New Year's Fun

I hope you had a wonderful holiday! Ours was just plain magical.

Christmas began at our house at 4:45 a.m. -- that's when my 8 year old, who'd apparently been up for hours, couldn't wait any longer and came and got us to go check if Santa had been there!

There are very few things that would actually get me out of bed at that hour, but a cute kid wearing a Santa hat is one of them!

So we got up early, opened some amazing presents, and nearly 3 hours later we watched the sun rise. I'm usually sound asleep when the sun comes up, so that was actually kind of nice. Of course, waking up at 9 would have been nice too!

But Christmas was great, earliness and all. The best quote of the day: my husband commented that the living room was really full after we'd opened all our presents, and my son said, "It's full of dreams -- dreams come true." Awwwww! :)

So now that Christmas is a wrap, I'm looking ahead to New Year's.

I did something so fun last December 31st that it's now become an annual tradition: I set up little treat bags for every hour from 8 p.m. to midnight to count down to the new year, one for each family member. That's what's pictured at the start of this post.

Some bags contained little prizes like gum, or Hot Wheels, or dollar store novelties (glow sticks, etc.) Noise makers were in the midnight bag, which we opened a couple minutes before 12.

I included a new game early in the evening (the card game Uno, which we've played about a million times since then).

Also super fun was a new family DVD and movie snacks (popcorn, a big box of movie theater style candy) strategically placed in the 10 p.m. bags (the movie was 90 minutes long, I made sure it would end before midnight!)

And of course the bags are totally rigged -- my kiddo gets the ones with the toys, games, and movie in it, my hubby and I get the other bags!

You might want to try a New Year's countdown with your family, and start a new tradition!

I got the cute little gift bags in a big multi-pack at Target, but inexpensive lunch sacks would work just as well.

To decorate the bags, I printed little clock faces from the internet (just type 'clock faces' into Google, you'll get a ton of choices to print, some with hands, some without).

I paper-crafted moving hands onto the clocks I printed, because I'm a scrapbooker and I can't help myself! I cut triangular hands from cardstock and stuck them on with a snowflake embellishment and a brad. You could totally simplify it by just writing the times on each bag, it's totally up to you.


I was smart enough to keep last year's clocks, so I can reuse them on this year's treat bags!

However you celebrate it, I hope your New Year's is happy, healthy, and just plain wonderful!

Wishing you the joys of the season!

This is a photo of our "Elf on the Shelf," Dinky, trying to abscond with an armload of candy canes! This is our first elf year, and I'm glad we started doing this before my son outgrew it -- we've all been having a blast!

Yes, I've been M.I.A. all month, but I wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy, healthy holiday!

So where have I been? Enjoying the holiday season!

I've tried to cultivate a zen-like approach to the holidays this year -- what gets done, gets done, and if it doesn't that's ok too.

And you know what? Even without stressing myself out, somehow it's still all gotten done -- the gifts are wrapped, the packages got mailed, the tree is loaded with ornaments. All is merry and bright.

I'm doing a bit of baking this week, preparing to have my family over this weekend, and getting ready for the big day on Sunday. But even that I'm doing in moderation.

My one concession to my do-it-all mentality is that I'm trying to make a gingerbread house from scratch. We'll see if it actually wants to stand up this year!

The house is trying its best to shatter my zen-like calm...but I'm doing it because I like to make gingerbread houses and choose to do it, not because I feel I have to.

I have had to keep reminding myself of that, especially when one of the main walls cracked the moment I touched it...so it'll be a gingerbread house in earthquake country! It'll still be fine!

Oh, and then there was my brilliant moment of putting wax paper in the oven instead of parchment paper! Here's a tip: don't do that! lol! I wasn't paying attention, and these things happen. And in case you didn't know:

wax paper + oven = bad

So there have been a few hiccups, but all in all, I'm feeling good about this holiday season. And I hope you are too!

From my home to yours: Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays one and all! I hope your celebration is magical.

Gear up those Advent Calendars!

I've been wanting to kick into full Christmas mode for a couple weeks now. But (fortunately) we try to hold the line at my house and give Thanksgiving its due -- so the Christmas decorations don't go up until Thanksgiving is a wrap.

