Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Card Tree

Most of our Christmas cards.  I hate to take them down! What do you do with your Christmas cards after Christmas?

Linked up for Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom, A Lot of Loves and My Organized Chaos!

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Top Ten Tuesday - My Favorite Christmas Memories of 2010

I know, I know.....enough with the Christmas and New Year's posts but I haven't even posted my Christmas photos yet!  Not sure how many will get posted at this late date.  Regardless, the season seemed to fly right by so I want to try to hold on to it just a little bit longer!






1.  Kevin -  Our Elf on the Shelf was a HUGE hit with Evan and the rest of the family.  There were times when I wished we didn't have to do it every day (usually when I remembered him at 6am) but overall it was a great experience & we will DEFINITELY be visited by him again next year.

2.  The 25 Days of Christmas - I was first introduced to the 25 Days of Christmas by my friend Shan over at Tales From the Fairy Blogmother.  It seemed like a big commitment and a lot of work but, boy, was it worth it.  We did all kinds of things from cutting paper snowflakes (or snowflicks as Evan calls them) to enjoying hot cocoa and a Christmas movie.  We made sure to keep things easy peasy and low stress.

3.  Spending Christmas at Nana & Papa Don's house - It's one of our favorite Christmas traditions.  Lots of food and fun every year.  I'm very lucky to have such great in-laws.

4.  Having time off with Evan - I know this isn't a specific thing but it was so nice to have so many days at home. Evan has a bit of separation anxiety whenever I leave for work.  It was awesome to avoid that discussion for two whole weeks!

5.  Christmas Morning- All the kids loved their Christmas presents but this was the first year that Evan really "got" it.  We didn't read all the tags for him, though, so he thought Santa brought him all his gifts. 

6.  Making Cinnamon Rolls with Evan for the Neighbors - He loved making them and it got him in the giving spirit.

7.  Participating in Helping a Family Recently Out of a Shelter -  Christmas is about giving.  Our group at work always adopts a family but through a miscommunication we didn't adopt a family this year.  Instead I chose to help a family that fell through the cracks because they were in a shelter until right before Christmas.  We gathered together everything they needed to make their new apartment a home.  I was not a huge part of this effort but I did make sure that they had a Christmas tree, lights & ornaments so that the kids would have a Christmas tree for Santa to put a few presents under.

8.  Helping The Bloggess bring Christmas to families who are having trouble this season.  You can read all about it here.  By the end over $40,000 was given to families in need by her readers.  Amazing! *Note: If you don't know The Bloggess....she is less than PC if you are easily offended you might not like her blog.  Just letting you know.*

9.  Packing Shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child - I love being able to help children in other parts of the world enjoy Christmas a bit more.  

10.  Celebrating New Year's Eve with My Husband's Band - I must admit that sometimes I get tired of the band practices and the time away from us but it was really great to see the fruits of all their labor.  They ROCKED the party and had everyone on the dance floor all night.

What were you favorite memories from Christmas?  This post has been linked up at Oh Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday.

365 Day Photo Project:

New year, new puzzle.

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Post Christmas Hangover - An iPod Photo Holiday Review

Please forgive me....all of these pictures were taken with my iPod Touch. I promise to download pictures taken with an honest to goodness camera soon but not right now.  :)

First we headed to Cluny, AB to see Nana & Papa Don.  

We visited our friends Lindy, Adrian & Matt....and took pictures of their trees....then I got busy talking & drinking Grantinis so no pictures to be found of them.

Santa brought Evan Kung Zhu hamsters.  They are very cute but also very noise especially when they are buried in a bag on a bumpy car ride.  

I started learning to knit. I still have a LONG way to go though!

Evan and Nicole LOVE their Pillow Pets....It's a pillow, it's a pet...it's a PILLOWPET!

Evan didn't do nearly enough of this.

We drove across the prairies to visit Dewey's Dad though at times I would have sworn we were on the moon.

Though the sunset sure was pretty.

That's is a REALLY long road!

