The Polar Express Train Ride, Christmas Things, and Food!

I can’t believe Christmas is in four days! I’m proud to say that I’m ready for it, though—not ready for it to end, but I have all the gifts bought, the house decluttered and ready for new toddler toys, the menu set, and I’ve been way more relaxed this year. We are doing Christmas Eve alone, but then my parents will come over Christmas afternoon to do gifts and have a delicious dinner (last year’s Christmas blog.) I’ll do some more holiday baking for neighbors tomorrow, but it’s a lot less crazy than last year with all the markets and celebrations. This time, I really get to enjoy being a toddler mom around the holidays. Things are so much different now that he’s super into Santa Claus and the magic of Christmas, and it’s so much more fun for me. I don’t want to miss out on a second of it!

Tonight, I’m going to a holiday party with friends that involves food, pajamas, and games—which I’m so excited for! I’m making my pepper jack jalapeño bread with a creamy pepper jelly cheese dip. I’ll share that recipe on my Instagram as I make it tonight. I’ll also be making some kind of dessert to bring! 

I haven’t done a recap in a few weeks, so this one will be a long one. I didn’t want to wait any longer because I love sharing my Christmas blog the day after Christmas each year! We’ve been doing so many fun Christmasy things.
When it’s cold or rainy and we need to waste some time, we always make a trip to Target. We usually need something, so it’s fun to go around looking at things. Sometimes I’m a pushover and get him a new toy—and in this case, a fun hat and, wait for it…light-up shoes! The one thing I said I’d never buy—but they make him so happy!

I did finally get around to trying the viral Turkish pasta salad.

 
And when it’s super nice outside, and I’m over spending money at Target, we head out to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for a fun day in the backyard. They’ve had construction going on around their street, so this kid is in heaven standing there watching them. They even came over to talk to him, and you’d think he was meeting a celebrity! He loves wearing my dad’s Fire Marshall hat from the navy.

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A few Fridays ago, my mom and dad came over to watch our son so Kyle and I could have a date night and do some final Christmas shopping. We tried the new Firebirds restaurant, but I had a cold so bad that I couldn’t taste anything anyway. Almost the entire month of December, I’ve been fighting a chronic sinus infection. I’ve never had a cold last this long—I’ve had it since Thanksgiving, and I’m still fighting it. I’ve been on multiple rounds of antibiotics, and I’m praying I’m coming to an end soon! I can finally taste things again.
We have done so much Christmas baking! Today, we’re doing even more.

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sugar Cookies (and gluten-free!)
Peppermint Mocha Brownies
Gingerbread Sourdough Cinnamon rolls!
Sourdough Bread!

I forgot how good Chipotle is. We were out running errands and needed to get lunch, so we stopped at Chipotle before coming home. We split the rice, beans, and chicken (my toddler’s only food groups), and I showed him how good guacamole is on chips. Unfortunately, he said it was too green to eat.

My Black Friday order came in with all of my bulbs! I’ll be spending the day next week getting them into my garden beds. I had the BEST cut flower garden last spring and early summer, and I cannot wait to have that again this year. I used to plant all my tulips around the house (and I still will), but I want them in my garden beds too. I have ranunculus, poppies, dahlias, lilies, tulips, and hyacinths. I’m going to film the entire process that day and do a blog post.Early mornings with my boy! He loves sitting by the fireplace after running around the cold, wet backyard in the morning. Anyone else have a dog that hates the daylight but then turns into an energetic puppy outside at night and in the early morning before the sun comes up?

One of the most fun days so far was when we got two wild toddlers together to decorate Christmas cookies. I had so much fun with the setup, and their cookies turned out so cute! Of course, we had to decorate a few of them ourselves.

For lunch, I made us a Caesar butternut squash pasta and kale salad, and it was so good! I cooked up some brown rice and quinoa pasta from Trader Joe’s, added their vegan dressing (it’s so good!), roasted butternut squash, and kale! We had some yummy gluten-free pizza to go with it too.Anytime I drop off my son at school, I come home to work on my computer, do a little Christmas shopping, blog, and sip on an oat milk cappuccino! I love our new espresso machine!

I know I’ve been going overboard on all the dessert recipes this holiday season, but I promise I have so many new savory recipes coming out starting in January, and this white chicken chili is first on the list! I stuffed some of it inside a Carbonaut I found at Sprouts. They’re okay… but you really have to toast them or they’re gummy. Once they were crispy, they had a great texture, but no flavor.

The funny thing about the South is that it’s either 70 degrees or 35 degrees! We go from one extreme to the next every other day. But I love the warmer days! If it’s going to be cold, there better be snow.

