The Wish

May peace break into your home and may thieves come to steal your debts.

May the pockets of your jeans become a magnet for $100 bills.

May love stick to your face like Vaseline and may laughter assault your lips.

 May happiness slap you across the face and may your tears be that of joy.

May the problems you had forget your home address!

Happy New Year!!

Magic

Santa Claus is real in the eyes of a child because mom and dad perpetuate this childhood truth through deed and device and create an atmostphere whereby Santa not only exists, but he inspires the most earnest of faith in the youngest of all of us.

Christmas at our house is certainly one of *magic*!

Christmas Eve: Uncharacteristic, stellar behavior from Brock marked the genuine *magic* of the day. He danced around the Christmas tree, counted the gifts with B-R-O-C-K written on them and sang made up songs about St. Nicholas. He listened. He obeyed. He was diligent not to attempt anything that would prompt a last minute call to Santa Claus cancelling his visit to our home that evening.

At 5:22 pm on Christmas Eve, while waiting to be seated for dinner at a local hot spot, Brock lost his very first tooth--having nibbled on a caramel apple all afternoon and anxiously wiggling it all the way to the restaurant. We laughed at the thought that Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy might bump into one another at our house (What's the likelyhood of that, after all?). Brock giggled with unbridled delight at the prospect. A double dose of *magic* on the most important night of the year!

At 8:38 on Christmas Eve, following a busy and entertaining day, and a retelling of Luke chapter 2, the birth of our Savior, we tucked Brock into bed with the promise that Santa Claus was a mere 45 minutes away and was quickly making his way towards our house. Hardly wasting a second to return our goodnight hugs, Brock instantly turned over and shut his eyes tight. It takes the true *magic* of Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy to inspire such a smooth and speedy bedtime. Within minutes, his breathing kept a regular pace and he was off in dreamland.

At 9:51 pm on Christmas Eve, the Tooth Fairy in all her glittery show arrived and deposited one dollar coin into the pocket on Brock's Tooth Fairy pillow case in return for his baby tooth. *Magically,* Madame Tooth Fairy exited the room without rousing the adorable, sleeping child.

At 4:43 a.m. on Christmas Day, Brock burst into our room and shouted as loudly as he could and with gleeful enthusiasm, "MOMMY, the Tooth Fairy left me a PENNY!!!" Startled awake and noticibly drousy, we chuckle and I took Brock by the hand and led my smiling and dazzled boy back to his room. He told me that he was going to sleep with his penny (dollar) until Santa arrived, which I assured him would be any minute now. Like magic, Brock turned over, still clutching his penny (dollar) and shut his eyes tight. I went back to bed.

At 5:07 a.m. A rustling from the living room, followed by shouts of "Santa came, mommy! Santa was here!" eminated through the dark, peacefulness of our bedroom and we knew that Christmas morning had officially begun There was pure elation in Brock's eyes as he darted from the empty plate of Santa's cookies to the two incredible Star Wars Lego ships waiting beneath the tree (gosh, it must have taken Santa's elves at least 4 hours to build those things!!). The magic of childhood fantasy hung in the air as we watched Brock joyfully examine his Lego ships and unload his stocking. Nothing comes close to the satisfaction that we felt, having worked our magic to make Santa and his reindeer, AND the Tooth Fairy 100% real in the eyes of our little boy.

Magic doesn't have to be anything gradiose or crowd pleasing, nothing done to amaze and confound the masses. Everyday magic is achieved by the most inexperienced and yet successful of magicians: mom and dad. Christmastime at our house means that we can dream up the most wildly creative and visionary magic for our little boy and he'll believe anything we tell him. In a way, it's a little magic for us too.

Sweets for the Sweet

Call it 'Last Minute Gifting' or the 'Holiday Rush Hour,' it's all the same...the hurry to put together gifts for neighbors and friends. We're in the same boat this year, as we are every year--->so let's just rename it 'tradition' and celebrate it for what it is: happily busy!

Remember those A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E cookie-in-a-jar gifts I blogged about a few weeks ago? Yeah, they didn't happen, or rather I purchased EVERYTHING I needed for them (including the Christmas M&Ms which have been rather elusive this season, which is a nice way of saying "sold out everywhere") thinking that I had the right size of jar at home, only to find out that my jars are the wrong size and after all the investment and planning that went into the jars, I decided to take a different route.

Serves me right for any last minute stress, right?

Here is what I came up with instead:

And I have to admit, I kind of really love this idea...

