a dessert ...in time for the holidays

Hello Everyone!

We are all busy preparing and enjoying the holidays and counting down the days till Christmas Eve! Believe it or not it is tomorrow night!! This past month we have been busy attending school pageants, carol sing alongs at an old age home, decorating, reading nativity stories and watching classic Christmas movies on t.v.  Have I mentioned that I simply LOVE this season?!!!

I thought it might be fun to share a familiar recipe with you all here as well.  This recipe is for a desert that my mother and grandmother made each and every Christmas when I was growing up, and I am proud to have also made this every year since our firstborn was a baby.  It goes by many different names, but I like to call it "Pineapple Delight".  It is very simple, fun for girls to help with  and I have had positive comments on it.

Here it is:

PINEAPPLE DELIGHT

A) CRUST:

2 cups graham crumbs
1/2 cut melted butter

-mix thoroughly and keep out 1/2 cup of graham crumb mixture for the top of the desert later.
-press crust mixter into a 9X13 Pan
-put in oven at 300* for 10 minutes
-cool completely

B) ICING LAYER:

1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 tsp vanilla to taste
enough milk to make spreadable

-mix all together and spread on top of the cooled graham crust in the pan

C) PINEAPPLE FILLING

1 large can of crushed pineapple (well drained!)
1/2 pint whipping cream

-whip cream on high till stiff, adding small amount of icing sugar if desired
-fold in pineapple in the whipped cream
-spread on top of the icing layer generously

Top the whole dessert with the remaining Graham Crumbs  and Chill (so it sets and flavors combine)
After the dessert has been chilled overnight, cut into squares, serve and enjoy!

and thats it!!

Our family can polish off a pan of these squares in no time!

Well there is still alot of small things I need to tackle tonight so that tomorrow it will be easier paced and we can enjoy our Christmas Eve day and night.  Hope you all have a blessed holiday! I will be back soon to update and post some pics.
Good Night!

Bring on the Cravings!

Hello everyone!

So, these days we have been busily preparing for Advent and the holiday season .  I have been enjoying every minute of it and loving the joy on our children's faces over things such as the first real snowfall, putting our star on the top of the decorated tree, tasting gingerbread dough and also our first sips of hot apple cider. There is something so magical about this season and I am reminded of my own childhood Christmas memories.

We have also been so wrapped up these days in the anticipation and excitement of announcing our news to family and friends! Well by the title of this post, you may have guessed it..hehe.... We are simply thrilled, honoured and soo grateful that we have been Blessed again and I am carrying the Gift of Life within!! Yes...we are Expecting another little precious one come spring!

This pregnancy has been relatively smooth going, with a little bit of morning sickness the first few months...and a bit of tiredness. We had an ultrasound at 11 weeks and it was simply amazing to see this little one on the screen with heart beating ever so fast and little limbs moving!

As the technician moved the doppler across my belly, I could feel tears coming..in that moment it was so "REAL" and watching our little one really moved me and I kept whispering praises to the Lord and the tears kept coming. Maybe it was hormones and I was a tad emotional, but I was just in awe at the miracle of Life before our very eyes! I felt so proud to be a woman and that God was forming this precious little one so precisely and intricately within my very own womb....words can't even sum up that moment in time, yet it is engraved within my heart forever.

When we told the other children, they jumped up and down in excitement and it was awesome to spend the night talking about the new baby.  Our little Elijah pats my belly everyday now and says "I'm petting the baby"..its quite adorable.

I have been really trying to get all the required nutrients in and even with taking my prenatal vitamins, I Crave Protein constantly.  I have tried over the months to satisfy it with beans, and lots of other substitutes for meat but it just doesn't cut it.  There was one night where I was so frustrated and finally at 9:30 at night, dear hubby ran to the grocery store for me and bought me a nice Sirloin steak!  Since then I have been having steaks every week...and the craving is satisfied. I crave horseradish and sauerkraut too, which is so weird!

Tomorrow we have another ultrasound scheduled out of town as they have a nicer facility and over the pregnancies, I have found they take their time and do not rush us out of there. The technician is very thorough in describing everything to us and even includes the husband and children...
We have debated finding out the sex of this little one, however as tempting as it will be, I think I would regret it later. I have never found out for ANY of our babies, and its that extra curiousity and suspense that gets me through those last few weeks of pregnancy and Labour. We'll see. Maybe we will find out afterall?...!

I will update on everything soon!