One of our favorite traditions each Christmas is to take a walk around the beautiful Broadmoor resort here in town. They always have the most beautiful Christmas decorations and amazing gingerbread houses. This year, we went with Mom two days after Christmas. It was sunny outside but the breeze made it chilly. Hallie loved the Christmas trees and the water and had a delightful time running around. Here are some of our favorite pictures from our day . . .
Look at my two blue-eyed cuties. This photo was taken at California Pizza Kitchen the other day for lunch. Hallie is scarfing down her own chocolate milk. This was the first day we ordered a kids meal for Hallie. We normally share our meals with her to save some cash. But this time, Chris and I were both in the mood for something seriously spicy. We didn't think Hallie would want buffalo chicken with gorgonzola or mango tandoori chicken pizza. So, Hallie was in heaven with her own big bowl of mac 'n cheese while Chris and I reveled in our spicy pizzas. We love CPK. Please send gift cards. (I am just being humorous-- you don't really have to send gift cards).
The Christmas cards have been mailed. We wish we could mail to each and every one of you. But if your mailbox is void of Hinkson happiness-- please refer to this as your Christmas card for 2008. We are so grateful for all our family and friends and especially our Savior, Jesus Christ, and our Father in Heaven who willingly gave his Only Begotten Son.
Our Christmas photo:
Michelle
works from home as a Member Services Coordinator for Best Doctors, Inc.
serves with the Young Women at church
loves being a mom and wife
still enjoys reading classic and children’s literature
Hallie
loves Winnie the Pooh and Disney Princesses
has a fascination with vacuums and pianos
talks and sings up a storm
is the joy of our lives
What we loved about 2008 . . .
lots of time together, a summer vacation filled with picnics and playing, celebrating our seventh wedding anniversary, Chris and Michelle’s trip to Boston in October
Why we look forward to 2009 . . . .
the birth of our new daughter in April!
I've shared our sugar cookie pictures and reindeer cookie recipe. Other things we've made this season are: Chex Muddy Buddies, Rice Krispie Treats, and fudge. My fudge unfortunately failed and is like a pan of chocolate frosting. Oh well, I am not that big of a "fudge person" anyhow-- just wanted to try out the recipe. I've made a cheese ball for Chris to attack with crackers. Even though we have been making lots of treats, we get away with it because I only make half batches and bring it to church activities or make Chris take it to work. This morning Hallie and I made gingerbread people. She told me early this morning she wanted to make "play-dough cookies." I think she meant she wanted to make sugar cookies because you roll them out and make shapes. It was a cute way to express what she wanted.
Chris and I have some fun traditions that are unique to our little family. Since I love theme meals and we have lots of Christmas movies to watch, we often combine them into one Christmas activity. Yesterday, we ate cheese pizza for lunch while we watched Home Alone. For those not familiar with the movie, the eight-year-old protagonist, Kevin, loves cheese pizza and is furious that his family doesn't leave him any. Several nights ago we had our third annual A Christmas Story Chinese food night. Normally I make egg rolls and cream cheese wontons. This year, we did it all take-out. We choose Chinese food because the movie ends with the family eating at Chop Suey's Chinese restaurant after their fine turkey meal is sabotaged. Tonight, we are having my spaghetti with meatball meal while we watch Elf. Buddy the Elf loves spaghetti (although we skip his love for maple syrup on top).
Hallie continues to love Christmas. She frequently points out Frosty, Santa, and any Christmas tree in sight. The other night after shopping she told Chris and I "I want to see Christmas lights!" So, we drove through our snowy town with Christmas music on as she pointed out all the Christmas lights. "Look at the lights, Daddy!" "It's pretty, Daddy!" It was very sweet. Her favorite Christmas movies to watch are Mickey's Christmas Carol and Pluto's Christmas Tree. The Pluto cartoon is just a five-minute clip of Mickey Mouse and Pluto putting up their Christmas tree and Chip and Dale (the chipmunks) surprising them. My brothers and I loved this cartoon when we were little. Hands-down Hallie's favorite Christmas carol is "Deck the Halls." She calls it the "Fa-la-la song" and pretty much sings it all day. And if she wakes up in the middle of the night she sings it then too! She can sing the entire song even parts like "don we now our gay apparel" and "troll the ancient yuletide carol." I am sure she doesn't know what it all means (because I don't even know that).
