Christmas Eve coincides with Mr. Gadget’s eldest brother’s birthday. Typically, the Gadget side of the family convenes at Grandma Gadget’s home, and we indulge in much food and celebrate with birthday cake and presents for Uncle D. Uncle D is now 52, but is developmentally around 10. We try to make a big deal of his birthday so that he doesn’t feel as though his special day is bypassed and overshadowed by Christmas. He lives in care of his mother, and is generally a bit snarly in nature. He’s a big giant of a man. It can throw one off, to find oneself in a social situation with him without a prior explanation as to his condition. Once that is understood, all is well, and one can simply adjust one’s perceptions to accommodate the incongruent choices of words and actions.
This year I wanted to bring the birthday cake. I have a collection of Best Recipe books, which the engineer in me loves for the detailed descriptions of all the tests taken to reach the conclusion that these are, indeed, the best recipes. I’ve been looking forward to making the cover cake. It’s a beauty to behold. That is, when ATK bakes it and posts it on the cover of their best of the best for 2008 book. But when I make it. Well. Another story. I went to the trouble of purchasing cake flour, rather than all purpose. And that beautiful frosting? I followed the instructions to the letter. And it never peaked. I had to try again, and this time reached soft peak stage, but not firm peak. By this time, however, Mr. Gadget was tapping his watch telling me it’s time to GO, alright already, and besides, I was out of sugar anyway.
Harry did his part. Isn’t that the best part of helping in the kitchen? Getting to lick the whisk or spoon?
I thought sprinkles might forgive some of the shortcomings in the icing.
I will say, I think the way I wrapped the cake made up for all its other deficiencies.
It did taste good. The lemon custard filling was divine. The cake itself wasn’t as fluffy as I imagined it should be, though. I’ve made 79 cent box mix cakes that are much fluffier and taste better.
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Inspired by the holidays, I decided to start a new tradition. Christmas Eve cookies. An earlier attempt at making rolled and cut holiday cookies proved to be altogether disappointing. Not enough beautiful product to show after far too much effort. It’s come to light recently that I am just not much of a baker. Or else I am just plain lazy. Ahem. The original rolled and cut cookies got two thumbs up for taste from Mr. Gadget, so I thought that I would take the recipe, double it, make plain round cookies, and put the effort into the fun part — the icing. A single recipe is supposed to make three dozen cookies. I doubled the recipe and this is what I got.
Mind you, I did make several giant cookies so that I could personalize them for the family members.
Superman Harry was very excited to see his special surprise cookie.
I tried to put clouds and a butterfly on mine.
After returning home from Grandma Gadget’s, some of my side of the family arrived on Christmas Eve. I loved seeing little shoes so thoughtfully lined up next to each other near the door.
There was karaoke. Crooning and rocking out, both.
There was a magic show.
Complete with an amazing disappearing act.
We said the magic words. Abracadabra! Shazzam! And they magically reappeared!
There were smiles and moments of bliss (and mountains of presents).
There were moments of exhaustion. Is that not the cutest alligator you ever did see? I had a stuffed alligator when I was young, so when we saw this at IKEA, I couldn’t resist. Overindulgent mother. I know, I know. Overindulgent paparazzi mother. I know. I know.
Now he can learn the art of paparazzi too. Boys were happy with their toys.
Girls were happy with their high fashion ensembles.
I think this is the most ingenious toy ever. It’s a Thomas the Train Aquadoodle. It has a felt tip pen and roller that you fill with water. You write on the mat with the water pen. The train has a sensor and follows the tracks. The instructions say to keep the radius around 3 inches, but Harry likes Thomas to work for it, so he makes swirls and impossible junctions. Thomas gets a bit confused, but chugs merrily along the tracks. The tracks fade as the water dries, and you can do it all over again. FUN! Ingenious!
And as for me? I sent Mr. Gadget some email links to photos of trinkets I like, so he would know my style.
They are styled after David Yurman. Gorgeous. Unfortunately, I didn’t do the research and read the fine print, and it’s silver color, not sterling silver. I prefer white gold (such a primadonna), but sterling will do. Anything else though? Can’t quite handle it. So. I may not be able to wear them, due to skin sensitivities. He got them in pink and green. I love them! Should I tell him I can’t wear the earrings? I didn’t tell him that I wanted earrings, so he was trying to go above and beyond, bless his heart. Now that I discover they’re not sterling, I also realize they are overpriced! What to do.
Sometimes, though… My Mr. Gadget? He delivers. This is the Rolls Royce of microwave ovens. I absolutely LOVE it. Being married to an appliance man has its benefits, for sure.
Christmas is a fabulous time full of love, food, family, and fun. I love having so many children and family members around. (And hats off to all mothers of more than one. Good LORD, how do you manage?) But when they all leave and we’re back to our quiet little threesome, I must say it’s a welcome and blissful feeling.
