I’ve been having trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I’m not sure why. I’m usually a very jolly fellow around this time of year. Usually starting the day after Thanksgiving I have the Christmas tunes going and am stapling lights to the house hoping to be the brightest house on the block. But this year, I didn’t even put out a wreath. I’m not sure what it is. Maybe it’s because I’m not at work excited about getting a few days off, or maybe I’m nervous about what’s to come in the New Year. I’m really not sure why, but I knew I had to make an effort to get into the spirit. This is Ellie’s first Christmas and this is when we can start building our traditions. I can’t be a Scrooge for this. So I decided to do some holiday baking to get into the mood.
NIPS
I love fall. I love everything about fall. I love the cool crisp air. I love the sound of the dry leaves beneath my feet. I love the apple orchard trips filled with apples, pumpkin donuts, and cider. I love carving my Halloween pumpkin. I love watching horror movies. I have a list of movies I try to watch every October. I love the food. The squashes, the apples, the pears, and the pumpkins. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin donuts, I even developed my own pumpkin meatloaf recipe with a pumpkin gravy. And with me being in charge of the kitchen these days, I’ve never been so excited for a magazine to arrive at my house. I was greatly anticipating the arrival of my Cooking Light magazine. The October issue.
LADIES, BABIES, and LUNCH
Now that I’ve had a couple months of being a stay-at-home Dad under my belt, I felt it was time to host a lunch. I’ve been out to lunch a few times with Ellie, and she’s met other babies, but now I felt ready to have people over. I can handle this I think. It’s time to show off my mom skills. I decide to cook, and I’m also going to make an apple bundt cake. I really want a cake and this is the perfect excuse to make one. And to be very honest, I don’t mind too much if they don’t like it, because I’m mostly making it for me. The event was lunch, and the reason was to catch up with some good friends; four adults and three babies. Haniyyah, Meghan, and Melissa. Haniyyah’s baby, Zayna, is just over a year. Melissa’s baby, Marcello, is almost 5 months. And Ellie is 8 months. We were all coworkers, but between moving, or getting canned, none of us work together anymore. And now, all of us have kids expect for Meghan.  I thought I knew what to expect. I thought I knew what I was getting myself into…      Continue reading “LADIES, BABIES, and LUNCH”