Traveling and baking

Traveling and baking

It happened a week later than originally planned, but we have selected our Christmas tree, and it is now in the house and decorated. We even had the help of two extra kids in selecting the perfect tree this year.

By Allan Olson
It is a common theme for us during the month of December – we spend most weekends on the run and/or baking in preparation for a couple weekends of feasting and snacking on goodies.
Things got chaotic on Tuesday when our oldest daughter, Abigail, went in for a tonsilectomy. It’s not a fun procedure, but she handled it really well. A week later, however, she is still struggling to eat “real food” and feeling a little rough from time to time. Hopefully, she will be better by Sunday and able to enjoy some seasonal food at our first Christmas celebration.
Bright and early on Saturday morning (even before bright and early), my wife and I and the boys were up and on the road. The boys hopped on the bus and we followed right behind – heading to the big city of Northome, a little better than an hour northeast of Cass Lake, for Lego League competition. Nikolai was leading the programming division again while others worked on design and other facets needed to complete the necessary tasks. We arrived about an hour earlier than most (somehow a memo was missed?), so a couple of us helped set things up while the kids got their Lego robot up and running, only to discover that the robot’s computer program was somehow lost for the second year in a row. In a conversation with another advisor, I learned that is a common flaw, but we did learn about saving a backup version of the program elsewhere, so while it was frustrating for the team, a lesson was learned. Unfortunately for my boys and the rest of the team, they struggled to get points and compete. They did leave with some ideas for next year; let’s hope they remember them.
We left for home at about 2:30 that afternoon, this time with the boys in our vehicle. Back at home, the house was filled with kids – well, there were two extra kids there, anyway. A couple of cousins were dropped off the day prior, so my mother in-law (who stayed at our house last week) could watch them while their brother played in an out-of-town hockey tournament. On the day they arrived I got the grand idea to make caramel rolls with them, so once I got back home, I took the bread out to thaw. Five hours later, I gave up on that plan and put it in the fridge for overnight.
The next morning, with dreams of sleeping in, I found myself awake at 8 a.m. anyway and so got up to get my bread ready for making rolls that afternoon. It had completely defrosted and even started to rise a little bit. I pulled the dough out of the bag, watched the kids devour their breakfast, and went back to my room. Since I intended to get help with making the rolls from all the little kids, I started my prep work after I ate breakfast. 
I got the pans ready and starting making caramel for the rolls. The dough was ready for the kids to help with by noon, and soon I was teaching little kids (and reminding my own) how to get the dough rolled out. The caramel was cooling in the sink, and then –whoa! – my oldest accidentally ran some water in it. I admit I didn’t know what to do, except to pitch it. Thankfully, my mother-in-law intervened and saved the day by just adding more brown sugar and bringing it back to a boil again. 
I left the rolls to rise more and planned to sit for another hour or so, but it was decided that it was time to go get a Christmas tree. Nikolai and I headed into the back yard to get the trailer hooked up, and eight of us piled into the vehicle to go get the tree. We discussed what size tree we wanted. Marcus and my wife wanted a shorter, rounder tree, while the rest of us liked the idea of a slightly taller tree. Surprisingly, the search went pretty well with six kids all running around looking at different trees. After the decision was made, each of the kids took turns cutting it down, and since Nikolai was the one that picked it out, I made him drag it to the trailer.
We made it home to find three of the five pans of rolls already baked, so I just needed to finish the other two while my wife and her mom headed to town to grab a few things. In all it was another crazy, hectic weekend – so pretty much a normal one for our family!
This weekend I will be busy with the Big Bear Tournament in Cass Lake, and on Sunday we will make a quick round trip for our first family Christmas Celebration of the season.

Please remember to watch out for the buses that are carrying our most precious cargo. Also snap a photo or two to preserve a lifetime of memories. Thanks for reading, and have a great week! Feel free to drop me a line at cltimes1@arvig.net or stop by the office for a visit. Be safe on the winter roads!

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