Now that January 3rd is coming to a close and my boys went back to school today, it's finally starting to feel like a new year to me.
The period from December 23rd -- January 1st was not an ideal one in the Olivier household. I dreamed of cozy warmth, staying home, making good food, napping, reading, putting together a big puzzle, lounging, playing games...
What really happened was losing our furnace and our power at the same time. We were cold, we couldn't cook, and eventually we couldn't even stay home.
After all that was fixed, Marc got sick and was bedridden for several days. I was faced with mountains of laundry and more mountains of post-Christmas messes. There was no sleeping in, no good food (because once I had the possibility of cooking, I was the only one who felt like eating it), and not a lot of lounging or reading going on due to my having to deal with a little girl who was sick herself, missing her dad, and not sleeping a whole lot.
So when our Christmas vacation officially ended today, I had mixed feelings. I was a little sad about everyone going back to school and work, because I felt like I didn't get the vacation I had wanted. But at the same time, I was kind of relieved because now I can shut the door on that disappointment and move on!
And, when all is said and done, we did have a good Christmas. The boys had a great attitude throughout. We spent a fun day in Salt Lake celebrating Marc's sister Michelle's birthday, we hung out at Jill's on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve, and we did get to put together a puzzle -- at Heidi's house, when she gave us sanctuary on the 26th. I went out to breakfast with my book club friends for Jenn's birthday. We managed to play games as a family several times, and we did have one special treat:
Baked brie on New Year's Eve. I made it even though the boys wouldn't try it and Marc wasn't sure about being able to eat more than Lipton noodle soup yet. It was worth it.
{recipe from Martha Stewart}
one sheet of frozen puff pastry dough
one round of brie (I got it as Costco)
1/2 - 1 cup of chopped pecans
1/2 - 1 cup of brown sugar
Thaw puff pastry sheet. Roll it out to a larger, thinner rectangle. Cut out two circles that are bigger than your brie. Place the cheese on one circle of dough and pull up around the sides of the cheese. Top with as much brown sugar and pecans as you can manage to pile on. Cover the entire thing with the other circle of pastry, pinching the two circles of dough together. Use the scraps of dough, if desired, to decorate the top. (In the past I have done leaves. This time I used my new teeny tiny alphabet cookie cutters -- thanks, Mom! -- to spell out Happy New Year.)
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 350 degrees for 20 minutes more. Allow to sit for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with crusty bread and tart apples.
I'm entering the new year in slow motion -- I have many plans, goals and intentions for this year. I just haven't figured out what they all are yet, nor do I feel
quite ready to jump in and begin.
I still have more pictures that I want to post from Christmas-time, once I can finally find our media reader and download them.
I still don't know exactly where I'm going now that it's 2008.
But when I looked out my window on January 1st and saw the sun rising over the mountains, I felt happy about
new beginnings and
possibilities.
