alright, i forgot to bring my camera with me to mom and dad's house for thanksgiving. oops. guess i'll just substitute with this rad poster via one of grant's 6th grade students. i saw it on our table while grant was doing some grading, and really liked it. my favorite part is the heart he drew to cover up a mistake. (haley, i know you are laughing at this.)

we had such a good holiday in nebraska. along with the excitement of the engagement, we also had a merry party with all the cousins and watched vintage bugs bunny cartoons and ate yummy cinnamon coffee cake and haley styled me some new natalie-inspired bangs. (my cousin has awesome bangs.) thanks for hosting us, mom and aunt kayleen! we had a ball.

once upon a late thanksgiving eve, after a sleepy drive home from the cousins' house, mom and us girls suddenly decided to pull an all-nighter and decorate the house for christmas. we must've been high on tryptophan. after hanging the stockings on the mantle and digging through storage bins of holiday decor, we were brimming with christmas energy, and headed straight out to the early morning day-after-thanksgiving sales. and a tradition was born. years later, we are still waking at 4:30, throwing on scarves and going out into the blackness of black friday. i love it for so many reasons.

for the crowds, the stillness of the air in the dark morning, and the feeling of being out there with the best of 'em. something about everybody waking up and doing the same thing.. it's a thrill.

for being my escape of small town stores and being my taste of it's christmastime in the city. for shopping centers bedecked with twinkling lights and the giant tree in the center of the outdoor mall.

for grant hiding a gift card by my pillow and telling me to have fun with the girls in the morning.

for the 6 am egg mcmuffins and a midmorning egg nog latte from scooters. mmm.

for waiting in line, door-busters, and special bags that will get you 25% off, filled to bursting.

for picking out my sisters' christmas gifts and hiding them under coats in the cart.

for making me feel like a kid again. it's the only day when a married girl like me can plop into the front seat next to her mom and have mom hand her some shopping money, just like old times.

for good finds. this year i came away with much needed slippers and some cozy winter cardigans (cardigans must be the it thing for 2009, along with dresses and plaid).

most of all, i love it for the sweet memories and traditions and camaraderie with mom, haley, and chelsea. thanks for a grand black friday, girls. can't wait for next year.

she sent word this morning that i no longer have to keep quiet. so i'm here to shout it from the rooftop.. haley is engaged!

yep. my twin sister is all grown up and getting married. how time does fly. seems like not too long ago we were sporting mom's hot rollers and dancing around the living room in our sunday slips to the skater's waltz. but now we get to do cool grown up things like wear diamond rings and be wives. derrick the boyfriend popped the question thanksgiving morning, and later, derrick the fiancee, with a sparkly-ringed haley on his arm, joined us for the big feast and our customary christmas tree lighting + egg nog ceremony. i'm so excited and feel so privileged to have been there when it happened. woohoo. there were many tears of joy before we sat down to eat turkey and give thanks this year.

i've never seen haley so happy before. she was on top of the world having her guy by her side during the tree trimming and curling up next to him on the couch during the football games. i'm sure she was trying to soak up the momentousness of the day and attempting to fully grasp the 'he's mine!' reality. at least that what i remember bouncing around in my giddy head on my engagement day.

i am so excited for my awesome new brother in law, who has been my friend for years and is forever making me laugh. welcome to the family, derrick! and so thrilled for my beautiful, brilliant sister. she'll always be my first friend. congratulations, guys. i love you.

i am thankful, yes, but more importantly, i am thankful to Someone.

today i could easily ramble off a mountain of things that i am thankful for, but if i forget that there is anybody to thank, what would be the point? my grateful attitude should be worked out in grateful praise to the One who has made and given all things.

