Sunday Morning Traditions

When I was growing up, every Sunday my dad would make us pancakes.  My brother and I would get 3 smaller ones each and then my dad would make one big pan sized one for himself.  In fact pancakes were the first food I ever tried to cook.  My dad started by letting me try to flip them on my own and then I gradually got to pouring them and mixing the batter too.  It obviously became a childhood memory for me.

I have kept that Sunday morning ritual going off and on over my lifetime.  If ever I had energy and the means I would try to make some kind of warm breakfast on Sundays.  Not always pancakes, but sometimes eggs, toast, and bacon, or French Toast or whatever else I was in the mood for. 

Since having Colin, we have had to become more morning people (see clock in photo) which I am still dragging my feet on, but on the upside, we get more time in the morning for things.  So I have decided to reinstate this Sunday morning tradition from my childhood to something we will carry on in our house.  We started with pancakes for a few weeks and then we moved on to French Toast and this morning we busted out the waffle maker for some seriously delicious waffles.


This recipe came with the waffle maker when we got it and it involves letting the batter sit out overnight, so you really have to plan these out, but my goodness they are light and fluffy and scrumptious.  The best part is the waffle batter keeps in the fridge for a couple of days, so you can have them multiple days if you want.  The recipe makes more than Rob and I can eat in one setting, so we usually make them all up and freeze them, but then we forget about them.  I think this time around, maybe we get crazy silly and have waffles for dinner one night this week.  :)

Colin isn't old enough to eat whatever comes out of the kitchen on Sundays yet, but he is certainly taking it all in in the meantime.

Holiday Travels - NY

The second half of our trip was spent in NY with my family.  There was a long list of people to visit, but we managed to see everyone.

Our first visit was with two ladies I worked with while I was on rotation in Syracuse.  They both have 4 month old babies now.  So we had lunch with them and their babies which was a lot of fun.  They are cute as buttons and have very different personalities.  As the mom's tell us, they are already bff's, they just aren't aware of it yet.

The next stop was up to see my Aunt.  We picked up my dad and headed north for a short visit.  We played our wedding slide show DVD for her since she was unable to attend the wedding.  She thought it was lovely.  A few random cousins came in and said hi since they were working out in the barn.  I always consider those bonus visits since you never know who's going to be at the house.

We had a big fancy polish dinner with my parents and Joyce's dad that night before opening presents.  I finally got to deliver the quilt I had been working on since November of last year.  To be fair, there was about a 10 month break in there after Christmas last year.  Something about getting married and moving that put things on hold for a little while.

Joyce and the complete quilt

As always dad's wrapping jobs are never missed.

3 different kinds of paper to wrap a sweater

And we completed the evening with a family photo.  This tripod thing is really coming in handy!

Chet, Joyce, Sarah, Rob, Larry

Afterward we headed back to my sisters house where we were allowed a lazy day on Thursday.  We spent the whole day at the house with my sister and Wayne and my brother Dave and Audrey came over in the afternoon for a bread lesson.  My older brother always makes grandma's bread for Christmas.  It's become somewhat of a tradition that I show up after they have had real dinner and then I eat a turkey sandwich on grandma's bread.  Something about it is just phenomenal.  So on that day, we made bread and used it for turkey sandwiches.  Delicious!!

The process of learning how to make grandma's bread was quite interesting.  Measuring was not an exact science and there were a lot of Gramisms to learn along the way.  For instance, use your hands to clean your work surface to prevent your sponges from getting really gross.  Neat trick. 

Stirring ingredients together

Until there's too much in the bowl and my brother takes over

Me kneading bread

"Spanking" the bread to get the air pockets out

Finished product

My loaf, a little lumpy on the top, but still yummy on the inside

No complaints from this peanut gallery

 After dinner we played our slide show for this crowd and got another group photo.  I think this will be the year of the group photos.  Thanks free tripod!

John, Audrey, Wayne, Sam, Rob, and myself

Holiday Travels - CT

I am always surprised by how fast the holiday season comes and goes.  It's hard to believe I am here typing up how the holidays went and what happened.  But here we go!

This year we started our holidays in CT to begin the every other year with each others parents.  It was my first year spending Christmas Eve/Christmas Morning with his family.  I am always eager to see how people celebrate the holidays and what traditions they have.  I just think it's great how everyone has their own special and unique way to spend time with each other.  We arrived in the afternoon and we were greeted with a fully decorated house that smelled of the holidays.  Rob's mother does an excellent job of decorating throughout the house and so there's no mistaking what time of year it is.  Before dinner Rob, myself, Bill, and Ellie went on a short car ride to Woodbury to see the town's luminaries.  They line the streets with them on Christmas Eve.  Kind of impressive when you stop and think of how many bags were set out.  We came back, ate a fabulous homemade lasagna and gathered around the tree for the famous tree lighting ceremony which Bill does every year.  It's kind of a fun family thing that is always different and up to the discretion of Bill as to what exactly happens.  Christmas morning we came down the stairs, grabbed some hot toddy and breakfast items in Christmas dishes and went to open presents.  Afterward, we took our time getting ready and headed over to Grandma's house.

Rob on Christmas morning

The Smith family

We piled into Grandma's house in time to unwind for a few minutes before dinner was ready and generally hung out with the family getting caught up.  By the following day the rest of the cousins had arrived and so did the snow.  We were getting hit with a blizzard for the next two days which really wasn't awful, but then again, I had no where to be and the company was nice.  Everyone had gone out for a walk after breakfast and when they came back, there were quite a few frozen bunnies.  We did the Christmas gifts there, followed by the fantastic grab bag.  I am pleased to say this year there was a nice mix of crap and good items.  The most fought over was probably the imported bottle of vodka from Poland.

Mary Jo modeling a fabulous pair of beer glasses with a wig, nice scarf and a pair of flannel Be Mine boxers from the grab bag.

Lauren taking vodka from Grandma

After we finished up with the gifts, I was in charge of getting a cookie decorating party going for everyone to participate in.  I brought all the cookies, frosting, and fixings and ran the show.  Grandma suggested we make it into a contest and provided prizes.  It was fun and kept everyone entertained and quiet for about an hour.  :) 

Everyone hard at work

Some of the lovely creations

After I had gotten everything cleaned up I decided to go out for a walk and take pictures of the snow.  I think I was somewhat successful.  

Later than evening after dinner, I suggested doing some family photos.  With the aid of a tripod, almost anything is possible.   

Grandma and her Grandchildren

We finished the evening watching Despicable Me before all piling in for the night. 

We spent the next few days visiting and playing games.  The last day we were there, they decided to go see the movie True Grit.  I am not all the interested in Westerns and haven't seen many of the movies I have wanted to this year so I felt funny going to see a movie I didn't really care about.  I went to the Outlet Mall instead and bought a couple of cute things which kept my plenty entertained and occupied while they were at the movies.

It was a really good visit with family and the roads were kind to us, both on traffic and weather.  Before we knew it, it was time to go and continue our journey on to NY.