Soul Satisfying Winter Soup

The flu and winter colds are currently making their way around Seattle with a vengeance.  We have been washing hands and spraying sanitizer like mad trying to keep it out of our home, but to no avail.  Our family spent the weekend, laying low, quarantined due to snotty noses and fevers.  I thought today would be the day to get out for an adventure, but unfortunately the symptoms persist.  I am a firm believer in keeping germs to ourselves when possible,  so, in order to assuage my own bout with stir craziness I started looking around for a cooking project to stimulate the senses.

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I love soup.  It is one of the things I really enjoy cooking (and eating).  There is something so soul satisfying about eating a bowl of homemade soup.  While sick kiddos napped today, I tried a new recipe.  I had been thinking about the  Portobella Mushroom Soup served at Palomino Restaurant and how the mushroom soups I have tried to make in the past just did not live up to it.  So, being the resourceful gal that I am, I googled “palomino portobello mushroom soup”, just to see if someone else had imagined recreating this deliciousness.  Ha!  The first thing on the list is a recipe on epicurious.com, receiving 3.5/4 stars.  I may not be very creative with this idea, but I am also not the only one fantasizing about this yummy soup!  The one annoyance with this particular recipe is that it looks to be scaled down from the large restaurant recipe with a few errors.  The below recipe is adapted and inspired by both Palomino and epicurious.

Portobello Mushroom Soup

2/3 cup unsalted butter
2 medium leeks (white and green) cross sliced at 1/4″
1 large yellow onion, diced
8 oz portabello mushrooms, chopped
12 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup all- purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock, plus 2 cups water
2 oz. dry sherry
8 oz cream
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1/4 t. kosher salt

Melt 1/3 of the butter in a stock pot over medium heat.  Add leaks and onions.  Saute until tender.  Add mushrooms and saute for five minutes.  In a second pot, melt remaining butter.  Add flour and cook roux for five minutes.  Slowly add in chicken stock and whisk until incorporated.  Add water, whisk until incorporated.  Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring frequently to keep roux from sticking to bottom of pot.  Add cream, cayenne pepper and salt to mushroom and leek mixture.  Stir in sherry.  Strain the thickened chicken stock mixture into the mushroom and leek mixture. Let soup slowly simmer for an additional 15 minutes or until all ingredients are completely incorporated.  Adjust consistency by adding more water or a touch more cream as necessary.  (I blended a portion of the soup in order to achieve a little smoother texture.)  Garnish soup with a swirl of port wine.

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I am very happy with how this recipe turned out.  The ingredients of sherry and cayenne pepper add a kick and help capture the depth and complexity of the Palomino version.  I will definitely be making this recipe again.  This soup may not exactly be low in fat, but it is made with real ingredients and when paired with a simple green salad makes for a lovely and satisfying winter dinner.

We will be enjoying it tonight!

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Author note: I am the first to say this is not the most beautiful soup to look at, but I guarantee that it is delicious!

Love Note to Our Nanny

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About a year ago, life changed in a big way for our family.  No, I am not talking about the birth of our daughter… well, one thing led to another, I suppose.  No, I am talking about the addition of a nanny to our family unit.

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While pregnant with Tatum, it was clear to me that if another chickadee was going to join the nest, this mama needed some help!  Still, I was reluctant to ask for assistance, and even more reluctant to really want another person floating around in our midst.  Although this person was only going to work part-time for us, being a stay-at-home mom, I realized I would need to like this individual, as well as respect him or her.

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As a first step, we enlisted the help of a tried and true nanny placement service to help us find our very own Mary Poppins.  We went about our search, meeting various people who looked great on paper, realizing that no matter how great someone’s resume was, we were looking for someone who would just “click” with our family.  I had been advised by a veteran-nanny-searching-parent that “with the right person, it won’t feel strange to have someone in your home”.  So, like finding a mate, chemistry obviously plays a big part in finding a nanny.  After a few missed connections with nannies from the service, I began to wonder if we would, in fact, find someone.  Already the baby was born and we were still searching with no great leads on the horizon… Then, as luck or fate would have it, the perfect person fell into our life at the perfect time.  We spent a few weeks gingerly feeling around the edges of this new relationship, wondering if this person might like us as much as we liked her.  Thankfully, the rest is history.

