Blogmas 2014 - Days 13,14,15

I cannot believe Christmas is next week.  Time is flying by and I'm not ready for it.  I still have so much shopping to finish.  I'm also behind on Blogmas.  I've missed a few days.  So if you don't mind, I'll start from where I left off and catch up today.

 My children each have an advent calendar where they open up a door every day to find a chocolate surprise.  I had one of those when I was little and it was so much fun.  Also, my 7 year old has been writing his own Christmas countdown in a notebook.  I haven't really been doing the best at counting down the days.  Yesterday at the dentist the hygienist was asking if I had all my shopping done and when I said no she looked surprised and said, "Next week is Christmas."  Next week?  NEXT WEEK?  How did it creep up on me so fast.  I haven't been feeling well lately so it's been hard for me to get to the store but I really kept thinking I had more time.  Ugh.

My father was a police officer when I was younger and every year they would have a Christmas party where all the police and families would get together to celebrate.  Santa and Mrs. Claus was there and would give each of us kids a present.  I know my parents have a picture of me on Santa's lap from one of those parties.  Wish I had it. 

I also remember going to my grandparents' house every Christmas Eve and gather with my aunts, uncles and cousins.  There are A LOT of us and it gets pretty loud.  But those are the memories I will cherish, especially since my grandparents are no longer with us.  Here are my parents standing in my grandparents' kitchen.  Wow, orange everywhere!

 After the party we went home to open up our gifts before going to bed.  On Christmas Day my brother, his wife and kids would come over and exchange gifts with us then.

That's my sister Denise in the purple pants, me in the blue, my nephew Billy in the red and my niece Chrissy in the white and red dress.  Oh my, how things have changed.  More nieces and nephews and even great nieces and great nephews have been born and Christmas parties have become a lot larger.  Unfortunately, they are all still living on Long Island so I don't get to spend Christmas there with them.

We don't have much but we do decorate more for Christmas than any other holiday. 

Blogmas Day 12 - Where I Live

What are the things that come to mind when you think of Pennsylvania?  Farms?  Amish?  Well, yes, there are plenty of farms and Amish around.  Well, in my area, not so much with the Amish.  They are in the county my parents live in.  Still, you can find plenty of farms surrounding my home but a few miles away there is also a city.  Yes, city life ... and country life.  Mountains, valleys (I live in the valley), rivers, lakes and plenty of wildlife.  I googled a bunch of pictures to show the kinds of things you'd see in this state and some landmarks.  We have a few well known cities around us such as Harrisburg, Pittsburgh, Gettysburg and Philadelphia.  I'm somewhere in the middle. 

I also snapped a few pictures from my drive this morning.  You can see what the farms look like after everything has been plowed and ready for winter.  We've had a few snow flakes falling here and there but not a major storm ... yet. 

A few weeks ago there was enough snow to cover the ground which gave us some fun play time. 

Blogmas Day 11 - Christmas Food

When I have Christmas with my parents it's always glazed ham with pineapple slices and maraschino cherries.  Then potatoes and some other veggies.  Dinner roles.  That's pretty much it.  Then a dessert of some kind. 

When we eat at my in-law's it's usually the same thing ... and of course ... as mentioned ... my sister-in-law's dump cake.  Ha ha ... I was being sarcastic in my other post ... the reason I haven't tried it is I'm afraid I'll like it and then that will be another added food on my list of what I like and what I shouldn't eat.  Trying to keep it healthy.  But when it comes to the holidays there is no such thing as eating healthy, or at least there shouldn't be, right?

Last year for Christmas Day breakfast I made the family pancakes shaped like snowmen with bacon as a scarf and some fruit for the face.  It came out so cute.  I don't think I took a picture of it though.  I also made candy canes with sliced bananas and strawberries.  That idea came from Pinterest.  I think I'll do the same this year for breakfast and I may add a few other things to make it more festive. 