Lord, you have made 2009 a fantastic year for us. we are constantly amazed by Your goodness.

thank You for the sloppy snow that is falling this morning. thank You for another year with the trusty mazda 626 and another summer to work with my husband while feeling like a kid, at camp. thank You for extras at the grocery store, leftovers in the fridge, and seconds at the table, even on a tight budget. thank You for peaceful evenings at home and furnaces and sunday morning drives, headed to our sweet little country church. and thank You especially for your Word, which is my refuge. when i need somewhere to run, i am grateful that i have my marked-up bible, which holds promises straight from You, to comfort me and cheer me.

thank You for the countless times You've proved Your sovereignty to me during the past year. You are always in control, ever my defender and keeper. in everything, Your timing is perfection. i am thinking specifically now of the last two months. You knew the weeks we would negotiate and buy and move into our new house, and the deadline for getting out of our old apartment, and it was all at the ideal time. down to the very day. unbelievable. the entire apartment-to-house transition was proof of Your mighty hand at work.

thank You for the new house, Lord. thank You for silly things like the fact that i now have a fan in the bathroom and hardware to hang a roll of toilet paper on, and a single faucet instead of that funny double one we had before. thank You for nonessentials which make my days go so smoothly; like a dishwasher and a fancy washer and dryer set, which even has one of those handy compartment drawers for bleach and softener.

thank You for preserving our great country, where freedom reigns. even during a recession, You have provided all grant and i need and more. we've even had luxuries like date nights, magazines, car washes and cappuccinos, a vacation to california, a new computer. thank You, Lord, for reliable jobs and a dependable husband, who daily shows me Your wondrous love. we are grateful for, as the hymn says, 'life and health we still possess, with house and home so richly blessed.' (thank You for hymns and their awesome lyrics, Lord.)

amen.

i hope you liked the glimpse into my new house yesterday. now you can picture where i will curl up and clip magazines, sweep and swiffer the floors, write lists, and fall asleep on grant's shoulder during football games. and you've also seen where i will be taking my photos and writing all the words that go up here. (ps. thanks for the reassuring word about my pillows, nan. i wish you could pop over and see them for yourself. in all honesty, they do look better in real life.)

today i have a great gift to give you. this could change your life. there will be no photography, as i have no oven. you will just have to take me at my words. have faith, my friends.

friday night we arranged the living room, and by george, i love it. really love it. saturday morning i couldn't wait to get out of bed and go downstairs to see it again. for the first few days we had it all in a temporary jumble and it was subconsciously stressing me out. but now it is all open and airy and simple. sidenote.. please don't hate me if you find the pillows on our borrowed couch heinous. they were big and soft and on clearance for $6.00 at target. anyway, i think they might actually be cool. maybe?

i cannot believe that just one week ago today i was sitting in our old apartment. that time feels really far away in my head, but it also seems like just yesterday. it's strange how whirlwinds work like that. we are now legally bound to this house, we even signed our names with middle initials included. that's the real deal. we have a pretty grey mailbox with a beaming red flag, which i have already stuck up to hail the mailman. and i saw him take my little envelopes on their way this morning. we have walking mailmen here instead of the drive-by sort that i am used to from my life in the suburbs. another thing we have here are cheap houses. our landlady's house (the house our old apartment was in) was auctioned off this weekend; grant and i went so that we could explore her side of the house and see what it would go for. it sold for $21,000. i'm sure all of you city folk are in awe.

i have now put a couple loads through the new dishwasher, which was a little unnerving after having gone without one since pre-wedding days. hopefully i got the cereal bowls going the right way. i've realized that these new fancy-schmancy dishwarshers (i never say 'warsh' in real life) have a handy little spot for what they call 'rinse aid'. judging by my water spots, i think i'm going to need some of that juice. we are finding a home for my 'daily dishes' in our little kitchen and dreaming big dreams for how to store all the others, like the blender. where we will end up putting that, i'm not sure. someday grant would like to build something like the stellar counter|shelving unit we saw at anthropologie. he's really into building and making things right now, which i totally love.

when the downstairs bedroom doors are closed, things are looking pretty good around here. or at least livable and workable and promising. i am so thankful for a house that was move-in ready. and thankful for a husband who cleaned all the windows over the weekend and solved the problem of the cold basement. knowing grant lives in this house gives me such peace. he is the epitome of a good steward. it's fun to watch him take ownership of this new home and put his mr. fixit qualities to work.

last week i called mom. during our talk i told her that this place did not feel like home. i'm happy to report that today feels like a completely different story. the arranging and organizing has done wonders for my mindset. i'm growing accustomed to the new noises, smells, and lighting, and the coziness factor is way, way up. we even had our first snug sunday evening at home, complete with magazine-clipping and snowblower-shopping and peanut butter toast with honey.

