When the Moon Hits Your Eye Like a Big Pizza Pie - That's Amore

What a fun week! From seeing the new "Christmas Star", to celebrating our Italian heritage, to Christmas Day, and all the fun in between . . . it's been great!!

Monday: As the sun was setting, I drove up into the hills above Idaho Falls with Amber and her family so we could get a nice, unobstructed view of Saturn meeting up with Jupiter. 


Turned out that we could see it just as well from our front yard, too! This is the view looking SW up and over the Parkinson's house across the street. 


My nephew, Caleb Schwendiman, took this photo while using his friend's telescope. Try clicking on it so you can zoom in to see Saturn's rings. 


As I drove back down the hill toward our house, I cranked up my new favorite Christmas song: Silent Night (Lord of My Life) by Lady A (previously Lady Antebellum). It is so pretty with the harmonies!! While keeping my eye on the road and the star at the same time, I felt small and insignificant compared to the entire universe, but simultaneously I felt amazing and loved and important as part of a Heavenly family who loves me a lot. :)

Scott was busy working with thin-set mortar in the shower and couldn't come up on the hill with us, but we did convince him to come outside briefly to see the "Christmas Star" once we got home. This is what he was doing that evening - - applying the "fill" to the shower flooring, dotted with lovely pebbles.


Tuesday: I got a very interesting update on my DNA through LivingDNA. I've had 3 DNA tests done through 3 different companies. I got this test done back in 2018 so that my sister, Charmaine, and I could learn more specifically what regions we have DNA from within England and throughout all of its counties. From time to time, DNA companies will provide an update because they get more and more results from people testing, which provides a wider base for results over time. 


I was VERY surprised to see that I had SARDINIA and COPTIC EGYPTIAN in my DNA!! I didn't even know what those were, ha ha. Also, it gave me some specific counties within England, Scotland, and Ireland where my DNA is most prominent. The most surprising one was Nottinghamshire. It made me cry on the spot when I saw it! 

When Charmaine and I were up in the Derby (pronounced Darby) area of Central/North Central England (August 2018), we were headed East/SE to Peterborough and decided ON A WHIM to stop in Nottingham. We saw portions of the wall that William the Conqueror built way back in 1068, and took our pictures in front of the Robin Hood statue near the wall. To learn that I have a DNA connection to this specific area was very humbling, to say the least.







And even the French-German DNA breakdown told me some very specific regions where my ancestors came from. 


On a side note, we have decided to focus on Germany for our January Ancestor Night. :)

Also on Tuesday, Amber and Weston and the girls posed for a cute family photo. 


And by the end of Tuesday, this is what our bathroom shower looked like:


SO CLOSE to getting all the tile on the walls!

Jacob and Hannah also arrived in the early evening, ate some dinner, and settled in.

Wednesday: Scott got right back at it by finishing up the wall tiles in the shower. 



Weston made me some Ricotta cheese FROM SCRATCH!! I found a recipe that required fresh ricotta (I'll share more on that in a minute), so he volunteered to make me some! Basically, he boiled some whole milk, added some fresh lemon juice, and then strained it all through some cheesecloth to get all the liquid whey out. The final consistency was BEAUTIFUL!! 



We also got to talk to Kylie for a few minutes. We got to see all the puppies and her newly rescued bunny. 





They've had a rough few weeks over there in Italy, with a very strict holiday lockdown. Today, (Sunday) is their first anniversary. They won't get to do very much, but I hope they were able to at least make a nice meal together and share a laugh or two. :)

Jake had fun snuggling with Gwen. Especially when there is a comfy spot to lay down that also involves a pillow. :)


Scott and I continued to deliver our 12 Days of Christmas items to our friend Kim Hoffenbacker, one gift each night. I used this website to help me have something nice to print out to go with our little gifts. https://jamiecooksitup.net/2018/12/12-days-of-christmas-gifts-of-the-savior-with-free-printable-cards-and-gift-ideas/


I also used all that fresh ricotta cheese to make Nonna's Ricotta Cake, our dessert intended for the next day's Italian Ancestor Night. It only has 4 ingredients: fresh ricotta cheese, eggs, sugar, and the zest from 2 oranges. That's it!



The recipe can be found here: https://www.cookingwithnonna.com/italian-cuisine/nonnas-ricotta-cake.html

Thursday: Italian festivities kicked off first thing in the morning. I printed some decorations, Hannah helped set the table all pretty, and Jacob and Amber helped me in the kitchen. 

I took a short video to capture the mood at one point. Jacob is so stoic, ha ha, choosing not to smile. I told everyone to just act natural and keep doing what they were doing. They were very obedient.

Click here to watch: (45 seconds)

Jacob built all the pizzas for us, using a homemade dough and sauce from scratch.



In honor of Kylie's favorite Italian food, I made some homemade Fried Cheese Balls.

The recipe can be found here:

I had to take notes during Italian Joe's video presentation because the link below his video was to a totally different recipe. Here is the picture of my notes:



*Note: Don't try to cook this many at the same time in a small pot like I did below. They want to float toward each other and then stick to each other. 5-6 at a time was better.