Which means I'm now free to deck the halls!

The first thing on my plate is setting up my son's Advent calendars. Yes, plural. That's because we have to have a Lego Advent calendar every year (and this year Lego released a Star Wars Lego calendar -- hello! No way I could pass that up for my 8 year old Star Wars/Lego maniac!)

And I always like to put up a hand-made calendar as well so I can fill it with little trinkets and goodies.

Hence the two calendars.

Last year I made the Advent calendar pictured above, the base of which is a mini muffin tin. The little cardstock "doors" are held in place with strips of magnets.

The mini muffin tin cups only hold very small items. This led me to put scavenger hunt notes in some of the cups, clues telling my son where to find bigger prizes hidden around the house. He's still talking about how much fun that was a year later!

I encourage you to make an Advent calendar for someone this year, and they're not just for kids! Maybe your spouse/bff/sister/aunt/whoever would like one!

Also, since you're making it, you could easily customize your calendar to count down to Hanukkah instead of Christmas if that's what you celebrate -- or to any other event, for that matter!

For a whole slew of home-made Advent ideas, check out Better Homes and Gardens' website. All of their ideas are fairly easy and some are super easy. I love the idea of hanging numbered lunch sack-style gift bags filled with goodies on twine with clothes pins. Voila -- instant Advent calendar!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I can tell Thanksgiving is almost here because my refrigerator is stuffed to capacity! I keep expecting the fridge to explode like a cartoon, showering my kitchen with yams and cranberries and butter -- lots and lots of butter!

As of today I'll be starting my Thanksgiving cooking, working on side dishes and casseroles. That's my number one sanity saver for the biggest cooking day of the year: getting stuff done ahead of time!

Sure, you can't do everything ahead of time, but I figure every little thing I do Tuesday and Wednesday will be one less thing I have to do on Thursday. And that means more time to relax and enjoy the day with my family.

Which, really, is the whole point of the holiday, right?

That and giving thanks -- which I hope we all remember to include somewhere in there between the mashed potatoes and the pie coma!

If you're still looking around for a few last minute ideas, head on over to Linda Hopkins' amazing blog, Les Petites Gourmettes. Here's a link to her complete recipe index. She has an extensive section of holiday recipes, and every recipe I've ever tried of hers has been nothing short of delish.

I'm basically sticking to the tried and true this year, but I'll still throw in a few fresh twists. For example, I'll be making my same ol' pumpkin pie recipe, but I'm going to pour the filling into individual tartlets this year, like so:


(photo by blog.catchmyparty.com)

The step-by-step instructions can be found here, at Catch my Party, but the basic idea is to cut flower shapes out of your pie crust with a cookie cutter, put them in mini muffin tins, fill and bake.

They actually made lemon tartlets in their demo, which I'm so going to try at some point in the future, yum! But for Thanksgiving I thought little individual pumpkin pie tartlets would be the way to go. I may make mine in regular-size muffin cups, so everyone has their own mini pie -- I think that would be super cute.

There's one more thing about Catch my Party that you have to check out while you're over at that great site: they have the cutest free printables! And yes, there are some adorable ones for Thanksgiving in several different styles! I just might have to fire up the ol' inkjet....

Ok, I'm off to cook up some cranberry sauce, maybe set the table, then try to figure out why I bought about 3 pounds of butter per person....

Take care, and have a wonderful, bountiful Thanksgiving!

Fun Fall Craft

I whipped up this cute little fall paper craft today and I thought I'd share it with you. This little pumpkin uses patterned and solid scrapbook paper and goes together quickly and easily.

Here's the project for you step by step:


Step one is to gather up a bunch of different orange papers. If you're a scrapbooker or paper crafter, you probably have lots of orange paper in your stash. It doesn't even need to be fall- or Halloween-themed, any orange (or other Autumn-colored) paper will do.


Next you're going to cut a dozen same-sized circles out of the papers. You can use a circle cutter like this one by EK Success (I love this cutter! I found it on Amazon), or a Cricut machine, or go old-school and trace a small plate onto your paper and cut the circle out with scissors. It's all good! I cut a dozen 5 inch circles.


