Welcome 2015!

Happy 2015!!! Can you even believe that it is already a new year? Where does the time go? I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday season full of love, joy and happiness. The end of 2014 was just lovely in my house.

Our Christmas was extra bright this year because we got to share it with many wonderful out-of-town guests. David’s cousin, Kori and his family are here visiting from Hungary for the first time so we had a big Christmas party with David’s aunts, uncles and cousins in the days leading up until Christmas. My grandpa, Aunt Debby, Uncle Steve and my cousin Mat (who you all know from our European adventure) joined us for Christmas at my parents’ house this year and Grandpa, Debby and Mat were also able to stay through the New Year. Needless to say, my children did not spend many nights at home over their winter break (I actually think it was only one… Christmas Eve). This year also marked my niece’s first Christmas so we had a wonderful celebration!

Of course, December also brings our annual Hungarian sausage making party. For the second year in a row David and I hosted the party at my parents’ house. This was B.J., Mat, Debby, Steve and grandpa’s first time making hurka and kolbasz and they had a blast learning the process. My in-laws also loved taking command of all of the extra help in the kitchen. We finished even faster than we did last year, so I think we are finally getting the hang of things. This year we stepped a bit out of our comfort zone and decided to smoke some of the kolbasz for the first time and it turned out amazingly well!

In other food related news, David and I learned to make his mom’s famous stuffed cabbage this year! It is no easy task but the reward was well worth all of the hard work. To give you an idea of just how complicated this was, the recipe calls for 18 pounds of sauerkraut! When I was in Hungary over the summer Dédi also gave me several of her baked goods recipes and I decided to be brave and put some of them to the test. I had a couple of flops, but for the most part they turned out surprisingly well and David has made me promise that I will make them every year.

The Christmas season is always extra special for me and David because we were married at the end of December. This year we celebrated fourteen years (how is that possible?). To mark the occasion, we went to see the last installation of the Hobbit with my dad, Mat and the boys and later that evening David took me out to one of our favorite restaurants.

New Year’s Eve was spent at my mom’s annual NYE pajama party. Everyone, except Little Man made it until midnight. He tried his best, but just couldn’t quite stay awake. He was upset that he didn’t quite make it but I’m sure he will have better luck ringing in the New Year in 2016.
January started off a little bumpy. I woke up New Year’s Day feeling great only to be sidelined by a terrible stomach bug that lasted for a few days. Seriously, I spent two days lying on a blow up mattress in my mom’s family room because I was too sick to move. My kids, of course, thought it was awesome because they said it was like indoor camping. Thankfully, no one else caught whatever it was I had.

We are slowly adjusting back into our scheduled of work and school. I miss our late nights and long leisurely mornings, but there is something nice about getting back into a routine. I hope that your 2015 is off to a great start! I’ll be back soon!