Downing Christmas

All the stockings are hung and the house is full. Jordan's family arrived at various times on Christmas Eve. The came in two shifts...his mom, dad, youngest sister, and brother and then his other sister and her husband arrived around midnight. It was so great to sit down at our dining room table and have every seat full. I love having lots of folks over, but when it came to sleeping that evening it was interesting. We literally had someone sleeping in every room except one. I don't think I have seen so many air mattresses in one place. It was fun though and I think everyone slept pretty well.

On Christmas day it is Downing tradition to have breakfast and then open gifts so we started the day off with Monkey Bread a.k.a. pull apart cinnamon bread and then we circled up in the living room to open stockings and then gifts. We had a little fun with our gift opening this year. Usually we pass out all the gifts to each person and then go around the room from oldest to youngest and take turns opening one gift each time around the circle. Instead of following the norm we started out the gift opening by passing out one random gift to each person without looking who it was for and then we took turns going around the circle and opening. When you opened the gift the rest of the family would try to guess who the gift was really for. It got a lot of laughs.
(Jordan's mom got boy's jeans in the mystery gift game)
(We gave everybody a poopy gift...Lauren and Chris got the Pooping Penguin)
(Jordan's brother Micah is saving for a guitar so he got a tube full of dollar bills)

(We all pitched in to get Jordan's dad an old fashioned ice cream maker...he was ecstatic...he even made us Tooty Fruity ice cream the next day...Yum!)
The remainder of Christmas day everyone hung out and ate. The highlight of the evening was playing Catch Phrase with the fam. LOL. We played girls against guys and the girls kicked some tail...so much that the boys were convinced that we were cheating and would have to switch up the rules and the teams to see if they could get a break and win. It didn't work. I do have to share one funny from the game.


O.K. picture this the boys on one side of the room and the girls on the other. The boys have the Catch Phrase and they are trying to guess...actually my brother-in-law, Chris is trying to get the guy team to guess, so he starts by saying, "What is the one thing that guys have that girls don't have?" Above everyones guesses we hear "BREAST" .....guess who offered this brilliant answer....Jordan, the doctor????? a few other funny answers follow.... rib, pecker, and the real answer was ADAM's APPLE.


The day after Christmas Jordan was scheduled to be on call all day but fortunately the attendings that he was working with were sweet enough to allow him to spend a little more time with family at home and just come to the hospital if need be. We filled the day with eating at Opie's Cajun Cafe, shopping the after Christmas day sales on Perkin's Rowe, making homemade ice cream, and touring the hospital.
(Jordan and his parents after eating ice cream)
We had a wonderful time with Jordan's parents, brothers and sisters. We are so thankful that they were willing to come spend Christmas with us. In fact this was the first time in 52 years that Jordan's parents had celebrated Christmas anywhere other than Waco. Isn't that crazy.

Jordan and I would also like to thank you all for your thoughtful gifts and for the time that we got to spend with you all. We love you.

Winterwonderland in South Louisiana

This past week has been filled with finishing touches for Christmas and spending time with friends. Jordan has been busy working with Dr. Ross in surgery and being on call every four or five days and I have been getting the groceries and shopping for last minute gifts and stocking stuffers. I love going to the stores and seeing all the people trying to figure out what the perfect gift will be for their loved ones. I just love the Christmas season period.

Saturday evening we went to dinner with our Richard, Sheralyn and Sheralyn's parents and aunt who were in town for the holidays from Virginia. We ate at Boutin's which is a Cajun seafood restaurant that has live music and dancing on Friday and Saturday evenings. Yes...we took a spin around the dance floor, but we were definitely no comparison to a sweet elderly couple that was probably in their late 70's or early 80's. they were awesome. They could cut some rug.

Here are a few pictures from the past week

.

