A Christmas to Remember

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! Our celebration began when my Dad and Polly arrived on Christmas Eve around 1 p.m. We enjoyed some snacks and relaxed and visited for a few hours before going to Macaroni Grill for an early dinner. Last year we took the kids ice skating at the outdoor rink in Old Town. We had so much fun that we decided to make it a new tradition. So, after dinner we headed over to the rink and rented skates for the kids. They had a great time ice skating! It was really fun to watch them out there having such a great time together.

Christmas morning activities began around 9 with Dad and Polly arriving for breakfast and gifts. (they stay in a nearby hotel) I made my Mom's breakfast casserole and orange sticky buns for breakfast. After we ate, we watched the kids (and Kate's dog Lily) open their stockings. Having Lily here for the past week has been so fun! She is such a sweet dog and remarkably I've done fine with my allergies and so has Kyle (thanks to Claritin!) Next up was gift opening and as is our tradition we choose someone to be "Santa" and pass out a gift to each person and then we take turns opening our gifts so we can all see what each other received. We were certainly blessed this year to be able to give and receive some wonderful gifts.

As is also a tradition for us at Christmas, we get dressed after gift opening and go to the movies. We've been doing this for about 6-7 years now. Dad and Polly love to go to the movies as well, so they were happy to go with us. After the movies we went back to the house where Polly and I worked together to prepare Christmas dinner. Dad and Polly were very thoughtful to buy us a Honey Baked Ham to serve for dinner. Along with the ham the menu consisted of a cheesy potato casserole, fresh green beans with pecans and lemon, spinach and fruit salad with poppy seed dressing and rolls. For desert I had prepared in advance a grasshopper pie. (another tradition!)

After lingering over a wonderful meal and visiting more, the day finally came to an end. Polly and Dad returned to their hotel room around 9 and then the rest of us popped in one of Kate's gifts (the movie Dispicable Me) which is a darling animated movie that Kate asked for to add to her movie collection. All to soon, our wonderful Christmas day had come to an end. We had such a wonderful Christmas this year! Below are pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Quick Gift idea from your kitchen (Chocolate Chip Bread)

Here's a fun and easy baked gift to give to your neighbors, co-workers... ANYONE! It's easy to make and has that WOW factor that is sure to impress.
I purchased these mini aluminum bread pans along with a box of chocolate chip muffin mix, a bag of white,semi sweet chocolate chips & miniature semi sweet chocolate chips and made the little tags that I tied on. Just follow the directions on the box of the muffin mix and pour the batter into each greased bread pan about 1/2 way full. Bake a little longer than the box calls for to make muffins. When bread springs back when touched or cake tester is clean when poked into the middle of each loaf than the loaves are done. Remove loaves from pans and let cool completely before drizzling chocolate on. Once cool, melt white chips in a microwave safe bowl, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and all chips are melted. Pour chocolate into a zip lock bag and push the melted chocolate down onto the corner of the bag. Snip off the corner of the bag and you have an instant pastry bag! Holding the bag and working quickly, go back and forth over each loaf in a zig zag motion. Repeat this same step with the semi sweet chips. Once you have both types of chocolate on, sprinkle with mini semi sweet chips and let the chocolate set completely. (you can refrigerate to set) Once set, wrap each loaf in saran wrap and tie up with a ribbon and a tag.

ENJOY MAKING AND GIVING THESE LITTLE LOAVES OF BREAD.

Holiday Home Tour part 2

Sorry for the delay in posting the rest of the pictures of my home decorated for Christmas. As promised here are close up shots of the tree (and newly wrapped gifts underneath!), more family room decor, the kitchen, the hall bathroom and the outside of the house.

From our house to yours....Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!