The kids have had play dates and sleepovers, we have visited with friends and family, and we have enjoyed doing something we get few opportunities to do normally… nothing.
Personally, I created a small list of things that I wanted to accomplish during this break. These are projects that are not necessarily important to anybody else, but require time - and sometimes a large chunk of time.
The first item on my list was to make a large batch of Zuppa Tuscano, a recipe from a friend, that uses kale. We don't cook kale here very often (nobody particularly cares for it), but we get some each summer with our vegetable CSA shares, and this soup is very flavorful. So, I made a triple batch, served some for dinner, and put the rest in the freezer for random meals during the winter.
Speaking of recipes, the other larger project on my to do list involved entering all of my favorite recipes from two recipe binders into my recipe software. Several years ago I purchased Cook'n software to store all of my recipes. The plan had been to put all my favorites into Cook'n so that I would have one place to go where I could search by ingredient, or some other keyword, to find the recipes that I wanted. During this break I finally finished entering my favorite recipes into the software. I still have a collection of Pinterest recipes to add, but the box sitting on the floor of my office (the one that held my recipe binders and loose random recipes) is now (finally) gone.
The next two projects on my list involved shopping on the Internet. First, I needed to order tablecloths for my table. It is not always easy to find tablecloths for my slightly smaller-than-normal dining table when I just walk in to Bed, Bath, and Beyond; I can either find the right size OR a color/style that I like, but not usually BOTH. Thanks to Amazon, this is no longer a significant problem. While I was browsing the pages of Amazon, I did some searching for drinking glasses. We purchased several sets of drinking glasses when we finished building our house several years ago, but after years of children, entertaining, and carelessness, it was time to replenish our supply. Amazingly, Amazon was able to provide me with not just any glasses, but the exact same glasses that I already have. A perfect match.
Next up on my to do list; prepared two computers to be donated to our kids' school. Prior to Christmas we started making some computer changes in our house and the end result was two decent computers that we no longer need. With little time and effort we could prepare those computers to be donated to the school.
That leaves the last thing on my to do list. It's a creative project, something I have been wanting to do for a year now. It's a project that I pinned on Pinterest, but just never made the time to do. Now it's done; homemade ornaments for my Christmas tree. The timing really couldn't be better; a few years ago our tree tipped over and several ornaments were destroyed, then this year, for whatever reason, several more ornaments were damaged during the decorating of the tree. Now I have six new ornaments done in some of my favorite colors.
With that done, my holiday projects list is complete. I love the fact that I accomplished these many things, and yet still feel like this was a quiet and relaxing vacation; the ultimate success in my book. May the rest of 2015 be as relaxingly productive as this Christmas holiday has been.
Happy New Year.
