Pre Christmas Notes

It's official, the Girls don't believe in Santa Claus, which I guess is Ok.
     Started a new tradition, I hope this year. In the past every Christmas a large group of us would get together and see the latest Harry Potter movie out. I don't remember the first year Harry Potter started, but a group of us went to it. It included Teri, myself, Nancy, Amanda, June, Tony and my Mother at least, I think. Later on the girls would get added to the mix.
     I just looked it up and the movie franchise started in 2001, when Nastia was three and Elena was one. They joined the fray in for the final film, split into two movies, having missed the half blood prince by a few months in 2009( The movie came out in the summer of 2009, they arrived in October). They never would of understood it speaking little English at the time.
     This year they released Fantastic Beasts, which is the first of five movies that will explore the history of the Elder wand and the relationship between a character called Grindelwald and Albas Dumbledore. For those of you who don't know or remember what the Elder wand is... READ THE BOOKS!! THERE GREAT!!
     OK, The Elder wand is the most powerful wand and it is part of something that includes the invisibility cloak. Now I have to go reread the books! Cause I don't remember it all.
     Started Making Christmas Cookies yesterday. The Girls both helped and I had too much help. It fun, but when you have too much help and can't give jobs to both at the same time it causes stress because I feel one or the other is going to leave and do something else. I want to teach them both to cook so that when they go out on their own they will be able to make something more then Raman Noodle Soup.
     We started with Chocolate chip cookies. I heard that if you substitute 8ozs of cream cheese for half the butter the cookies will come out soft. Well We did, then we put in too much white sugar, so I cut back on the brown sugar and added some molasses, I tasted the molasses and let the girls taste it, I thought it would be good, it wasn't.
     After all of that the cookies were soft and I thought tasteless. My Mom said they had a nice taste. The Girls didn't complain and just ate them.
     Next up are the pin wheel cookies. I make them every year with the promise that I will make them again during the year. I love them and they represent to me Christmas for some odd reason, I guess because they are only made during Christmas. They are too much of a hassle to make more then that.
     I double the dough. Half is vanilla, the other half is Chocolate. Each gets put in the refrigerator to cool after it is made, then they are rolled out, re-cooled, rolled together, re-cooled, then cut to make the pin wheel shape, cooked and the last part is the best, yes I eat them, but I'm the only one who likes them! Best deal ever. I also like to make the cookie from Niemen Marcus. The story behind the cookie about someone being charged $600.00 to get the recipe, which is false, got me interested in it. It's a good cookie. About as much of a pain to make as the pin wheel cookies.