Nony

Allow me to introduce you to another member of our family.  Nony, like Tony, with an 'N'.

Last Christmas, Nony was pretty mild.  He moved around a bit, but generally kept to perching on shelves or tucking into branches of the tree.

Not this year.

Nony has been seen diving into the cookie jar...

Playing a heated game of memory...

Taking a ride on a dino friend...

Trying to train a reindeer...

Decorating a tree...

Cuddling with Sock Monkey...

Preparing for a snowball fight...

And adding his own pizazz to Little Man's decorated trees.

The little scamp.  He's about to do me in.  And it's only December 7.

Have a great weekend my friends!  Have a peppermint mocha and take a moment to enjoy the lights.

XO,
  Sara

Christmas Mantle 2012

If you hopped over from Ten June, thanks for coming!  Take a look around at what keeps me out of trouble busy...

Our house is looking pretty festive!  I love when all the decorations are finally up, the presents are purchased, the house is clean, and I feel in control of my crazy calendar.  Oh wait.  That has happened yet.  Oh, well!  I can still enjoy what is finished, and today, it's our mantle.

I kept things pretty simple this year with a gold, silver, and garland and pinecone theme. I was going for a rustic meets glitzy kind of vibe...

The candle holders are from Pottery Barn.  I love how they talk with the mercury glass jugs on my kitchen hutch.

Little Man and I took a nature walk and collected pinecones in the neighborhood.  I was all aflutter about my free decor until tiny spiders started crawling out.  Yikes!  A good shake outside and we're back in business...I hope.

I've had this metal star forever, but it hasn't always been gold.  Yep.  Spray paint to the rescue!

The silver tree is the smaller member of a 3-tree set.  The large and medium trees are on our landing.  It adds just the right amount of glitz and a great texture.

The garland was an after Christmas steal from Target a few years ago.  I don't think I can ever go back from pre-lit.  So. Easy.

The stockings are also from Pottery barn.  I was drooling over the cream colored ones this year, but couldn't justify buying a whole new set just to change my color scheme.  Now if something were to happen to the red ones...Just kidding Mister!

I honestly can't remember where this wreath came from.  I think it was an antique shop near me that went out of biz a few years ago.  This wreath has made appearances all over our house!

(Can't show you the other side of the room right now because it's covered in wrapping paper and felt...Don't ask.)

 How's your to-do list looking?  Let's all agree to throw the list out the window and enjoy The Grinch snuggled on the couch with our loves.  At least till tomorrow...

XO,
  Sara

Linking Up to:

Ten June

The Lettered Cottage

Cookie Swap!

Erika, one of my girls from my teacher days, hosted a sweet cookie swap party for our little ones.  She went all out with tree decorating for the little ones and yummy soups for the mommas.  I wish I had some pics to share of the actual party, but my battery died and I didn't get it charged in time.  Sigh.

Alas, I do have some pics of our contribution to the cookie swap.  This year I whipped up some ginger snaps and Dark Chocolate Almond Macaroons (these little guys taste just like an Almond Joy!).

The recipe for the macaroons came from Southern Living Christmas:

3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 14 oz package sweetened flaked coconut
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/8 tsp salt
24 unblanched almonds
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Stir together first 4 ingredients.  Drop dough by lightly greased tablespoonfuls onto parchement lined pans.  Press an almond into the top of each cookie.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Let cool on wire racks.  Melt chocolate chips in the microwave for about 1 minute and 15 seconds.  Stir every 30 seconds.  Put the melted chocolate into a freezer bag and cut the corner off of one end.  Drizzle chocolate over each cookie.  Let harden.

The ginger snaps are from a magazine clipping (I think it was BH&G?)

Ginger Sugar
3 T sugar
3/4 t ground ginger

Cookies
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 c plus 2 T sugar
1 large egg at room temp
3 T dark molasses
2 C flour
1 T ground ginger
1 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt

To make the ginger sugar, combine ingredients on a plate.

Place butter and sugar in mixer and blend well.  Add egg and blend.  Add molasses and blend well.  Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, and salt in a separate bowl.  Add to butter mixture and mix well.  Break off small pieces of dough and roll into a ball.  Roll in ginger sugar and place 2 inches apart on parchment lined sheets.  Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.  Cool on wire racks.

What makes these ginger snaps snap back is the ginger sugar you roll them in just before baking.  Zing!

I love a pretty presentation!

Mouth watering yet? ;)

My gals brought some delicious offerings to the party as well.  Nutella cookies, peanut butter blossoms, praline squares, oatmeal cherry cookies, white chocolate gingerbread bars...

Guess who will be at the gym everyday this week...

Erika gave us each a cute little bag and we filled it up with yummies to share at home.  I did share, but there may or may not have been less cookies in the bag when Mister got home.  Just sayin'.

What's your go-to cookie recipe for Christmas?

XO,
  Sara

Christmas Craft - Felt Tree for Tiny Hands

Hi there, friends!  If you're popping in from Cassie's, welcome!  I hope you'll stay a while!

Today I'm sharing a little crafty we did this weekend for our boy.  He is in the destructo phase of toddlerhood (I'm assuming this is a normal phase for all toddlers, so please don't correct me if I'm wrong...;) so in order to spare the tree, I took a page from Pinterest and made this little beaut just for him.

