Christmas card photo shoot #1 of probably about 10 (or until we start crying and give up). Extremely upset at me because she thinks she hears the ice cream truck and I won’t let her run down the street. Would not stop crying. Hated the tights, hated the shoes, hated me messing with her hair. I don’t know, maybe our Christmas card will be of Daphne in her Dora pjs.

But the skirt is pretty cute, right?

You remember the Tex-Mex Thanksgiving feast I was envisioning a few days ago? Well, that happened tonight for my husband’s birthday dinner. I liberated my copy of The Tex-Mex Cookbook by Robb Walsh from our storage unit and it provided all the inspiration I needed for the menu. If you are a fan of Tex-Mex, you must get this book. It’s the history of Tex-Mex cooking through recipes, pictures, interviews, clippings. And if you’ve lived in Texas, you’ll probably recognize some of the restaurants mentioned in the book. Oh, and everything I’ve made from the book has been fantastic!! So, that’s a big plus!

On the menu? Cheese enchiladas topped with chili gravy (Homesick Texan has the recipe here), pork and beef tamales with chili sauce, soft tacos, salsa, spanish rice, chips, etc. I think I made enough food for about 3 meals. And in full disclosure, I didn’t make the tamales. I bought a dozen frozen tamales from our local grocery store, HEB (Texas Tamale Company). And I just picked up the corn and flour tortillas from the HEB Tortilleria, instead of making my own. (Can I just tell you how much I love being able to pick up fresh tortillas at the grocery store. Love.) First off- the enchiladas rocked. So, so, so simple and so good. I usually don’t make enchiladas, mainly because the recipes I’ve used in the past had a tomato based sauce and it just wasn’t “right.” Now, I realize I was missing the chili gravy. That really is the key. And the tamales- rocked. I don’t even like tamales, but these were excellent. We stuffed ourselves on those and the rice and never even made it to the tacos. I guess that will be tomorrow.

Anyway, I love it when you make something at home and it turns out better (and way cheaper) than what you normally get in a restaurant. The only things missing were the cervezas and margaritas.

Would have been bigger, but I’m getting too old to build snowmen without gloves.

Today we played in the snow. In Houston, TX!!! In the snow. Ok, for those of you not from around here, you might be wondering why that’s a big deal. In fact, it was even a trending topic on Twitter. Hahaha. It doesn’t snow very often. I mean, last year at Christmas we were ice skating on an outdoor rink in 75 degree weather. And after a freakishly (record-breaking) warm year, we have the earliest recorded snowfall in Houston’s history.

Daphne loved it. Checking it out when it was just a few flakes:

And an hour later, in our proper winter wear. I say proper, but honestly, this is last years coat, hat and gloves. She wore them for a few days in Tulsa over Christmas, but it was too warm to wear it in Houston. Which is why Mommy didn’t buy her a coat this year, or any sweaters. Fail!

Stay tuned. Maybe we can make a snowman later.

While I was going through some old holiday photos, I came across this little gem. The redneck fireworks stand near our house in Birmingham always posted this message before Christmas:

Put the explosives above the fireplace? Yeah, that’s a good plan. Just put ‘em right next to the ammo, Jack Daniels, big belt buckles, and tools. God bless America and Merry Christmas :p