Alden's First Christmas, Part I

We had Christmas morning at our house in Bellevue. Alden let Mr. & Mrs. Claus sleep in until 7:00 AM or so, and then we went down and discovered what Santa had left in the stockings that were hung by the chimney with care. After stockings, we had a wonderful Swedish pancake breakfast, which is a Schreiber-family tradition. Then Alden napped and Mommy and Daddy listened to some Christmas music and cleaned up a little. After the little boy awoke, we did the rest of the presents - Alden was very much interested in the wrapping paper, and made out like a bandit: toys, clothes and all sorts of wrapping paper... We managed to keep him from eating any, but some of it inevitably made it into his mouth.

Here are some pictures and videos from the morning. After that, we headed to Alden's great grandparents' house in Olympia, but that's part II.

- Chris

Swedish Pancakes, Health-ified

So we still owe a post about the East Coast trip, complete with all the pictures. We're also busy taking a bunch of pictures today - it's Alden's first Christmas, and he's going to meet his auntie Laura for the first time when we go to Great Grandma and Great Grandpa's house for Christmas dinner.

But in the interim, I thought I would recipe blog while Alden's having his breakfast. We made it a family tradition after we were married to have Swedish pancakes on Christmas morning. I got the recipe from Alden's Great Grandma Mackey - the same one she used to feed my mom and Andy, Laura and me when we were kids; but being me, I had to try to make it a tad more healthy, and add my own twists.

Here's the original recipe:

1.5 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
3 tsps. sugar
3 eggs, well beaten
3 cups milk
3 Tbsp. melted butter

Here's what I did to it:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 tsp. Morton's light salt
3 tsps. Splenda
3 Omega 3 eggs, well beaten
3 cups nonfat milk
2 Tbsps. melted Smart Balance
1 Tbsp. flax oil

The preparation is the same:

Mix all dry ingredients. Then whisk dry ingredients with milk. Then whisk in eggs; then wisk in melted Smart Balance and oil.

Heat a large (non-stick) griddle (I use medium to medium low heat - use the same as you would for regular pancakes) and grease it (I spray with Canola-oil cooking spray). Use a scant half-cup of batter and swirl around to cover most of the bottom of the pan (it's like a crepe - thin and large circumfrence). Cook on one side, flip once, cook on the other and you're set.

Grandma Mackey always served with butter and syrup. We decided to go more crepe-like and make our own fruit topping. We used one little plastic crate of raspberries, half a cup of water, 3 tablespoons of Splenda, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, three shakes of ground nutmeg and a tsp. of Smart Balance, brought it to a boil and then simmered for 1/2 hour or so while we made the batter and the pancakes.

Then we rolled them up, put a little more Smart Balance on, spooned on some sauce and served with more fresh raspberries. To quote Ginny and Rachel Ray: Yummo!

- Chris

Our Trip Back East

The snow fell fast (about an inch an hour) when we were visiting my parents in Worcester, MA. I couldn't resist putting Alden in his one-piece snow suit and taking a picture of Alden in the snow in my parent's yard.



The Kingman family - Ginny, Alden, Aunt Liz, Dad, and Uncle Dan in front of my parent's Christmas tree.



Uncle Dan holding his great nephew.



Aunt Liz holding her great nephew.



Grandmother and Grandson.



The Schreiber Family in D.C. in front of the White House decorated for Christmas.



Chris and Alden standing in front of the Washington State tree.




Ginny's teacher friends got together for a dinner on Friday evening.



Alden often traveled in style inside Daddy's coat. People would see Alden's head sticking out and exclaim, "How cute!"



We had brunch with our friends the Laceys. Andie is currently 6+ months pregnant and is having a boy as well. Their baby is due around my birthday! I am hoping he comes on March 5th!



Alden's first plane trip.


I was excited when Chris told me that he may get approved to attend a conference in D.C.....and he offered for Alden and I to go too. Once Amazon was on board we decided that since we were "so close" to Boston at this point, Alden and I should drop in to see family.........ALONE! That would mean flying a short plane trip alone to Boston, but a LONG SIX hour flight to Seattle again.

The flight to D.C. went well. We were lucky to have an empty seat in the middle so Alden could sleep there when he wanted to nap. He did great and neither Chris nor myself had any regrets so far about flying with a baby. The short leg to Boston went well also. And Alden slept practically the ENTIRE time when he and I traveled back to Seattle. That made me so happy because I was so nervous.

When we were in Virginia, Chris and I saw many of our friends for meals and visits. It was fun to reconnect and for our friends to meet Alden. I brought Alden to Cooper Middle School on Monday to meet my teacher friends and my kids who are now 8th graders. My friend Lynette brought a special lunch that we ate in the Teacher's lounge. Teachers would come in the eat and say, "Ginny!". It was quite fun seeing everyone. Alden was a big hit with all of the ladies. Many of kids wanted to know why I didn't name Alden after them instead..... Meg, my co-director and friend was in tech week for the show "Arsenic and Old Lace" so Alden and I stayed after-school and watched the rehearsal. Gosh I miss those kids and my friends so much. What a treat to get to visit. Chris and I also ventured out into D.C. to see the National Tree and the festive decorations of the season. I love D.C. at Christmas time.

Seeing the family in MA was very special. Grandma and Grandpa hadn't seen Alden since he was three weeks old. Alden has changed so much! He had almost tripled his weight since then. I was glad that he got to meet his Great Aunt and Great Uncles too. His Auntie Beth came and got to see him too.

- Ginny

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We need to put more pics and videos of Alden and our East Coast trip up. For now though, here are the holiday greetings:

To All My Liberal Friends:
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress, non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2008, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great. Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere. Also, this wish is made without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wish.

To My Libertarian Friends:
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

- Chris

Alden's First Trip to the Zoo

Alden and I went to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle with my friend Amy and her baby Addison. (Whom I consider Alden's girlfriend. :) ) For a city zoo it is actually quite nice with penguins, tigers, lions, giraffes, elephants, and other animals. Here is a picture of Alden at the zoo's entrance.

-Ginny

Snow!

We've been told we don't get too much snow here in Bellevue, but we had quite a little deluge on Saturday. It was Alden's 4-month birthday, and he got to see his very first snowfall - he seemed fairly interested in all of that cold white stuff falling from the sky. We'd like to think that he was trying to catch snowflakes on his tongue, even though he sticks it out about 90% of the time (he thinks he's the baby Michael Jordan apparently).

Here are some pictures - hope you like them.

Chris

Thanksgiving Video Clip

Here's the video clip from Alden's first Thanksgiving - it was a little bit dark, but hopefully you'll still enjoy the footage.

- Chris