One More Holiday Clip - Alden "Singing"

Since we (I) finally got Christmas Part II up, here's the last little clip from the holidays that we wanted to share with everyone: Alden "singing" along with Frank Sinatra to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" on Christmas day, 2007.

- Chris

Christmas Part II (Finally!)

So for the second half of Christmas Day, we packed Alden into the Jeep Liberty and headed down to Lacey, WA, to spend the evening with Alden's Great Grandparents, Gene and Vi Mackey, as well as Alden's Grandma and Grandpa Schreiber and Auntie Bill. The white Christmas that everyone had hoped to view Christmas morning was delivered during our drive down, but luckily (given the driving ability of people around here in inclement weather) the drive was without incident. After we arrived Alden charmed everyone in his usual manner, with cooing and looking cute (particularly in his little Santa hat). We all enjoyed the roast Great Grandma and Great Grandpa had prepared, as well as a couple glasses of wine and some conversation around the fireplace - well, except Alden - he enjoyed his milk and making randomly punctuated exclamations, as well as putting his toys (and anything else he could get his hands on) into his mouth. Alden was a lucky little guy - two Christmas celebrations, and getting to spend time with lots of adoring family on his first Christmas.

Here are the pics and video clips - hope you enjoy them.

- Chris

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

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

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

Alden's First Thanksgiving

We took Alden down to see the local family for his first Thanksgiving, and he really enjoyed himself. He's naturally a ham (takes after his mommy...), and he loved having everyone coo over him and pass him around to talk to him and comment about his little chubby cheeks.

We enjoyed seeing everyone as well. Grandma and Grandpa Mackey drove up from Olympia - Grandpa is still a good driver, though he doesn't like to drive at night. They just had their 64th anniversary - setting a standard to which we can aspire. Kate and Christina are growing up too - Christina is a freshman now, and, as amazing as it was for me to consider, was actually getting her homework done early. Kate led the charge in making, and eating some home-made ice cream. Dinner was great, and everyone enjoyed himself/herself - and Alden was kind enough to take a nap during the meal so we could eat at a semi-leisurely pace.

The pics above are 1) Alden sitting with cousin Kate, with Great Aunt Sharon, Great Grandpa Mackey, Great Grandma Mackey and Mommy; 2) Alden with his cousins Kate and Christina; 3) Alden with Great Grandpa Mackey; 4) Alden with Great Grandpa Mackey and Great Uncle Rick; 5) Alden with Great Grandpa Mackey and Mommy; and 6) Alden with Great Grandma Mackey and Mommy.

I'll make a separate post with a video clip.

- Chris

Happy Thanksgiving!

So we're about to set off to Alden's great aunt Sharon and great uncle Rick's house for Thanksgiving. Alden's cousins once removed, Christina and Kate will be there too, as will Alden's great grandparents Gene and Vi Mackey.

We're lucky to have family so close by - this will be our first Thanksgiving in Washington - and, of course, Alden's first Thanksgiving ever. He'll be having the milk. We're also very grateful that Alden will get to have his first Thanksgiving with his great grandparents.

Ginny is making her famous maple rosemary sweet potatos, and I made some corn bread/wild rice/sausage stuffing. Here's the recipe, in case anyone wants to try it:

A couple pounds of sausage (I prefer some kind of fancy chicken or turkey sausage--this year I found some smoked turkey/chicken with sweet basil pesto)

wild rice (maybe 1/4 a cup)

Quinoa (quarter cup)

pine nuts (maybe quarter a cup)

pistachios (quarter cup)

a pound or so of exotic mushrooms (oyster, chanterelle, shiitake, etc.)

one onion, chopped

a few cloves of garlic, diced

a few cups of corn bread crumbs, either home made or store-bought stuffing

a few stalks of celery (if desired--I don't like it that much, but some people think it's not stuffing without it), chopped

pomegranate seeds (this is the secret ingredient)

A couple cups of chicken broth (from bouillion is fine, unless you want to be fancy)

salt, pepper, sage, thyme to taste

olive oil

Soak the rice overnight in about twice as much water as it needs to cover. Another good thing to do ahead, while watching TV, is to divest the pomegranate from its seeds (persnickety work).

In the morning, cut up the sausage into bite-size chunks, and saute in the olive oil (amount depending on the stickiness of your saute pan). Chop the rest of the ingredients and boil the rice for fifteen minutes or so (if you overdo it, it won't have the crunchiness). Boil the quinoa until just underdone as well. Set the meat aside and saute the onions, celery and garlic in the same pan.

Put all the non-liquid ingredients in a big bowl and stir well. Add in the broth and mix thoroughly. If it seems too dry, feel free to add as much water... or broth... or booze (bourbon is good)... as you want. I just used chicken broth. It should be moist throughout, but not soaked. You can also add melted butter to taste and texture if you like that sort of thing, and your arteries can take it - or Smart Balance Light Omega 3. Another option, to be more heart healthy, is to fatten it up with olive or canola oil.

Use it like any other stuffing--either inside the bird, or under the skin, or just bake it in its own dish, or all of the above. If you bake it, try 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or so.

Eat, and enjoy. Happy Thanksgiving!

- Chris