Holiday Preparations

It's been a busy couple of weeks. I have finally recovered from a stomach bug that I must have contracted last week. I was down for a couple days, but I am back to feeling healthy and planning for our holiday guest.
Since I have missed about a week of posting I'll bring you up to speed on what has been going on with us. Last Tuesday we took a residency applicant to dinner at a great restaurant called Juban's...if you are ever in town you should defintely splurge and do dinner here. Other exciting news from last week is that we go snow here...that's right we had about 2-3" of snow on the ground. It was a winter wonderland in the capital. I think practically everyone was outside taking in the freezing cold and building snowmen. I was sick so I enjoyed from the warmth of our home. Jordan did wake me up at 6AM to show me the snow and save my plants.
Jordan was on call Saturday so my friend Michelle and I went to the Farmer's market for coffee and shopping and then we spent the rest of the day making pottery gifts at POTTERY WORKS. I would also recommend this if you haven't done it already. It's great you go in and pick out the pottery piece that you want to paint; you get six different colors to paint with and then you go to town. When you're finished you leave it there so they can glaze it and fire it. I haven't seen my finished project, but it should be ready before Christmas...at least I hope so because some folks will be without presents if not.
As is tradition in our house Jordan and I watch countless Christmas movies throughout the month of December and we read several Christmas books together. Some of our all time favorite must reads are Cosmic Christmas by Max Lucado, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson, The Legend of the Christmas Stocking by Rick Osborne.
Jordan is on call again today so I have been busy around the house planning the menu for our Christmas dinner. Finally, all of those Southern Living magazines and Recipe books are coming in handy. I don't want to give away the menu otherwise I would post some of the recipes. maybe later.

7 days till Christmas. . .

Peppermint Crunch Cookies

O.K. so one of the many reasons that I love the Christmas holidays is all the wonderful baked goods. This was a first for me today, and by the expression on Jordan's face when he tried one just minutes ago when he walked in the door from work they are winners in the Downing household. They also give the house a nice peppermint fragrance. After finishing my list of things to do today and before taking off to BSF this was my afternoon project because the cookie jar was empty.

I must give credit for the recipe where it is do. I found it on the back of the Andes Peppermint Crunch baking chips bag.

Peppermint Crunch Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter, softened

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup sweetened grated coconut

1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts (optional)

1 1/2 cup Andes peppermint crunch baking chips

directions:

preheat oven to 300 degrees.

using an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes at medium speed) Beat in egg and vanilla extract. On low speed, add baking soda, salt and then flour. mix completely. stir in oats, coconut, pecans and Andes peppermint crunch baking chips. Measure about 1 tbsp for small cookies. place round balls on lightly greased cookie sheet two inches apart. press lightly. sprinkle some of the remaining chips on top of each cookie. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Do not over bake. they get crunchy on the outside but remain soft inside. remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

HAPPY BAKING!!!!

Christmas and Canasta

The parties have begun for the Christmas season. Last night Jordan and I attended a wine and appetizer party for my medical alliance canasta club. That's right...in case you missed it I joined a Canasta club with some doctor's wives so we get together once a month to play canasta, but this month we had a Christmas get together instead so that we could eat, visit and bring our hubbies. Did you catch the part about the wine....yeah we are definitely not the wine connoisseurs so we had no idea what to bring, so we went with creative and brought TEXAS wine from the great Llano Estacado winery in Lubbock, TX.
2 party funnies for you...
1) my appetizer of ham delights was a hit so thank you Stephanie for sharing that recipe with me long ago....she made this frequently for our Sunday School parties and I love them.

Ham Delights

2 packs of 12 count Hawaiian sweet bread

2 sticks of butter

3tbsp poppy seed

3 tbsp mustard

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 lb. boiled ham

1/2 lb. Swiss cheese

what to do:

cut rolls to open them like a sandwich

mix together butter, poppy seed, mustard, Worcestershire; spread mixture on both sides of open bread

place slice of ham and cheese on each roll

wrap assembled rolls in aluminum foil and bake in oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees

O.k the funny thing is that I brought these to the party on a cute snowman plate, but while it is cute for parties with our Sunday school class and with our friends in our home it was a little under dressed for this party sitting next to the silver platters and crystal trays. I'll have to note that for my next party and dig out some of those wedding gifts that I hardly ever get to use.

2) The house that we went to was immaculate and beautifully decorated for the Christmas season. They even had a wine cellar with about a thousand bottles of wine from vineyards all over the world. Oh by the way...I don't really like wine so this is way out of my element, but I was up for the adventure of tasting. The first wine I tried was o.k., but the second one I was offered tasted like wood. Yuk! So, I politely carried the glass around for the next hour. I'll stick with Dr Pepper thanks.

