Christmas Celebration- Part 1

Joey got a two week break from law school for the Christmas holiday, and I had several vacation days left at the end of the year, so we have been enjoying a nice break from school and work.  Our first few days of vacation were filled with Christmas shopping and present wrapping.  We both have large families and a few family members with December birthdays, so 17 was the grand total of presents we bought this year.  It was fun shopping for each person, but we were certainly relieved to have them all checked off our list by the end of it.  Here is a picture of our first and only fire so far this winter.  Doesn't this picture look like it belongs on a Christmas card?

On the first weekend of our break we had the annual deFreitas Family Christmas celebration in Dallas with my mom's family.  I brought Gingerbread Cupcakes for dessert.  (The recipe is below.) 

Mom and Claire

Taylor and Dad

 Hunter, who as you can tell certainly doesn't enjoy posing for pictures.  :)

Joey and me

The hosts: Howard and G-Ma

Mom and her daddy (Grandpa)

Some of the girls: Claire, me, Erica, and Mom

Mom's Siblings: Uncle Paul, Aunt Gisele, Mom, and Uncle Robert

Now that most of the cousins are older, we do a guy and girl gift exchange.  Everyone brings a gift (girls bring girl gifts and boys bring boy gifts), we draw numbers, and then in order get to choose a present from the pile or steal one that has already been opened.  The girls went first, and it was a very amicable gift exchange.  Everyone liked what they opened and only one G-Ma stole a gift.  She's the rebel of the bunch. :)  

Then the boys went... And that was a totally different story and quite entertaining to watch.  Gifts got stolen right and left, and by the end of it most ended up being frozen because they had been stolen twice.  Much scheming and strategizing goes on during the guy gift exchange because the games not over even when it's over.  Trading often happens after the fact for the guys.  This was right after Robert Griffin III won the Heisman (Sic 'em!) and sported Super Man socks during the ceremony, so Jake brought Super Man underwear that Logan ended up with.  I have to say he sports them well, and we were all crying from laughing so hard at him modeling them for us.  

Proud grandmother- G-Ma and Logan  

It was hilarious!  I love my family.  More Christmas vacation updates to come...  Stay tuned!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon-Cream Cheese Frosting

recipe adapted from Southern Living Christmas Cookbook

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 4 large eggs
• 2 large carrots, finely grated (about 1 cup)
• 1 cup minced fresh ginger (about 1/2 lb.) Note: I used a 4.5 oz. jar of minced ginger 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Frosting

• 2 (8oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
• 2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Garnishes: small pecan halves, crystallized ginger

Directions:  Beat sugar and vegetable oil at medium speed with an electric mixer approximately 3 minutes or until smooth.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in grated carrots and fresh ginger.
Combine flour, and next 6 ingredients; gradually add to egg mixture, beating at low speed until moistened.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans.

Pour batter into lightly greased muffin tins, filling two-thirds full.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until wooden pick comes out clean.  Cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes.  Remove from pan, and cool completely on wire racks.  Spread with icing once cooled

For Icing: Beat cream cheese and lemon juice at a medium speed with an electric mixer until blended, gradually adding powdered sugar until light and fluffy.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

The Life of Our Blog & My 100th Post

I noticed about a couple of weeks ago that my 100th blog post was approaching and have been thinking about what I would write about.  JW suggested a look back at some of our favorite posts.  He helped me come up with the categories and vote on his favorites, so here we go.

Funniest Post
Ruling the Road - confessions and rules from a road raging driver

Most Tragic Post
Our Visit From the Easter Bunny - Harley's over-eager attempt to make a friend

Most Sentimental Post
Two Years Ago Today - second anniversary

Favorite Memories
A Weekend to Remember - lazy weekend at home
Vacay With the Roush's - trip to Austin with Rich and Meg
"Pit-stop" in Waco -Em and Brit come to visit
Labor Day Weekend - a weekend at the Lake with Shay and Adam

Best Post in Pictures
Wedding Memories - favorite wedding day pictures posted after our first anniversary

Most Depressing Post
One Day Down... - the day JW started PC

Favorite Harley Posts
Snow Day- a Husky girl gets to play in the snow
Happy Birthday Harley Girl - Harley's first year in pictures

