Happy New Year

 

 

We’ll be going next door to celebrate with our neighbors and friends tonight. I just want to wish you all a very Happy New Year.  Thank you all for your friendship and for your wonderful comments. I hope you all continue to read along with me in 2011 :-)

I just called my family back home, it was about 9pm for them. I usually call at 6pm when it’s midnight for them but it’s often hard to get through at that time of night. My aunt calls them from Canada, my sister’s daughter calls them from where she is out celebrating…. I have to get in line and hope I get a dialing tone and not a busy signal!!!  So, no worries this year, I called ahead of schedule ;-)  but I still had them all shout over the phone ‘happy new year’, like I do every year.

Cheryl is having an ‘80’s themed’ party tonight, we girls are gonna CRIMP our hair!!!!!!!  I’ll be back tomorrow with pictures.

Christmas Morning

We’re having another relaxing week this week, Jason decided on Sunday night that he’d take this week off work too! I guess you could call it his yearly vacation because he never really takes one in the Summer time. So, we’re hanging out at home, he’s playing World of Warcraft with Kristen and I’m knitting ;-) Jason’s actually working some hours too, so it’s not all play, but he’s still enjoying the ‘down time’ with us.

I thought I’d post a few more pictures these are from Christmas, morning. I’m all ready with the camera when Kristen goes downstairs but then I realize I didn’t take any of us the rest of the day! Thankfully we got a family pic in front of the tree on Christmas Eve.

Santa’s been!

Boo waiting for his new toy to be thrown!

Her eyes lit up when she opened this wolf t-shirt from Santa!

A wolf ‘tote’ bag

Santa brought a remote control truck, just like Daddy got last year!

My traditional Christmas morning Mimosa :-) One day Kristen might join me in a glass (Jason never does!)

After breakfast we then opened stockings to each other

I got lots of great knitting books from my wishlist AND (I forgot to take a picture) a HUGE bottle of Coco Chanel Mdmselle … and of course new pj’s :-)

I ordered Jason a special t-shirt from Boo! And I made him a calendar (from Shutterfly)

Boo gets a stocking too, Kristen is helping him open gingerbread cookies!

Kristen got a stocking from us too… she’s under there somewhere :)

Well that’s certainly picture overload. I’m off to make some blog visits and catch up with you all. Thanks for dropping by.

Denise

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve 2010

 

It’s Christmas day as I post this, I hope you are all having a wonderful day. Just talked to my family back home, the day is nearly over for them, it’s after 6pm already. . .  it’s not even lunch time here! Opened lots of pressies, had Mimosas and exchanged gifts with our fabulous neighbors, having dinner with them later. There’s still a lot of the day left.

Merry Christmas

What to post about?

I think I’ve shown you enough Christmas stuff and now I don’t really know what to post about? Not much going on here other than waiting for the big day, making lists of things I need at the grocery store and watching Christmas movies at night!

Only two more sleeps for us then we have our ‘family night’ on Christmas Eve. Kristen gets to open some gifts, my inlaws come over for dinner (always something simple and easy like nibbles and drinks and chili), then it’s off to bed to wait for Santa :-)  I’m super excited. Kristen still believes (I think, although she’s questioned it a little this year, but still wants to believe Santa is real, so I’m saying nothing to the contrary, especially not at this time of the year!). 

Kristen is 10 this year, and she was 6 the last time she sat on Santa’s knee. We had actually taken her to the mall in November that year to go to Inflatable Wonderland for her birthday, and Santa was already there! (she wasn’t exactly dressed to have pictures taken, but the line was short, so we went on up to say hello to Santa).  I actually forgot I had these photos on my computer.

I love this first picture, it’s like she’s asking  “are you really REAL?” 

I had plans to go to the mall this week and have a wander around with Kristen. I hardly ever go now during the year, but I haven’t managed to get there this week either. Kristen’s friend Emily had a sleep over last night so we didn’t get up and out early (I don’t want to go to the mall later when it will probably be way too crowded for my liking), and I have no plans to go tomorrow. I have to make potatoes and chili and cinnamon rolls.

I’ll try to post one more time before Christmas Day. Hope everyone is ready for the big day or enjoying last minute preparations.

Still baking. . . .

Hi everyone, oh my gosh, Christmas is only 5 days away, I still can’t believe it really, but so excited and happy that all my shopping is done.

This week Jason is off work and we are just enjoying hanging out at home all week.  Kristen is playing with Jason a lot on the computer – doing quests on World of Warcraft together! So I have a lot of free time (in between keeping the house clean and doing laundry) . . .  I can’t seem to stop baking :-)

Made Biscotti again at the weekend, a different recipe this time, it’s one I’ve used before and comes out pretty good. They did turn out rather small though, so I’ve packaged them up two to a bag as an individual serving to have with coffee. Some of them are going in to gift boxes for the neighbors along with pretzel sticks and other chex mix goodies and chocolate spoons.

  Also made some little cookies with Hershey’s kisses, I always forget what they are called. These ones were dipped in green sugar and a peppermint kiss added to the top (the recipe was on the bag of Kisses).

I didn’t have enough green sugar though so I improvised and did some with sprinkles too… and some were left plain.

Debbie over at DebbieDoos told me about Picnik.com last week. I was asking how she added snow effect to her pictures. Have you heard of it. I had to try it out and Debbie’s right, you have to be careful, it can become rather addictive!  Here’s a little picture of Boo I added some ‘free’ effects to. . . doesn’t he look cute?

 

I’m sure I’ll have time to post more this week, so I’ll wish you all a great start to the week and hope you are all caught up with your Christmas shopping and planning. . . except you Becca (don’t panic I’m sure you’ll get it all done in time ;-)

Time for the annual Gingerbread House

For the past few years Kristen and I have decorated a Gingerbread House on the last day of school. I had always wanted to decorate one but when she was little I just never seemed to get around to buying one.