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Dear Andrea,

We think you are wonderful and feel so lucky to know you.  Thank you for all that you do to keep our family moving forward.  You are flexible and kind and have mixed right into our chaos.  You add order to our mess and fun to our routine.  Because of you, I know my way around our ironing board (whereas before I didn’t even know where it was).  Our laundry is washed, folded, and put away (often on the same day)!  You are the extra set of hands that allow me to hold my baby and not feel guilty that the dishes haven’t been done.  You are the board that I bounce ideas off of and you keep me accountable with all the projects I take on.  Your refreshingly frank nature means that you usually mention if you think my methods could use a little tweaking.  You are teaching me that it is okay to ask for help.  I trust, respect, and like you… The kids love you.  We love you.  Thank you.  You don’t know how much this means to our family.

Love, The Poole Family

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This has been a pivotal year for all of us.  It speaks to growth, change, and adaptability.  Our family is larger now, not by one, but by two.  This is not a forever situation.  There will come a day (sooner than I would like), when our nanny will move on with her own life.  The relationship will change, but my hope is that she will stay a part of our family.  By total chance, we found someone who has grown to love us as much as we love her.  We feel so lucky.

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January Giardiniera

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Do you remember when summer was in full bloom and it was difficult to believe that grey winter months would eventually and inevitably arrive?  Here we are in the post-holiday winter and I have been smugly cracking open preserves right and left, in an effort to breathe a little summer color and flavor into our January doldrums.  This is the time that I feel I should take some good notes about what we are enjoying and using up, so that when canning season arrives again, I will know what the favorites of 2012 were.  So far my list includes raspberry freezer jam and fig preserves (of course).  Also, after a busy December of gifting and parties, I see that my pickle  supply is totally gone!

Giardiniera is the official name for a mix of spicy pickled vegetables with Italian roots.  This is a recipe I have been wanting to try for awhile now.  I have purchased mixed vegetable pickle products from the grocery store before and not been terribly inspired, but the idea of making my own intrigues me.  The vegetables typically included are carrots, celery, bell peppers and cauliflower, making it a perfect mid-winter project – just the thing to tide my canning interests over until warmer weather arrives!

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Most of the work on this recipe is done at the front-end, simply chopping all the vegetables.  Giardiniera is a wonderful project to try with friends, as the work can be divided at the beginning and then the spoils can be shared as well.  Once made, these vegetables are delicious on an antipasto platter or right out of the jar.  (I doubt ours will even make it to a platter before they are eaten up!)  I invited a few friends over to try the America’s Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook version of Giardiniera.  We split up the vegetables so that we were all responsible for chopping one or two types prior to meeting up.  Then, once together, the pickling was a very straight forward process.  We quadrupled the above recipe which worked out well, allowing us each to take home four plus pint jars.

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GIARDINIERA

1/2 head of califlower (1 pound), cored and cut into 1/2-inch florets

3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick on bias

3 celery ribs, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces

1 red bell pepper, stemmed and seeded, and cut into 1/2 inch wide strips

2 serrano chiles, stemmed and sliced thin

4 garlic cloves, sliced thin

1 cup fresh dill

2 3/4 cups white wine vinegar

2 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup Diamond Crystal kosher salt

Toss cauliflower, carrots, celery, bell pepper, serranos, and garlic together in large bowl until combined.  Transfer vegetables to jars with tight-fitting lids.

Bundle dill in cheesecloth and tie with kitchen twine to secure.  Combine dill sachet, vinegar, water, sugar, and salt in large saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Cover, removed from heat, and let steep for 10 minutes.  Discard dill sachet.  Return brine to boil.

Pour brine evenly over vegetables.  Let cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for 7 days before eating.  Pickles can be refrigerated for up to 1 month.

To Process for Long-Term Storage:  In step 1, don’t pack jars with vegetables.  Prepare brine as directed in step 2, then transfer vegetables to hot, sterilized 1-pint jars.  Pour brine, while still hot, evenly over vegetables, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace at top.  Process in water canning bath for 10 minutes.