Favorite Family Posts
Hance Revolving Door - families come to visit
Weekend in Brenham - trip with Momma Hance
Dad's Day Weekend - Sugar Land weekend

Best Birthday Post
Blast from the Past - a 10 year crush
Honorable Mention: Puppy Party - Harley turns one

Most Expensive Post
Terrible Three's - car woes

A Mischievious Post
T-R-O-U-B-L-E - Harley gets in trouble as a pup

JW's Favorite Post
Lazy Weekend - JW finds himself a frog friend

Amanda's Favorite Post
Cravings - woes of being a woman

Thank you to all of the faithful blog readers who keep up with us here.  We enjoy sharing our life with you  and look forward to posting about the next hundred memories.

Meg's Birthday Celebration

Today is Megan's birthday!  Rich invited a group of friends to dinner Saturday night in Coppell, so JW and I drove up to Dallas this weekend to join in the celebration.  We stayed with Shay and Adam in the new house they are renting and also got to spend some time with our family friends, the Flaggs.  It was a great weekend!

Meg blowing out her birthday candles

 

Meg with her cake that Lasen brought

The whole group over at the Roush's after dinner

Even Tegan got some birthday cake

Thanks, mom.  Happy Birthday!

JW, me, Shay, and Adam

We got to be the Paulson's first house guests in their new place.  It was a lot of fun to spend time with them.  Shay made us waffles on Sunday morning and we all sat at the table to enjoy a yummy breakfast and great conversation before we left.  This was weekend #2 out of 3 in a row that we had plans in Dallas, so it was a quick trip, but well worth it.  Great times with wonderful friends. 

Happy Birthday, Megan!  We are so thankful for you.

Home Cooked Sunday: Slow Cooker Style

Dana and Carolyn came over for Sunday dinner last night.  We had warm Baked Potato Soup and enjoyed catching up.

The Menu: Baked Potato Soup, Croissant Rolls, Salad, and White Sangria
Dessert: Chocolate Chunk Brownies and Ice Cream

Baked Potato Soup

recipe courtesy of Southern Living

• 6 large russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes (I washed and left skin on 2 of the potatoes)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 6 cups chicken broth
• 1 tsp. minced garlic
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pepper
• 1 cup half and half
• 4 oz. cream cheese
• 1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
• chopped fresh chives
• sour cream
• bacon slices, crumbled
• Shredded Cheddar cheese

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a slow cooker.  Cover and cook on High for 4 hours or Low for 8 hours or until potato is tender.  Mash mixture until potatoes are coarsely chopped and soup is slightly thickened.  Stir in half and half, cream cheese, and Cheddar.  Use chives, sour cream, bacon, and additional Cheddar as garnish if desired.

White Sangria

• 1 bottle Chardonnay
• 1/2 cup Vodka
• 1 can frozen fuzzy navel concentrate
• 1 1/2 cans Sprite
• 1/2 cup frozen fruit (or fresh if you have it)

Combine all ingredients and serve chilled.   I always have a hard time finishing bottles of wine.  This Sangria recipe was a result of combining some things we had in the kitchen.  It was pretty good and a great way to use left-over wine. 

This dinner was so easy to just combine and let it cook.  It will be great left-over for lunch this week too.  Have a great week!

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my beautiful mother's birthday.  My mom is my best friend and one of the strongest women I know.  She is certainly a testament to God's love and faithfulness.  Our personalities are similar and we look a lot alike.  We like it now when people ask if we are sisters.  Sometimes it is a little scary when we say the same things or finish each other's sentences.  Who knows?  Maybe we share a brain. 

mom, me, and my sister-Claire at my wedding in 2009

Some of my favorite memories with mom include watching movies and helping her wrap Christmas presents.  For those that don't know, my mom doesn't just wrap.  Each present is a creation, complete with wired ribbon and a coordinating ornamental topper.  JW used to always make fun of the pretty pine cones or sparkly greenery she put on presents, but I think he has come to appreciate her Christmas masterpieces.  Evenings leading up to Christmas were always spent with me and her on the floor together talking and wrapping.  I miss that being in Waco now, but look back on those memories and smile.  Maybe we'll have wrapping parties together again soon.