All those toys & Evan wanted to play with a spray bottle & the dish brushes.  

He *may* have subsisted completely on sugar through the holidays.

We managed to put together this monster 1000 piece puzzle while at Nana's.

Ugh...here's the pile of STUFF that needs to be put away.  

And don't forget the laundry. Thankfully Nana did a bit for us before we left or it would be twice the amount.

Oh and this guy....I threatened to sell him to the gypsies at least two or three times per day.  Too many new people + too little sleep + too much sugar left us with a crabby little boy! (Who has now woken up & is screaming at me because he wants to go to McDonalds.)

So how was your Christmas?

Linked up for Wordless Wednesday at 5 Minutes for Mom.

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Merry Christmas!

From Our House to Yours

We Wish You a Merry Christmas 

and 

A Happy and Prosperous 2011!


I would love it if you would take a minute to say "Hi"!


And because I can't not post some pictures....here's Christmas Eve in pictures!

Spreading the Reindeer Dust

O Christmas Tree

New Jammies!

Nicole loves hers!

Cool car that follows any black line you draw

Lego!

Getting set up for Santa

Chocolate Chip Cookies & Chocolate Milk

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Top Ten Tuesday - My Favorite Christmas Vacation Activities

I'm on VACATION until January 4th.....YAY ME!  I love vacation time because you get to do all those things that get pushed by the wayside when life gets busy.  Here are some of my favorite vacation activities (in no particular order)!

1.  Reading - We're headed out to my in-laws' (Nana's) house for Christmas.  I am on the internet much less there so I get to catch up on reading.  I am taking The House at Riverton by Kate Morton and House Rules by Jodi Picoult to read while I'm there.

2.  Baking - Not sure how much of this I'll do while we're at Nana's house but I bet we'll bake cookies at some point!

3.  Visiting with Family & Friends - When you unplug & step away from work it is so much easier to engage with family and friends.  This is my favorite part of the holidays!

4.  Crosswords - I love doing crosswords with Papa Don.  I don't ever do them at home because it is so much more fun when you have more than one person working on it.

5.  Puzzles - I've just recently remembered how much I love doing jigsaw puzzles.  I bought 3 new puzzles to take to Nana & Papa Don's house.  Two are folk art paintings and one is a photograph of hot air balloons.

6.  Crocheting - I love to crochet but it has really fallen by the wayside lately.  I bought all the yarn to make a big afghan and I think that has me overwhelmed.  I'm going to take some yarn to make dish cloths while we're away.  That should get me back in the swing of things without making me commit to a big project.

7.  Cooking - I love helping Nana cook because she gets to decide what we make & when we need to start.  I just get to be along for the ride.  Cooking fun without the stress!  I bet we'll be making yummy Turnip Puff for Christmas!

8.  Shopping - I admit it....I love Christmas shopping. Yesterday I had a few things to pick up but I stayed at the mall just wandering around looking at things & people watching.  I so rarely have the time/opportunity to shop these days.

9.  Coffee Dates - When working I don't get to meet friends for coffee very often.  Vacation is the perfect time to make coffee dates to see all those people I haven't caught up with in a while.  So fun!

10.  Photography - I find myself taking fewer and fewer pictures these days.  When I do take pictures they end up being with my iTouch (so not the best quality).  One reason is because my Nikon's D70 lens got broken.  We just bought another one yesterday so I'm excited to take some pictures of the kids & maybe even some nature photography.

Are you taking any time off this Christmas holiday season?  What are you hoping to get to do?

This post is linked up at Oh Amanda for Top Ten Tuesday!

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Love Thy Neighbor The Pioneer Woman Way!

So yesterday I blogged about the Crockpot Apple Butter I made.  Well, though it's a great gift, I wanted to do a bit more for our neighbors.  Enter The Pioneer Woman.....  Oh, you haven't met the lovely Ree?  She is lovely and so are her recipes.  You might get a bit fat if you ate her food all the time but it IS Christmas.