one more thing. i've been pleasantly surprised by the ease of acclimating to a brand new blog spot. (the spot where you usually blog is so unusual, don't you find? it is terribly hard to for me to write anywhere else.) the new venue feels a good fit and the words seem to circulate as they used to. while i sit here and type i can see the neighbor dog running through our yards chasing squirrels. i hope we get to be friends so that i can pet him whenever i want. (i miss my dog. can you tell?) anyway, i'm so thankful that the new space has not resulted in lacking motivation or enthusiasm about writing.

speaking of enthusiasm, apparently i have an abundance of it today.

here it is, the must-have photo. i love that grant, knowing we would take a picture, had secretly kept his shirt and tie in place under his hooded sweatshirt during the move. i am married to such a cool guy. (had i not cropped this, you could have seen his hoodie laying on the sidewalk where he tossed it before posing with me.)

a handful of notes about today.

a. only one week until christmas music is street legal.

b. will attempt to find spots for our toothbrushes today.

c. have started working on a list of things to do during christmastime. this was before i saw jordan's, which is brimming with good ideas to add. will be sharing mine on december the first!

d. along with cereal and sandwiches, we are also subsisting on my take-home snacks from preschool. this was an amazing week for snacks, guys. you don't even know. one little boy had his mom bring homemade treats two days in a row. mmm. i have eaten about 3 special k bars already.

e. since moving to minnesota i've learned that special k bars is apparently another name for what i call scotcharoos. is this a regional thing? what do you call them? can anyone enlighten me on this? i think it's funny to hear people call them special k, even in the cases where they are made with rice krispies.

f. might get harry potter or star trek from the-best-thing-to-happen-to-our-town-$1.00 dvd-rental-box tonight.

g. our letter of the week at preschool, so we read this new to me and mighty clever book. i have such a soft spot for children's books. (more on this about me fact in the near future.) g'day everyone.

hey, i found the camera cord! hooray. now i can upload photos again. maybe tomorrow i'll show you the mandatory with the sold sign picture we took on monday night. that one's always a classic. but for now i want to talk red flowers, food, and globes.

1. over the weekend i was at walmart (because there is no target around here. and i'm going to keep bringing it up until someone fixes this problem), where i spotted some glitzy poinsettia-like plants and thank heavens i had the sense to stop the cart. turns out they are amaryllis (please tell me you are thinking the music man at this word) and they will bloom all holiday season long and they were 50% off. wow. walmart, i'm impressed. so for a whopping $3.75 i got us a little housewarming gift-cum-deck the halls decor. i'm not the type to browse the lawn and garden section, so i'm feeling quite pleased with myself over this find. a flower that is easy to care for and will be pretty for 7-10 weeks? i'm in. maybe every november from now on.

2. grant and i are on the cereal and sandwich diet. i'm sure you've heard of it. it's all the rage at our house. it's the answer to all your problems when bestbuy drops the ball and leaves you in the lurch with no fridge or stove for your new house.

yes, it's a true story. i've been sparing you all the gruesome details over the past few weeks, but basically, bestbuy and i are not best friends right now. it's a supply and demand thing, complicated by thousands of dollars and certain expectations. but grant and i will eventually get our appliances (next wednesday. a month late.) and all will be right with the world. hey, it will mean more to be thankful for this year: a working kitchen and real meals again. it will also mean that from now until thanksgiving, we will eat via the dorm-sized fridge we are borrowing. happily,

a. i happen to love cereal and sandwiches. and

b. my inlaws have graciously offered their table anytime. and judy happens to be the best cook in the county.

yeah. we'll be just fine. (no thanks to you, bestbuy.com) turkey will taste extra good this year.