Sugar Cookies

If you're anything like me, then you run screaming for any request to make sugar cookies. Why? Because, honestly, have you ever found a WINNING sugar cookie recipe? No!

Confession: I have a weakness for baking blogs including this one.

I decided to give in and try out the sugar cookie recipe on this site, realizing that I was inevitably sacrificing my waistline because the recipe called for lots of butter and sugar, two of the very best things in life.

And as my nemesis Miss Piggy said, "A waist is a terrible thing to mind."

The recipe is so AMAZING that I made 3 batches of sugar cookies in the last week!

Amanda's Amazing Sugar Cookies II

•1-½ cup Butter (I Use Unsalted)
•2 cups Sugar
•2 whole Eggs
•2 whole Eggs Yolks
•4 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
•2 teaspoons Almond Extract
•4 cups All-purpose Flour
•1 teaspoon Salt
•1 teaspoon Baking Powder


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


In a mixer, beat butter and sugar until well combined, about 2 minutes.
Add in 2 eggs and 2 egg yolks and mix until combined.
Add in vanilla and almond extract; mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Slowly (about a cup at a time) add flour to butter mixture and combine. You can use a mixer or not, just depends on how strong you are.
I usually just mix ingredients until they are combined, as I have heard that if you over-mix this dough it will get tough.
Put dough in some Saran wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour. When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll dough out, cut out cookies, and bake for 6-8 minutes.

I use Royal Icing w/cherry flavoring (find recipe here) 

And here is how I packaged them...

 

 

 

Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

 

This is a Christmastime staple at our house.

Chocolate dipped pretzels is the marriage of easy and delicious.

 

You need two ingredients:

1. Almond Bark (I prefer the white almond bark, but used chocolate for these)-you can also use melted chocolate chips or chocolate squares.

2. Pretzels!

 

Melt your almond bark/chocolate in a microwave safe bowl for 1-2 minutes, stirring every minute, until everything is melted and smooth.

Begin dipping your pretzels. I prefer the half-dip method myself. Place your dipped pretzels on parchment paper or cooling racks to harden. In an emergency, you can stick them in your freezer--I had this very emergency a few weeks ago and they still turned out amazing.

 

Here is how I packaged them this year...

 

 

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

 

The first time I ever tried cinnamon roasted almonds was at a Utah Jazz game in Salt Lake City. My parents raved about them and they were right, these almonds are delectable and I think Heaven, being as wonderful as people say, must smell like fresh cinnamon roasted almonds. They smell that good.

 

Here is how I roast them at home:

preheat oven to 250*

Whisk together:

*1 egg white

*1 tsp of vanilla

 

Add 4-5 cups of almonds to the egg white and vanilla mixture, thoroughly coating the almonds.

 

In a separate bowl, mix together:

*1/2 c brown sugar

*1/2 c white sugar

*1 tsp cinnamon

 

Add the sugar mix to the almonds, stirring until the almonds are coated in the sugar and cinnamon.

Spread almonds on a cookie sheet

Bake for 1 hour, stirring almonds every 20 minutes.

 

Cool almonds and then store in an air-tight container, or package them fabulously like this:

 

Big Bag...

Mini Bags...

 

Peppermint Bark



Another recipe popping up on dozens of baking blogs this Christmas is peppermint bark. I have to admit at first I was turned off at the thought of peppermint bark, not being a huge fan of peppermint in the first place. I like it alright, but in extreme moderation. Nevertheless, peppermint bark is pretty stuff and I decided to give it a try. To my astonishment, it's actually a REALLY tasty confection and the chocolate soothes the peppermint. Together, they're rather luscious.

 

Another 2 ingredient recipe!

 

*White almond bark, melted in a microwave safe bowl until smooth

*Crushed candy canes

 

Spread out a sheet of wax paper on your counter or a cookie sheet.

Mix crushed candy cane into the melted almond bark. Then, pour out the almond bark/candy cane goo onto the wax paper and spread with a rubber spatula until it's even. Add more crushed candy cane to the top of the almond bark mixture for color and decoration.

Let sit overnight OR throw into the freezer (for those emergencies!) until the almond bark has hardened. Then break apart and enjoy. Or package it prettily and give it away:

 



 

 

What I LOVE about this method of baking and packaging is when it comes to the last minute gifts and treat plates, they are soooo easy to throw together and cater to family size, and as an added bonus, they make an attractive, unique way to spoil your friends and neighbors at Christmastime.

In Our Next House...

Item #2 on our list is...

No north-facing house!

Those of you who have north facing houses know what I'm talking about.