Another memory I have is a week before Christmas in 2002 when she was pregnant with my youngest brother, Hunter.  She had spent the day shopping with dad and was having some minor contractions.  She thought she had just pushed herself too hard that day, and decided to take it easy the rest of the night.  I was sitting in her bed with her and started to write down how often she was having contractions.  They were getting pretty close together, so I went and got dad.  They went to the hospital and Hunter was born that December 21st night.  He was quite a bit earlier than his due date, and came right before Christmas, so we weren't ready!  Mom had plans to get baby-ready after the holidays...  I remember buying diapers and clothes with dad and grandma while mom was still in the hospital with Hunter.  Me, Taylor, and Dad did a lot of the wrapping that year.  It was definitely not up to mom's caliber, but it got done.  Dad tied this bright blue curly ribbon that didn't match anything on everything he wrapped that year.  It was pretty funny. 

My mom is creative, passionate, detail oriented, and loving.  I look up to her and value her opinion very much.  I am so blessed to have her as a mother and friend and thankful to celebrate her today.  Happy Birthday, Mom!  You are so loved.

Decking the Halls

Our Christmas decorating is finally complete!  The stockings have been hung by the chimney with care in the hopes that Saint Nicholas soon will be here.  And, they are very cute stockings if I do say so myself! :)  I shared in my last post about our Christmas decorations that we were still lacking a tree skirt and that I had plans to jazz up our dog stockings a bit.  Missions accomplished.

Stockings Before

Stockings After

The supplies: eyelash glitter yarn and thick sheen ribbon

I twisted the red and green eyelash yarn together and hand sewed around the edge of each stocking.  Then, I folded the thick ribbon in half and sewed with my machine to make ruffle trim for the top.  This part took a little longer than anticipated.  It has been a couple of years since I used my sewing machine last, so I was a little rusty and the machine was a little dusty.  JW thought me sitting at the table with the manual and all my crafty stuff strewn about was hilarious.  I was not happy about him snapping pictures of me at this point.  Just ask him.  It wasn't pretty.  Hormones may have been a contributing factor to my reaction.  But, I was currently perplexed and determined to revive my sewing skills.  Don't interrupt a girl on a mission and craving oreos.

I got it figured out though and they turned out cute!  They coordinate with our stockings very well.

Here's a final look.  (Remember, you can click on pictures to view them larger.)  I found the tree skirt at Home Goods in Dallas this weekend with Meg.  I love the ruffle edge that coordinates now with our dog stockings.  Even Joey can't walk by the tree without saying how well it matches.  His response was, "Our tree looks so good.  That tree skirt is ridiculous."  It certainly makes me smile.  I added some Christmas ball garland and some of our ornaments to the mantle.  We only hung one dog stocking since I can't find another matching stocking holder, and our new pup isn't here yet anyways.

This is our entry hall table for now.  It is usually where our tree is, but I really like it here.  It's fun to be greeted with a little touch of Christmas right upon walking in the door.  I'm contemplating leaving our decorations up all year! 

Home Cooked Sunday: Baby It's Cold Outside

Tonight Sunday Dinner was just JW and I.  No one else from the law school bunch was able to attend, so we enjoyed a quiet dinner at home after being out of town most of the weekend.  We had a friend's wedding in Dallas last night and got to stay with the Roush's.  We drove up Saturday morning and spent time with them and watched the Baylor v. Texas game... Sic 'Em!  Our Bears beat the Longhorns for the second year in a row.  It was exciting!  It has been rainy and cold most of the weekend, and my allergies have been bonkers lately, so warm soup hit the spot tonight.  This is one of my favorite things Momma Hance makes, and it is super easy.

The Menu:
Tortellini Soup and French Bread
Dessert: Rum Cake

Tortellini Soup

recipe courtesy of Momma Hance

• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tbs. butter
• 48 oz. chicken broth
• 20 oz. cheese and/or chicken tortellini
• 10 oz. frozen chopped spinach, drained
• 2 (14.5 oz.) cans stewed tomatoes

In a large pot or dutch oven melt butter and cook garlic until golden.  Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.  Once boiling, add tortellini and cook for 10 minutes.  Add the drained spinach and stewed tomatoes.  Allow to simmer for another 10 minutes. 

