Strawberries aren’t in season this time of year, but don’t let that stop you from making this cake. It’s red, sweet and special; perfect for Valentine’s Day. Don’t let this stop you either: If you add up the time it took to shop, whip, slice, allow the meringues to dry, and include a few breaks,
The holidays happen in a weird time warp. First, sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving, it seems like they’ll never get here. Then suddenly they feel like a big, evergreen monster on top of you, smothering you with to do lists, red ribbons and 100 Santa cupcakes. Then, just as quickly, they’re gone and it’s 2014.
Our family is in a great phase, the phase where Christmas morning changes and is more and more delightful every year. We spent Christmas day with Tom’s family. David played while we waited for everyone to arrive. He isn’t old enough to understand the anticipation part of Christmas. We didn’t really talk much about
We didn’t send out Christmas cards this year. As soon as I decided to skip it, I started justifying myself. Not sending them will save money. And it’s better for the environment. But honestly, I love Christmas cards. I love getting mail this time of year, and I appreciate every card we receive. The truth
After snapping this photo, I decided to Google, “Is it ok to let a baby chew on Christmas lights?” And that’s exactly when I realized the effect of 24/7, unrestricted access to the world wide web: loss of even a modicum of common sense. The answer? No. No, it’s not ok. Not even a little
Tom and I agree that our Christmas tree is…fine. It’s small, droopy, a little wonky, and full of mismatched ornaments. But it’s definitely better than last year when we didn’t have a tree at all. We started with good intentions. Tom brought the tree home on a Tuesday night and started stringing the lights. He
Last year my mom and dad made the switch to an artificial tree. I ridiculed them for the anti-tradition, Grinch-like move. To drive the point home, I bought them a Balsam Fir scented candle to overcome the artificial tree smell. Then I had a bizarre, scratchy-throat allergic reaction to the candle. I guess we all know
I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Ours was great, one for the books, even. It was maybe even the best trip we’ve taken since adding kids to our family. There was coffee with whipped cream, and chocolate for breakfast, and Mary Virginia got to gnaw on her first ever turkey bone. But there was
Halloween was awesome. And how could it not be? We’ve got Berkley Grace toddling around in an elephant suit, a wagon ride through the neighborhood, staying up past bedtime, coming home with a bag of candy. Even when it rains all night, it’s hard to not enjoy Halloween. This is the first year David could
October 31 is sort of the deadline for carving pumpkins, right? So this morning, as soon as Mary Virginia went down for her nap, I took David outside to carve our pumpkin. I was hoping for a really fun, sensory experience, but I’ve done this nonsense long enough to know it probably wouldn’t go how