It's spelled S-N-O-W, in particular: snow that never melts!

(Even my snow-loving husband whole heartily agrees with this one)

No time is this more evident than on a morning like today, when I was out there scraping snow and ice off our sidewalk and applying ice melt. The neighbor across the street, you ask? Nestled snug in his warm house as his sidewalks melt on their own.

Temporarily resenting the neighbors across the street for their melted sidewalks and driveways, gets old year after year. They hardly have to shovel. EVER. It just magically melts on it's own while we north-siders have snow for WEEKS and our sidewalks and driveways never melt.

So that is why "no north facing house" easily claims the #2 spot on our list!

Seven Days. Seven Parties.

You've read about the stress of the holidays, seen the flurry of confounding activity satirized on TV or even fallen victim to a little Christmastime stress yourself. Our family has been captive to holiday madness for the past week! SEVEN days of hourly mayhem, parties, birthdays, baking, baking, baking, shopping, errands, appointments, guests, shoots, gift-wrapping, eating, eating, eating, eating, late nights, early mornings and party after party after party!

1.Ward party: We stopped in to "make an appearance," per Clarke's insistence, and stayed only long enough to say hello to a few families before slinking out after 15 minutes to hurry to Clarke's work party, sans children.

2.Work Party #1: So, here's the thing: we don't drink. At all. Which made us 2 of only about 4 people amongst the hundreds that attended Clarke's work party who weren't buzzed. Even the dealers at the gambling tables were downing shots. Nice. It did make for some amusing entertainment, however, and a tipsy blackjack dealer has it's advantages. That night, I learned how to play blackjack and might have lost all my play money had our inebriated dealer not shown me the cards and guided me along. I believe they call this cheating in Vegas. lol!

3. Work Party #2: Clarke's co-workers throw an annual Christmas party for select employees of certain departments at the company. This is our 4th year (???) attending the family-themed party which includes dinner and a visit from Santa. We brought chocolate-dipped peanut butter cookies and chocolate dipped marshmallows. In year's past, an IGC employee dons a Santa suit to play the role of the "jolly old elf" but this year was different. This year, the children experienced the REAL thing. I know this because Santa's beard was, as Brock would say, "really, real" and he arrived with his elf-tracking system blinking on his belt. Fake Santas don't come with a real beard or an elf-tracking system. I'm just saying...

There was a moment of alarm on our, or, er...Santa's part when Brock announced loudly to Santa that all he wanted for Christmas was a Dragon Fortress.

What the crap is a Dragon Fortress??? Until that night, Brock had not mentioned a Dragon Fortress! Kids are crazy little creatures!

4. Birthday Party #1: Happy #1 to our niece, Libby! She is as dainty in size as she is with her delicate cake destruction skills and 100% cute! We gave her a Fisher Price tea set that sings in a British accent. :)

5. Farewell Party:  Clarke's brother, Pete, moved to Alaska to work at a resort. Dinner and play at Grandma and Grandpa See's to enable everyone to wish Pete good luck. We ate too much and had some good laughs.

6. Birthday Party #2: MY BROCK TURNED FIVE YEARS OLD!!! Homemade birthday cake, balloons, gifts, Chuck E. Cheese and just your average, annual spoiling for an only child. He unwrapped a Leapster2 with 2 games, knight Legos, clothes, 'Marley and the Kittens' storybook, and was thoroughly loved on by his grandparents and enjoyed spending time with his bestest buddy on the planet, Jamin. Thanks everyone for Brock's birthday wishes and gifts.

Brock opened his gifts early, before daddy left for work in the morning. The house was decorated in number 5s and this picture is particularly fantastic because you can see Brock's baby picture on the wall behind him. How much he's grown!

 I took Brock and Jamin to the party store to invest in some embarrassingly large and flashy birthday hats and was surprised when both boys passed up the glittery hats and Brock insisted on a vintage military helmet.

Happy #5 to my little nut!

7. Preschool Christmas Party...at our house. I over planned for this one and could have just relied on cookie decorating to fill the entire 2 hours as frosting sugar cookies delighted Brock's preschool group. The party also included Christmas Bingo, Curious George's Christmas movie and each child was sent home with a goodie plate of their decorated cookies and the makings for a nativity ornament that we were unable to assemble in the given time (2 hours flew by!).

It's safe to say, we are officially EXHAUSTED.



In Our Next House...

Okay, let's talk kitchens.

NUMBER ONE on the "In Our Next House..." list is The Kitchen.