Makes four 1-pint jars

Make today, enjoy in 1 week

Note: I decided to split our project into two batches to test some variations.  In one batch we omitted the serrano chiles in case our spice-sensitive kids might want to give these veggies a try.  Another variation we tried was white wine vinegar in one batch and white balsamic vinegar in the other, just for fun.  Crazy times around here!  In both, I split the amount of wine vinegar with distilled white vinegar, since I had lots of distilled white vinegar on hand and not as much white wine.  It worked fine.  I was so curious, I couldn’t even wait a week before breaking into these.  One of my jars did not seal, so I just opened it right up.  I tried the spicy white wine vinegar version and they are fantastic.  We will definitely be making these again!

Enjoy!

Hello, Cupcake

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“Winter White and One” was the theme of the party.  It was important to me that Tatum’s first birthday party feel intimate and differentiated from the Christmas celebrations we had been involved in days before.  I envisioned wiping away the holiday from one room and replacing the red and green with clean, white everything.  I liked the idea of white cupcakes on white cake plates – white, white, white… but also wanted to find some unfussy design element that would help commemorate this milestone for my little girl.

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There is a company I learned about called Ticings that makes “tattoos” for cupcakes.  I was very intrigued by these when I came across them in a magazine.  If their product was not cool enough, Ticings currently has an artist doing custom silhouette art for them.  Perfect!  Despite my late planning and holiday business, Ticings was able to accommodate all my requests and the customer service was a dream.  I sent in a photo of Tatum and days later received custom cupcake tattoos with my baby girl’s silhouette.  I also asked for the artwork to keep as a momento of the day.

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Since I had already spent some money on the tattoos, I figured that I better bake the cupcakes versus purchase designer ones.  I am a mediocre baker at best with a very old oven, so I was a little intimidated, but figured it would all work out.  (At this point, it might have benefitted me to read the directions on the Ticings packaging, as my cupcakes were not as flat as they recommended which made application more difficult.)  A few years ago I was given a cookbook called, “Hello, Cupcake! : Irresistably playful creations anyone can make”.  Most of the cupcakes in this cookbook are fun to look at, but not something I would attempt in real life.  My favorite thing about this cookbook is in the back there are some tips and tricks and recipes for semi-homemade cupcakes and frostings.  The authors allow that homemade is usually best, but in a pinch there are ways to improve flavor and texture from store bought mixes, etc… Their “Perfect Cake-Mix Cupcakes” have worked really well for me:

Perfect Cake-Mix Cupcakes from Hello, Cupcake!

1 box (18.25 ounces) cake mix (French vanilla, devil’s food, or yellow)

(Note from PP5: I like Trader Joe’s brand)

1 cup buttermilk (in place of the water called for on the box)

Vegetable oil (the amount on the box)

4 large eggs (in place of the number called for on the box)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Follow the box instructions, putting all the ingredients in a large bowl and using the buttermilk in place of the water specified (the box will call for more water than the amount of buttermilk that you are using), using the amount of vegetable oil that is called for, and adding the eggs.  Beat with an electric mixer until moistened, about 30 seconds.  Increase the speed to high and beat until thick, 2 minutes longer.

Spoon half of the batter into a ziplock bag.  Snip a 1/4 inch corner from the bag and fill the paper liners 2/3 full.  Repeat with the remaining batter.  Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean 15-20 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes from the baking pans, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool completely.

Next, I used one of the cookbook’s frostings and was very happy with the result.

Almost-Homemade Vanilla Buttercream

Makes 3 1/2 cups

1 container (16 ounces) Marshmallow Fluff

3 sticks (3/4 pound) unsalted butter, softened and cut into 1-inch pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus additional sugar if necessary

Spoon Marshmallow Fluff into a large bowl.  (Marshmellow Fluff twice in one month?!?!?)  Beat with an electric mixer on low.  Gradually add the butter pieces, well after each addition, until smooth.  Add the vanilla extract and the 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar.  Scrape the bowl well to incorporate.  Add more confectioners’ sugar, if necessary, to adjust the texture.

