Teenage Cooking Night

Good Wednesday morning!

The Gallery contains FIVE more mountain pictures, as well as another Hillbilly Sign. (I have to admit, Hillbilly signs have become ONE of my new favorite things.)

Monday Mayhem on Wednesday

Now where did we leave off yesterday? Oh, yes. We had to leave Gatlinburg to prepare for Katie's 16th birthday party!

Every year, one of Bev's kids celebrates their birthday in the mountains. If we go Martin Luther King's Day weekend, the trip falls on Katie's birthday. If we go President's Day Weekend, the trip falls on Zac's birthday. Once we went during Spring Break... and the trip fell on Brad's birthday. My kids have never had a birthday in the mountains, and they are very, very bitter. I'd like to say they get this from their dad, but I'm afraid if you've read the blog for over two minutes, you know the "bitterness" gene comes from The Enchanting Belinda.

Which brings up a very good question. Can you be enchanting AND bitter at the same time? Another topic for another day, I'm afraid.

Katie's party will be discussed in a little more detail under today's tradition, Teenage Cooking Night, but I would like to say Bev made it very special. The cake, the colors, the gifts, etc. were all meant to make a 16 year-old girl happy. And that's where I came in.

We've discussed this many, many times on the blog. I'm a "young child" person in the midst of a sea of teenagers. I try hard, but sometimes I still fall back into the kindergarten "this will be fun" mode. And that's what happened on this particular night.

Katie received a beautiful coat from her parents, along with a softball bag and a few hair things. From her brothers, she received all the accessories needed for her new I-Pod touch she bought with her Christmas money. From her Grandmother, she received a really, really beautiful (yet young and hip) necklace. And from her Aunt Belinda and family she received her I-Pod Gift Card (especially requested).

I didn't like giving her an I-Pod Gift Card. I wanted to give her something special. Something extraordinary. Something that screamed, "Aunt Belinda gives the BEST Sweet 16 birthday gifts EVER." But she wanted an I-Pod Gift Card, and I caved.

But wait! Could I possibly give her this gift, but make it FUN to find? Yes. Yes, I could.

I purchased eight light blue and lime green gift bags (her colors for the evening), and hid them all over the house. Each bag had a little clue as to where the next bag was hidden. When she found the eighth bag, it would tell her where her cutely wrapped gift card could be found. Now doesn't that sound fun to you? Doesn't it?

Since we were in a three-story house, I made sure Bag No. 1 was upstairs, Bag No. 2 was in the basement, Bag No. 3 was on the middle floor, and so on and so on and so on. I didn't take into account her dad, Tommy, would be following her on the hunt up and down, down and up, etc., etc. finding all the bags videoing the entire process.

By the end of the search, Katie and Tommy were both sweating and Tommy declared the 16th Birthday Video to be similar to The Blair Witch Project movie... because it was jerky and there was a lot of heavy breathing, you see. NOTE: Our family never actually saw The Blair Witch Project movie. Just the commercials. (Remind me to tell you how I feel about horror movies some time. Yet another post for another day.)

In other words, I was responsible for ruining a really sweet, pretty birthday video. The last thing I heard over Tommy's wheezing was, "Gee, Aunt Belinda. We're not eight years-old anymore." That was from my 11 year-old nephew, Zac, who will be expecting a nice gift next month. He may have blown it, and I am now thinking of burying whatever I buy him six feed under. We'll see how he likes digging for his gift!

I know what you're thinking. Is this it? Do we have to listen to the rest of the summary of the Mountain Trip? Can't we just move on?

I have two more days, and then you'll be done. Again, I've labeled the section, so if it's too, too much, please feel free to skip ahead. Chances are, I'll never find out!

Wednesday Wisdom - You would think Hillbilly signs would hold this spot today, but I found a couple of quotes about the mountains I wanted to share, too. There's a lot of "wisdom" on A Simple Life this week.

"Only if you have been in the deepest valley, can you ever know how magnificent it is to be on the highest mountain." Richard M. Nixon. I feel President Nixon probably knew exactly what he was talking about when he said this.

"It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe." Robert W. Service. I'm not sure if this is deep and thought-provoking, or if this guy just needed to stop the hike and bang his sneakers on a rock to remove "the grain of sand." You be the judge.

Teenage Cooking Night

This is a transition tradition we began when the kids started hitting the teenage years. If you have an annual trip you take with family or friends, try this for a fun (and interesting) tradition.

A few years ago, the women in the family (me, Bev and Grandmother) decided we wanted to do more than spend valuable mountain time cooking and cleaning up the three nights we were on our family trip. Grandmother came up with the idea of having theme dinners two of the nights. Bev and three of the kids would be totally in charge of one night's meal, and the other three kids would help me on the second night's meal. So far, it has worked out very, very well.

This year, Bev's theme was, of course, Katie's birthday party. She set one place setting and let one of the older guys copy and set the rest of the table. Josh made the gravy and the corn. Brad set the table and made the mashed potatoes. Austin helped with the other dishes, fixing the ice, etc. I DID NOTHING!

The next night, we had a 50s night theme. Katie and Roxie were in charge of making the hamburger sliders. Zac set the table, fixed the ice and helped with the chili cheese fries. Roxie and Katie sliced apples, and when everyone sat down for dinner, the three kids served the food wearing Krispy Kreme hats and acting as waiters and waitresses.

In the background, we popped an Elvis movie in the DVD player (Girls, Girls, Girls), so we had the appropriate background music. I also bought a bag full of 50s-type candy and put it in a bowl in the center of the table. Most of the kids hadn't heard of all the kinds of "antique" candy, so they had fun sampling the different varieties.

Hot fudge ice cream sundaes were the dessert for the evening. Easy breezy. And fun.

SEMI-FUNNY TEENAGE COOKING NIGHT STORY - A couple of years ago, my group fixed a Fiesta night with the fun paper plates and napkins. We had taco salad. For our game/activity after dinner, we played Uno. (Get it? Uno? It's a Spanish word.) I thought I was brilliant... until the next evening's meal.

Bev planned an all-American meal... meat and vegetables and red, white and blue plates, napkins and tablecloths, etc. And for our all-American game/activity she brought out the age-old American favorite... Origami! That's right. Japanese paper folding. It was so bizarre, it actually worked. Anyway, I thought it was hilarious.

If an annual trip is already one of your family traditions, try the cooking nights. It's fun and it gets everyone involved... even teenage guys!

Have a lovely Wednesday. Rain is coming to Alabama along with a 64 degree day. Not a good combination for our state. We are ever watching for tornadoes, and warm winter days with rainstorms arriving have to be carefully monitored. I hope wherever you are, you and yours are having wonderful weather. Tomorrow, I have Blog Linkage AND a fun date, so please check back. More mountain pictures and Hillbilly signs will be placed in the Gallery as well.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda