Weekend with Santa

Swim lessons always wear P out so I timed the 50 minute drive to my parents’ house accordingly.  We left straight from the pool in Davis and patty-cakes slept the ENTIRE drive (!!!).  He hates car rides nowadays so this was huge.  I even took advantage of the drive thru Starbucks in Dixon.  🙂

After hanging out with my mom for a bit I made some lunch with leftovers in their fridge.

My sister came over later and then I picked Kyle up from the Lafayette BART station and we got things going for dinner.

The reason for the family gathering?  Why that would be The (Live) Sound Of Music.  Carrie Underwood has a great voice but her acting is pretty bad.  I only got through half of it before I had to go to bed.  Such a lame old maid.  The rest is still on my parents’ DVR.  I’ll get to it eventually.  Anyone else obsessed with the family Von Trapp?  I played Gretel in our 5th grade musical.

For dessert I had tea and chocolate pecan pie.  Yes, my mom had ANOTHER pie on hand (leftover from her book club the day before). 

I’m not sure how there were leftovers, but I’m not one to question my good fortune.  On a related note, Kyle is considering joining my mom’s book club now that he knows there’s dessert involved.  I’m not sure how he’ll feel once he learns that reading is a requirement…

The little guy woke up at 3 am (he’s got a cold) and I ended up taking him into the extra bedroom with me and sleeping with him propped up on my chest.  Poor snotty kid.  Neither of us got great sleep, but it was surprisingly decent all things considered. 

The next morning I breakfasted (above) and then planned on heading to the mall to get some holiday shopping done.  But P hijacked my plans and took a mega nap into the afternoon.  That’s life!  So I ate lunch and baked bread instead.

Cranberry Chocolate Chip Bread [gluten free]

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup canned cranberry jelly
• 6 oz plain yogurt (Redwood Hill Farm goat’s milk yogurt)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
• 1 1/2 cups oat flour
• 1/2 cup corn meal
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp orange zest
• 1 cup fresh cranberries (not dried)
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• [optional streusel topping] 1/2 cup crushed pecans + 1/3 cup turbinado sugar + 1 tbsp melted Earth Balance vegan butter

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix wet ingredients (first 5 listed) and dry (next 6 listed) separately, then combine.  Fold in cranberries and chocolate chips.

Pour batter into greased bread loaf pan. 

Top with sugar/pecan/butter streusel.  [Note: the streusel is loose so press it into the batter a bit to allow it to hold in place better]

Bake for ~45 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean).

Yum!  I love the way the chocolate and cranberries compliment each other.  Not too sweet, not too tart.  And the orange zest makes it interesting.  Also, it doesn’t have any oil or butter (aside from the tbsp in the streusel) and the sugar content isn’t through the roof, so it’s not the kind of bread that makes you start a January detox or anything like that.

 

Me and my monkey got all bundled up for a trip to the mall.  Which was only mildly productive.  My sister met up with us and we hit up the ‘bux and then I hit lots of annoying traffic getting out of downtown Walnut Creek.  P was having a meltdown and then it started to rain so it wasn’t the most pretty commute.

That’s why I skipped my intended trip to WF for dinner stuff.  And instead made this veggie fried rice dish with every odd and end in my parents’ fridge.  Topped with peanuts.  It was fine, but I would have preferred some hot bar action.  Oh well.

I wasn’t going to have dessert, but then I remembered that bread…

 

So I had a slice (followed by several thin slivers that would probably total up to another normal slice). 

That night was another sleepless one.  Way worse than the previous but I don’t feel like complaining or dwelling, so you can just connect the dots once you see the bags under my eyes from the next day.

 

Brunch with Santa!

 

This was my parents’ first time doing a kid activity at their country club.  The breakfast spread was so awesome I had two (huge) servings of eggs, has browns, and fruit.  P ate some eggs and fruit too but was really into the balloons above all else.  He’s balloon obsessed.  If “dog” isn’t his first word, I bet it will be “balloon”. 

 

Family pics galore!

 

From the same spot one year ago…

 

I was 33 weeks preggo there.  With no idea of the fun to come.

We took this one before Santa arrived.  Typical P pose with one hand in his hair and the other thumb in his mouth. 

After I put him on Santa’s lap he paused for one second and then started whimpering and reaching out for me. 

 

And as you can see from the death grip on my sweater, he wasn’t very trusting after that.

 

The rest of the day was uneventful.  P fell asleep on the car ride back to my parents’ house so I seized the opportunity (childcare and free time!) and went on a run.

We left to return to Davis shortly thereafter, and spent the rest of the day hanging low.

Sunday was a football day, interspersed with meal planning/grocery buying, and Christmas shopping.  Oh and sushi.  Sunday sushi is becoming a thing and I love it.