Archive for the ‘Christmas’ Category
New Year Update
Posted on: January 4, 2010
Outside: Snow snow snow! And it’s freezing!
In My Kitchen: I’ve tried out a couple recipes from my new cookbook. It’s turning out to be as good as THE COOKBOOK, which I never stop raving about. So Far I’ve made “Holy Moly! Strawberry Jam Rolly Polly” for New Years day’s breakfast. Plus, the lovely cupcakes from L’s b-day party were “Pinkalicious Princess Cupcakes”. I love using these cookbooks as much as I love eating the goods (well, almost). The thing I’m most excited about having made for Christmas is the delicious cream puff tree from the front of the martha stewart living magazine. Mine doesn’t quite look the same, but the taste more than made up for it! Thanks to Gretchen for modeling it for me!
I am wearing: I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve been so busy today trying to catch up from the weekend and caring fora sick kiddo (L) that I am still in my pjs! It’s already naptime! I guess I should change.
Can’t Wait For: Spring! I’m not usually one to hurry along the seasons, but I’m done with this cold weather!
Current Read: I am absolutely IN LOVE with my new book The Gentle Art of Domesticity: Stitching, Baking, Nature, Art, and the Comforts of Home. It is like it was written for me! 🙂 The author, Jane Brocket, also has a blog you should check out: Yarnstorm. A favorite quote:
“… a great part of the gentle art of Domesticity is an acceptance and then a valuing of repetition. Although I admit that I’ll never be thrilled with many aspects of repetitive housework, I have discovered some more pleasurable domestic patterns that, like the hypnotic ice-skating, I am more than happy to repeat.
Every project or creation has its own mode of repetition sandwiched in between the excitement of starting and the delight in finishing. This is the part that offers an often therapeutic and blissful zoning-out during which your mind can wander with your hands…”
I am hoping: to have my kitchen complete soon! We made alot of headway with my father-in-laws help over the holidays. I’m very excited, but remind me not to mix holidays and work weekends ever again! I think the next step will be tiling the counter top and back-splash!
Around the house: Made some laundry detergent earlier today with Ivory soap, washing soda, and borax. Doing a week’s worth of laundry, lots of dishes, and various other cleaning today. I did get my Christmas tree and most of my decorations taken down on Saturday though.
Simple Pleasures: Both kids have taken to cuddling with me in bed in the mornings for a little while, and it’s so nice and snuggly!
Plans for the Weekend: G’s birthday party. Maybe some tile purchasing. We’ll see.
Family Update: Chad and I got to go on a date to Avatar yesterday, thanks to my Gma. She also watched the kids! It definitely lived up to all the talk!
We have been missing our cat (he has a bad habit of jumping out the door at inopportune times) for about a week now. We are hoping he’s been keeping warm at a neighbors house and will show back up once it thaws. Worried. Brendan said he thought he heard him meowing this morning…
Lillian: Well, she’s two now as you know. Her vocabulary is astounding. She’s growing up way to fast when there is no new baby around! =(
Brendan: Is very impatient for his birthday (in April) now that Christmas is over. He’s been obsessed with the new Xbox 360 we got for Christmas. I’ve been very thankful to be homeschooling him, since I have had that to keep him busy when everyone else has been taking a long break! Don’t worry I did give him almost a week off. 😉
House: Isn’t it depressing how you clean your house basically top to bottom for guests and holidays (minus my bedroom in my case :), and then once its over you have to start over again. After a week. I guess that’s why the quote above was helpful for me….
Creative: In the pic above of Gretch (c’s sis) she’s wearing the cowl I knitted for her for her bday (which we also celebrated during the holiday). Sorry– didn’t get any better pics. I have made lots of other knits lately… maybe I’ll get some pics up soon.
Anyway, thanks for sticking with me, and stay warm!!
Merry Christmas To All!
Posted on: December 23, 2009
- In: Christmas | Crafts | Family
- 4 Comments
So, by now my Christmas spirit has fully recovered. Unfortunately we took back our new camera (we got what we paid for and didn’t like it :), so I only have a few pics I managed to sneak in beforehand of the goings-on around here.
Making some new stockings for new family members (train is for Luca, cars for Coran, snowman for shakur) with my new sis Gaubri’s help. I also fixed up some old ones, but no pics of those yet:
Homemade Marshmellows (before they got cut out):
And homemade gifts! More on these later:
Can’t Keep Up!
Posted on: December 15, 2009
- In: Christmas | Family | Friends
- 4 Comments
I was just telling my sister-in-law today that this is the first Christmas (ever!) where the stress is actually getting to me a little bit. Usually I’m the one that is shaking her head at the non-shoppers in my family. Event the year I was about to give birth (2 years ago) I don’t remember feeling this stressed! Maybe it’s because I’m not sleeping (it’s only 12:58 am right now!).
But still, there are plenty of things I’m loving about the holiday. Even this year.
