I blinked and three weeks went by.

I had visions of posting every day but then I slapped myself and woke up from my dream three weeks after my last post. Oh well, I have a vivid fantasy life. What can I say?

Two kids are a lot of work, yo!

Anyway, our Christmas was awesome. And yours? Good, good. I hope it was good.

A couple of weeks before Christmas Day, we even got some snow!

This one didn't mind the snow as long as she was in the sling. She's too sweet for words and I vow to get more photos of her!

This one just wanted to throw snowballs at everyone (including her little sister).

Fortunately we had enough snow left for a tiny snow duck.

As for us, having one kid makes Christmas a whole lotta fun, but then you throw another one into the mix and you pretty much have the best invention since sliced bread. Holy cow, did you know children love Santa? I mean LOOOOOOOVE Santa to the point of stalker obsession? It's true. And my daughter, who watches Christmas movies pretty much all year long (but who shuns Halloween to the point of refusing to wear a costume and ring people's doorbells for free candy), is President of the Santa Fan Club. She will not only write him letters but wants to draw pictures of him, visit him wherever he might pop up during the holiday season and talk about him incessantly. It's way fun. Even though the baby doesn't yet play with anything except her index finger, she had to receive lots of presents from Santa (most of which were used or recycled from her older sister) to satisfy the Santa Fan's belief that even the smallest member of the house needs more toys.

Christmas morning saw the awakening of the fam at a reasonable hour (the hus and I were the first ones awake) followed by two solid hours of opening presents because preschoolers will not be rushed when it comes to revealing goodies. They like to stop and play with each thing as it is opened, which doesn't bother me a bit because it's an entire year until we do this again and it took me a LONG TIME and not an insignificant amount of money to gather, assemble and/or wrap these goodies, so BY ALL MEANS, let's make the most of it!

The bottom line is Christmas with children=super fun!

In other news (and no segue because I'm tired and it's my blog), I made a super great soup tonight, the recipe for which I will share with you. This is the second time I have made this soup and each time I have done it differently and it has still turned out to be very tasty. I think I have settled upon the flavor profile that rocks both my and my husband's worlds and it only took me ten years of marriage and a lot of failed recipes to arrive at this point. So yay! And also yum.

This soup embodies that flavor profile pretty solidly and I hope you like it. The Husband pretty much hates any soup except for chili, beef stew and the like. He's a hungry man and does not want to fiddle with broth which in his mind is just a waste of effort. Consequently, I never cook any thin or pureed vegetable soups which would just take up too much space in my freezer because one person cannot eat a vat of soup with any sort of efficiency. For years I have craved butternut squash soup, pumpkin soup, and other fall soups but never ever dared to make one for fear of it going to waste. Not high on my list of phobias or anything or worth adding to the bucket list, but you know, just a niggling urge that hangs out in the back of my mind.

So when I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen (I think)--Yeah, I just checked. It was Smitten Kitchen--I knew it was the one for me. I cast all caution to the wind and changed the recipe before even trying it the way it was written because I had some roasted butternut squash that I needed to use up and I thought squash was a legitimate sub for the pumpkin and might even be better since it was fresh rather than canned. The spice blend I used on the squash, I realized later, was highly influential in my liking the soup, so I decided to stick to that winning combo and simply annotate the recipe. I made the soup again tonight with canned pumpkin puree and added the spice blend mentioned above and voila! Same delicious soup but easier because I didn't have to cut up, roast, and puree a squash. So go with that if you are not interested in adding more steps to what is in my book an already stepped-out-for-a-weeknight recipe.

I would include a photo but it is a) dark and b) not fun to show off my rental house plastic dishes. So I will merely direct you to the Smitten Kitchen write-up on the soup and say it looks just like that except spicier. ;-)

Black Bean Pumpkin Soup with a Kick
Three 15 1/2 oz. cans black beans (about 4 1/2 cups) I have used pintos and red kidney beans blended in with one can of black beans and it tastes great so feel free to mix it up.
1 cup drained canned tomatoes
1 1/4 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup minced shallot
4 garlic cloves minced
1 tbsp. plus 2 tsp ground cumin
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 stick unsalted butter (or 1/4 stick butter and 3 tbsp. olive oil)
4 cups beef broth
16 oz. can pumpkin puree (about 1 1/2 cups)
1/2 cup dry Sherry (or dry red wine)
1/2 pound cooked ham, cut into 1/8 in. dice
3-4 tbsp. Sherry or red wine vinegar

Garnish: Sour cream and coarsely chopped lightly toasted pumpkin seeds

In a food processor, coarsely puree beans and tomatoes.

In a 6 quart heavy kettle cook onion, shallot, garlic, spices, brown sugar, salt and pepper in butter (or butter/oil) over moderate heat, stirring, until onion is softened and beginning to brown. Stir in pumpkin puree. TASTE! The mixture will taste very spicy/sweet, but the spiciness and sweetness will become very subtle after remaining ingredients are added. Adjust spices. Stir in broth, bean puree, Sherry or red wine until combined and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, 25 minutes or until thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.

Just before serving, add ham and vinegar and simmer soup, stirring until heated through. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Serve soup garnished with sour cream and toasted pumpkin seeds.