Sugar, Sugar, Sugar

I've been making a lot of Christmas treats lately. Today was the second time in a week I've made Spritz cookies for the fam. Unfortunately, I cannot partake. But I do enjoy decorating them. Sort of.

This past weekend was our branch's Christmas party. My mom was (she was called to be RS President Sunday-ha!) the Activities Committee (literally, she was the only one) and so I helped her with a lot of stuff. A LOT OF STUFF. The theme was "Christmas Around the World." I made up 36 cards to put on the tables . . . each one described a foriegn country's Christmas traditions. Yes, I made 36 different ones. At the party, I realized that we probably could've just done the same 3 countries at each table and no one would know the diff. Nice thinking, Mom!

Friday night I had started to feel a little sick. I've had some major allergies (leaf mold) for the past month or so. But this was different. By Saturday, I felt horrible. I decided to just lump it and go to the party anyway. I originally agreed to lead the music, but I told my mom I just couldn't do it. I told her I'd take care of the Primary, but that was all.

It was a potlock, so I brought a Sugarplum Cake. My mom found the recipe. Now, those of you familiar with plums know that they are pretty bland. You can't cook with them. So, if it's a "plum" cake, it's really made with . . . prunes. That's right, kids. I brought a prune cake to a church function. All of us Mormons could use a little laxative now and then, right? Anyway, the recipe called for baby food prunes. Sounds disgusting, right? It is delicious. I'm not kidding. I'm not the biggest fan of spice cakes, but holy cow. I could only have one bite, as per my diet, but wow. I got a lot of compliments on it. And here's all that was left!

Since I'm the Primary Music Leader, I had to lead the kids in singing "Stars Were Gleaming" at this function. I'm big on treats, so to reward the kids for singing, I set up a hot chocolate bar in the kitchen at the end of the party. I gave them all hot chocolate and a choice of toppings: whipped cream, marshmallows, mini chocolate chips or candy canes. I thought it was a cool idea. I meant to take pics, but I was up to my elbows in marshmallows. It was pretty fun, although I probably gave those kids all kinds of cooties since my nose was running like mad that night.

All in all, it was a really good social. The decorations were cool and I heard the food was good (sigh--all I had was bread!). Here are some extra pictures. Charlie's shirt says, "I do it all for the presents!"

Yeah, he wasn't too happy in this picture. Charlie has bronchiolitis AGAIN. So, we are the proud owners of a new nebulizer. Hooray. I knew it was bound to happen eventually. Hopefully he'll outgrow this asthma . . . as for now, he is strapped to his baby hookah three times a day.

So this past weekend was the worst weekend to be sick. I woke up Sunday morning feeling like death. Charlie woke up early, so I decided to drag us all to church anyway. If I stayed at home, I'd keep Charlie home, too. But since he was awake, I knew I wasn't going to get any sleep. I came home after Primary to nap. Then, all my family got together to bless my brother's adorable new baby girl, Eloise. Mari's dad works for the church building temples in South America, so he only had this weekend to come up. Since it wasn't Fast Sunday, we just did it at home. It was very spiritual. As soon as the blessing was done, Eloise's 4 year old sister, Caroline cried, "That was a long prayer!" Hilarious. The rest of the day I pretty much spent in bed. Now I'm feeling a little better. I've still got that sinusy, head stuffed with cotton feeling . . . and the sinking feeling none of this post made any sense . . .