Of course, we made a quick stop at Target to get new chalk, and he suckered me into the crane, even though we have so many similar ones from Santa this year. Guys, I’m such a sucker when it comes to this kid wanting trucks or cars! The good thing is that he plays with them so much, so they’re going to good use. Look at this kid in the cart…I want to be him when I grow up. 

It was so nice on Friday, so we spent all afternoon doing chalk, digging in the dirt, playing outside, and getting all that fresh air.On Friday night, I headed out to celebrate one of my good friends who’s having another baby boy! We had a girls’ dinner with some friends at Napa, and it was so nice. Why is it that I always hate the idea of getting dressed up and leaving the house after 7 pm, but once I’m out, I love it, and I’m like, “Why don’t I do this more often?”

I had the most delicious butternut squash risotto and a chicken and acorn squash salad.

I was so excited for Sunday! I spent the day shooting some recipes for the blog in January, but I couldn’t stop thinking about how fun it was going to be taking my son and my mom on the Polar Express Train Ride!

It was going to be a late one, so I packed us some honey mustard chicken sandwiches with cream cheese, sweet jalapeño guacamole, bacon, tomatoes, and lettuce. Have you had the sweet and spicy jalapeños from Trader Joe’s? THEY ARE SO GOOD. And I had to shoot the recipe from the sweet jalapeño deviled eggs my brother and I made at Thanksgiving! They were unbelievable, and you have to try them. This time I added bacon!

I should have never started my husband on the jalapeño cheddar sourdough bread. He goes through withdrawals if I don’t have any made, and he eats a loaf in like two days. Lately, I’ve been making pepper jack jalapeño sourdough bread, and I’m making that tonight with a dip!I had to make some on Sunday night so my husband could have some while watching the Eagles game, and we went on the Polar Express train ride! I slice it up when it cools down and freeze the slices in a Ziploc bag. We stick it in the toaster to warm up right out of the freezer.I’ve been wanting to do the Polar Express Train Ride since this little boy was born, but I wanted to wait until he was ready. BOY, WAS HE! He could not stop talking about the train ride all day, and when we got there, he just kept dancing and jumping with excitement. He was even more excited since my mom, his favorite person, was joining us!
When we got there, we bought a s’mores kit and he roasted marshmallows for the first time ever! He was a huge fan!
Before the train ride, we did all the fun activities! We watched the elf make large bubbles, walked around the vendor tents, watched the performers, and had the best time, even though it was raining!

I bought our matching pajamas for the family this year at Belk! They always have the SOFTEST ones! They feel like butter. 
We splurged and did the first-class booths for his first time on the Polar Express, and it was completely worth it!! I think I’ll do this every year now. We got lucky and bought these tickets in July before they sold out.

We enjoyed the dancing, the music, the yummiest hot cocoa with whipped cream, chocolate chip cookies, and gorgeous lights! It was truly magical and so much fun!  
The train went about 25 minutes, taking us to the North Pole, and this boy was so excited to see Santa. He couldn’t stop looking out the window! They came around reading the story of the Polar Express with the largest and prettiest illustrated books.

Usually, my son is so calm and just an observer when there are a lot of people around, but something in him changed, maybe the Christmas magic. He was up, standing on the chairs, dancing, waving his arms, and singing, and it made me so happy I could cry. Midway through, we got off the train to visit the North Pole!

I don’t know what it was—maybe the sugar, maybe the excitement—but my son went under the gate and ran toward the stage near Santa. I was mortified and couldn’t get to him. One of the little elves picked him up to bring him back to me. It was so embarrassing but so extremely funny at the same time. He was running toward Santa, yelling, “Toys!” I’m telling you, I wouldn’t have put that on my bingo card ever. I can’t wait to tell him that story for the rest of his life.    Before getting off the train, Santa made a visit, bringing all of us bells! This was so special, and my son was in complete awe.We got home a few hours after bedtime, so it was a rough night of sleep! He decided to wake up at 4 am, which was not a good idea considering he had his Christmas concert at his school that morning! 
Despite being SO TIRED (I thought he’d fall asleep on stage), he was soooo cute! I could cry!!! He was actually participating. I was really hesitant to start him in preschool so young, but I think it’s been the best thing for this kid. He’s made so many little friends, learned so much, and he’s much more social. He loves his little school. He only does three half-days a week, so it’s not too much, but it’s just enough to give me a little time to work and him some time to be social and learn!

While he was at school, I got to work on a few presents for my niece and nephew. I love doing little sketches, so I made them some little pictures and picked up a few fun items from Target. I had to go without my son this time since these things weren’t for him, and he just wants anything we walk past. They sell Target merch now, lol, and I had to buy him some for Christmas. He’s Target’s biggest fan.