Rum Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Glaze:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark rum

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10 inch Bundt pan. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over the bottom of the pan.

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and pudding mix. Mix in the eggs, 1/2 cup water, oil and 1/2 cup rum. Blend well. Pour batter over chopped nuts in the pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean. Pierce bottom, brush on glaze. Let sit for 10 minutes in pan. Then turn out onto serving plate. Brush glaze over top and sides. Allow cake to absorb glaze and repeat until all glaze is used.

To make the glaze: in a saucepan, combine butter, 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat and continue to boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 cup rum.

Stay warm out there this week!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

Happy December!  Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday.  I am always thrilled to start decorating and listening to Christmas music.  JW is a stickler for waiting until after Thanksgiving for all things Christmas, and I agree.  But, I'm not a very patient person, and once I start seeing decorations go up in shopping centers and hearing Christmas music in stores, it gets hard for me to contain myself.  Much to Joey's chagrin, right before we left town for Thanksgiving, I started moving furniture in our living room to make room for our Christmas tree to go up as soon as we got back in town.  JW complained a little, but didn't let me struggle to slide furniture on my own for long.  He gave in, laughed at his crazy wife, and put his muscles to use.  I love that my husband thinks I'm cute and can laugh at me when I act a little crazy.

Friday, on our way from one family to another, we enjoyed Michael Buble's Christmas cd in the car and may have also enjoyed it a few times on the way back to Waco on Sunday.  Christmas music reminds me of and makes me miss my choir days.  After pulling into the garage at home, we unloaded the car and then Joey started bringing the Christmas decorations in.  I had our Christmas wreath on the front door before all of the boxes were in the house.

We did some revamping of our tree this year.  We have these fun and funky bright green and red stockings and some decorations that match them, and some that are more traditional.  Mixed together they all looked a bit mismatched.  So, after several consultations with mom over the phone and swapping pictures back and forth, we decided to focus on a more whimsical theme that goes with our stockings.  We'll save the traditional look for later in life. 

I found a great set of fun ornaments and bright green and red mesh fabric at Sam's, sparkly lime green and red poinsettias for half-off at Hobby Lobby, and some cute dog stockings at Marshalls that coordinate with the ones we have.  My back is sore and virtually every surface in our house is covered with glitter, but I am excited to have a pretty tree to look at now.  I still have a few projects left... we are lacking a tree skirt and one more stocking holder, and I plan to add trim to the new dog stockings, but here's a look at our holiday digs so far.

Let the countdown begin... 24 days 'til Christmas!

Thanksgiving Recap

We headed to Houston for the holiday weekend to spend time with family.  Joey's dad's family was the first stop.  We got there Wednesday evening and Angie cooked us Joey's favorite, Chicken Parmesan, for dinner.  Thursday we headed to Uncle John & Aunt Becky's for a great Thanksgiving feast.  This was me and JW's third Thanksgiving as a married couple and first time to spend Thanksgiving day with Joey's dad's family.

Joey with the dogs taking a nap

Matthew, Joey, Grandma Hance, and Joe watching football

The girls

Me, Jennifer, MeMaw (Angie's mom), Macie, and Angie

Basketball after the meal- a Hance family tradition

Recie and Harley

Recie had grown a lot since the last time we saw her and is a ball of energy.  It was fun to watch her and Har play.  Harley was very gentle, and Recie wasn't the least bit scared of Harley despite their big difference in size.  They had a good time together and wore each other out.

Friday around lunch time we headed to Sugar Land to do Thanksgiving with my family.  Taylor drove home from Lubbock Friday after having to work on Thursday.  My parents cooked their Thanksgiving feast for dinner on Friday so we could all be there. 

Noel and Harley laying at the back door that dad just went out with the turkey.

The dogs followed dad around the house all day.  That is pretty normal, but they were more glued to him than usual since he was cooking the big bird.

Claire, Mom, and Dad carving the yummy turkey

Me and the hubs

Sibling picture- Claire, Hunter, Me, and Taylor

Momma Hance had to work most of the weekend, but we got to go over and see her Saturday night.  The dogs played and we watched the Baylor vs. Texas Tech football game over there.  Sic 'Em!  Taylor was sick most of the weekend, so I went easy on him with the smack talk, but it was still fun to rub the win in a little bit when I got home. :)  It was a fun filled 4 day holiday weekend!  We have so much to be thankful for, and family is certainly at the top of the list.

