Joe captured the spirit of the season on Oliver's first visit to the holiday carousel in Seattle. We went south for a day in the city the Monday before Jesus' Big Day.
First stop, Mighty-O Donuts where O. exercised a considerable amount of patience (more so than I) waiting for the bakers to load the batter into the donut robot - could be it was the chocolate donut with sprinkles he was somehow slowly eating while waiting. Nose pressed to the glass, he was transfixed as the machine plopped two rings of dough at a time into the hot oil, a paddle flipped them over, and a conveyer belt eased them up to the shoot and down a slide where they were then dipped with some serious panache into the glazing bowl and out onto a rack.
Then it was on to his first trip from the Seattle Center to downtown on the monorail (a hit!) and down, down, down the escalators (another fave) and off to the carousel for a ride with mom and then with dad.
It's been a delightfully mellow holiday season for us. We've indulged ourselves with a lot of warm fires, staying up late, sleeping in, and wearing our jammies more than normal (me).
We were delighted to finally have a play date with dear friends Emma and Parker, whom we see less frequently as the kiddos have now moved into their varying preschool routines, and we had a great time at a gingerbread cookie-making (made with fresh ginger - yum!) party hosted by the Berdinkas.
As food is always a part of any holiday ritual and Oliver is into anything in the kitchen that requires a handle, buttons, cranks, wheels, presses, we made corn tortillas last night for tacos with prawns and Joe's fresh salsa. We are brining a chicken to butterfly (with my new poultry shears - woo hoo!) and roast for dinner tonite and are planning on making currant jam filled bombolonis (Italian donuts) for our paper-ripping gift finale for breakfast. Tomorrow night it's homemade ravioli. O.'s an experienced pasta chef - I once left him with his (dearly missed) sitter Laura, a recipe, ingredients, and the pasta machine and they turned out some very respectable sheets of pasta.
Wishing a truly peaceful holiday season and best wishes for the new year to all of you we love and hold in our hearts.
Cheers!
Terry, Joe, and Oliver
