Santa Claus | Buffalo Roam

Once upon a weekend approaching Christmas, a young, vivacious, and aesthetically pleasing mother took her precious little boy to meet Santa Claus. On the trip in to meet him, the mother explained to the boy the magic of Santa; of how he could sit upon his jolly lap and describe toys of his wildest dreams, and if he is a good boy, Santa would be inclined to deliver such gifts on Christmas Eve.

The little boy was not impressed.

Then his uncle arrived to spread joy to all the holiday revelers lucky enough to gaze upon his glorious beard.

But it takes a lot to impress this little boy.

(A lot as in his mother dangling chocolate above the camera.)

Later that evening, the young and vivacious mother donned her finest evening wear for her strapping and stylish husband’s company Christmas party.

The wine flowed like beer (name that movie), the music, interestingly enough, took the couple back to the glory days of the mid 90′s, and the husbands toes were thoroughly pulverized under the rhythmically challenged wife’s heels.

‘Twas a fine evening indeed.

The Christmas spirit lived on into the next day where the happy family added more decorations to their abode under a 70 degree sky.

And where at least one family member is anxious for Santa’s arrival.

First, do yourselves a favor and go make this dip. Trust me. It’s so yummy and Christmas-colorey.

Olive oil, roma tomatos, green onions, feta cheese, and Greek seasoning. Serve with sliced baguettes. Voila!

Second, if you count yourself among Junior’s grandparents, you may want to stop reading this. But if you don’t, or you aren’t scared of spoilers, then by all means…

I’ve been hoarding all kinds of salt-dough recipes and ideas on Pinterest because I wanted to make hand print ornaments for Junior’s grandparents. But a cousin of mine inboxed me to tell me I should try applesauce/cinnamon ornaments instead. My mom had made some years ago in the shape of little gingerbread men and snowflakes, and they lasted for years and always smelled so good. So I decided I’d try that, but was worried about eventual breakage so here’s what I did instead:

Went to the dollar store and bought up every little tin they had.

For the dough itself, you just mix equal parts applesauce and cinnamon until it is a, uh, “dough-like” consistency.

Then scoop the dough into the tin, flatten it out with your fingers and squish Junior’s pudgy little hand in.

The cinnamon makes the dough a beautiful rusty brown color, but unfortunately it doesn’t transfer to film very well.

They turned out great in person, though.

The little foot at the bottom is for us to keep.

I added his name and the year to the back of the tins, so they can be stored with the decorations throughout the year and brought out at Christmas to set out with his precious little hand and all the memories of his first Christmas. Since they are stored in a tin, we shouldn’t have to worry about them breaking and they smell SO GOOD. If the ornaments smelled like cinnamon for several years, I have to assume these will last even longer.

I thought about making one with Toby’s paw. May still.