Christmas Cookie Baking

Each year on the Friday after Thanksgiving, my aunts and cousins get together for our annual Christmas Cookie Baking at my grandmother's house.  This year there were 11 of us and we made 1,758 cookies.  We started at 7am and the first batch was in the oven at 7:37am.

Our official list of cookies included Maizie Taizies (21.5 dozen), Thumbprints (23 dozen), Peanut Blossoms (25 dozen), Buckeyes (30 dozen), and Gobs (39 dozen). Yum, yum, yum!

My uncle surprised everyone this year with hand-carved mini tart shapers for all 6 of the nieces (of which I am one).  They are on display next to the Maizie Taizies below.

Frosty Hot Chocolate

The holidays are such a great time for building family traditions.  One of our favorite things to do at this time of year is to have hot chocolate out of our Frosty the Snowman drink dispenser.

There are two tealights under Frosty's belly that keep the hot chocolate nice and warm.  And you can tuck marshmallows under his hat for topping off your beverage.

Thank You Jar

Here is a fun tradition that our extended family participates in at Thanksgiving.  On November 1st, each family puts out a "Thank You" jar at their house so that family members can drop a note in when they are thankful for something. 

On Thanksgiving day, everyone takes their jar full of notes to my mom's house for our Thanksgiving meal.  After we eat dinner, the notes are combined in one big bowl which gets passed around the table during dessert.  Each family member pulls out a note and reads it aloud to the table until all the notes are gone.  Its a great reminder of what we all are thankful for during the holiday season!

80 Coasters

After drying the flowers from my grandfather's funeral, I was tasked with making 80 coasters for members of our extended family.  My grandfather left behind 6 children, 22 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren. 

He also left behind an amazing legacy.  He was a World War II Army veteran who earned the Purple Heart and came home from the war to marry his high school sweetheart.

My grandparents were married for 62 years and together raised 6 kids on the salary my grandfather made as high school Math teacher.  My grandfather tithed each of his paychecks to his church and was distinguished for voting in every election since 1942. 

My grandfather and I shared the same birthday, which will always remain special to me.  He was truly a member of the Greatest Generation and I was honored to be able to preseve his memory for so many family members by completing this project.

See August 26th Blog entry for more photos.

Kids' Artwork

I've been looking for a way to creatively display the kids' artwork without cluttering up our kitchen.  I saw this idea on another blog and copied it in my upstairs hallway.  All you need are 2 decorative drawer pulls, picture hanging wire, and 2 extra long screws.

I started with just one wire and then decided that I needed two wires to fill the space.  Total cost for this project was $25 and I was able to get all of the supplies from Home Depot.

Spooky Eyes

Here is an easy Halloween project that I saw on http://www.marthastewart.com/ last year.  All you need is a frame, foil, black glitter, glow-in-the-dark glitter, glue, & a template for scary eyes.  You can get everything, except the template, from Michael's craft store.  The templates are on the Martha Stewart website or you can make your own!

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS

1. Remove the cardboard from the frame and wrap it in foil. 

2. Remove glass from frame and use glue to create a face on the glass.  (Having a template underneath the glass works best so you can trace the lines of the eyes with your glue.)

3. Apply glue for black glitter first.  Sprinkle black glitter & let dry.  Shake off excess black glitter.

4. Apply glue for glow-in-the-dark portion of eyes next.  Sprinkle glow glitter & let dry.  Shake off excess glow glitter.

5. Reinsert glass into frame with glitter face on the outside of the frame.  Reinsert cardboard (covered in foil) into frame.  Display and enjoy!

DC Cupcake

I visited Washington, DC last weekend with a friend of mine and we waited 90 minutes to get a taste of the cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcake (yes, it was worth the wait!).  The shop is owned by two sisters who left their corporate DC jobs to open a cupcake shop.  They will have their own show on TLC this fall called "DC Cupcake."

The flavors we chose were Peanut Butter Fudge, Key Lime, Caramel Apple, Cinnamon, Salted Caramel, and Chocolate Ganache.  Delicious!