As I have been listening to Christmas music, I have been thinking about what my favorite albums are. Here are what my top 4 are. Although, I leave them open to changing at any time.
1. Carpenters Christmas Collection
2. Percy Faith Christmas
3. Manheim Steamroller
4. Amy Grant: Home for Christmas
Any Christmas albums you live for?
Hallie and I have had fun baking together. For the mixing stage, I clear a space for her on the counter and let her sit there. She holds measuring cups for me and will dump ingredients in the bowl after I measure them. She helps me mix and stir. Normally for the shaping stage she stands on a chair next to me. She is such a delight to bake with. I can't believe next year I will have two daughters to bake with.
Here is a fun tradition I wanted to share with you. We like to make reindeer cookies each year. I originally saw the idea in a Quick Cooking magazine around the time Chris and I were married. That idea featured pre-made dough and red hots for the nose. In the past I have made molasses cookies for the base. This year we went for peanut butter again. For my recipe, I use Sally Brodowski's Peanut Butter Cookie recipe. Sally is a cooking and baking legend at church where I grew up. Her recipe is as follows:
Beat until creamy: 1 cup butter, 1 cup peanut butter, and 2 cups brown sugar
Beat in 2 eggs.
Add: 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, and 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
Mix well until well blended.
Here is where I add my instructions:
Divide the cookie dough into two balls. Place balls on seran wrapap. Squeeze the dough gently as you wrap to form into a log. Place dough in freezer for about 15 min. Note: Whenever a recipe calls for fridge time, I always use the freezer. It greatly speeds the process and (I find) does not effect the quality of the cookie. Once the dough is chilled, pull out one "dough log." I like to save the other one for future baking. I like the side of my log to look like an oval, instead of a circle. Slice the log into 1/2 inch slices. Lay slices flat on greased cookie sheets. I prefer to bake on stoneware. Flatten slice slightly with palm of hand. Decorate with chocolate chip eyes. For the nose, I used red swirl white chocolate chips this year. I have used M&Ms and red hots in the past. I recommend the M&Ms or my current chips, I find the red hots melt and can smear your reindeer face. Use two twist pretzels for the ears. I find it important to layer the pretzel between dough. Otherwise the pretzels fall off too easily after baking.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for 13 minutes, or until edges brown lightly.
And there, my friends, are fun, festive, reindeer cookies!
We were dressed and ready to leave for church yesterday when we took a peek outside. Our street was a scary, snowy sight. It is rather steep and curves. After a little prayer, neither of us felt safe to make the precarious drive to church. So, we spent a quiet afternoon "snowed in" at home. We talked about Christmas traditions and Hallie and I did some baking. Thankfully, the sun did show its face later in the day. Although the temperatures did not get above freezing, the sun was enough to burn a little ice off our street. This was helpful because Chris and I were both scheduled to speak at a youth fireside (meeting for our church). I spoke about my personal testimony of Joseph Smith and how I am not ashamed of my beliefs. Chris spoke about how he has gained and cultivated his faith of Jesus Christ throughout his life. We both felt that (with the help of our Father in heaven) our talks turned out well. I was particularly proud of Chris. Hallie was very well-behaved even though it was after her bedtime. And, although our car slid for 20 ft. at one slow stop, and our tires spun out coming up our street again, we made it home safely.
Since we were already dressed in our "Sunday best", we took more pictures by our Christmas tree.
Here are some of our favorite pictures we took the other night. I won't reveal the official "Christmas Card Photo" yet. I want that one to be a surprise when you find it in the mail!
Hallie thought something was hillarious.
Hal is pointing out the camera for us.
A particularly pregnant pic.
