Our Christmas Season in Pictures...

I worked 12 hours last night and my head is still in a bit of a fog since I didn't get much sleep today, but this blog has been beckoning me. And I did finally download all of those pictures I'd been socking away on my camera. So I figured I'd share the bits of our Christmas season that I managed to capture on camera.

I made home-made butternut squash gnocchi. 

Let me just say, something about baking butternut squash feels incredibly wholesome and homey. I felt a little bit like I was in a Laura Engles Wilder novel, dutifully providing a hearty meal for my brood. Or something like that. Oh, and it smells divine. 

Still steamy! 

Puree that bad boy in your food processor until it looks almost like soup. 

Oh, and be warned: This dough is not your average dough. It's ridiculously sticky. I must've added like 5x the amount of flour this recipe called for and it still was congealed to my hands in ways I've never had dough congealed before. Eventually I decided to just ROLL with in (heh, get it?) and it was fine. Just patt the surface area down good with flour (but not mixing it through out - or else, like I said - you can keep adding flour til kingdom come) and you're set for rolling and slicing. 

Boil it up!

I feel compelled to disclose: That hairy arm right there? Not mine. After a pitiful number of hours in the kitchen, my dear husband pitched in to support the cause. 

If there's one thing I love more than asparagus... 

...It's asparagus in a lemon cream sauce! 

Ta da!!! The finished product!

Now... While this gnocchi recipe was very fun to make, made me feel like my culinary prowess was kicked up one really hefty notch, and was super tasty... It was NOT 5-hours-in-the-kitchen tasty... Which, I'm embarrassed to say, is exactly how long this meal took to prepare. I'm not the fastest chef, but even with that taken into consideration, this was definitely more of an experimental than a staple meal. And honestly, it didn't even taste much different than store-bought potato gnocchi! It was educational though, and the possibilities of WHAT you can put in gnocchi is pretty much endless. Neat-o. 

So there was that... 

Then there was necklace making: 

There were craft-dates GALORE with this awesome chick: 

(Seriously, we just feed off of each other's psychosis for all things seasonal, holiday, traditional, or creative. It's a beautiful thing.) 

(I weirdly don't have a finished picture of these on my camera... Must be on my phone! Oops!)

We dropped a line to Mr. Claus: 

We fashioned some rain snow-makers. 

I made, for my first time ever, cake balls! Which, it is bittersweet to say, are dangerously easy to make... And even easier to make go away! 

I also managed to (FINALLY!) craft this impish little elf, Penelope. I know that Elf on the Shelf is all the rage lately, but I'm proud to say that I had an elf BEFORE the days of elf on the shelf. My mom was just super ahead of the times like that. She made an elf that would arrive every year while we were out getting our Christmas tree, who mysteriously moved to all sorts of zany spots in our home during the holiday season, and then hitched a ride home with the big guy in red Christmas night. I believed in this elf longer than I believed in SANTA, that's how legit he was. I always knew I would make one for my kids some day. And there was an attempt about three years ago which resulted in a clownish and frightning figure with an over-stuffed suit, a freakishly large and fuzzy puff-ball head and too-wide eyes. For fear of scarring my children forever, I spared them and trashed the poor fellow. Penelope, however, she turned out more marvelously than I anticipated she would and I have to admit... Sister's got personality. Like, I kind of wonder if maybe she's a little bit real. Just a little. Also, she digs oral care, which as an aspiring dnetal hygienist, I have to appreciate. 

Aaaaand I think that's it for now because I can't seem to find all of our Christmas morning pictures. I really need to get more organized with our media... Anyway, onward to Valentines Day AND some early party planning for mon petite poisson who will be turning FOUR late this spring/early this summer. I know. It's January. But YOU know how long it took me to get to THIS post, so... Well... Let's just say my pinterest account is getting it's fair share of attention! Can you guess what Little Miss has chosen as her birthday theme? I'll give you a hint: I often refer to Cecilia as "mon petite poisson" and at this years birthday party, it will be a very appropriate nickname! 

Happy guessing!

-T