chilling....

Hurray for Winter Break!!!!!

Bam, Fifi, Cookie and Sweetheart are officially on holiday break all this week and next; up till after the New Year.

We are sooooo EXCITED.

We're happy to say good-bye (for now) to the morning rush hour

We're happy to stay in our pj's all day long (if we so please)

We're staying home today, making cookies (and making our home smell sweet)

Now if only it would SNOW!!

a sprinkle a day.....

Cookie says, "Sprinkles are like glitter.... for food."

This pile of colorful sprinkles are left over (spillage) from the cupcake decorating that went DOWN last night.

Sweetheart, Fifi, and Cookie invited some friends over for a HUGE slept over party (I don't think they slept much though..... plenty of giggle-YES)

It was more like a make-over, dress up, nail salon, cupcake kind of night.

The house smelled yummy from baking cupcakes.
If only they made a perfume from that scent.

Special thanks to Fifi, Sweetheart, Cookie and their friends who did a great job tidying up afterwards.
(Click HERE to see what we were up to last summer)

it's the most wonderful time of the year.......

T'was Christmas Eve.....
We've set our luminarias out along our walkway, driveway and sidewalk.

.....this is Christmas Eve on Nob Hill
 

In case you're wondering.....

Luminarias or farolitos are brown paper bags weighed down with sand or gravel and lit with a small votive candle or tea light candle.

 On Christmas Eve our neighborhood is aglow with glimmer and flicker.

They're so beautiful to walk among....

We enjoyed our evening walk among thousands of luminarias in our neighborhood.

Lighting up the way......

Runway spectacular

this is definitely something everyone should experience.... a New Mexico Christmas Eve.

After our walk, we made cookies and sweets for family, friends and SANTA. (of course)

If only you could smell our home.
Mmmm......

If you've tried to call us, you probably couldn't get through.......our apologies.

The children are on the phone with NORAD.

(North American Aerospace Defense Command)

Every year since I can remember NORAD has been tracking Santa's flight around the world.

We check via the internet as well as many calls to NORAD in Peterson AFB (Airforce Base) in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

When you call the Santa number a volunteer military personale will let you know exactly where the military satellites and NASA are spotting Santa's sleigh.

Pretty fun and exciting for us.........

In anticipation, Bam, Fifi, Sweetheart and Cookie set out milk, a piece of Navajo fry bread and cookies for Santa. They also left fresh carrots, celery and strawberries for the reindeers too.

Our choice bedtime story tonight is ......T'was The Night Before Christmas.
(loving tradition!!)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS EVE to all.............and to all a good night.

fun in footed jammies

We're staying home today.

Staying home

Staying warm

Staying close

The weather is getting so much more colder now.

Time to break out the footed pjs, bake some cookies and catch a Christmas show on tv!

flower power

Looking lovely and smelling wonderful

The flowers Sweetheart and Cookie received from us last week during their graduation ceremony, are still looking beautiful and as fragrant as ever. (visit that blog here)

Cookie and Sweetheart decided that they would like to combine their bouquets to make a center piece for our dinner tomorrow.

What a sweet idea.

We're all looking forward to tomorrow.

Hopefully we'll get a visit from Nana and Cheii.

We haven't seen them in a very (very) long time......

time is just a concept and cannot exist by itself.......unless it cleans the oven

Daylight savings day is here; the day we set the clocks back one hour.

The only analog clock in the house is the one in the kitchen. 

And it's an atomic clock so there are no worries there.

Although the next clocks we own are on the microwave, the stove and in the van.

(not including the cellphone-they set themselves perfectly)

THE MICROWAVE

Our microwave has blinked 12:00 forever now so there is no point in setting it.

The touch pads are so close that even if you set the digital clock, the mode for 1 minute quick cook is right beside it resulting in resetting of the clock.

THE STOVE

Then there's the stove, which is next to impossible to reset the clock.

When we tried, we ended up setting the self cleaning mode on.

THE VAN

After all those silly clock we get to the super easy van clock.

The settings on the van clock couldn't have been easier.

As Sweetheart would say,"That was sooo easy peezy lemon sqeezy."

A day of setting and resetting clocks result in a clean oven..............perfect!

don't stare at me!

Today we made pumpkin pie for our vegan dinner tonight. 

These was only a small selection of pumpkins at the grocery store.

Sweetheart says, "It is hard to choose a pumpkin for our pie when they have eyes staring back at me."

As I'm reminded by her that vegans don't eat anything that can stare back at them.
We did manage to find a couple without eyes and took them home.

Today we're making tofu pumpkin pie for our vegan dinner tonight.

Recipe for Tofu Pumpkin Pie

Steam pumpkin

Add 3/4 brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of sugar in the raw

2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/4 pumpkin pie spice or allspice

1 pkg (10oz) soft tofu (do not use low fat)

1premade unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven 425 F

Cream the tofu, pumpkin and sugar in food process

Add spices and mix thoroughly

Pour mixture into pie shell and bake 15 minutes

Lower heat 350 F and bake another 55 minutes

Let rest at room temperature for 10 minutes and serve with whipped cream 

Mmmm.......

The house smells amazing!!
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