Holiday Light Show Spectacular

Good evening!  How’s your day gone?

Mine has been good!  After lunch, I headed to TJ Maxx to do a little Christmas shopping.  Did I buy any gifts?  No.  Did I buy a marshmallowy winter coat, some gloves, three new plates, and a hat?  You betcha!

How is it that I always find the most for myself when I set out to shop for other people? 

Confession: my name is Anna, and I’m a compulsive dishware buyer.  Plates, soups, bowls…I love ’em!  Now that I have this blog, the problem has gotten even worse, because I now have a “reason” to buy them.  Oh well…there are worse things I could be addicted to, right?

When I got home, I got all suited up (in my new winter coat and gloves!) to take the dogs out for a walk.  When we walked outside though, after only a few minutes, it started to rain.  Bleh! We turned around and walked home.  But THEN, about two minutes later, I looked out my window and saw that the sky was still gray, but the rain had stopped.  In fact, there was a rainbow!  Check it out:

And then, about two minutes after THAT, the sky looked like this:

So, what else was there to do but leash the dogs up and go out again?

We enjoyed about ten minutes, but then the clouds started rolling in again, so we headed home.  Crazy PA weather!!

After Ryan got home, we waited for it to get dark, so that we could go to…Holiday Lights on the Lake at Lakemont Park!  Every holiday season, the local amusement park puts together “a delightful drive through 51 acres of dazzling lights, spectacular display and magical animations!” (Yes, we got a brochure.)  People have been talking about it since we moved here this summer, so we knew we needed to check it out.  We loaded the dogs into the car and headed over for a holiday extravaganza 🙂

Every time we ride in the car together, both dogs end up sitting on the lap of whoever is in the passenger seat:

Lucky me.  🙂

I think the dogs enjoyed the light show as much as we did!  They were both staring out the windows the whole time!

Ryan liked this Santa rock band display:

I preferred these pretty trees:

By the end of the ride, the dogs were worn out…look at this sibling love:

When we got home, we were all ready for some dinner!  I’ve been thinking about soup all day, so I knew what was on the menu tonight!  As I cooked, I snacked on some cheese and crackers…goodbye, sage derby 😦

I used the other half of the butternut squash from Sunday night’s pizza to create this soup.  It was simple, easy, and DELICIOUS!!!  I love meals that mix sweet and savory, and this definitely fit the bill.  I give you…

Cinna-Vanilla Butternut Squash Bisque

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp. EVOO

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 butternut squash, chopped

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup water

3/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (I used Almond Breeze)

Directions:

In a soup pot, heat olive oil.  Add chopped onions and cook over medium heat for five minutes, until softened.  Add sugar and cook for another five minutes.  Add butternut squash and cook for another five minutes, until squash has started to slightly glisten.  Add vegetable broth, water, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt, and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes, until the vegetables are soft.  In a cuisinart or blender, puree the soup until smooth.  Transfer back to pot and add almond milk, stirring to incorporate.  Add additional salt or pepper if desired, to taste. 

Seriously, this soup was so good.  It was sweet, but not overly so.  The vanilla flavor really came through, and you could see the little specks of cinnamon throughout the soup.  I think this would be a good soup to serve at a brunch or luncheon.  It doesn’t look like much in the pictures, but I promise you– this one was a winner!  We reheated some naan from the other night to go along with it. 

Delicious.

The weather outside is crazy– frightful, indeed!  The wind is S-H-A-K-I-N-G our house to and fro!  I hope it doesn’t keep us up all night– we live in a really old house, and there are always strange noises…lots of bangs and creaking…especially when the weather is bad!

Hope you have a great night– we’re over the hump!  It’s practically the weekend, now!

Goodnight, dear readers.