointed. I did not know who this was but felt it would be appropriate to commemorate this milestone achievement with a Santa card. After some research, I found that the new general was Janet Wolfenbarger and this picture of her was perfect for a card design since it showed that she was wearing pumps.

• Download the template here: Striding Soldier Card

After the cards were done, we wrote a brief note of thanks on the back,

then popped them in the envelope.

and sent them on their way.

Did you participate in Holiday Mail for Heroes? Are you making any holiday cards this year? Please share in the comments.

*I have no affiliation with the Red Cross or the Holiday Mail for Heroes program.