I love doing coffee and coloring. No matter how old I get, I’ll always love art!Another day, more loaves of sourdough bread! I made a few for neighbors this time, and one for my husband. Lately, I’ve been activating my sourdough starter at night, making the bread in the day, and then baking it early morning. I’ve been throwing in some extra tosses and folds since I’ve had more time.
 On Tuesday, we made the yummiest gingerbread sourdough cinnamon rolls! We packed some up and brought them to my husband’s work.After our cinnamon roll delivery, we headed to the park to play for an hour, and then to Ilios for lunch!

After lunch, we headed back to the house to enjoy the stunning weather. We did so much chalk, ran around the neighborhood park, and went on a push car ride! He’s way too big for his push car now, but he still LOVES it!I don’t know what it is lately, but my son has been waking up at 5 am and sometimes in the middle of the night. Apparently, at 2 1/2, they go through some kind of regression. We live a million lives before 8 am. Since the weather was decent and the fog was pretty, we headed out on a long walk after breakfast and before getting ready for school.
He ran almost an entire mile while laughing. WHERE DO THESE TODDLERS GET THEIR ENERGY FROM? THEY LIVE OFF LIKE ONE CHICKEN NUGGET.  When we got back, we got ready for school, and I made a quick egg sandwich befor drop off. 

My son is so obsessed with the Katz donut balls. He refused to go into the car without the box.

After drop off, I WAS SO TIRED, but I made myself and oatmilk cappuccino and worked on a gingerbread sourdough cinnamon roll recipe. My mom came over at one so I could go to my gastroenterologist appointment that I’ve been waiting two months for. With all of my health concerns and testing, I was referred, and we’re moving forward with trying to figure out what’s going on in my body (I explained everything in this recap). Not only did I find my first gray hair that day, but I was also scheduled for my endoscopy and colonoscopy/endoscopy. Remember when I’d blog about things in my 20’s. Now, I’m getting old and feeling it. It’ll be in February because, since doing FODMAP, I haven’t eaten gluten in over two months. They want it in my system for six weeks before the colonoscopy, so now I’m eating a little bit each day.

For dinner, I made turkey taco bowls. I cooked ground turkey with Siete taco seasoning, jalapeño honey Tillamook cream cheese, lettuce, salsa, and lime cassava chips.And my early bird was up bright and early with the Trash Truck on Thursday!

We went on a FREEZING cold walk, and then got ready to head out to grab some things at…you guessed it! Target!

My goal was to stay out until nap time. We visited some new parks, some favorite parks, and then walked around Baxter Village waiting for Ilios to open. He again did not sleep well that night, so I was 100% getting him back on a napping schedule. When he used to sleep from 7 am to 8 am, I never made him nap because he wasn’t tired, but now that he’s not sleeping through the night, I’m making him at least attempt a nap.


Ilios is the only meal I can get this kid to eat so much. I was also so hungry (always hungry when I’m running on zero sleep!), so we split a big plate, and I LOVED their seasonal vegetable spicy Brussels sprouts. I wish they would keep them on the menu forever!

On Thursday night, I left him alone in the front playroom for a few minutes while I cleaned up dinner, and when I walked back, OMG WHAT A MESS THIS CHILD HAD MADE!!! The good thing was that on Friday, we were dropping him off at my parents’ house so we could get rid of toys and donate them (the ones he doesn’t touch, the missing pieces, or things he’s too big for). We also spent the day putting together some of his bigger gifts! We know he’s going to be getting new things at Christmas, and adding to the overload would be just too much.It felt so good to have everything decluttered, organized, and cleaned out! We are attaching that car shelf to the wall just incase he decides to try and climb it.
I also worked on making homemade sourdough donut balls for my donut-obsessed boy that are a bit healthier! THEY WERE AMAZING! Thank goodness I can eat a little gluten right now because I was able to try these, and holy moly!!! I cannot wait to share this recipe next week.

Today, I made a pepperjack jalapeño sourdough loaf... OH MY GOODNESS! It’s hands down the BEST SOURDOUGH BREAD I’VE EVER MADE!!! Make sure you’re following me on instgram so you can see the dip I make tonight that goes with this bread for the Christmas party! I’m so excited to dive into the Christmas celebrations over the next few days! But how am I going to explain to my toddler that Christmas is coming to an end? He’s been absolutely in love with this season! It’s just so bittersweet how quickly it’s flown by. I’m so glad I put the tree up in November, giving us more time to enjoy it. Normally, I take everything down by December 26th, but this year… maybe I’ll keep it up a little longer. We’ll see!