The kitchen can make or break the most beautiful and well designed of houses for us, or rather me.

When we built our house the kitchen was an afterthought. After all, I didn't cook or bake much and without kids, it was just another room in our first house. With that mindset, that's exactly what we got, just another small room in a small house. Impractical in every sense, lacking in sufficient cabinet and counter space and a complete train wreck when it comes to entertaining.

Our kitchen essentials list is illustrated in the following images

(source: various design blogs)

A kitchen island! Oh, the entertaining possibilities!! Pull up a stool and serve the kids. Roll out cookie dough. Prepare a big meal for one of our parties. Spread out for art projects, school projects or craft projects. A place to unload your groceries. You see the advantage, right?

And a kitchen island must be practical as well. NO SINKS OR STOVE TOPS littering the top of a kitchen island!!! No exceptions! That's one thing that gets my panties in a bunch as I peruse kitchens.

(So this island is very nearly perfect. Except for the unnecessary sink. Grr!)

I never thought I'd be the sort of girl who gets dizzy at the idea of a white sale. Or toasted vanilla colored cabinets with antique detailing and moldings. But you can never tell these things about a person. It's not so much the color of the cabinets that rings my bell so much as the idea of having enough cabinets AND a pantry. Adequate space so that all is not crammed into a coat-closet sized pantry and utilizing precious garage space with whatever doesn't fit in the pantry or my 5 shallow kitchen cabinets.

Dear hardwood floors, I WANT YOU. *drool*

 Right up there next to a sink and a dishwasher, I consider WINDOWS to be an absolute must-have. Right now I can count the number of windows in my current kitchen on one hand. In fact, I don't need a hand at all because the number of windows in our kitchen right now is a big fat goose egg. ZERO. I often imagine myself cooking in the confines of a very dark cave whenever I'm in my kitchen.

Maybe it's the artist in me, but natural lighting is so much more inspiring to the imagination and creativity.

Plus, you can have house plants (not that I would, but that I could...).

And you can also watch the kids playing outside while you're making dinner (safety feature!).

I'm admittedly, ho-hum about counter tops. We're not thrilled with our laminate counter tops--they're very BASIC and quite frankly UGLY. I love the idea of darker counter tops with lighter cabinets and while I think granite is awesome and would LOVE to have it in our next house, I also see dollar signs and if I had to splurge on something in the kitchen it would most definitely be windows or cabinets over granite.

One thing I don't get is tile counter tops. Talk about impractical! NO TILE counter tops in our next house!

A kitchen with cabinets + an island + a window = WINNER!

 

 I can't help myself. This next kitchen makes me giddy.

With the exception of that eye-sore sink in the island, this could almost be the most perfect kitchen ever.

And it's probably more idealistic than realistic. Love the ceiling, though!

 This is also rather remarkable...

There is a lot to love about this kitchen, but that second single window, flanked by cabinets, is on my secret dream house wish list. You're going to think I'm weird, assuming you haven't already come to that sorry conclusion, but I can picture raising bread dough on a summer's afternoon next to that window.

Oh these big, beautiful windows. And that island. *swoon*

  If you haven't figured it out by now, I fantasize about kitchens.

Which is why The Kitchen made #1 on our next house list.

After all, if mama ain't happy...

Brock is Five!

Happy #5 to our energetic, enthusiastic, handsome, happy, hilarious, loving, kind, playful, teasing, ticklish, cape wearing, jedi-loving, sword wielding, huggable, kissable, imaginative, athletic, laughing, hide-n-go seek playing, camo wearing, colorbook coloring, Boise State Bronco, always ready for a snack, future football hero, soldier-in-training and 100% all boy all the time.

We LOVE and ADORE you, Brock!!!

Our platinum-haired newborn angel:

One!

Two!

Three!

Four!

 And Five!

Brock. Rocks. Box.

What began as a UPS delivery from Oriental Trading turned out to be HOURS of imagination and invention for a spirited, *almost* 5 year-old-boy. Add to the equation one roll of duct tape, an empty toilet paper roll, dozens of crayons, 3 stuffed dogs and you've got yourself a jet. Suited up in his army fatigues (a.k.a. the Halloween costume he wears on a daily basis), Brock became a fighter pilot for the afternoon.

The box=THE BEST. TOY. EVER!

Inspired

Confession: I love hot glue.

And mod podge.

And glitter.

And I'm completely hopeless when it comes to crafting blogs.

So, when I saw this picture (find it here), I wanted to do something similar.

