Holiday foods!

   It's nearly Christmas, which we celebrate here in my house. I'm really excited. I already got a chance to flex my baking muscles last week when I made some three-bite banana blueberry eclairs for Brandon's training class at work. They were apparently a pretty big hit. Last night I made chocolate chip cookies with my Cooper. We sat up watching Doctor Who and dipping them in the last of the milk, which I have to get more of today so we can eat more cookies. Meanwhile Brandon ate the dough with a spoon. Tonight I'm making caramel corn for the neighbor, since it's a long time coming. He's been waiting ever so patiently. He can't get enough of my salted caramel corn. At some point I also have to make cookies for the LoL contest going on right now. Brandon said he would help me do this one, and we're planning the timeline and thinking of decoration ideas right now. The goal is to have a concrete plan by the end of the week, and start buying supplies. I want to have our entry submitted a couple days after Christmas, well before the deadline, that way if something happens and we're a little behind we won't be too late.
   Along with this cookie contest I'm doing, I'll be making Christmas dinner for my friends that don't have family in the area, and my little family. I'm sure Morgan will stop by, and we're going to have a stocking with gifts for her and Allison all ready for them. OB might come, and Aric. I'm not planning anything huge since we're doing all the family stuff well before dinner. We're still trying to sort out the logistics of it all, but we're having a day with Inez on the 23rd. Then the 24th we're going to my family Christmas party, which we attend every year, and it's the one family function Brandon actually goes to and doesn't mind because my mom's family has a pretty healthy relationship with him and treats him with respect. He knows he doesn't have to go, and I don't make him go to any family functions anymore, but he always comes along anyway, and has a good time, so I'm excited.
   Christmas day we're still trying to figure out. I want to take Cooper to breakfast at my dad's so he has some time with them, and then let Brandon take him to lunch at his mom's so he gets to see all of his family, and we can be home in time for dinner. It's just hard figuring out rides since we can't go to either place together (well, Brandon COULD come to my dad's, but I don't want him to since they just make him miserable), and we have to figure out where the other person would go for a few hours. On Christmas day. That's not such an easy task. Sometimes I wish everyone just got along. My mom's family is easy since they don't want to do the family thing on Christmas day, they want to sit at home with their own kids and watch movies in jammies and eat tons of food, so we just plan on going Christmas eve and there's no issue with figuring out how to juggle everyone. But if everyone could just get along, I'd just have my dad's family and Brandon's family over every year on holidays for dinner here. Never. Gonna. Happen. I've always had to juggle families, between my mom and dad, and my dad and Inez, there was always someone that had to be fit in somewhere else. Now I have another set of people to add to the list. Sigh. It's really too bad for them. I make a mean holiday dinner.
   This year we're having ham with brown sugar and clove glaze, mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, deviled eggs, cheese and bacon Brussels sprouts, corn, and carrots. For dessert we're having 3 kinds of cookies, mixed berry, peach, and apple pies with vanilla ice cream, and Brandon's empanadas. I'm also setting out snack trays with pickles, olives, veggies and dip, bread and spinach dip, spicy roasted chick peas, and lefsa. It's a lot of food, but Brandon and Aric are both big eaters, and Cooper will munch on everything. Every year I use the leftovers to make soups and stews, which I freeze in small batches so we can eat it all year. We eat leftovers for a few days with our meals, and everything is right with the world. :D
   Side note, my son just got out of the shower and fell, and landed right on top of one of his little toy Woody figures. He just came running up to me saying, "Mom, it hurts! Kiss it!" So I asked him what hurt so I could kiss it better, and he says, "My peepee. It hurts. Fell on boot guy guy. Kiss it." I didn't. I just kissed his hand and put it right above his junk and said, "There you go! All better!" He grinned and ran off to play. My son cracks me up. Every day there is some funny thing he does or says. He's getting so big.