Hallie is chewing on the candy we bribed her with. :)Chris and I commented yesterday that we are loving our Christmas season so far . . .
We had a fantastic family weekend. On Friday, Hallie and I made Christmas sugar cookies together. It was a fun experience. It took about two hours total. But she alternated sitting on the counter with me or standing on a chair next to me. She loved to hold the measuring spoons and cups and dump the ingredients in when it was time. Always weary of noises, she was worried about my hand mixer at the beginning but she warmed up to it eventually. She told me at least one hundred times "I want to eat it, Mommy," as we were rolling out dough. It was like my very own, live, broken record. One of my favorite parts of the event was letting Hallie pick out what shapes to do next. She would say "um . . . another Christmas tree" or "I want a snowman!" I look forward to many more years of baking together. Hopefully we will make some gingerbread men together this week.
Last Saturday, Chris and I finished up our Christmas shopping (YAY!). Before we headed out, Chris captured Hallie singing carols on video. She is quite adept at "Jingle Bells" and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" In this case it was Bing Crosby's "Happy Holidays."
Please ignore my schnazzy Tigger pajamas! I was wrapping gifts and did not expect to be caught on camera.
Hallie loves any songs with "Santa" in them. Yesterday as we were listening to "The Christmas Song" she stopped what she was doing and said "This is a Santa song!" after she heard the lyrics "They know that Santa's on his way." One of our Christmas CDs is A Muppet's Christmas Carol. Her favorite track has Santa bellowing "Ho, Ho, Ho!" at the beginning. She always begs for us to play the Santa song while driving in the car. On Saturday, while in the Target lot, we indulged her and this is the happy expression we received.
Since my Christmas shopping (and wrapping) is pretty much DONE. Here are the things I still want to accomplish this Christmas.
Anything else that should be on the list?
This year we are staying home for a quiet family Christmas. Even with a slow economy, business is booming at my company so I need to be around in the afternoon to work. It will still be pleasant though because we will have our Daddy home for two weeks! I love teacher's schedules!
Happy Holidays!
Hallie is "all better." And I am so glad. Because I wouldn't miss today for the world. In fact, I could replay it a hundred times over again. I just loved her so much today. I told her I loved her twenty times and I just wanted to kiss her one hundred times. I just feel so lucky to have her in my life. She is my little best friend. I am so happy to be a mother. And I really love my husband. Life is really good.
Our sweet girl is sick. It is always so sad to see your child in pain. It started when she woke up crying in her afternoon nap yesterday. Chris and I could tell from the type of cry that she was not feeling well. And then her emotions brought up a heap of vomit. Since, I was sick with a stomach bug earlier this year, I remember that feeling. Everytime she would screech after wretching, I just felt bad because I knew how terrible it really was. She was so sweet through our hours-long barfing ordeal. It is nice that she can communicate through talking. It broke our hearts to hear her say "I hurt!" But, it was so cute to watch her plead with her tummy "Go away, yucky!" and "Please leave me alone, yucky!" were her favorite things to say. It was also good because she could understand and believe me when I told her it was going to get better soon. And it did slowly get better. I appreciate that she is old enough to stand at the toilet to vomit (with our assistance of course). In between bouts, we would read books and sing songs. Chris cleaned up the entire house while I held Hallie in the bathroom and then he did middle of the night and early morning duty when she woke up crying. (What a dream guy!) Our little girl hasn't thrown up yet today but still wants to be held all the time. I am sorry you feel yucky, Hallie. I hope you feel "all better" soon.
Happy Thanksgiving dear friends and family! We have so many blessings to be thankful for. We are thankful for faith, family, and a great place to live. We are so thankful to have our daughter, Hallie, and another daughter on the way. We are so happy to have each other. We are both blessed to have fantastic jobs that are low-stress. They pay the bills and allow us to have exorbitant amounts of time together. We are so lucky.
Hallie's new trick-- climbing in her toy basket
Halfway through the pregnancy
Talking to Grandpa Wynn on the internet camera phone.
The boys enjoy a video game.