So, today is the last day of school :-) I went to Kristen’s school at lunch time for their ‘winter party’. It’s not really a party, the kids just get to do a couple of fun things after lunch and then either carry on with classes or if you’re lucky and your mom is there, you can get signed out and go home for the day!  The kids made marshmallow snowmen today, made a Christmas ornament and did a book exchange. As soon as we got home we got out our gingerbread house (of course I buy one, but one of these years I’m gonna make my own, really I am!)

First Kristen frosts the top then adds some candy,

Then I use a piping bag and pipe ‘tiles’ on the roof. 

I always make extra icing, there’s never enough in the box you buy.

 

And finally the finished house.

   And yay it’s the weekend. Not only the weekend, but no school for two whole weeks! And in between that time we have Christmas Eve festivities with the inlaws, Santa comes and a New Years Eve Bash – I can’t wait :-)

In The Kitchen… and other crafty stuff!

Well, all the Christmas decorating is done around here for this year, so today I thought I’d post about what’s going on in the kitchen at our house :)

We’ve been baking of course. . . .

Kristen and I made these cookies last week, they are a recipe for Linzer Cookies, (which I think I got from Foodnetwork) but they remind me of a ‘biscuit’ (cookie) we have in England called ‘Jammie Dodgers’ :-)

I also tried a new almond biscotti recipe that day, but despite the nice taste, they kind of crumbled a bit so I didn’t get good slices from all of the dough. I will probably make some of my other recipe next week as I plan on putting some in a gift basket for our neighbors.

Also in the kitchen is my ‘NEW TOY’! The Cuisinart 5 in 1 Griddler! I bought this on Amazon on Black Friday, got a great deal, originally $180, on sale for $94 with free shipping. I want to get back to grilling lean protein and having veg and salads for our meals (well after Christmas that is!) but I don’t want to go outside when it’s cold to light the grill for just two small chicken breasts or pork chops.  I think this will do the job just as well :-) And plus, it’s a Panini press too, so I’m looking forward to trying some fancy sandwiches on it (or probably just plain ole grilled cheese for J and K!).

I tried it out for the first time this week and did some fajita chicken thighs on it. At first I had the grill fully opened and did some onions on one side, but it seemed that the side I put the chicken on (the top as seen in this picture) didn’t get as hot as the other plate? So, when the onions were cooked I moved the chicken over and closed the lid to do ‘contact grilling’. I want to try this out soon for weekend breakfast and cook bacon and eggs on it – I’ll let you know what it’s like as I use it more.

Finally, other crafty stuff…. you may not have noticed but on my right side bar (further down) I have started listing some ‘Stampin Up’ blogs. I feel in the mood for starting to make my own cards and notes again. Perhaps it’s because I received some cute ones recently from my snail mail friend? I have made Stampin Up cards before and have a few supplies I’ve bought in the past from Stamp Camps I’ve been too. They’re just sitting in a closet begging to be used, so after Christmas I think I will make a start. Not only would I like to use them a lot myself (because I aim to try and write more to family and friends) but they make sweet little gifts too.

 

This pretty card above for instance I found on this lovely blog Crafty Creations by Beth.  Have any of you used Stampin Up products before? Made your own cards?  I’m having ideas of making one of our spare bedrooms a craft room for me and getting all organized in 2011? A girl can dream.

OK, Boo is off to the groomers in a few minutes, so I must jump off here. Have a great ‘HUMP’ Day.

 

Denise

Friday Night Festivities. . . and a few finishing touches!

‘Girls Night’ on Friday was so much fun. We gathered at Cheryl’s to enjoy each others company and I took along the ‘fixins’ for a Christmas Cocktail (as seen here by Sandra Lee, or watch her video on how to make this and her snowtini HERE).

Here’s mine I made.. . it’s a little pear juice, a little Pom juice, fresh pomegranate seeds and champagne :-) I was also feeling rather decadent and took along some caviar!

It’s not to everyone’s taste, but I LOVE it!  One of Cheryl’s friends tried it and liked it, one of our other friends tried it and didn’t – it was too ‘fishy and salty’ for her. That doesn’t sound appealing at all does it “fishy and salty!”.  What about you? Have you ever tried caviar – did you like it? Surely it’s not just the rich and famous that eat it?

   Here’s me munching on caviar :-)

 

So, on to the finishing touches! Last week I did what a few bloggy friends had mentioned . . . I went along to my local Lowes store and asked if I could have some ‘free’ Christmas tree clippings. This is what I got . . . .

I’m sure I could have picked up more, but I didn’t want to look greedy, and this was all pretty heavy too. 

So THIS . . .

went to looking like THIS . . . .

See the difference, it looks much fuller now with the greenery hanging over the white mantle. And I stuck some fresh greenery at the back too.

I also used some of the greenery to make these, one for each column.

I had quite a bit left over so I put it outside at the front door. 

Other finishing touches . . .  I added my little Boyds Bears to the Christmas tree area in my bedroom,

  and using what I had I cleared up the dresser, added a flower arrangement (that usually sits elsewhere in the house) and a lamp and some photos.

It all looks wonderfully cozy at night.

   And lastly, I added a tray to my bed. One of my ‘snail mail’ pals sent me some sweet goodies last week . . .

See the cute little pillow above with the little dancing girl fabric, she made that for me, and also sent the Victoria magazine and some handmade stamped cards, which are adorable :-)  Thank you Carrie.

So, that’s it for today. The countdown has started here, only one more week left at school!  How’s the Christmas preparations going for you all?

I’m linking this post to The Nester’s Christmas Tour of Homes. For more of my Christmas decor you can click HERE and HERE (if you haven’t already seen them)

 

Denise