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Usborne Books has an amazing selection of Christmas books - from newborns to middle schoolers, there is something for everyone. Here are just a few of the ones for very young children. These would be terrific gifts for new parents celebrating their baby’s first Christmas.

Baby’s Christmas - Celebrate with baby as he opens presents on a happy Christmas morning. You can move him from page to page into a recessed jigsaw hole. (board book with a detachable piece)

Snuggletime Christmas Baby - What’s inside Baby’s present? The delightful pictures and familiar comforting touchy-feely blanket in this book will appeal to both babies and parents – an ideal book for sharing! (a touchy feely board book)

Santa Claus - A bigger, more elaborate touchy feely board book about our favorite jolly old elf.

Christmas Mice - What do the busy little Christmas mice do on Christmas Eve? Find out in this delightful board book which is full of different touchy feely textures and sparkling surprises.

Christmas Cloth Book - This delightful book is ideal for sharing with babies and toddlers. Along the trail you will find flaps, touchy feely patches and lots of other little surprises. The book contains a short, phonics-based text.

Nativity Touchy Feely Book - Inside this delightful retelling of the Christmas story, you’ll find donkeys with fluffy ears, woolly sheep and baby Jesus sleeping on his soft blanket. A perfect ‘first Christmas’ gift!

Christmas Lullabies - This delightful book is perfect for sharing with babies. The CD has over 35 minutes of soothing seasonal music, ideal for helping babies drift off to sleep.

More Usborne Books for older children soon….

Technorati tags: children’s books, Christmas, babies

Today’s Denver Post food section printed up some favorite holiday recipes from the Colorado Ballet - those same folks dancing the Nutcracker who I mentioned in yesterday’s post. Ah coincidences - how funny.

Instead of printing recipes inspired by the ballet, they chose to feature the dancer’s favorite holiday dishes. Since they’re from all over the world, the selection was very eclectic. There was a family favorite of ours there, too - chicken adobo.

My husband used to date a Filipino-American woman in college and learned the recipe from her. It’s a great dish to make last minute on those nights you have little time. Having a rice cooker helps, too.

Our family calls chicken adobo "pootie chicken" because it makes you, well, um…poot.

Chicken Adobo
This dish is a Filipino and Omandam family tradition.
Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1. 1 whole chicken, cut into pieces (make sure to leave the skin on, otherwise the chicken gets dried out. Also, you can used frozen chicken pieces - no need to thaw them out first.)
2. 1/3 cup water
3. 1/3 cup vinegar (traditionally Filipinos use palm vinegar, but any clear vinegar should work)
4. 1/3 cup soy sauce
5. 2 large gloves garlic, minced
6. 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
7. Salt to taste (you can leave the salt out as the soy sauce is pretty salty already)

Note: We also add one cut up yellow onion.

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in a large pot and bring to a medium simmer.
2. Stirring occasionally, cook until chicken is tender and most of the sauce is evaporated, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Serve with white rice.

What’s a favorite holiday dish for your family?

Every Monday I read to Nathan’s class. As usual, we were running late and I didn’t have a book picked out. Lucie volunteered to get a book from her room. I thought, oh no, she’s going to pick a baby book or something completely boring for a bunch of first graders.

Instead, she came back with the Usborne Book version of The Nutcracker. (Usborne has three different versions: 1) the picture book for younger children, the Young Reading series for older chldren, and The Nutcracker CD Pack.)

Perfect! (Lucie’s such a genius.) Not only is there a local production of The Nutcracker (the Boulder Ballet and the Longmont Symphony) but there are two productions happening in Denver next month. As usual, the Colorado Ballet is doing one. But the Moscow Ballet will be here in Colorado, too.

Paul and I have been thinking about taking Nathan and Lucie to see a production of The Nutcracker. I remember my mom taking my sister and me to see it in New York City at the Met. If memory serves me correctly, I was probably 10 or so, and a bit bored. I think the problem was that I didn’t know the story, and had no idea what was going on. To refresh your memory:

Clara’s adventure begins on Christmas Eve with an amazing present – a magic doll. Soon Clara is in a flying sleigh on her way to the mouth-watering Land of Sweets, where she finds an incredible castle and the dazzling Sugarplum Fairy.

