Wrapped Up

Ok so if I post about Christmas dinner on January 20th, I guess it only makes sense that I post about Christmas gifts on January 24th.

At least I am consistent, right?

Jesse got bathroom parts. You can see how overwhelmed by excitement he is while unwrapping a cable drain.

I got a steam mop.

Rylie got a rubber chicken.

As did Karma.

Ho Ho Holidays

A peek into our home for the holidays:

A mini tree in the entryway, alongside a toilet drain pipe.

Peppermint taffy and some nuts for snacking.

Tip: Don't launder the peppermint taffy in your pockets.

Stockings and some fruit and candy canes.

Heavenly Bamboo clippings as the table centerpiece.

Another tree upstairs along with some poinsettia. And a glimpse of our rocking new windows.

Garland up the banisters.

Another garland. With a ton of stockings again. And a Christmas tree scented candle (because we have a scent-less artificial tree).

Paperwhites blooming just in time.

Some bells strung on the console. And a neurotic border collie to go with.

And of course the tree. Decked out with a very obvious bath ventilation fan gift sitting underneath.

Happy holidays everyone!

Thanks Loads

Home projects were not the only thing that we did on Thanksgiving. We did manage to make some food and stuff our faces:

Cranberry sauce (made with orange juice)

Stuffing

Mushroom Gravy

Green beans washed for green bean casserole

Breaded and fried shallots to top the green bean casserole

Green bean casserole

Boiling potatoes to be mashed

Buttermilk mashed potatoes

Opening our tofurky

Tofurky (before basting) with veggies prior to roasting

The compost was happy

The dogs were happy
(we found some organic boneless skinless chicken breasts in the freezer).

And the humans were happy.

(This is for you Betty and Dave, my most loyal readers)

Right before we plated our food we popped a pecan pie in the oven and set the timer for 30 minutes.

I failed to get "after" shots of all the food after it was all done cooking. We were so hungry and it was getting late and we ate in record time.

Just as we sat down to enjoy our meal we* knocked over a glass of water. Then we cleaned it up. Then we* knocked over a glass of wine. Then we cleaned that up. Then we finally ate and when we came up for air, there was still 15 minutes left on the timer. Sometimes this is just how life goes. Do you have holidays like this?

*And by 'we' I mean the bf. But he made the pie which rocked so he is forgiven.

Painting himself in a Corner

I hope everyone had a great holiday. Wanna know how ours was? This is how we spent Thanksgiving day (and into the night as you see):

Here's the 'before' shot:

And here's a view of the rest of the house all festively decked out:

We had home work on Thanksgiving (removing all window treatments and clearing all the areas in front of the windows). I guess it serves us right for leaving it to the last minute. Photos of the new windows soon!

Congrats!

I haven't gone MIA or given up on this blog (yet), but I was gone for 3 weeks for a long overdue trip to visit my friends and folks and to celebrate my BFF's big day!

Photo credit: Trudy

Congrats dad*! Love you.

*She is nicknamed dad because she can be like a mom sometimes. But not mom-like. More dad-like. She's even been given a dad mug to make it official.

Happy Holidays

Happy holidays everyone!

Decking Halls

The holiday season crept up on us. Usually we have a plan - foods we want to make, cards mailed out well in advance, some obligatory gifts bought or made, and travel plans nailed. But this year, there will be no travel, no out of town visitors, no original holiday music created, and maybe only a few baked treats.

We even got an early start with warm festive drinks, and even putting up not 1 but 2 holiday trees the day after Thanksgiving. But somehow hosting a baby shower, attending a wedding, performing on stage at a company holiday party (the bf, not me), movie night, theme park, an unexpected home project, and being sick twice didn't help.

This is what we've managed. And at this point, it's not worth it to go any further, right?

Stockings for each human and each canine (although they are empty)

Candy cane ornaments hung from the chandelier

Tinsel garland wrapped along the banisters

Yet even more (a lot more) stockings strung up on a tension curtain rod hung in our pass through

Holiday cards sitting on the ledge of the pass through below the multitude of stockings

Also on the pass through ledge, a Christmas Tree scented candle because our artificial trees have none, alongside some glass tea light holders (received as a gift a few years ago)

And some surprise gifts from beloved (and slightly stubborn) family

The gift on the left is not from me, but wrapped by me - yep it's wrapped in comics. And the white box on the bottom right is still in it's shipping box because if I know my parents well enough, the gift itself is not wrapped (wrapping would add to additional shipping weight, duh).

I welcome any easy or thrifty holiday decor ideas you may have.
Next year we'll do better...

Xmas 2

I already posted about our little artificial apartment tree, but we have a full size semi-real looking artificial tree as well :




It's not all fancy and department store display worthy. But I somehow like the simplicity of it and how you can see more tree than decorations. It has almost all the essentials: garland, candy canes, tree skirt, some sentimental ornaments and a couple of gifts. One year I was a little fancy and found some Christmas crackers at a steal. Although we are technically missing a topper, I don't really think it needs it. The small tree doesn't have one either.

This is actually the first time we have gifts under this tree (granted it's only the second year we've had it), we usually request no gifts from friends and family. As you can see, some are a bit stubborn :)

How about your tree? What's the decoration to tree ratio? Topper or naked? Candy canes or none?

In Cider Job

When it's cold out, and it's the holiday season, and you're home - it's the time for some hot, spiced cider (it's how we kick started Thanksgiving)!

Hot, Spiced, Apple Cider

Ingredients:

• Apple cider (not juice!)
• Cinnamon sticks (not ground!)
• Orange peels or lemon peels or both (dried, but never tried fresh, wonder how that would be?)
• Cloves (not ground!)
  

Break cinnamon sticks in half or thirds so they fit inside a mesh tea strainer ball thing. Put everything (except cider, duh) into the mesh tea strainer and place inside a slow cooker (aka crock pot). Add cider. Turn on hot if you want it heated relatively quick or keep on low. Once it's hot enough, you can keep it on warm and enjoy it all day.

You can also buy pre-packaged spices that you add to the cider:

And if you can't find cider, you can get flavored tea (but this will be a watery version):


It's good in the morning, during the day, and at night*, whenever it's cold out and you're feeling festive!

*especially with a bit of rum

Do you have simple and fun recipes or food traditions for the holidays?