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As we were frosting these cupcakes, my sister and I were unsure about how messy the frosting looked.  My mom had a helpful tip that I will pass on to you.  After frosting your cupcakes, run your knife under hot water and wipe over frosted cupcake for an ultra-smooth look.  (note: The cupcakes were definitely a group effort – thanks, ladies!  The moral support was the best part of all.)

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I will admit that the Ticings cupcake tattoos were a little more difficult to apply than I had hoped.  We used their gold  sprinkles to cover mistakes around the edges.  In the end, I love the modern look of the silhouette on the cupcake.  I was and am really happy with the result!

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The family enjoyed a beautiful morning.  Cupcakes were a hit and the birthday girl couldn’t have been happier.  Tatum is sporting a Poole Party Designs original and sitting in her custom chair from Auntie.  It is safe to say she enjoyed her day!  Success!

What a Difference a Year Makes

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This week my baby turned one.  Her birthday coincides with the the New Year holiday; a time for fresh starts, moving forward, and reflection.

I find that I am always sentimental during the first anniversary of the days, hours, and minutes before any of my baby’s births.  I think about what we were doing “at this time last year.”  I try to imagine the impossibility of what it felt like not to have met the little person we have spent the last year loving.  I think of my labor and when the contractions started.  Were we at the hospital?  Were we at home still?  Was Nana here yet to take care of the boys?  I have been blessed with straightforward, lovely births, so this reminiscing evokes a feeling of love and empowerment (I know that I am lucky on this front).  These memories are something I treasure as a gift my children have given me.  I never knew I could be so strong as during the births of my children.  My last baby has just turned one and is moving out of babyhood.  She walks and climbs and is beginning to talk.  As I say goodbye to the birth chapter of life, it is with bittersweet feelings.  I hope to carry with me the strength I experienced in birth into my future adventures.

2012 draws to a close and I am struck by how different life feels this year versus last.  Last year we were in love with our newborn, wondering how we would get through the first days, let alone the year, as a family of five.  I think about how we were closer with some friends and alternatively more distanced from some family.  Poole Party of 5 did not exist.  We didn’t know who our next president would be.  What a difference a year makes…  I grew up with a phrase that my mom would tell me in times of discord.  She would say, “Make friends with change.”  Of course there is not a much truer sentiment, yet it drove me crazy.  Nothing stays the same.  We know this in our heads, but I believe it is harder for our hearts to accept.  I friend recently said, “Think back five years to what your life was…”  Well, we had a 6-month old little boy that we loved deeply, but were still getting to know.  We lived in a different house, in a different city.  We didn’t know what our family would become, or who our little guy would be.  One year is a blink.  Five years is a deep breath in and out…

While I was in labor with Tatum last year, the song playing on the iPod when she was born was “One Day” by Matisyahu.  It is such a powerful message for peace.  I love the imagery of my baby entering the world with such a hopeful message.  (I have linked to the video and copied the first verse lyrics below.)

Video Link (click here)

sometimes I lay
under the moon
and thank God I’m breathing
then I pray
don’t take me soon
cause I am here for a reason
sometimes in my tears I drown
but I never let it get me down
so when negativity surrounds
I know some day it’ll all turn around
because
all my life I’ve been waiting for
I’ve been praying for
for the people to say
that we don’t wanna fight no more
there’ll be no more wars
and our children will play
one day (x6)

As much as things change, we do have elements that continue, unmarred by the date on the calendar.  My wish for the future is peace and a time when “there’ll be no more wars / and our children will play”.  I don’t know if this will happen in my lifetime, but maybe in our children’s lifetimes.  I still wonder why I am here, but I know that one of my purposes was to be a mom.  To love my children and my husband with all that I have.  To give forgiveness when someone hurts me and to try not to do harm to others.  I’m not big on New Year resolutions; every year they are the same – dental floss more and exercise more.  But maybe a hope for peace is good too.