And even though my children know the story, at 3 and 6, the kids are a too young to sit through a long ballet production. Instead, I may rent a DVD of The Nutcracker instead.

If you are planning to go see The Nutcracker, please read the story to your children before you go. Then make it a special event. Dress up. Go out for dessert and hot chocolate afterwards (even if it’s just Starbucks). Make it a grownup magical time for your children, and a memory they’ll cherish for years.

Sugar plums, anyone?

Technorati tags: The Nutcracker, children’s books, ballet

Now that Thanksgiving has passed, I’ll be giving book, craft and recipe suggestions to go with all the holidays coming up like Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, Christmas, and New Year’s.

But first A CONTEST!!!!

The folks at Sand Dune Publishing gave me four Between Me and You relationship keepsake journals to give away - two Between Me and You (MOM) and two Between Me and You (GRANDMA). The journals contain questions like, "Which have been the most interesting times during your life with my granddad?"

They’re a great way for families to bond while passing down memories.The journals will make wonderful holiday gifts, and once filled out with handwritten responses, will be cherished by your family forever.

Here’s how to enter:

1. If you have a blog, post about my contest on your site. You have from today until Monday, December 4 to do so.Then come back here and post the weblink (the link to the actual post) in the comments section below along with your email and blog addresses. Please specify which journal you want!
2. If you do not have a blog, no problem! Just leave your name and email address in the comments section below. Please specify which journal you want!
3. I will pick the four winners’ names out of a hat and will contact them via email for their names and mailing addresses.
4. The winners will be announced on this blog on Thursday, December 7.
5. I will mail out the books on Friday, December 8 via Media Mail, which should take about a week to get to you.
6. Please do not enter this contest if you are unwilling to email me your name and mailing address. Of course, I will not release your private info to the public.
7. This contest is open to readers in the continental U.S. only. (Since these are holiday gifts, I want to make sure you receive them in time. So no Canadian contestants allowed for this contest. Sorry, but it takes too long for shipments to get through customs.)
8. This contest is also open to ClubMom bloggers.

If you have any questions, email me.

This contest is featured at competizione!

Technorati tags: journals, holiday gifts, family memories

Hoped you survived yesterday and had a wonderful time sharing food and laughter (and a couple of football games - Go Broncos!) with friends and family.

Here are some ideas for leftover turkey:

• Thank goodness for leftovers from Sunset magazine. These recipes are a little "high end" but the Turkey, Mashed Potato, and Jack Cheese Casserole that you can put together and bake in 10 to 15 minutes should appeal to the entire family.
• Turkey soup, casseroles, potpies, sandwiches and other terrific turkey leftover ideas from AllRecipes.com
• The Top 10 Turkey Leftover Recipes from About.com

Finally, one I’d be making if I actually had cooked a turkey this year, is the Turkey Enchiladas from American Profile magazine.

Turkey Enchiladas
No need to make a complicated enchilada sauce with dried chiles and a dozen spices. With a bottle of purchased salsa and a blender, you can make the sauce in seconds.

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups bottled salsa
2. 1/2 cup water
3. 5 Tbsp. chili powder
4. 4 cups chopped turkey
5. 2 cups (8 oz.) grated Cheddar cheese, divided
6. 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
7. 6 (10 inch) flour tortillas

Directions:

1. Preheat overn to 350 degrees F. Combine salsa, water and chili powder in a blender or food processor; process until smooth. Pour 1/2 cup of the mixture into a 13×9 inch baking pan; set remainder aside.
2. Combine turkey, 1 cup of cheese and cilantro. Lay a tortilla on a work surface. Place 1 cup turkey mixture in ceter of tortilla, roll closed adn place seam side down in baking pan. Repeat with remaining tortillas.
3. Pour reserved sauce over enchiladas. Cover with foil and bake about 45 minutes or until bubbly. Uncover and sprinkle remaining cheese on top. Continue baking about 4 minutes of until cheese melts. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Picture courtesty of Posie’s Place, who blogs a recipe for Turkey Chipotle Enchiladas. It’s much more involved recipe, but it looks great!

Technorati tags: turkey leftovers, recipes, enchiladas