Nut Free Christmas, with a little bit of Candy on the side.

I have not had a lot of time for blogging, or much of anything extra, for the matter lately. Hopefully, things will slow down, and I will get back on my regular schedule. You also could check out Matters of the Heart, I update a little more often over there.

I wanted to share with you, a little about the kids excitement. I had ordered a box of Chocolates, from Vermont Nut free. If you have not tried these, I would recommend giving them a shot. The chocolate covered pretzels, are delicious.

This is the box of goodies we received, a few days before Christmas. I hid the box, along with everything else. Christmas morning when the kids dumped their stockings, they found the foil wrapped snowmen, and went crazy. Candy is a big treat in our house. It is something that we just do not have around. One, they don't really need it, two, my little guy has the allergy to peanuts and all tree nuts.

Needless to say, when they tasted the Chocolate, it was like heaven to them. It was so wonderful, to see the joy in their faces. I will post photos of that later.

I am working with my new camera. These photos were still on my old card.

It took them awhile, reveling in the Chocolate goodness, before they even moved on to their gifts.

They especially, loved these gold coins. I too, was excited for them, these are some of the things I use to get as a kid.

We had a wonderful holiday. Everything, in both homes that we visited, were nut free. We did not have one reaction, what so ever. My husbands family, purchased all of their baking goods, from a list I provided them, and made an order from Vermont Nut Free also.

It was so nice for me to relax, and know my two year old could touch, or eat, whatever he wanted. I did not have to search the house, move bowls, or cringe when anyone wanted to touch or kiss him. This was a big relief.

I had one visitor, that brought a plate of unsafe treats. I immediately, without hurting any one's feelings, took the plate out to the garage. Today, when we were taking out the trash, someone was digging through it, and we gave him the plate of goodies.

I hope you all had a wonderful Nut Free, none reactive Holiday also. (More Photos to come)

Candy Canes for the Nut-Free home

If you are allergic to peanuts, and tree nuts, like we are, you probably have a stash of dum dum suckers somewhere. I know, I have blogged about these before, however, they really come in handy in our house. My kids love these, and this mom loves, that there is a safe easy treat available for them.

I was so excited to find, in the grocery store today, spangler mini candy canes, and mini dum dum candy canes, made by spangler. My kids are loving these also. We have not had one store bought Christmas type candy in the house yet, this December. Which is actually kind of nice, but, it is also kind of nice now the kids can have a special, SAFE, Christmas themed treat.

I also have a big box of Vermont Nut Free Chocolate on the way. The kids are going to be so surprised. Foil wrapped snowmen, skippers, chocolate gold coins, all the stuff the kids have been asking for, every time we walk down the Christmas isle. I can not wait to see their face when they get to dig in. Finally, Mommy does not have to say no, I am sorry we can not have those.

Hope you are all enjoying your holiday season. We have been sick, all of us, off and on in this house. It seems everyone is on the mend right now. We will visit the allergist again soon, stay tuned for updates.

Snot is upon us.

We have snot. I'm not talking a little either. Lots and lots of yucky snot. I just pray, that one time, just one time, maybe we can have snot, and a little sneezing and nothing else.

It always starts like this, then bam, we get hit with the big stuff. The cough, the breathing problems, mommy up all night, ER in the middle of the night for a steroid shot. Crying, inconsolable child, tired and worn out Mommy. I do not want to go there this time.

We are actually on day two with snot, usually we go south before now. I better get to bed, and rest now, just in case.

I learn something new everyday

Our first hosting of Thanksgiving went over very well. Even with all of the work, cleaning and preparing, it was still more comforting to know my little guy was going to be safe.. It truly was a lot less worry on my part.

In my last post, I clarified why we stay away from nutmeg. Interestingly enough, did you know that poultry seasoning contains nutmeg? Wow, I would have never thought that. I did some quick rearranging, and the stuffing and bird, came out just fine.

I made a special pumpkin dessert for my little guy, and the look on his face, when he said," yum mommy, this is good" made my day.

Hope you all had a special day.

Some Clarification

Thought I would clarify a little bit, since I have been asked about this a few times.

My little guy was tested for, and is actually allergic to nutmeg. Not all people allergic to nuts are allergic to nutmeg. Nutmeg is a seed, and he came up allergic, at a level two. We were advised to avoid anything above a level one allergy.

My little guy tests positive to many things, we just mostly talk about our lives with the peanut/tree nut allergy. We have some testing scheduled for next month, we may have to start talking about his wheat allergy here pretty soon.. Originally, we were at a level one, and I am hoping his recent reactions, are not due to an increase in this.

For now, I am off to get my shopping list done. Thank you for all your emails, and comments. I sure do appreciate all you have to offer.

Our Thanksgiving Plans

Okay folks, this year, I am cooking Thanksgiving Dinner myself. It is the first year ever. I am really rather excited about it.

Knowing that my son has severe allergies, makes going anywhere for dinner, not as pleasant as it used to be. There is the constant worry, checking, and watching. Then there are my questions, that get the weird looks. Come one folks, this is my kids life, there is no going overboard, if his life is in danger. Nuts can be hidden anywhere, especially during the holidays.

Now, even though it is going to be a lot of work to prepare dinner, with a two and three year old under foot. It just seems like it will be much more rewarding to me. I will not have to wonder what is in anything. I will not have to worry if someone doesn't wash there hands and wants to touch my kid. I will not have to worry about any cross contamination coming from my kitchen. I will not have to worry if there is nutmeg in that pumpkin pie, or if there are nuts in those cookies. I will not have to worry about my son walking up to the appetizer table and putting something in his mouth that I did not see. I think you get the picture. It is the safest place we could be, and celebrate a day of Thanksgiving.

Now, what I really need help with, is my menu. I am still not sure what I am going to make, besides a Turkey of course. Any fun, family recipe, ideas would be great.

Fabulous and Forty

Yes, this is the fortieth post over here, and a fabulous award.

My new friend Jill, at Sneaky Momma, sent me this wonderful award. It is the first award, for the spin off blog, here. The whole meat and potato's, can be found at, Matters of the Heart. If you have not visited Jill yet, I suggest you stop on by and say hi. She has a wonderful family, and I am finding we have quite a few things in common.

Requirements for accepting the award are, I must list five of my favorite addictions, and then pass along the award to five other blogs. I will apologize in advance, I am going to only do half of this. I believe, you only want to know, five of my addictions anyway.. There rest of you know your fabulous, so why do I need to pick only five of you.

I am addicted too, with no shame, I might add.

1. Coffee, any and all. I love it, even day old.

2. Blogging, and anything that goes along with it, I think you all get the idea.

3. A few nighttime TV shoes. Can't miss Prison Break, The Unit, The Biggest Loser, Survivor.

4. Hugs and Kisses from my little one's. Oh, I can not live without these.

5. Right now, I am loving me some pumpkin scones from Starbucks. Goodness, I wish they never asked me to try one.

So that is it, five of my many. Thanks again Jill, and to the rest of you fabulous bloggers, take the button, and feel grateful you don't have to admit your addictions. Of course, if you want to, you can share the love in a comment.