Blogmas Day 9 & 10 - Warmth and Cookies

 I didn't get a chance to do Day 9 yesterday so I'm going to combine it with today's Blogmas.

I am not a fan of winter or the cold weather.  Even though I don't like the cold I also don't like bundling up and covering myself up with too much.  I just don't like the feeling of being smothered.  So I don't wear scarves or turtlenecks unless I absolutely have to.  I just recently purchased one of these head bands.

I took this picture this morning after my shower and before makeup.  But that's my new headband.

I also don't own any winter boots.  I better add that to my Christmas wish list.  It would make playing in the snow with the kids much more enjoyable.

I also love my flannel sheets and heavy blanket to sleep with.  I have to be warm when I sleep and that's pretty much the only time I'm okay with being bundled up.

I'm thankful to have a house with working heat when the winter weather comes.  And during this cold season I enjoy sipping on hot tea, cappuccino, hot chocolate and coffee with peppermint creamer.

This year I am looking forward to trying a few new cookie recipes and hopefully work on a gingerbread house with the kids.  Every year I made a batch of sugar cookies and use my Christmas shaped cookie cutters.  The kids help putting the ingredients in the bowl and mixing everything together.  Then they add the sprinkles.  With little kids it becomes a mess that I try not to stress out about.

The recipe for these cookies are on the box of my 101 Cookie Cutters. 

Roll-Out Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsps baking powder

3 cups flower

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  Mix baking powder and flour, add one cup at a time, mixing after each addition.  The dough will be very stiff; blend last flour by hand (if dough becomes too stiff, add water, a teaspoon at a time).  Do not chill dough.  Divide dough into 2 portions.  On a floured surface, roll each portion into a circle approximately 12 in. diameter and 1/8 in. thick.  Dip cookie cutters in flour before each use.  Bake cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet on top rack of oven for 6-7 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned. 

Makes 20-24 average size cookies.  

You can tint the dough with food coloring or add sprinkles and frosting for an added touch.  

These cookies are soft and chewy and are a big hit for anyone I bake them for.  

I am going to try making these Pretzel M&M Hugs and these Crinkle Cookie Cakes.  I have never made cookies from cake mix before. 

Blogmas 2014 Day 8 - On My Wish List

This is a tough one for me.  I'm not usually one to tell people what to get me.  Plus, I think I have everything I need.  My focus is always on what to get my kids, my husband and my parents.  My dad is the hardest to shop for. 

But if I had to choose some things that I'd like to get or could use I believe I'd pick the following.

Jewelry.  You can't go wrong with jewelry.  To be more specific I'd love a new pair of earrings.  I haven't had a new pair of earrings in years and I haven't wore any earrings in a long time. 

Some books.  I love reading but don't do it enough.  Maybe a book by Joyce Meyer or Karen Kingsbury.  Or some kind of faith-based devotional. 

Something with the scent of lavender.  I'm told lavender is great for helping you to relax and deal with stress.  I've been dealing with too much stress lately. 

I just don't know what else I would ask for.  Honestly, it wouldn't bug me if I didn't get anything at all.  You know the one thing I don't like to get as a gift is clothes.  Usually when someone buys me clothes it just hangs in my closet for years with the tags still on.  Unless you know a person's size and style buying clothes as a gift doesn't make sense.  So maybe a gift card to a shop would be good ... oh yeah ... can't go wrong with gift cards.  I'll add that to my list too.  

Blogmas Day 7 - Handmade Christmas

Handmade presents are so special.  I don't receive handmade presents unless their from the kids and it doesn't matter if it's something scribbled with some unidentified picture (you know how little kids are) it still means so much to me.

Before having children I tried making handmade gifts for others.  One year I painted ceramic figurines, another year I painted wooden sculptures and another year I tried making candles (oh, that was a mess!)  I did make a shadow box for my dad and another for my mother-in-law.  My dad loves fishing so I made a fishing theme inside.  I made it look like the inside of a fishing cabin where I glued a small table and chair and a tackle box and fishing rod and even some small fishing magazines.  These are all items I bought at a craft store that is supposed to be for doll houses.  It turned out so adorable.  It hangs in the extra bedroom at my parents' house.  I wish I had a picture to show you.  I made a garden theme for my mother-in-law.  Those were fun to put together.

