T'was the night before christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there

Anyone else have little inquiring minds asking what Santa does if the fire has been burning all night and the chimney is hot enough to cause first degree burns?

Or what if the house doesn't have a chimney?

Or what if the kids live in an apartment with a doorman?

Or does Santa know the code for our security alarm?

and does Rudolf have GPS in his nose?

and why aren't there any girl reindeer's? that's not fair.
(I say Vixen to that one)

But she has no eyelashes- and all girl reindeer have long eyelashes mama......

It's gonna be a long day.

squeek

Not a creature was stirring.
not even a mouse......

played like a fiddle

I made a promise to myself that I would do my best to refrain from blogging about being sick all the time.
Last year (and the year before) I feel like that was all I ever wrote about.
Damn germ filled school system...
For the most part I have kept things to myself this year.
But truth be told- the sickies have been making their rounds here at casa petitegourmand since well...the second week of September.
Since then it has been a rotation of one thing or another.
flus, colds, strep throat, bronchitis.....and that's just me I'm talking about!
And I always thought I was so healthy.
What a joke.
We were almost NEVER sick before Lulu started school.
That being said-I am still so grateful that we all have a week off from being sick while we were away in November.
Very Grateful.
I think I would have had a breakdown if that hadn't been the case.
But since we have been back, things haven't been so rosy.
Big daddy had the flu on my birthday 2 weeks ago for the third year in a row- yay!
Lulu has missed three different birthday parties, a Hanukkah party and same goes for me.
Not too into going out these past few weeks due to a very nasty cough that won't go away.
I feel okay- minus the headaches caused from coughing my brains out- but I guess all this phlegm is starting to take an emotional toll on me.
To top things off, Lulu woke up last night complaining of ear pain.
grrreat- here we go again....
she's just getting over 2 weeks worth of feeling terrible and now something new?
I gave her some Motrin and she slept through the night. Fortunately for both of us.
But she woke this morning- super glum.
No temperature- but not herself.
She said- and I quote- "I'm just feeling sad because the sun isn't shining and I feel like staying in bed all day"
I thought these excuses not to go to school weren't supposed to start until at least the 4th grade?!
She also cried her eyes out when big daddy left for work- also not normal behavior.
So I really didn't know what I should do.
Let her stay home and get some rest in case she really isn't 100% better.
Or make her go to school and hopefully being there would bring her out of her Monday morning funk.
There were plenty of tears while I was trying to assess the situation and make a decision-and that's just me I'm talking about...kidding...sort of....
so in the end- Lulu managed to squeeze another home day out of me.
Funny enough-she made a miraculous recovery as soon as I hung up the phone to her school.
sigh....
So how do you really know when your child is really sick, or maybe just feeling melancholy or even just plain tired?
and how do you react?
Oh and am I the only one catching every single virus out there?
It seems like I'm the only mom I know who is chronically ill- or am I imagining this?

don't judge a book by it's cover

Well these may not look like much.
A bit of a plain Jane looking cookie on the outside.
But it's what's on the inside that counts right?
Trust me- these babies are worth buying the cookbook for the recipe alone.
Chunky White chocolate Cranberry cookies.
yum.
Though- to be completely honest- mine for some reason are not even close to being as good as the author's version.
Maybe they used Ghirardelli White Chocolate instead of President's choice?
Either way they are still fantastic.
I was a lucky taster during the shooting of the book.
Two very talented sisters (and friends) wrote this fantastic cook book and I think it's a real winner.
I was drooling over all the delicious recipes last night, putting post-its on page after page.
Oh and the photography isn't too shabby either ;
If you are looking for a great holiday gift- this book won't disappoint.
oh and even Heather agrees- it's a Heather's pick.
She always seems to get it right.