Christmas Lights at the Zoo

Last night Bryce, Owen and I went and saw the Christmas lights that they had displayed at the St. Louis Zoo.  It was a pleasant evening - probably about 45 - 50 degrees with no snow - and we had a whole lot of fun.

They had both traditional lights (wrapped around plants and trees) and special displays of lighted animal shapes.

They also had some lights that looked a little bit more like the animals - Owen seemed to really like these ones.

Mostly we just had fun having a night out of the house and together as a family.

Snow Day

We woke up to snow on the ground Tuesday morning and so as soon as Owen got up, ate breakfast, and got into his winter gear we made our way outside to play in the snow.  

At first he just wanted to make footprints in the snow.

And then he decided that he wanted to make a snowman. Mommy got the snowballs started, and then Owen rolled them on the lawn to make them larger.

Then we stacked three snow balls, added arms and a face and we had a snowman.

Then we had Daddy come to the door and take a picture of us with our snowman.

The snowman then got trampled by an Owen Monster, and all the rest of the snow melted soon thereafter, but even if this ends up being all the snow we get this year we can say that we seized the day and played in it :).

Christmas Day

Christmas Day was wonderful at the Allen household.  We waited to open presents until after church and then Owen had fun learning how to rip open the wrapping paper to open his presents.

Owen also had fun helping Mommy and Daddy open their presents, reading some of his new books, and playing with his new toys.

We were very blessed this year and want to thank all of our friends an family for all of their love and gifts.

And later on in the day we had a wonderful Christmas dinner of baked ham, green beans, baked sweet potatoes, and homemade rolls.  It was the first time I've made all of Christmas dinner and it turned out wonderful.

But most importantly, we had a wonderful Christmas Day at home with our little family.  We had the opportunity to talk and Skype with our families and share our love and happiness clear across the country.

Christmas Projects

Since the middle of November the Allen branch of Santa's workshop has been hard at work.  Owen and I made salt dough ornaments:

I crocheted hats, bookmarks, barrettes, a doily an lots and lots of snowflakes:

It has been a fun couple of months, and I hope that everybody enjoys the gifts we made.  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year from Bryce, Jennie & Owen.

Getting Ready for Christmas

Christmas is nearly here and I've posted very little about all the fun things that we have been doing.  Some of our projects have been "Top Secret" and I will post about them after Christmas so I don't spoil any surprises, but I have taken quite a few pictures this month so I will share a few of them with you.

We decorated for Christmas this year a few days after Thanksgiving.  We put up our tree - which is packed full of memories - and my nativity sets (I'm starting to take after my Grandma Christensen I guess because I have already started collecting them).  I even added a new nativity set to my collection this year - one from the Friend magazine that Owen and I assembled together.

Here's Owen with the Nativity set that we put together.  The picture may be a little bit fuzzy, but it shows how much fun we had making it together:

We have also had a lot of fun making treats for various occasions.  Here is Owen helping me make Christmas shaped rice-krispy treats:

And last, but not least of all the pictures is the excitement that Owen has had as we've received packages in the mail.  He's been content to have them wrapped and put under the Christmas tree, but I think his favorite so far was the big box that came from Grandma Allen - proof once again that sometimes all a little boy needs to have fun is a big box and his imagination.

Holiday Baking - Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

On Thanksgiving I was introduced to a wonderfully delicious cookie that I have been craving since I had them at that time.  I finally asked my friend, Leslie Smith, for the recipe and made the cookies today.  The original recipe can be found HERE but I will post the recipe here with the changes that I made due to the quantity of ingredients that I had on hand.  

Cookies:

2/3 C granulated sugar

2/3 C brown sugar

3/4 C vegetable oil

1 can (15 oz) pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 C flour

2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

2/3 tsp baking soda

2/3 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and line cookie sheets with wax paper.  

2) Mix together the sugars, oil, pumpkin, egg and vanilla until smooth.  

3) Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger and nutmeg and mix through (dough will be more batter-like than stiff).  

4) Spoon out tablespoons of dough onto prepared cookie sheets into round cookies.

5) Bake for 10 - 12 minutes - until cookies are firm, but not overcooked (tops will be just barely starting to crack).  Remove from oven and cool completely.

6) Mix together filling:

Frosting:

2 oz (1/4 cup) margarine or butter

4 oz cream cheese

2 C powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp maple syrup (I just used store bought pancake syrup because that's what I had)

- Beat together butter and cream cheese, then add the powdered sugar.  Add the vanilla and syrup and mix until smooth.

7) Assemble cookies - by turning 1/2 of the cookies upside down:

Next add the filling either by piping or spreading with a knife or spoon:

Place the second half of the cookies on top of the first to make a cookie sandwich:

Then either refrigerate to allow the frosting to firm up a little bit, or just enjoy.

These cookies are really rich, but delicious.  The remind me a bit of the pumpkin rolls that my mom makes, they just don't take as long and they are easy enough that I very likely will make them again in the future.