Next weekend I will be doubling myself to attend two of our holiday parties that are scheduled for the same time and Jordan will be on call. I'll let you know how that goes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS AND LAUREN!!!

Thank You Sheralyn...

Today I had lunch with my friend Sheralyn and her son Nasby and then we followed up with some shopping at the Kohl's 50% off sale. I was looking for a centerpiece for our dining room table so when we saw these stars; Sheralyn thought of the grand idea of putting some garland around them. The stars come individually and I found the garland with the berries and pine cones already attached at Big Lots 50% off sale today. Great idea Sheralyn...Jordan was impressed with the new centerpiece. I am really excited that I can disassemble it all and change it up from year to year.
I have been busy at work getting our home decorated before all the parties start and family arrives. My next projects are to gather all my recipes and see what I can start to make ahead of time so that I don't have to spend the holiday in the kitchen when I'd rather be visiting with everyone. If you happen to be reading this and have some great fix ahead recipes send them my way...i love variety and really love trying new things.
By the way this is random but over Thanksgiving I tried a few new recipes that I will share with you.
1. Pumpkin dip - mix 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, 8oz softened cream cheese, 7oz jar marshmallow creme, and cinnamon to taste.....mix all ingredients together until smooth....refrigerate 2-3 hours or overnight...serve with shortbread cookies and fruit slices.
2. Pesto dip...mix 8oz of cream cheese and 1/4 pesto...refrigerate overnight...serve with crackers and veggies
3. French Toast Casserole...preheat oven 350 degrees...grease 9x13 pan...mix in bowl 8 eggs, 3 cups half and half...slice one french loaf into 1 inch slices and lay flat, 1 layer on the bottom of the pan...pour liquid over bread...slice 2tbsp of butter and cut into pieces scatter over bread...sprinkle top with cinnamon...bake 45-50 minutes or until lightly browned
(it is best if you mix it together the night before and cover with foil and let sit in refrigerator overnight and then bake in morning) We put fruit sauce on ours- i mixed one frozen bag of berries with sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan over medium heat until it made a thick sauce to pour over french toast.)
Enjoy!!!

Thanksgiving

Jordan and I had a great time with our families over the Thanksgiving break. We spent the holiday at my parent's house in Conroe, TX. Jordan's mom and dad and youngest sister Whitney drove in from Waco to spend Thanksgiving day and Black Friday with us. The pictures above are from the dinner preparations. My absolute favorite is of Jordan and his mom when they got caught stealing a bit of pumpkin roll of the dessert table when they thought no one was looking. Gotcha!!!

On Friday morning my mom, Jordan's mom and I braved shopping in the wee hours of the morning. We left the house at 3:45AM and made it to Kohl's just when the doors were opening at 4:00AM. The line was unbelievable. It wrapped around the front of the store and into the parking lot. I thought my mother-in-law was done for when we drove in the parking lot and she saw the line. Her first words were, "I'll stay in the car".....she was brave though and got out and waited in line with us. I think after getting in the store and finding some great deals she was in full swing. After we hit the sales at Kohl's my mom had a few items she wanted to get a deal on at Walmart so she went ahead of us. Yikes! Let me just say it's not easy finding your mom in a super Walmart when she doesn't have her cell phone on her. Don't worry....I found her finally. Our final destination was the mall which we found to be pretty calm considering the madness at Kohl's and Walmart.

Friday afternoon we had the opportunity to meet with our old friends Chuck, Melissa and their 15month old daughter Abby. Chuck and Melissa moved to Arkansas almost a year ago to serve at a small church near Fort Smith. It was wonderful to meet with them over lunch and hear about life in Arkansas. Later that evening we attended the play Scrooge with my family.

On Saturday as if we had not had enough shopping already my mom, Jordan and I ventured out to Kohl's, Garden Ridge, Central Market, and Eddie Bauer to catch a few Saturday only specials.

We really enjoyed the time with both of our families and now we are gearing up for the Christmas holidays as each of our families will be joining us here the week of Christmas and New Years.