 Using my favorite black shelf (courtesy of my talented husband), I created my own version

 For years, I had four styrofoam cones laying around the house just waiting to be crafted. Initially, bought them to make scrapbook paper trees, but, yeah, that didn't ever happen. Then I used them to display chocolate dipped marshmallows at Halloween, punching dozens of holes in each cone. After Halloween, I tossed them above the cabinets in my laundry room--a place where things are seldom seen ever again.

 That's when I came across the brilliant idea to make glitter Christmas trees and I had to haul out the ladder and head to the tippety top of my laundry room cabinets to search for the discarded cones.

These are soooo easy to make. Simply slather your styrofoam in glue, splash on some glitter and let dry for 24 hours. Voila!

If, however, you're like me and had punched tons of holes in the trees and all efforts at filling them met with failure, then you can use the adhesive pearls from the craft store (in the $1 section) and polka-dot your trees.

It adds a more whimsical flair, I think.

 

In Our Next House...

I had not much considered penciling in this item on our "next house wish list" because it's seasonal and cosmetic, but this past week, I have struggled with this very thing. Where to put Christmas??? Either my house has shrunk since last December or my creativity is fried when it comes to dolling up our little house for the holidays because of the 9 storage boxes that house our Christmas decor, I only went through about 4 of the boxes and then with an I-give-up shrug and a sigh asked Clarke to put the rest back up in the garage. Sadly, there is just no place to put all my decorations anymore.

So, in exasperation, I reluctantly added "Amazing opportunities for Christmas decor" as #126 on our Next House Wish List.

Here is what I'm talking about...

(Most of the images are from The Pottery Barn)

A place to scallop greenery or hang decor...

 Big, beautiful windows (item #3) to adorn with ribbon and wreaths...

 A staircase (item #29) to decorate...

 The LUXURY of having enough space on my counter to decorate AND to cook...

 A place to entertain friends and family during the holidays...

 A welcoming and festive entryway (item #108)...

 A mantel...and a fireplaces (item #85)...

And just for fun...not that I would actually decorate a bedroom for the holidays, but...

who wouldn't want to be a guest here on Christmas Eve?

Giving

The Christmas Foodie Strikes Again!

Who doesn't like receiving gifts??

Better yet, who doesn't like GIVING gifts?

This year, I have scoured my favorite blogs to find the perfect DIY edible Christmas gifts for friends and neighbors. Most years, we adopt the old tried and true cookie and candy plate. This year, I want to step things up.

Here is what I'm thinking about...

From Martha Stewart:
I would fill cones these with homemade sugar roasted almonds.

Also from Martha...

Homemade Peppermint Marshmallows

I don't have a source for this--but chocolate dipped waffle pretzels

sandwhiching what looks like a shortbread cookie. Mmmm..

And packaged in a cute tin!

Another phantom source, but I love the tag, don't you?

Chocolate mini-cupcakes with a real candy cane center?!! Unique...

...and probably completely delicious!

Gingerbread Star Tree! Easy. Cute. Fun!

I love this next one, but it could also make a great summer party gift or something for the 4th of July.
Whatever the reason, I've always wanted to make these and give them away!

 The tag says 'Valentine's Day' but I think this would also make a great Christmas gift.
Not to mention, chocolate dipped pretzels are way fun to make. And eat. And eat. And eat.

Who doesn't love the smell of homemade bread?
One year, we received a loaf of homemade bread and it
was delicous. A lot of love goes into a gift like this!

 I make a version of these fabulous little candies and they are a HUGE hit with everyone.
My version includes a waffle pretzel topped with a Rolo, slightly melted, and then squished with a pecan.
These cuties use a waffle pretzel topped with a peppermint kiss, slightly melted, and then squished with an M&M. Gotta say, I kind of love all this adorableness!

Peppermint cookies dressed up like candy. LOVE IT!

The idea is from Southern Living 

HOWEVER,
after much deliberation,
I have decided on this:

From the brainchild behind Make It Do ...
Baking Santa cookies on Christmas Eve is one of those things that sounds delightful and charming on paper, but somehow that day is merrily chaotic around here and the convenience of dumping a jar of ingredients into my KitchenAid with an egg, vanilla and butter and throwing it in the oven for 10 minutes seem like a dream come true. When I give a gift, I try and think of something that I would love to receive and that is what  makes this Santa Cookies jar an easy winner!

And besides, I have it on good authority that Santa would really appreciate these
ooey-gooey charmers, with a generous glass of milk, on his...or her big night:

Happy Gifting!