3. short story. a couple weeks ago grant and i decided we'd like to own a globe. it's just a good thing to have. so i popped in my favorite shop on main street monday afternoon and what should be waiting there for me to find, but a lovely vintage globe for $5.00. slick. i like the look of it next to the wall in my new living room.

this evening i am avoiding any thoughts of unpacking and organizing and instead am musing over front door decor. i was thumbing through all the wreaths i've starred in google reader in the past few weeks and thought i'd share the prettiness here. blogland is fairly bursting with them these days. everybody else must be thinking what i'm thinking. namely, wreaths are so cool. they speak 'we're really settled in here' to me. i am so glad to have unearthed the traditional green one i procured from the post-christmas sales '08 during the move last weekend. i've grown to appreciate wreaths more as i've grown older and realized that they in fact do not have to include potpurri-looking items. someday soon, maybe, hopefully i will get something up on our entry. that would really round off my holidays.

meanwhile, grant is putting up a post so i can have me a genuine mailbox. hooray. and i think i may try out my new dishwasher. just for kicks. and to brush the moving dust from my dishes.

01. bloom 02. caroline armelle 03. sweet paul (by way of design crush) 04. lindsay (again, via dc)

here i am at 11 pm, on my moving day, blogging. i never would've thought.

but really, how could i miss out on a chance to take notes during such a momentous night, and when grant has already so efficiently got the internet up and running? really. i must.

saturday morning we woke up as settled in as ever in the dear little apartment. and now, thanks to 3 helpful harms men, my father in law's super nice trailer, and our trusty mazda, we are 99% moved. huge thanks to our helpful family. we didn't have to spend a cent on the moving process.

at the moment i'm at the apartment, camped out with my lunch on the carpet of our bare living room. it is surprising how unsatisfying it is to live in a place with no chairs. it is also surprising how even with a wireless mouse and keyboard, it is still really hard to use a computer on the floor. but i will not complain. grant is a desktop man and i admire him for it. way to stick to your guns in a laptop world, grant. and soon enough we will have chairs and this imac will have a home again.

speaking of having a home, we will be getting ours this afternoon.

today at 3:30 we will close on our house and the keys will be handed to us and it will be official. and it gets better.. tonight we will sleep in our brand new place. hooray.

the couple hours i have left in apartment no. 2560 will be spent folding the final load of laundry, rummaging under the bathroom sink, and boxing up the last of it all. we have absolutely stunning weather today (really, you should be here.) so i'm hoping to get out and run errands on main street one last time while i'm just a few steps away. i am really glad i don't have to get sentimental about leaving this place, as we will only be living a few blocks from here and grant is working on a video tour to keep in our archives. i'm so thankful for a husband who thinks of everything.

how funny to think that today our life will be completely changed and a new era will begin.. and yet it feels like such a normal day.

anxiously awaiting my husband's homecoming and going to get our house,

summer

man. times are a-changing.

i need a post like this to mark the threshold of the season. throughout the year i always wonder when the christmas-coming really begins. so, here is my official documentation.. it has begun.

i am seeing macy's christmas commercials (big fan of the one with clips from classic movies and i love lucy) and cute gap jingles with all their festive scarves and have spotted the bags of bell-shaped pretzels at the grocery store and two favorite holiday magazines have already been slipped into my mailbox. the holiday season is just too close for comfort. i am itching to click play on my andy williams 'happy holiday' tune, which is a scandalous 69 cents on itunes right now. hurry and snatch it up this minute! and by the way, does anyone else wish there were a tiny little 'cent' sign on the keyboard as much as me?

well here's the deal i made with myself. i am waiting until there is a pretty mantle of white outside my window to crack open a single page of my christmas catalogs. and i must enforce the no christmas music until after thanksgiving rule, of course. and i proclaim there shall be no christmas baking until the turkey leftovers are gone, as well. i have to draw the line somewhere, or else i would certainly get carried away.

meantime, there's something else stirring on the horizon for the holiday season. if you're interested in starting a new bible study with ashley and me, we've got a fresh book lined up and the session begins about a month from now. the topic will be galatians 5:22, and we'll be using elizabeth george's book,

participation is totally free and you are not required to have the book to take part in the study, although i would tell you that you'll not be sorry to have it on your shelf forever and ever. it's totally worth the under $5 you will spend on ebay to obtain it. more info here, or do leave me questions in the comment section. i would be more than happy to answer.

so to sum up this midnovember record, the season is imminent. and i am dying to step into christmas. (please tell me you've heard that elton john song. i grew up dancing to it on the radio.)

only a couple more weeks until it's all fair game. i can do this. i can wait. who's with me?

happy weekend.