Christmas Fudge

Note:  I started this blog on a whim, not really having any idea how to do it, where it would go, or what I would write about (or if anyone would read it).  I didn’t expect to enjoy it quite so much.  I thought of it as an exercise that might be good for me or allow a larger conversation to begin about what might be next on my life agenda after having these babes… As the year comes to a close, I am enjoying thinking about how this blog is evolving.  The blog has allowed me to ponder thoughts and memories out loud.  Hopefully these meanderings have an element of universality so that on occasion they hit a chord with you and allow you a moment of introspection as well.  Anyway, that is my hope…

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My grandmother made Christmas lovely.  As I have mentioned in a previous post, the women of my family have an attention to detail and a love of beautiful things.  Being of German descent, Christmas Eve was the big deal on her side of the family and my sister and I always looked forward to the Christmas Eve celebration at her home.  Her table was set just so, in the same familiar way each year, with china and silver and little wooden snowmen.  As is custom in the German tradition, presents are opened on Christmas Eve, so that, too, was exciting to us.  We could barely contain ourselves as we sat through a traditionally long dinner; instead salivating over the presents we knew were waiting for us.  Part of what my grandmother clearly understood was the ability to truly think of the individual when giving a gift.  We knew that we would love whatever she had picked out and felt her love, through her recognition of our individuality.  The gifts of the past are a happy blur, but the love I felt when looking at a package she had carefully wrapped stays with me.

One of the gifts I remember that she gave year after year was a gift to my father, a notoriously difficult one to purchase for.  Instead of trying to find one more “thing” he wanted or needed she made him fudge.  Each year he would open the tin and find individually wrapped pieces of her Christmas Fudge and immediately dive in.  I believe he loved it – both the gesture and the fudge recipe itself.  I few months back I referenced my grandmother’s book of recipes that have been in my possession since she passed.  Her Christmas Fudge is one of the recipes that was inside.  I tried it for the first time this year and my father will be receiving it for Christmas.  I hope I do the memory justice.

CHRISTMAS FUDGE

(taken from my grandmother’s handwritten recipe)

48-60 pieces

3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cups Parkay margerine (I used butter)

2/3 cups (5 1/3 oz can) Carnation evaporated milk

1 – 12 oz package semi sweet chocolate bits

1 – 7 oz jar Kraft marshmallow creme

More than 1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (1/2 of a 6 oz jar)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

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Combine sugar, margerine & milk; bring to a rolling boil, stirring frequently.

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Keep lid on as much as possible to prevent graininess.  Boil 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly (mixture burns easily).

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Remove from heat; stir in chocolate bits until melted.  Add marshmallow creme, peanut butter, nuts, and vanilla; beat until well blended.  Pour into a greased 13″x9″ pan.  Cool.  Cut in squares.  To store, wrap pieces separately in Saran & put in a cookie tin.

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This was my first go around with any kind of fudge and found it to be quite easy!  I’m sure there are a million and one variations that one can do depending on your tastes.  This particular recipe has a nice chocolate flavor with a twist of peanut butter and a certain mellowness that I believe comes from the marshmallow creme.  I literally laughed out loud when I looked over this recipe, as the family tradition of quoting the necessity of marshmallow creme for random recipes (that definitely do not call for it) has been a long standing joke in the family.  This is the first recipe from the family that I have ever seen that actually does call for it!

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Poole Party Gift Ideas

THERE IS STILL TIME!!

:: Order your holiday onesies for wearing now…

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:: And your monogram totes and shirts for easy gifting!

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:: Free gift wrap available and custom orders encouraged!

:: We are happy to send gifts directly to your recipient, to help you check things off your list!

:: Happy Holidays from Poole Party Designs

A Bright Idea

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So there is a wonderful little item on the market that you might just add to your wishlist this holiday season… Michael’s sells Submersible LED Lights.  Have you ever heard of such a thing?  These little lights are so fun.  I placed them inside Cranberry Rosemary Arrangements and they just made the whole thing glow!

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Cranberry Rosemary Arrangements

For these arrangements, I used empty mason jars for my vase.  I placed a ring of rosemary in the bottom of the jar and then dropped a light or two in the center at the base.  By doing this, the lights shine through the greenery of the rosemary and the rosemary hides some of the light casing.  Remember to turn on your lights before you do any more steps, as the arrangement will need to be taken apart in order to remove the lights.

