Christmas 2014

Christmas time is filled with a bunch things in our family: seeing your loved ones, decorating a tree, making fun crafts and baking goodies, and hunting pretty holiday lights. This year we were lucky to do all of the above, having Mara's grandparents visiting us for several days.
Read on to see how our holiday went, learn a great cookie recipe and a simple home-made holiday wreath, catch a glimpse at some seriously merry lighted houses and how to find them.

Christmas tree!

Mara had a great time decorating, and she quickly understood which ornaments were frail and should be left alone, and which ones are safe for her to take on and off - which she definitely took on as a task for the following week.

Mara and Willow played fun hide-and-seek around the tree. Willow got lucky that Mara didn't fit underneath, so she would often go in that safe spot and look like a fluffy present.

Christmas baking: Recipe for Sands, Romanian braided breads

On the baking side, we had traditions from both families going on. Tammy made her grandma's recipe for Sands. This is a Tener family favorite, and a word that Mara learn to pronounce exquisitely well as soon as she tasted her first cookie. A day will not go by without her remembering to ask for one.

Here is Mara, who can't believe her luck seeing all those delicious Sands:

We're sharing the recipe below, with a warning: you better make a double batch because they get eaten fast!

Recipe for SANDS  (Christmas cookie that Grandma's grandma used to make)
Ingredients:	Directions:
1 C butter ½ C powdered sugar - packed 1 tsp vanilla 1 tsp water 2 C flour 1 ½ C pecans - chopped	1. Cream butter and sugar 2. Add liquids 3. Mix in flour 4. Fold in nuts 5. Roll into date shape 6. Place close together in rows on ungreased cookie sheet 7. Refrigerate for 30 minutes 8. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes (or less – depends on oven) until very lightly tanned - do not over-bake 9. Roll in powdered sugar while still hot 10. Cool before storing

We also made the Romanian braided breads that we traditionally make for holidays. The one in the center is a Porumbiță (dove) the others around are called Colaci. The strand around each of the Colaci is called Cununie (tiara).

We won't share a recipe because we normally use simple bread dough with a little extra salt - the coolness is all in the braiding and baking in a ceramic wood-fire oven if you have one available.

Holiday Wreath

On the crafty side, we made our own Christmas door wreath: a circle cutout from a cardboard box, around which we wrapped some pretty dried grasses we had received as packing material in a box of specialty breads auntie Karen shipped to us. We used a bit of twine to hold it in place, the kind you get for flower bouquets. We finished it off with some old snowflake ribbon, a strand of LED lights we had from three years ago, and a little golden horse brooch with gems studded in, which Elena's mom had brought from Romania.
It came out wonderful:

Garden planting

During the days when Grandma and Grandpa were here, we all built another backyard gift for Mara: a huge planter for strawberries and tomatoes, which had been a huge success with her all summer. We bought a bunch of redwood which should weather nicely and the guys dug a bunch to level it up.

Of course, Mara did most of the axe-work herself.

Disclaimer: No, she didn't. We were watching like hawks for the 2 seconds that she was touching that handle, to make sure everyone is safe.
She actually did all sorts of baby-work around, including playing in the sandbox and moving rocks around.

Daddy and Mara put in some magical beans. We'll get our climbing gear ready just in case they make huge stalks all the way to the clouds.

Holiday lights

In the great spirit of Christmas, we saw the lights display at Vasona Park, and took rides on the Choo-Choo train and the carousel. Mara held on to her horse really tight the whole ride, and after this she started pushing her wooden table stool through the whole house saying Choo-Choo. So I guess that made a strong impression.

A few days before Christmas we went around  the neighborhoods looking for Christmas lights.

Holiday Lights in the San Jose Area

Right on Christmas Eve we drove to a few specific houses in San Jose that had crazy displays. You can find a nice selection of such houses on this site: Holiday Lights San Jose. They show you the houses on a map, they let you pick the ones you want to see and they even create your driving route, so it was a matter of minutes before we had a plan of attack and were ready to jump in the car. We'll definitely do this again next year.
Mara loved every bit of it, up until exhaustion was closing her eyelids. Nevertheless, she woke again when we asked her if she wanted to see one more house.

We wish we could have seen more of our dear ones during the Christmas holiday; nonetheless we have everyone close in our hearts. Happy Holidays and let's get ready for a great 2015!