Showing posts with label CHRISTmas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CHRISTmas. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

A Homemade Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

We enjoyed a nice lil' Christmas Eve dinner of spiral ham, roasted carrots, gourmet cheeses & crackers from Whole Foods, olives, and red wine.  It was perfect!


Here are a few things I've made this Christmas....

This was painted at a Wine & Palette I attended at the beginning of December.  I just love these events!  This painting is called "The First Day of Christmas."

These trees were made at an RPSA event.  They were inspired by Pinterest!  

This year I added wreaths to our dining room windows.  I love the cozy country/homemade feel they bring. They're cheap wreaths from HL and I cut strips of burlap and tied the bows myself.  I just used a safety pin to attach them because I didn't want anything permanent.  These could be changed year after year if I desired to change them. 

I made this banner for our mantle.  It's pretty adorable!  
I used burlap and a canvas.  I cut each triangle free-handed and then used my stencils and painted on the letters.  My attempt to sew the triangles to the twine didn't go so well, so I pulled out my trusty glue gun and glued away.  It worked out wonderfully!  

I'm not sure where my idea for this came from, but I wanted a fun wreath I could keep up year round.  I also made an "OSU" wreath for my work dirty santa.  It was fought for!!!  Love it! 

My dear friend, Christi, liked my banner so I made her one too.  Hers is "OU" inspired.  

She'll have an "OU" wreath to go along with this very soon.  

My friend, Christi, made this for me while I was making her banner.  We obviously had a very fun craft day.  She things this tree is sad, but I think it's adorable!  

I didn't make these, but I wanted to share my lovely collection of Starbucks ornaments in case you're wondering how much I love coffee.  Hehee....  I have added 2 ornaments from this years collection since this photo was taken.  

This J-O-Y hangs in the dining room.  I used cheap wooden letters from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them gold.  They are connected by a pretty paisley fabric that I stapled to the back of the letters. 

We needed a stocking upgrade.  The stockings we used for several years were a navy felt and I hated them.  Our beautiful mantle called for some pretty homemade stockings.  

Dave's stocking, my stocking, and Ethan's stocking.  I want Ethan to have a matching stocking, but I want it in a different color so I'll have to wait until HL opens again.  I also plan to paint on a stenciled monogram initial of the first letter of each of our names. 

This photo shows the banner, stockings, trees both on the mantle and next to the fireplace, and the gold "M" were all homemade. I've had so much fun putting some personality and hand crafting decor myself.  

I made many gifts this year.  It was a blast!  In this photo, I was adding a fun ribbon to a very plain kitchen towel.  How cute is this donut ribbon?!?!!!!  

 
 I recently attended a wedding with a super fun photo booth.  I was absolutely miserable with  sinus infection, but managed to still have a smile on my face. 

The bride asked me to make the wedding cake, decorated sugar cookies, and cake balls for the wedding.  I had to decline on the cake since I'm already so busy with things, but I made the cookies and cake balls for her.  They were delicious!   


Well, that's all for now.  We're about to head over to my in-laws to continue our Christmas celebrations.  


MERRY CHRISTMAS!  


Saturday, January 1, 2011

Christmas Creations



This Christmas I created a little more than I have for the past three years.  You see, David and I spent the previous three years in St. Louis, MO and I haven't been able to contribute a whole lot to our family Christmas dinners since I had to travel 8 hours.  We are finally back in OKC and I enjoyed being able to contribute again this Christmas.  


I took care of our ENTIRE Christmas Eve meal this year and had an absolute blast!  Here are a couple of lists of the things I made.


Christmas Eve:
Turkey Noodle Soup:  Made from the leftover Thanksgiving turkey, including the stock.  
Salad
Rolls:  Completely from scratch
Pecan Pie:  I used pre-made crust, but everything else was from scratch.  The pecans came from Nifty Nut House in Wichita, KS.
Pumpkin Pie: I used pre-made crust and canned pumpkin
Sweet Potato Pie X 2 (one was a gift for a bro in-law) :  I used pre-made crust, but everything else was from scratch.  I even boiled my own sweet potatoes for this one.  It was phenomenal!
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies




Christmas Day:
Marinated Veggie Salad:  made with Splenda
Salad
Rolls:  Completely from scratch
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
Molasses Cookies:  My Christmas FAVORITE!
Sugar Cookies: All individually decorated by hand
Protein Bars
Protein Fudge
Layered Ribbon Birthday Cake for Jesus
Pecan Pie: Yes, I made two.  One for Christmas Even and one for Christmas Day.  = )




In case you're wondering, we DID eat REAL FOOD on Christmas Day.  We enjoyed turkey, ham, AND smoked ribs.  The ribs were to-die-for!  There were also mashed potatoes, green bean wraps, dressing, cheesy mashed potatoes, and more.  It truly was a feast.


In addition to all that, I made David a delicious breakfast of multigrain pancakes and spinach bacon quiche on the morning of Christmas Eve.  He really enjoyed it!  