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Then drop a couple handfuls of fresh cranberries on top of the lights and fill the jars with water.  Adjust the water and cranberry amounts until you are happy with the amount of space between the floating cranberries and the rosemary at the bottom of the jar.  (In a few of the jars I inserted a few sprigs of rosemary that I had tied together with hemp twine to add to the height of the arrangement and maintain the natural evergreen look I was going for.) DSC_0034 DSC_0035

Lastly, tie a burlap ribbon around the top of the jar.  These arrangements are beautiful as well as wonderfully aromatic!  Happy decorating!

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Traditions Lost and Found

Things have been quiet on the blog lately, but not quiet elsewhere.  I have been enjoying my family, my life, and the holidays and I am sure you will agree that there is tremendous value in that.  But, I have missed you as well.

I am struck by this very specific time of year and how much there is – of everything.  The number of catalogs arriving in my mailbox each day is staggering.  Emails with special promotions and stocking stuffer ideas keep coming.  Meanwhile, my breath is taken away by the small bits of beauty all around us from the twinkling lights to the look of awe in my children’s eyes as they experience something new.

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As holiday preparations begin, we all are thinking about how to make this time special both for ourselves and for those around us.  In our house we are striving for a “less is more” attitude, realizing that little people and big people can get overwhelmed easily and then some of the fun is lost.  By staying loose and in the moment, we are working towards keeping the sanity.  It is December 2nd and so far we are doing well, except for one thing…

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I grew up going to the Frederick and Nelson department store each year and taking Santa photos with my sister.  I’m sure at the time we hated it (sort of), but my mom was diligent about this task and dressed us beautifully each year.  The attendants gave out candy canes to help kids wait patiently for their turn with Santa, and inevitably one of us would adhere said candy cane to our velvet dress.  I remember that this tradition was important, but that my mom kept her head and sanity.  The best part of all is that my mother kept these photographs safe and framed them for us chronologically.  Now both my sister and I have sixteen years of our life together documented in a very tangible way.  We put these frames up every year during the holidays and enjoy looking back at these years from our youth.

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I have adopted this tradition with my own family.  It is something that I enjoy doing with my mom and truly appreciate the extra hands-on help that she gives.  We have gone to the downtown Seattle Nordstrom Santa for the past 5 years and have figured out a proven strategy for success.  We go in the morning, mid-week, and my mom patiently waits in line, making friends with the helpful elves, until our entourage arrives polished and pressed.  Then we wait in line, with coloring to do and cookies to eat until we reach Santa… This process has worked to varying degrees that usually start out with bravado and long lists for Santa and end in timid visits, with possibly a tantrum thrown in for good measure.  All great.  In fact, the crying photos are some of my favorites… after the fact.

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In the past few days I have been tearing my hair out because I cannot lay my hands on these precious photographs.  We moved homes a couple of years ago and then promptly started a remodel on the room that I can picture the photographs in.  I know where they were in our old house and I can almost picture the box I stashed them in quickly as the last boxes were being taped up – but I have looked and looked and they elude me still.  I know they are only photographs.  My head knows this.  I also know that I have my own snapshots of most of those years as well, as documentation that the event occurred.  But, to my heart this does not feel the same.  Believe me, I do understand that this is not a big deal in the grand scheme of life.  But, I know how much I love looking at the photos of my youth each year and my children are getting to be of an age where I believe they would love this tradition as well.  To see them overcome their fears of Santa year by year, to see their baby faces turn into the faces that will carry them through life.  I will hold out hope.  There is a possibility that these photos are in a very special place that I will come across some warm July day, while searching for sunglasses and feel that I have been given a gift.  A similar thing happened with my wedding band a few years ago.  I discovered that it was lost and figured it was gone forever.  We even had my two-year old’s stomach x-rayed, wondering if he had swallowed it (nope).  I almost gave up hope of finding this small ring of metal that could literally be anywhere in our house or beyond.  It technically could be replaced, but not truly.  Then, one random day, my older son found the ring in his underwear drawer.  Stranger things have happened, I’m sure.

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So, here’s to traditions – both lost and found.  Wish me luck.