'Tis the Baking Season

As we were decorating our tree, we explained that it was for Baby Jesus' birthday, so now Abby thinks that Baby Jesus is actually IN our Christmas tree. When we turn on the lights she gasps and says "Look at Him!! Baby Jesus! Aww." (Have I mentioned lately that I love my camera?! Thanks again Love. You're too good to me!)

This year I have way more time than we have money, so all of our Christmas gifts are going to be homemade. Last week it dawned on me that the postal mail cut off for Christmas delivery is fast approaching. No biggie. Except that I have NOTHING done!! Not one single project is completed. I've always said that I work better under pressure and here I am proving it to be true yet again.

If you're expecting a Christmas package from me, I'd stop reading now. Unless of course you need a reason to stalk your mail carrier until it arrives! 

Friday and Saturday were spent working on crafty gifts for grandparents and some other pretty special people. I am so excited to share this project with you (my one faithful follower!), but you're just going to have to wait a few more weeks! The rest of my weekend was spent working up a baking plan and shopping for the coming week's meals and baking mayhem.

Today I was given the rare opportunity to sleep in. (Thanks Husband!) When I woke up I got straight to work - I baked bread for the second time this week, made coffee chocolate cake, Bailey's Irish Cream frosting, Orange-Almond-Cranberry Biscotti and Spritz/Press/Butter/Whatever You Want To Call Them Cookies. Then I made Slow Cooked Ratatuille with Polenta for dinner. After I cleaned up dinner and got Abby off to bed, I formed cake balls, which are now hanging out in the freezer waiting to be coated in chocolate tomorrow. I have also prepped for tomorrow's meals and measured dry ingredients for making Gingerbread Cookies and Peppermint Cocoa Kiss Cookies. Phew.

Oh my goodness I don't even think I can tell you how many times I have washed my mixer today! I am exhausted, but I absolutely must get a workout in tonight to make up for all of the finger-licking and taste testing I did today...and will do again tomorrow! For tonight, I will leave you with a few pictures and a promise for recipes to come!

Slow-Cooked Ratatouille and Polenta from America's Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. Hands down heartiest meatless meal I have ever made. I will definitely be adding this recipe to our regular rotation!

Orange-Cranberry-Almond Biscotti cooling and waiting for some white chocolate lovin'.

I love just plain ol' vanilla Spritz Cookies. It must be the simplicity and the less is more philosophy.  That and my cookie press was given to me by a very special person and I think of her so fondly every time I use it.

New Camera & A Day at the Farm

I have to start by telling you all how much I dislike the auto save function. After over an hour of work on this post I accidentally deleted everything and at that very moment Blogger decided to auto save. Are you joking me right now? Nope. Can't undo. So... I will start again... from scratch. Only this time it will be better. I hope.

You may have noticed the sudden appearance of pictures in my posts, due entirely to the fact that I have an amazing husband who recently gave me a camera that I have been wanting for a long, long time as an early Christmas present.

When I was in high school I was a photographer for the school newspaper and yearbook. In my junior year, I won a JEA award for black and white photography from prints that I'd made with about five minutes of darkroom instruction. I later took a few classes at the junior college and have dreamed of having my own darkroom ever since. There is just something incredible about the process of making something appear where nothing was before. I like to think that it's the closest I will ever feel to how God felt when He created the earth.

It's been less than ten years since I spent my summer afternoons in the cool basement darkroom on the RCC campus and a lot has changed. I'm not even sure that DSLRs existed then and if they did I certainly didn't know about it. Darkrooms and the skills that paved the way for Photoshop are now obsolete. Then cell phones were just phones and now the camera on my phone is a higher quality than the first digital point and shoot I owned. The one thing that hasn't changed, thankfully, is good composition.

I am still in the process of familiarizing myself with my new camera, but am very pleased with it so far! Abby is my most photographed and most difficult subject, but she's getting used to having the paparazzi around and I'm getting better at utilizing more than just the shutter button! I am pretty rusty though, so I am planning on going through all of my old photography class assignments and redoing them. I'm planning to post them as I go and hope to be able to include samples of my 35mm assignments as well.

We took a little family outing on Sunday to drop off our flatbed trailer at a friend's farm. It was a gorgeous day, but bitter cold wind kept us from staying out for as long as we (read: Abby) would have liked. Abby was able to chase chickens, collect eggs, pet barn cats, bunnies, sheep and even sit on a horse.

This picture is very special to me and I'll tell you why - when I was pregnant Greg fell in love with the name Abigail for several reasons, but mainly I think because of it's dual meaning "joy of the Father". This picture  captures my husband's joy and love for his daughter in a way that words can't even begin to describe. To anyone who doesn't know my husband this might just look like a picture of a smiling man, but to me and to those who know him well there is much more to be seen. My husband doesn't smile and when he does his teeth don't show. I have loved watching him grow over the years and I am excited to see him continue to grow through the coming stages of our life.

This is JL and her favorite horse, Hannah. JL and her family have been such a big part of our lives for the last three years. It's a long and funny story about how God brings people into your lives when you need them the most, how persistent, good and faithful He is when you resist His will.

JL is an amazing woman and I am so blessed to know her. This big smile says so much of what I can't put into words about her.

This is JL's littlest, the youngest of five. He is the most animated, courteous, and adorable five year old that I have ever known! I just love this kid! I could take his picture all day... what a ham!

Thanks L family for a wonderful day and for being such wonderful people!