All's Jolly

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas and a happy celebration of the new year.
We went to the Mallery residence for Christmas Eve. There was dancing, visiting, singing, lots of little children, and lots of glorious food which I unashamedly gorged on.
This is our family Christmas picture. Beg pardon the caffiene-fueled cheer. It's hard to muster all that festivity without a few cups of joe.

The next morning, we had such fun giving Sean his presents. He especially seemed to enjoy the jingle bell ornament from the Takahashis.





Then we got him all duded up in his fancy suit, which, incidentally, he was bursting out of.

See his little paunch puffing out? Yeah....
We don't have any pictures from New Year's Eve, because we spent it quietly at home, with pizza, a pint of ice cream, and Get Smart (Steve Carell is Ridge's favorite comedian).
That's all for now; unfortunately, the plans with the house are taking longer than expected.
Catch you later!

The Changing Lights and Shadows

Hard to believe, but summer and my pregnancy are soon coming to an end. There have been a few days that were uncomfortably hot for me, but for the most part we've been enjoying this season of sun, no matter how late it came.
I even got to swim a little, down at Wayfarer's Park (a site that is famous among Mallerys for marriage proposals, I have been enjoying the lake there since I was a little girl). Swimming when you are eight months pregnant is very different than at three or four months. At that point, no one could even tell; I hardly could myself. But now... well, let's just say I had to improvise a bit with the swimwear. A stretchy top, and a skirt I usually only wear to church became my ticket to the water. I may have looked like a runaway funeral attendant, but I got to get wet, and that's all that mattered. Some gals may be happy with wearing a bikini while pregnant, but, issues of modesty aside, the sight of my white, never-seen-the-sticky-side-of-a-wax-strip thighs is something I think all of humanity would gladly be spared of.
It goes without saying that I am looking forward to unpregnant swimwear next summer. In fact, I'm getting all giddy over unpregnant clothes, period. I can't wait to wear a pair of jeans that actually fit my rear end, not to mention dresses with a waistline!
Yesterday, I put away stacks of tiny diapers, and began filling out Sean's baby book, starting with the very first image we saw of him, at sixteen weeks. I hardly felt different at that point, but I'll never forget that overwhelming feeling, seeing a real human being, wiggling his arms and legs in there. Fearfully and wonderfully is what the king David described our fabrication as being, and to experience it first hand has made that truth so much more real to me. And if cravings suggest "what baby needs," it's good thing we confirmed the fact that our child is human, otherwise, I might have begun to think that we were baking a fruit cake in there, with all the fruit I've been eating.
Well, that's about all for now. I know I said there would be more pictures, but the one above is one that Ridge took, while we were out on one of our evening walks. If you haven't taken a walk at sunset lately, you really should.

Our Valentine's Day Menu

We wanted to make something extra special and yummy to celebrate Valentine's Day, (which, incidentally, Ridge has the day off! Yay!) so over the past few weeks, I've gotten together a few fantastic looking recipes.
First, of course, we'll probably start with a green salad, not unlike this one:Pretty basic.
Then, we'll dig into plates of lemon-garlic Shrimp Scampi.
(drooling) I already had decided on Shrimp Scampi, when Framed Cooks, one of the cooking blogs I follow, posted this delectable piece. Butter. Lemons. Garlic. Shrimp. Can you go wrong with that?
As a side goody, we'll have plenty of pomegranates!

Believe it or not, I had never eaten a pomegranate until Ridge treated me to one on our honeymoon. I wasted 18 years of my life unaware of the juicy red goodness in this fruit. Now I'm hooked.
You must have chocolate on Valentine's Day, right?
Also on our honeymoon, we enjoyed two evenings at the Silver Mill Saloon in Philipsburg. Fabulous food, decent prices, and since we came in the slow season, we were waited on in our own private dining room. Once the staff learned we were on our honeymoon, the chef had a made-for-two strawberry semifreddo brought out for us. This time, I'll make this dark chocolate recipe.

Well, I'm officially 11 weeks pregnant, but you could probably tell anyway, with how I've been obsessing over food. ;-)
Wishing you all a delicious Valentine's Day, whether you're single, newlywed, or old pros!