Home Cooked Sunday: Thanksgiving Dinner

This week for Sunday Dinner we had a Thanksgiving feast.  It was a great way to kick off the holiday week! 

Menu
Dinner: Roasted Turkey and Vegetables, Cornbread Dressing, Sweet Potato Casserole

Carolyn also brought a yummy corn casserole and oreo cheesecake for dessert.  Here's a picture of our feast.

And the great thing is- after spending much of the afternoon in the kitchen cooking, we'll have enough leftovers to eat for the short week we will be in town before we head to Houston to spend Thanksgiving with our family.

This was my first time to cook a turkey, and I sort of made this recipe up as I went along.  I watched some episodes on Food Network this week and combined several ideas I got.  I had fun, and it turned out great!  The turkey was crisp on the outside and so juicy and flavorful on the inside... yum!

The Turkey

Brine:

• 6 quarts water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 head of garlic, peeled and broken up
• 6 bay leaves
• 1/2 onion, cut into large chunks

• 13 lb. turkey
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. pepper
• 1 tsp. dried basil
• 1 tsp. dried rosemary
• 1 tsp. dried sage
• 1/2 tsp. paprika
• 1 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 bundle fresh thyme
• 1 red onion, chopped into large chunks
• 1 head of garlic, peeled
• 3 carrots, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 5 red potatoes, chopped into large chunks
• 1-2 cups of chicken broth
• 1 cup white wine
• olive oil

Directions:

In a large pot heat water and following 6 brine ingredients to dissolve salt and sugar and release flavor of remaining ingredients.  Remove from heat.  Fill a large bucket halfway full of ice and place turkey, cavity side up, on top.  Allow brine to cool a little and then pour brine into the bucket allowing turkey to be fully submerged in liquid.  Cover and leave turkey soaking overnight (at least 12 hours).  Note: If you have room in your refrigerator you can reduce amount of ice and keep in there. 

Remove turkey from the brine and place on rack in roasting pan, breast side up, on the counter for about 30 minutes allowing it to dry and come to room temperature.  Meanwhile, combine butter and next 6 ingredients.  Rub all over the outside of the turkey and under the skin on the breast.  Tie the bundle of thyme with butchers twine and place inside the cavity of the turkey.  Place a quarter of the onion inside the cavity along with a few cloves of garlic, and one carrot.  Place the remaining onion, garlic, carrots, and potatoes in the bottom of the roasting pan with chicken broth and white wine.  Tuck the wings under the turkey and tie the legs together. 

Drizzle olive oil over the top of the turkey and place in the oven at 350 degrees for 3 hours or until internal temperature of turkey reaches 165 degrees.  Remove turkey every hour to baste with liquid and check temperature.  When turkey is done, allow to rest for 30 minutes before carving.  Joey did the honor of carving our bird.  It was his first time and he did a great job!

Corn Bread Dressing

recipe courtesy of Mom

Ingredients:

• 2 pkgs corn bread mix, cooked according to package instructions
• 3 slices of bread
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 2 stalk of celery, finely diced (I only used 1)
• 1 yellow onion, finely diced (I used half)
• 1 stick butter, melted
• 2 raw eggs, lightly whisked
• 2-3 cans chicken broth
• salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, sage: to taste

Combine all ingredients in a 9 x 13 casserole dish.  Bake at 400 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until slightly browned and crusty on top.

Sweet Potato Casserole

I adapted this one from one I had from Momma Hance.

Ingredients:

• 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
• 3/4 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• dash of salt and dash of cinnamon
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 stick butter

Topping:

• 1 stick melted butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
• 1 cup mini marshmellows

Put potatoes in large pot and cover with water.  Bring water to boil on stove and cook for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.  Drain water and add remaining ingredients to potatoes in pot and mash.  Place into a 2 quart baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for topping.  Remove sweet potatoes from oven, pour topping over top of potatoes, and return to oven for another 10 minutes.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving with lots of great food and time with people you love!