This year I decided to make salt dough ornaments with the kids.  The recipe is on my box of cookie cutters.  I pulled out all the Christmas shapes and then mixed up the dough (using flour, salt and water).  I rolled out the dough, just like you would when making cookies, and I pressed each shape with the cookie cutters.  I stuck them in the oven on 350 degrees for 20 minutes just like the recipe said.  Well, let's just say, the ornaments didn't come out right after it baked.  Some were still soft in the middle and others grew bubbles and got all lumpy.  I have no idea what happened there but I allowed the kids to paint them anyway.

 

There may be a few worth saving but for the most part these ornaments didn't turn out as I had hoped.  At least the kids had fun. 

Without fail, year after year since my son was born, my most favorite gift to create and give is a calendar for my husband to use at work.  I've created the calendars at either Artscow or Shutterfly but if I'm running low on time (like this year) I just create one at Walgreens and it's usually ready the same day.  The thing I love, love, love about Artscow and Shutterfly is that when you sign up for an account and create/buy products you will randomly get e-mail offers for free or discounted items.  Same with Walgreens.  I'm always getting e-mails for discounted prints or a free 8x10 print.  I've also used those sites to create photobooks too.  

 And I can't forget this one!  I always wanted to be a writer.  That is my dream.  Well, if you can imagine, becoming a writer and getting books published isn't easy.  A few years ago I decided to create a fun book for my parents and I found a website that allowed me to do just that.  I wrote the story and my husband drew the pictures.  I wrote the book about two dogs my parents used to own, Boston Terriers named Rocky and Barney.  Rocky and Barney were brothers from the same litter and they were such humorous dogs with different personalities.  They really kept us entertained.  So it only made sense to create a children's story about Rocky and Barney.  Of course, if you didn't know these two, you wouldn't understand it.  That's what made it so special.  You can see the book here.  Rocky and Barney's Day Out.  That's probably the most heartfelt gift I ever made anyone. 

Blogmas Day 6 - Opening Presents

When I was a child we would go to my grandparents' house on Christmas Eve for dinner.  The house was packed with aunts, uncles and my many, many, many cousins.  My grandparents always had cards for each of us with money inside.  That was their gift to us.  We'd usually exchange gifts that our aunts and uncles gave us as well.  Then we'd get home and the present from Santa had already been placed under the tree.  Even though it was probably about midnight by the time we got home I was able to play with my new gift from Santa and that is when we all gathered around the tree to open the rest of the gifts.  My dad never wanted to wait until Christmas morning.  Christmas morning was usually spent playing with all my new gifts.

Now my parents drive to Long Island, New York to my sister's house and have a Christmas Eve party there where they all open gifts from each other.  I've been able to visit for the Christmas party from time to time but in recent years we stay home here in Pennsylvania.

If you didn't know this about me, I used to live on Long Island and came here with my parents when I was 14.  The rest of my family still lives on LI.

Since my husband and I got married and moved in together we decided to exchange gifts on Christmas morning.  I like it so much better that way.  We've kept the tradition going with the kids.  When they go to bed I put all the gifts under the tree so they have a nice surprise when they wake up.  Even before breakfast they waste no time tearing into the presents.  Then we go to my father-in-law and his wife's house to have dinner and exchange gifts with them.

I wish I had a photo from my childhood Christmas to share but my parents have them at their house.  So I'll just share one from last year.  I have to be honest, Christmas has become so much more meaningful and so much better since having children.  

I also want to take a moment to thank Sandra and those on Sandra's blog who stop by and read my blogs and comment on them.  I love the visits and the comments.  I don't have many followers and don't receive many comments on here so it's been nice.  THANKS!