It took all of 10 minutes and was a fun family activity.  I got everything for the project at Michael's.  You'll need a large piece of green felt and several sheets of colored felt.  Just grab what feels right!  I got one of each shade and may go back for more.  We had too much fun coming up with ideas for "ornaments"!

 Now, crafting a T-Rex out of felt and scissors was no easy feat, but it put a smile on Little Man's face.  Never mind it's missing an arm and a leg...

Make some triangles.  Go for squares!  A traffic light?  Yes!  It's all allowed on this tree.  (Mommy's a little OCD about our real tree.)

To hang the tree, I just stuck a few command strips on the back and found a wall in my house that had enough space.  Voila!  Easy-peasy.

 How do you manage little hands at your house around the holidays?  Have you been crafting around your abode?  Do share!

XO,
  Sara

Linking up to:

Hi Sugarplum!

Christmas Kitchen Stylings

I recently revamped my kitchen breakfast area by swapping out my black hutch for an antique piece.  You can read more about that here.  Four black frames hold pieces of my son's art on a regular basis, but I thought it would be fun to change them up for Christmas.

I googled "vintage Christmas" and found some fun images to print onto cardstock.

I stumbled upon some Christmas sheet music and thought it would be fun to toss it in a frame too.

And here they are on the wall...

I kind of like the unexpectedness of it all.  

Just a little splash of holiday cheer for you as we make our way into December.  Are everyone else's calendars filling up beyond belief?!  Seriously.  I don't think we have a free weekend before New Year's.

Have a happy weekend everyone!  And don't forget to sip your Peppermint Mochas while you can!

XO,

  Sara

Advent Calendar

It's December. Well, tomorrow it will be. How on earth did that happen so fast?!?  Since Little Man is 3, I decided we were ready to do the full Advent calendar this year.  Last year it was just a count down, but we're all in this time around!

We have the hanging Santa calendar from Pottery Barn Kids.  There are SOOOOO many options for crafting your own calendar.  Just search it on Pinterest and you'll have reading material for daysssssss.  However, I liked this one, the price was right, and it was monogrammable.  I have mentioned I love monograms, right?


(Disclainer: All of these photos were taken at night once wee one was in bed.  Apologies for the poor lighting and general outcome of all pictures!)

My plan is to have each pocket hold a numbered tag with some sort of activity on the back.  Now, little hands will not be able to leave said cards in place, so Mommy's going to have to remember to put a new card in each night.  Add that to my nightly agenda.  Right after moving the blasted Elf on the Shelf to a new and clever spot.  (Ladies who came up with the Elf, I simultaneously love you and hate you, I hope you understand.)

I found these printable countdown tags here.  Aren't they adorable?  Thanks to DaNita at Delightful Order!





I just printed and cut.

Now, you could be uber organized and fill out each tag on November 29.  However, we are a busy family and I'm not always sure when we'll be able to fit in watching The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, so I made a list of all the things I definitely want to do as a family, along with some other ideas.  Then, before I tuck the tag in the pocket of the calendar each night, I'll pick something from the list I know we'll be able to fit in the next day.  Make sense?

What's on my list, you ask?  Why, of course I'll share!

Here are just a few ideas.  Add your own (and then add them in the comments because I can always use more!)

Christmas Advent Calendar List

Read a favorite Christmas Story

Drink Hot Cocoa

Play a game by the fire

Decorate the tree

Do a Christmas Craft

Make reindeer food

Write a letter to Santa

Polar Express!

Watch a Christmas movie

Bake cookies

Decorate Gingerbread Men

Go see the light show

Set-Up the Nativity scene

Cookie Swap!

Read the Night Before Christmas

Go to the Christmas Parade

Read a favorite Christmas book

Dance to Christmas music

Sing carols

Aren't these fonts delicious? Also a Pinterest find.  They are "Amazing Ruler" and "Cinnamon Cake" (you can find them on Dafont.com)

Well, you've got a few hours before Advent season officially commences.  Get to printing lovelies!  Just kidding!  Do whatever it is that brings you peace and joy during this fun time.  Even if that means filling a Pinterest board full of things you'll never do (like me). ;)

XO,

  Sara

Family Photo Shoot

It's that time of year again.  Time to get your holiday cards made, stuffed, and mailed.  We usually go to a local photographer for Santa pics of the little guy, but she increased her prices by a LOT!!  So...over Thanksgiving we enlisted the help of my bro-in-law who just happens to have lots of experience behind the camera.

We took the photos outside at my parents house.  It was the perfect day.  Overcast, which made for great lighting.  The red tree leaves were beautiful and literally the next day, all the leaves fell down.  Can you say perfect timing?

To those of you readers who are on our Christmas card list, sorry for the spoiler!  And to those of you lovely readers who I don't personally know yet, here is your version of our Christmas Card.  Happy Holidays!

In this one, Little J was thinking "I'll get the 'cheese' over with so I can go jump in those leaves".  He looks so pained!

Uh-oh!  Eyes closed!

Little decided he was going to make antlers at the last minute.  I love this picture.  It's so real. :)

L.O.V.E. this one too!

And one with my sis. Can we say holiday gift for the parents? ;)

A huge thank you to Adrian!  I could not have asked for better pictures.  Sorry to bore you all with picture overload of my family, but I'm just so tickled with how they came out.  Yay!  One more thing I can check off our list!

XO,
  Sara