 
Menu items for our Italian Dinner were:

Mesclun Salad

Queen Margherita Pizza & a couple other varieties with arugula, prosciutto, sausage and mushrooms

We also had a citrus fruit platter because citrus fruit is very prominent throughout Italy.



Queen Margherita Pizza - originally made for the Queen, who was from Savoy. It was meant to represent the colors of the Italian Flag - red (sauce), white (fresh mozzarella), and green (fresh basil).


The Ricotta Cake was delicious! It had a very unique texture (very spongy and light), but you could definitely taste the orange zest! 


Everyone loves a photo being taken of them without any warning and while eating, right? :)
L to R: Scott's mom and dad, Coy and Phil, as well as Jake and Hannah and Abby down at the end


L to R: Abby, Weston, Amber and Gwen


After dinner, we scurried into the living room for a musical program so that Benson and Kylie could join us from Italy before they went to bed.

First, Abby wanted to sing her favorite Christmas carol with me, "Angels We Have Heard on High". We sang it with no accompaniment. 'Twas a very novice rendition, but 'twas delightful to sing with my granddaughter. :)


Benson and Kylie watched from afar.


Then Scott and Amber sang our traditional family Christmas song, "Were You There on that Christmas Night?" Amber invited Grandpa Harmon to join in as well.

Here is the link to them singing. I was on the piano. 

Then, Amber sang a solo of "Gesu Bambino", accompanied by an online arrangement. She sang the first verse in Italian. It was so beautiful!!

Here is the link to her singing: (Be sure to turn your sound up)

After Amber was finished, we sang a few Christmas carols until our throats were tired and dry. 

Grandma and Grandpa had fun chatting with Benson and Kylie on the computer, asking questions about all their cute animals, among other things. 



The girls opened gifts from Grandma and Grandpa that revealed some delightful books needing to be read right away! Here, Grandma is reading a book called, "The Brutes." 


At the end of the night, all was ready for Christmas morning. Little ones were tucked and snuggled in their bed, while visions of a new dollhouse danced in their heads . . .


Friday: Merry Christmas!! As soon as everyone was awake, we ate our annual Christmas Breakfast Casserole. We layer hash browns, cheese, bacon, sausage, dried minced onions, then repeat all over again. Next, pour a mixture of several eggs, some milk, and a variety of seasonings over the top, and then let it cook on low all night while we sleep. This time, though, I had a hard time sleeping soundly because my tummy felt like it was hungry all night, smelling that yummy casserole down the hall!!


We took our time opening gifts, letting the girls take the lead on whether we kept opening new gifts, or to stop to enjoy something they just opened. Abby enjoyed the responsibility of handing everyone a gift to unwrap.


Gwen and Papi, with the girls' new "car". Moving the handlebar back and forth propels the car forward. It took some getting used to, but the girls really like it!


And this is the dollhouse that "Santa" (aka Weston) made and delivered for the girls.
Amber is excited to dig in and help design the rooms with them, making it all homey and cozy.



We spent a good long time, more than an hour, talking on the phone with Benson and Kylie on Christmas Day, too. They had received 3 out of the 4 boxes that we sent to them by that point. They were still waiting for packages from Kylie's parents to arrive, but my thought was that it will just extend Christmas for a while as they get one package at a time in the days to come. :)


Benson's nose. Up close and personal. 


Jake and Scott are helping Abby and Gwen to build a fort-type structure, one of the new gifts they received. 

Grandma Doris had a lovely Christmas Day as well! She is being taken care of in such a loving way at her new care home. The director even offered to take Grandma out for a drive to see the Christmas lights! She is 99 1/2 years old now!



Saturday: First thing after breakfast, it was time to say goodbye and give hugs to Jake and Hannah. 



They drove south to Logan, Utah, to stop in and check on Hannah's Uncle Brian after his tonsillectomy. They also brought him some of our leftover Butternut Squash Soup, in the hopes that they could convince him to like something made from squash, ha ha. Then they drove further south to Provo to drop off a bunch of items and goodies at their apartment, before heading even further south to Scipio, Utah to stay a few days with Hannah's mom and step-dad. That's a long day of driving!! But they made it!

They are also flying up to Washington for New Year's to spend time with her Dad and other family members up there. As soon as they get home on January 5th, they are moving into their new apartment with TWO bedrooms. :) They are really good at going with the flow and managing all the busyness of their life together, so they should be just fine. Hannah has a lot of family nearby and they are willing to help get them moved into the new place, which is a relief for us up north. We were ready to come down to help, but they will be in very capable hands down south.

Meanwhile, Scott did a little more work in the master bathroom. Wainscoting went up on the half-wall, along with the trim work. 


We will be working on some cleanup together tomorrow. Namely the tiny details and finishing touches so we can seal it all and be DONE soon! We have been taking showers in here for a few days now and we really enjoy the feel of it all. Nice job Scott!!








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