today is also nice because grant has the day off tomorrow. (pay off for staying until 9 on monday night.) woohoo. so tonight we will have that friday night feeling as we watch our thurs night funnies on nbc. so fun. and i am going to make grant his favorite baked enchiladas with extra tabasco sauce. and i won't be telling him that i spent half the morning on ebay hunting for toys to go under his christmas tree. fact: after one has been 'sick,' it feels really good to think about someone other than yourself. fact: just recently realized that i am crazy about the chipotle pepper tabasco sauce. it is totally different than the regular stuff. try it sometime.

today is also nice because after 18 years, i made a new discovery in a beauty and the beast song. can you believe that movie has been around for 18 years? me either. i remember getting it on vhs for christmas and eating caramel popcorn during the first showing in our living room. anyway, today i was listening to 'be our guest' while straightening my hair (you all do this too, right?) and realized that lumiere was saying, 'we'll sing you off to sleep as you digest..' so cool.

well, that's all for today guys. see you tomorrow. enjoy the rest of this happy thursday.

hi.

i'm not myself tonight. i'm sporting the nose-that-has-been-rubbed-by-a-thousand-tissues and a head that is fuzzy with a case of the stuffed up. i can't figure out what this cold wants from me. food? rest? vitamins? whatever. guess i'll have to wait it out. my body seems to be rejecting the idea of leaving this dear little apartment. i'm having a hard time realizing that the leaving will happen this weekend. after this weekend this apartment is gone. out of my life. that fact alone got me riled up enough to sit up from my slump on the couch and make a list. a list of things that make this apartment, this apartment. before i display the list, let me give a little lead-in. i've realized that when something is old and a bit odd and maybe not very nice, that's when you say it has 'charm.' and let me tell you, this apartment is terribly charming. and i've grown to love it.

(disclaimer. when you read my list, you will see some strange things. but have no fear, we were never in any danger while living here. our landlady merely specializes in 'rigging' things in the cheapest, funniest way possible. it's been entertaining to cope with all the peculiarities and we have relished the unorthodox of it all.)

things i may or may not miss, but certainly never want to forget, about 2560.

1. the pegboard wall in our bedroom.

2. the long, long, long closet with built-in shelving and saloon style doors.

3. the medicine cabinet mirror (have always wanted one of those).

4. ceiling tiles that belong in an old schoolroom.

5. the orange baking counter and living room carpet.

6. gigantic bathroom counter complete with a surge protector.. outlets a plenty for blowdryers.

7. no walls matched another- some were plastic-looking, one was pegboard, others were plywood.

8. that i could see the farmers' market from our front window.

9. the old frigidaire stove with the missing knob.

10. that we were on the marching band practice route.

11. the yellow tile + avocado wallpaper combo in the kitchen.

12. the big bay window that i love with all my heart. it let in loads of sunshine and had pretty views of our tree-lined street.

13. seeing sam the dog laying outside leroy's alignment (our neighbor) on my walking route.

14. that no surface in the apartment was level or sturdy (you could push in over an inch on some of the walls).

15. light switches and vents in awkward places.

16. my sweet little laundry room. (with a towel rod made of vacuum hose extensions).

17. we were just a few steps off of main street, and the post office, gym, library, and coffeeshop.

18. super cheap rent, plus free cable and internet (which was incredibly fast).

19. the front door that would not open all the way and let tons of cold air through the cracks.

20. the window ac that had a horrible cover which let tons of cold air through the cracks.

21. we were near enough to the hub that we could walk over for ice cream on a nice night.

22. the skinny utility closet for someone grant-sized or smaller.

23. the plexiglass covers for windows in the winter and corners that creak when the wind blows.

24. the drooping ceiling in the kitchen.

25. the heinous fake flower bed arrangement outside our front door that i always felt compelled to tell people was not my doing.

and i'm sure there's so much more i'm leaving out about my first legit home with grant. it has been a sweet and unforgettable era. we had everything we needed, in a package that may not be the most appealing, but we were cozy and had loads of fun. this cheap little flat was a great adventure for us. will have to come back and add more to the list as it comes to my fogged mind.

these are our hunters, and they were hungry.

here's a few ideas on how to feed a hungry hunter, from the dishes of deer hunting 09.