Real Trees
Good Friends
My Sugarplum
Stay tuned for more. 🙂
New Dollies
Posted on: January 15, 2009
- In: Christmas | Family
- 3 Comments
L has two new dollies that she absolutely loves. She got one for Christmas with her Toys R Us gift certificate. One I bought handmade off of Etsy. Both are very cute.
If you’re in the market for a new doll: I do recommend Toys R Us. They’re selection is impressive. You can see that this doll is a little big for her right, but she still insists on carrying her around. B insists on putting L in his lap all the time now. I have to admit that its adorable.
This dolly is named “little Alice”, and she is all dressed up in a pink fleece bear outfit.
And while I’m thinking about it (and before I forget) I was to record that L is now saying “Daddy” “Uh oh” “Na” (for no) and probably even “Dog” and “Dolly” but they are very similar to each other, do it’s hard to say. It seems like I’m forgetting a couple words. Chad?
Christmas Food!
Posted on: December 14, 2008
- In: Baking | Christmas | Cooking
- 5 Comments
There has been a LOT of baking going on here this week! The chocolate cookies above are heaven– Ultimate Chocolate Dipped Cookies. They are very messy though. The chocolate ganache that they’re dipped in doesn’t really harden. Then you have your basic sugar cookie recipe from Martha with Royal icing or just powdered sugar. Great recipe because she has several different ways to use the one base recipe.
In this pic you can see two other ways I used that basic recipe– the orange spritz I did with cookie cutters instead of a cookie press (which I don’t have); they are the ones drizzled in chocolate behind the candles. I also did my own thing with the snowball cookies (instead of what Martha suggests): I just put in pecans that I put through the food processor and made really fine. They were excellent! The big bowl in the pic contains meatballs– just your basic recipe from kraftfoods.com.
And here’s my snowman. As you can see– these pics were not taken before people started eating. 🙂 The poor guy is missing an eye. The top ball was cream cheese with pimentos, olives, pecans, and green onions, which is a family recipe. For the bottom of the snowman I used this recipe that is supposed to be shaped like a football. hehe.
Then there’s the cashew toffee that had a slightly burnt taste (oops!). Recipe from my favorite cookbook (you know the one).
And lastly: homemade Chocolate Eggnog! From the latest Martha Stewart Living. Absolutely wonderful! My first time to make eggnog! Easy! Definitely recommend it!
Garlands
Posted on: December 19, 2007
Last week Brendan sat for an entire hour just eating popcorn while I strung our cranberry and popcorn garlands. Who says that toddlers have no attention span? They just have to be eating! Eventually I’ll get a picture up of the actual garlands.
The boy needs a haircut, huh? I can’t seem to make things run as smoothly around here as normal for some reason. 38 weeks pregnant, Christmas in 7 days, a cold that makes my sinuses hurt and I seriously can’t breath through my nose most of the time, and a house that’s a work-in-progress. I am actually happy with our progress, but things just don’t seem to get done like they used to. I’m just happy he still gets bathed regularly. 🙂
Christmas Scarves
Posted on: December 18, 2007
- In: Christmas | Knitting
- Leave a Comment
Here are the two scarves I’ve been working on. They are very similar obviously. Both were made with garter stitch. One with a size 13 needle and one with a 15. Nice and easy.
I’m figuring it’s safe to go ahead and post the gifts since one of the recipients is in the Caribbean (how cool would that be?– I’m a little jealous) until the 23rd, and the other isn’t exactly an internet buff.
If you look at the backdrop you’ll see some of my Christmas packages. Don’t you just love that tree paper? I’ve now used up my store of Martha Stewart paper, and seriously need to restock. Unfortunately hers usually doesn’t go on after Christmas clearance, so I may just stick with Target turquoises for next year.
Making these scarves has been making me want one of my own, so I bought some nice cream colored alpaca yarn last time I was at Joanns. I have some pretty scarves, but no warm ones. Something I’m going to take care of as soon as I’m done with that baby sweater I started up for Christmas baby.
Mantel
Posted on: December 17, 2007
I’m kinda liking the less-is-more decorating this year. The silver, glass, and turquoise. I still haven’t been able to get a picture of the christmas tree I actually like. We’ll see about that later. But, I like my mantel pretty well now. Not sure if I’m done with it or not, but check out the awesome candle-holders I found at CB2. That may be my new favorite store actually.
Does anyone know how to get these kind of tree toppers to stay on straight? We are at a loss…
Advent Wreath
Posted on: December 10, 2007
Here’s my first crack at making an advent wreath. We decided to go homemade last minute so I had to throw it together with stuff I had mainly (besides the candle holders I borrowed from G). You may remember these birds from last Christmas… I can’t seem to find a picture of that project though. It’s actually my first time to ever have an advent wreath. Starting new traditions this year.
Now here’s a pic of my retarded Christmas tree. I got it “free” with a small donation to help support wildlife preservation (it’s from the Shawnee Mission Park).
I wasn’t able to make it look much better, but I’ll post a pic up the finished product soon. If the dog will stop knocking off ornaments that is.
Searching For Creativity 