Okay...back to my story!

Last Christmas I received Ree's book "The Pioneer Woman Cooks" & ever since I have wanted to try her cinnamon roll recipe.  Unfortunately it makes 40-50 (!) cinnamon rolls.  That is WAY to many for me to make normally but at Christmas it is PERFECT!

Because I am being quite LAZY tonight I will send you over to Pioneer Woman land for the recipe.

Before you go here are a few pictures from my very own kitchen.....

Best pastry chef I know

Butter, sugar & cinnamon....yum!

Almost ready to go in the oven

Fresh out of the oven

After adding the ooey gooey icing.  

A few helpful hints.....round foil pans with lids are PERFECT for this.  No matter how ugly your rolls are when you cut them, they turn out beautifully.....oh and these are DIVINE.  You will question giving away a single, solitary pan even though it makes at least 6 pans!

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Homemade Christmas Gifts - Crockpot Apple Butter

I have NOT been feeling the holiday cookie baking this year.  I still wanted to give gifts to the neighbors, though, so I began looking for other things to make.  Here's one that I tried and it turned out awesome!

Crockpot Apple Butter
Adapted from Food.com

12 cups apples, peeled and chopped (I used Granny Smith)
3 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until apples are covered in sugar mixture.  Place in crockpot and cook on high for 1 hour.

Decrease crockpot to low and cook for 9-12 hours or until apples turn brown and thicken.  Stir occasionally during this cooking time.

Use a whisk or a spoon to squish any remaining whole apple pieces.

Remove lid and cook for an additional hour on low.

Spoon into jars or freezer containers leaving 1 inch head space.  Apple butter can be used immediately (and refrigerated) or kept in the freezer for later.  You could also can it for room temp storage but canning is beyond me.  :)

Makes 8 250ml (1 cup) jars with a bit left over.

Recipe Notes:  I used white and brown sugar because I ran out of white sugar (crazy I know!).  I found this very sweet but Dewey loved it.  I think you should definitely cut back on the sugar if you use sweeter apples or if you want a less sweet product.

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Teacher Gift Idea!

So much stress and worry went into picking out a present for Evan's preschool teachers! I have lots of friends who are teachers so I have heard HORROR stories about the downright BAD presents they have received (think dollar store trinkets and glass dolphins).  So when it came time to figure out a gift I phoned a friend (former teacher) and put it out there on Twitter.

Here's what I came up with......  A two part gift....

Part 1:  Something useful and cute

I bought these Christmas nesting dip bowls at Winners (~$10 w/coupon).

Part 2: Something homemade

Sugar Cookies! Recipe here!

Icing even!

Then I drew some candy canes for Evan to paint.  For the stripes, use painters tape & let your little go crazy with paint.  After it's dry, peel off the tape and viola perfect stripes (I saw this on twitter just yesterday but can't remember where....will put reference once I find it).

Cut out the candy canes, glue them on a paper bag.  Put cookies in a Ziploc then into the bags.

Cute!

Put both in a Christmas bag & you've got a great gift for well under $20 (much less if you don't live in Calgary....in the US you can find those bowls for way cheaper).  

What did you give your child's teacher for a gift this year?

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Preschool Concert....Not Much Singing Going On!

There was a concert....Evan just decided that he didn't really need to sing.  He talked to me & Dewey from the stage, he rang his jingle bell, he looked around but no singing.  Well....maybe he sang 3 words in 15 minutes.  I think that is right up there with zero.

The stage was all ready with their reindeer antlers. Awesome part was...each headband had a name on it so you could tell where you should sit to see your little one the best.

There he is! It took him a while to see us.  I think he was worried we forgot.  I took lots of pics but I don't feel right putting pics of other people's kids on my blog if I don't know them.

Evan and Santa...love the Reindeer antlers they made...the antlers are handprints.

He even got a present!

Best part?  After the concert was a par-tay. Complete with chips and cookies.  YUMMY!

Do your little ones participate in school/preschool plays or concerts?  

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