01. marlboro man sandwiches, on homemade buns, with plenty of cheese.

02. sweet-crusted chicken tamales, with sour cream. mm.

04. hungry hunter muffins, with a good spreading of butter. see recipe below.

spice muffins

via grandma vi tschetter.

1/2 c. butter

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. thick unsweetened applesauce

1 c. pecans, finely chopped

2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. cloves

1/4 tsp. salt

01. cream together butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla.

02. mix dry ingredients in medium bowl and add to creamed mixture by alternating with applesauce.

03. add nuts last and fill muffin cups 2/3 full

04. bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes, serve with butter.

makes about 20 muffins.

meanwhile, i'm following the waiting procedures.

wearing gym shorts and slippers and listening for the dryer to buzz. throwing in capfuls of softener and catching snippets of friends reruns. boiling eggs and eating tuna on toast. stacking turkey on his sandwich for tomorrow and making neat creases in his white tees. am holding out for dancing with the stars to tide me over until my man gets home.

deer hunting absolutely flew this year.. fast and fun.

the sun shined. cousins played. pies baked. football prevailed. many a doe was spotted. groves were flushed and fields were hunted. ann's sweet chicken tamales were savored. playdoh pictionary + four on a couch + tony's lattes transpired in the lounge. addie and symone smiled for my camera. and two buck are at the harms farm, ready to be butchered.

i got to see my husband at his manliest.

and camp shetek at its autumniest.

and the little ones walking about like that whole crawling phase never happened.

and my sisters in law being such sweet mothers.

and i got to 'walk the section' during naptime.

and chat on the sofas.

and eat seconds at every meal.

and accompany grant on a hunt.

and a good time was had by all.

yep, you've got it.

it's the first weekend of deer hunting season and everybody is coming home for the holiday. each year, all the harms kids gather round for this auspicious event and we celebrate an early thanksgiving together. the boys go a-hunting and the girls bring fancy vittles and we have a grand old time. sometimes there are even bonfires and rootbeer tastings and heidi's famous orange scones. mmm.

deer hunting 2009 brings a good dry weather forecast for the hunters and round two of grandma marian's pie making class for the bakers. (which i am thrilled over. more practice, just in time for the holidays.) plus there will be lots of little nephews to hold and nieces to hug and sisters to talk with. i can't wait. the festivities begin tonight! woohoo.

the menu planning for this affair began weeks and weeks ago, but today it all finally comes together. today is baking day, guys. big time. i will be stationed in the kitchen, turning up the music, whipping up a collection of goodies, feeling that lovely 'almost-christmas' sensation, and relishing one of my last days sans dishwasher. (because one day i'm sure i will look back and long for the sweet times i had with this tiny little sink of mine, and the yummy palmolive smell + my yellow rubber gloves.)

recipes to come. you can count on it.

happy weekend and happy hunting.

why is the harms family all dressed up?

stick around and i'll fill you in.

ps. yes, that is me next to the bottle of tide, with my bangs blowing in the wind.

pps. aren't we a big crew? and this was two years ago, so we're four members bigger now. i think when i married in i was the #24 addition to the fam.

ppps. we have sweet photo of all of us in ugly christmas sweaters. i promise to break it out during the holidays.

i read somewhere that hymns are really in right now. i would have to disagree slightly. i don't think they were ever out. hymns will never lose their lustre, and they are far too good to be a fad.

but i do agree that hymns are in, in the sense that they seem to be getting more appreciation these days. it's like someone realized that just because they are labeled 'traditional' doesn't mean that they are no longer relevant or meaningful. on the contrary, i think hymn lyrics carry more meaning than most any other music and hold timeless worth for us.

and if you're like me, you'd love to have those simple melodies and sweet words filling the living room while you fold towels, instead of waiting for the right sunday to come along with your favorite hymn in queue. the problem is that it's terribly hard to find a good hymn album. i want one where the artist does not take too many liberties, one where you can still pick out the original tune and sing along with the weighty words. it's hard to find, but guess what. i found one.

roots run deep by jadon lavik.

am listening to it all the live long day.

as promised, it's the great pumpkin cookies.

in other words.. big 'n' fat extreme soft pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

and they are super duper delish.

do you know that marvelous triumphant feeling that comes when a recipe turns out just right the first time? multiply that feeling by 10 and you'll get how happy i was with the result. when a cookie ends up being better in my mouth than it was in my imagination, i know i've found something special. they were everything i wanted and more. and now i know that pumpkin + chocolate is a perfect mix. thanks, joy the baker. they will be making an annual appearance, if i have anything to say about it. i need a little halloween tradition, and this seems like just the thing.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from joy the baker.