Next, trim the same amount off one side of each circle as shown (this will make your pumpkin stand up straight). I cut an inch off the 5 inch circles, but when I go to make more I think I'll trim off slightly less.

(Optional step: If you feel like it, now would be the time to ink the edges of your little circles. I didn't ink these, but I think I might do that when I make more).


Then fold your circles in half, printed side in as shown.


Next, using a quick-drying glue like Zip Dry, glue wrong sides together, working your way around until 6 of the circles are stuck together.

Now it's time for a stem:


I used a chopstick. I broke it in half and colored the end with a brown marker. You could also use paint or ink. And if you don't have a chop stick, go outside and find a stick, that'd work too.


Run a line of glue along the center seam of your pumpkin, then lay the chopstick into the glue. Make sure the colored end sticks up from the top of the pumpkin, like this:



Once the stem is in place, continue gluing the remaining paper panels together until you have a completed pumpkin shape:



Now it's time to add a little greenery.


Make curly-cues by twisting thin strips of green double-sided paper around a chop stick, paint brush handle, or skinny pencil.


Then glue the little spirals around the stem.

Next you'll want to cut some leaves. I wanted mine to look kind of organic, so I folded double-sided green patterned paper in half and free-handed some spiky little leaves. You could also cut some from a Cricut cartridge, or hey, trace an actual leaf if you prefer.




Run a bead of glue along the underside of the leaves, then arrange them around the top of the pumpkin.


And there you go! These are fun to make, and your kids can even get in on the act. Best of all, they're not strictly Halloween decorations -- they can take you right through fall. In fact, I can imagine a whole flock of these in various sizes on my Thanksgiving table..... :)

Countdown to Halloween

Halloween is almost here, and I'm giddy with excitement! I just love all things fall and Halloween, everything from the cooler weather to the changing leaves to the costumes and treats and pumpkin carving.

I really get into pumpkin carving, as a matter of fact. I like to challenge myself to do something a little different each year. Here are a few pumpkins I made in previous years:

I made this Jack Skellington pumpkin because my whole family loves Nightmare Before Christmas. We have an annual tradition of watching it every Halloween after trick or treating.


I made this Autobot and Decepticon logo pumpkin last year to go with my son's Bumblebee costume. That boy loves him some Transformers!


I made that green pumpkin a couple years ago to commemorate my raging Twilight obsession. And basically, just to see if I could do it. The cute little pumpkin to the right, by the way, was carved by my then-6-year-old (obviously not using big sharp pointy knives -- safety first, I always say). The whole family gets in on the pumpkin carving at my house.

And carving isn't just for pumpkins, you know! Here's a quick centerpiece I made for my family's Halloween lunch last year:
It took literally 5 minutes and got the biggest smiles from my kiddo.

This year my son, and in fact my whole family, is dressing as the Ghostbusters for Halloween. We already took our home-made costumes for a test spin at Mickey's Trick or Treat party at Disneyland last week and they were a huge hit, thank you very much! So I'm planning to tie in my pumpkin carving efforts this year by replicating the "no ghosts" logo from the movie onto a pumpkin. I'll let you know how it comes out!

It probably won't be perfect, none of these are. But I know it'll be fun, and I know my son will love it!

Got fall?

Fall has officially begun, but here in southern Oregon I'm still waiting for cool, crisp days and changing leaves. I suppose I should be grateful for the warm, sunny weather we've been having -- but I'm totally over it!

I'm jonesing to bust out my sweaters and crank up the oven and pile pumpkins all over my house!

But my kiddo is still running around in shorts and eating Popsicles because it's 80 degrees out....

So for now, I'm left to daydream about lovely fall baked goods and decorations and Halloween treats. I just can't make myself go there in this summery weather. It's just wrong, somehow.

But all is not lost! Thanks to my girlfriend Kristi, my domestic daydreams are being fueled by a couple great blogs she shared with me, and now I'm sharing them with you. Go check out:

Cookies & Cups

Confessions of a Cookbook Queen

Fall is in full swing on both those blogs...if not in my neck of the woods! And they'll help tide me over until I can crank up my oven...instead of cranking up the a/c!