I feel that I need to make a little comment to explain my obsession in the kitchen.  It's healthy to have hobbies.  Many of "healthy people" have music as a hobby.  I'm one of the luckiest gals in the world in that my hobby of music turned into a career for me.  I live and breathe music for a huge chunk of my day and wouldn't trade that for anything, but I also believe we can have more than one hobby.  I have many, many hobbies.
Cooking and baking has definitely turned into a hobby for me.  I'm glad my Grandma took the time and had the patience to teach me some things and let me experiment in her kitchen when I was a child.  I'm glad I payed attention during my home economics class in middle school.  And it's a good thing I have a family that enjoys to eat.  Creating culinary compositions in the kitchen is something that brings this musician so much joy.   

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Jesus' Birthday Cake



This cake is a symbol of Jesus's love for us. 


The chocolate cake symbollizes our sins. 
The white frosting symbolizes Jesus' purity 
that covers our sins. 
It is topped with a yellow star (remember those yellow star sugar cookies I made?) and angel (lacking this today, oops!) to symbolize the bearer of the first glad tidings. 
There are twelve candles on top to 
symbolize Christ our light through the year.

The cake is encircled with fresh evergreens 
to symbolize everlasting life. 



The baker and the cake.


I helped my nephew, Noah, blow out the candles.




Saturday, December 25, 2010

Christmas Cookies In Photos








Merry CHRISTmas!




"For unto us a Child is born; unto us a Son is given... And His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, 
The Prince of Peace."


He had the Birthday, 
WE got THE GIFT.
Thank You, Jesus!


Merry CHRISTmas!!!



Friday, December 24, 2010

'Tis the Season for Giving!



I LOVE to give year round and help others as much as possible.  I've always been that way.  ; )


I surprised my sweet neighbors with a homemade calzone on Wednesday night and a crustless spinach bacon and cheddar quiche this morning.  Mmm....  


Here's what their daughter (she's only a year younger than I am and as sweet and as fun as can be!) posted as her facebook status:
  
"My parent's neighbor and our good friend Jennifer brought over a homeade quiche this morning-looks amazing!! And this is after she brought the most delicious homeade calzone the other night-if I could ever hire a personal chef!!! :) I am enjoying getting a bit pampered!"


I like that other enjoy my culinary creations.  It really brings me joy! 


My neighbors are so kind and take good care of me while David is out of town.  I am so grateful for them!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Christmas Cookies


Christmas Time Is Here!

I baked sugar cookies for Christmas.  
This time I tried TWO new things:  
Stained Glass Cookies AND Royal Icing.
It was a blast and I can't wait to do it again.

Here are a few photos from my journey....
Crushed Candy for stained glass cookies

Not too shabby for my first time

Outlining candy canes with royal icing

 Flooded candy canes

Flooded with white and beginning to dry

 A few completed cookies

A few more 

And some more....
but there were many, many more 
that don't appear in the photos. 
I may add them later.

Oh, and in case you're wondering... 
THEY ARE VERY TASTY! 
Mmmm...

I had to make a special cookie for the hubster.  
Hopefully this will keep him from being temped to sneak some Christmas cookies before Christmas.
= )

 Can you believe that after all the cookie baking/decoration/flour & sugar 
everywhere madness 
I actually went to the gym? 

Spin class helped me get my sweat on 
and work up an appetite for dinner.
The gym always guarantees a good time!  LOVE it!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

A Pastel Christmas



I follow foodgawker which is part of what fuels my kitchen madness.  They have the most delectable looking photos of food.  Let's just say that it's what all of us foodies call 'food porn'.  I'm not kidding!




Aren't these cookies breathtaking?  This person has some real skills!  You can check out these gorgeous pastel Christmas treats by clicking here.  Everything in the blog post is absolutely gorgeous.  You will not be disappointed.  


I think it's time I get back in the kitchen for some Christmas cookie baking right now.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Ethan vs Santa Doggy


Ethan WINS!


Ethan got this great little Santa Doggy
from his Uncle Jason this Christmas.
He obviously tough on toys.

Sunday, January 10, 2010

Bone



Ethan got a couple giant Chew-Lotta "chicken bones" from his Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas. They absolutely love to spoil him. It's great!
He's very protective of this bone and I think I understand why. For being a dog treat, the thing smells fantastic! It really smells like a bowl of chicken soup. When I smell it I think of chicken broth. No wonder the lil' guy likes it so much.
He'll tote this thing around for hours and will even bring it to bed with him. He's been working on it for a week and you can see how much progress he's made.... not much. He loves to lick it as if it were a ice cream cone or something. It's quite amusing to watch him enjoy his bone.

Great job, Grandma & Grandpa for such an awesome find. Ethan loves it!


Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Family Photos




Thank goodness for self-timers and tripods....


Christmas Day 2009




The Family


All of us with the Best Grandmother in the World!!!


Me, my Bro, and our Grandma


My Bro and his Fiance


Me and my Bro


Me with my soon-to-be Sister



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