2 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg 

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

2 eggs

1 c. raw sugar

1/2 c. coconut oil, melted (or canola oil) 

1 c. pumpkin puree

1 tsp. pure vanilla

1 c. chocolate chips

01. position a rack in the middle of the oven. preheat oven to 325 degrees. line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

02. stir the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices together in a medium bowl and set aside.

03. in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed until smooth and lightened in color, about 1 minute. stop mixer and scrape sides of bowl as needed during mixing.

04. on low speed, mix oil, pumpkin, and vanilla until blended.

05. mix in the flour mixture to incorporate it. mix in the chips.

06. using a 1/4 c. measuring cup or a large spoon, scoop mounds of dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 1/2 inches between.

07. bake the cookies one sheet at a time for about 16 minutes, or until tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry. cool cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

08. dust cooled cookies with powdered sugar. for jack-o-lantern faces like mine, cut two triangles and a pumpkin grin from parchment paper and arrange on top of cookie before dusting with powdered sugar.

*fyi. this is an easy one to cut in half. a half-batch made 8 huge cookies and that was just right for handing out to brothers and sisters in law and a few for us.

it's here, it's here! it's finally here! november. the month of anticipation. it has arrived and i can't wait for more of it.

on a different note, how was your halloween? ours, i'm happy to tell you, was the opposite of last year. 2008 brought a shockingly scant supply of trick-or-treaters, leaving me bitterly disappointed and missing my old neighborhood, but this year i would have none of that. determined to make halloween an eventful night, i threw together a last minute, tiny surprise party for two by printing out this super simple menu and party itinerary and tucking it into grant's side of the sheets on friday night. then on saturday, we partied. sort of. no costumes or dry ice or decorations, but i did borrow a dvd from the library, baked some cookies and plated caramel apple slices. we kicked things off with a showing of the thriller music video, handed out butterfingers to some cute nieces and a nephew, and watched the chronicles of narnia, which is about as scary as i can handle. i even got to chat with my sister and brother in law and their adorable yoda dressed boy. it was totally my kind of party.

when the party was over, we reminisced about halloweens of old. you remember what it was like. you lived in one of those costume hopping, candy crammed neighborhoods. it was the best. you carried around your 10-pound pillowcase in the cold night, the weight and workout of it keeping you warm, mindful of the places where they gave out full candy bars. you knew it was time to head home when your pillowcase became too heavy to lug around anymore, and the sweet looks of sympathy at the door had begun to diminish. they saw that you had plenty already, mom said that you had plenty already, and dad said that you would have halloween candy until easter.

back at home, you and your sisters would plop down on the living room floor, costumes intact, and pour out your takings. next came the best part of all.. the sorting. snickers and milky ways, hershey's and reese's, whoppers and milk duds, the weird-wrappers, the not-candy, the throw-aways, the favorites. each treat had it's own category. i remember it so clearly, the night the living room floor became a collage of sweet candy circles. and if you made a nice offer, sisters would sometimes trade you their gummy lifesavers and kit-kats. it was a magical night.

then there was always the next day at school, when evidence of the profitable night of trick-or-treating made an appearance in lunch sacks and lockers. that candy always seemed to be above the rules. you could eat it in class and teachers would not say a word. those were the days.

i hope your halloweens were like mine. i have such fond memories. i can't wait for future halloweens with tiny costumed kids of my own. someday, someday. i will love being the mom that stands on the end of the sidewalk and waits to hear the cheery sound of 'trick-or-treat' coming from my own little mouths. for the time being, i put a piece of candy in grant's lunch in observance of the day-after tradition.

back to november. happy anticipating!

and tomorrow expect to see the cookies from my scaled-down shindig. get ready, they're good.