It's my last day of work before the Christmas weekend and I'm so excited to spend the next few days with family and loved ones. I hope you all take some extra time to be thankful this weekend for the many blessings you have in your life. I know I am. Today I am devoting my Thankful Thursday to the upcoming weekend and all that it has in store. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. I am thankful for Christ's birth. As we celebrate this weekend, we need to remember the reason we are celebrating. Not the presents and good food and decorations (though, I do love all of those things) but the fact that Christ was born on Christmas day. I am thankful for his birth and the sacrifice he made for all of us. Don't forget to keep Him extra close to your heart this weekend and share his love with those around you. I am thankful that I will know all of the songs they sing in church this weekend :) I love singing at church but often need to follow along in the Hymnal. This weekend, I will know all of the songs and I'll be able to truly sing from my heart and not be distracted by trying to follow the music on the page. I love the many beautiful Christmas songs and the celebratory music and words. I'm thankful for giving this season. The space under our Christmas tree is COVERED with presents. Only a couple are for Husband and me and the rest are for our family and friends. I love giving presents to others and we have put a lot of thought and work (yes, some are homemade) into the presents we are giving this year and I can't wait to see everyone receive their gifts. The best part of the holidays is when you arrive to someone's house (family or friends) and you can give them a gift to show how much you love them. I'm also thankful for the many hours we have set aside for our families this weekend. We have a 4-day weekend and are planning to spend a lot of quality time with everyone. I am so grateful to have some extra days to spend with the ones we love so much. I hope you have an opportunity to spend time with your family and/or loved ones this holiday. If not, be sure to let them know how much they mean to you and how much you wish you could be with them. Merry Christmas everyone. And God Bless!
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Can you believe that this is the last weekend before Christmas?! My, how this month is flying by!! I'm sure many of you are planning to use this weekend to buy those last minute gifts for people and I'm sure you will all find wonderful presents for your loved ones. While you're out shopping for your family and friends, check out some of these simple ways to help others this holiday season. There are so many organizations who collect money, toys, clothes, etc. for the less fortunate during the holidays and it's so easy and fulfilling to give a little from your pocket to fill someone else's. Here are some easy ways to give back during your shopping trips this weekend! Salvation Army Santa I'm sure you see these guys everywhere: Walmart, Target, the mall. Next time you see one, drop some extra change or an extra dollar into the bucket. It will make you feel like you are helping someone and it's amazing what a few extra cents can add up to for a family in need. The Salvation Army collects money to provide food, clothing, and toys for families in need. To read more about the Salvation Army Christmas, click here. Christmas Angel Trees This is my favorite way to give back during the holidays. For some reason, I have always loved to go to the angel tree in the local mall and buy a present for a kid I don't know while I'm shopping for the rest of my friends and family. There are so many charities that do angel trees each year so check out the one closest to you. I guarantee you will find it fulfilling to buy a gift for a child you have never met. Gift Drives at Local Stores (or Starbucks) I go to the Starbucks by my office every week and I've been noticing the donation box in the corner at our shop. I looked up Starbucks Christmas drives online and found out that Starbucks likes to pair up with local charities each year to help. As you start your shopping day with coffee, check to see if your Starbucks is doing a gift drive. Toys for Tots The Marine Toys for Tots program focuses specifically on children and works to provide disadvantaged children with hope (through tangible) during the holiday season. It also provides assistance through education, local charity support, and donation delivery. To find a local Toys for Tots program near you, visit the organization's website. It's so close to Christmas and it feels like the closer it gets, the more I have to be thankful for!! I hope you, too, are counting your blessings this holiday season!! This holiday season I am so thankful for my family. They have been so loving toward Husband and me and we are blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people! I'm thankful that I can listen to Pandora while I work. I can find whatever type of Holiday music I want to get my into the holiday spirit! Right now it's Trans-Siberian Orchestra Radio and last week it was Michael Buble Holiday. No matter what, I get my Christmas music fix :) Getting Christmas cards in the mail. The first thing I do is check my mail when I get home from work and it's so much fun to see Christmas cards addressed to Mr. and Mrs. :) A great date with Husband last night at Cheddars. We had a yummy meal and got to spend the evening together away from the monotony of our regular schedules. Thanks, love! 'Tis the season to eat, DRINK, and be merry!! In honor of that, today's recipes will all be holiday drinks! Ginger Champagne Cocktail Serves 8 INGREDIENTS
Poinsettia Mimosas Serves about 12 INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS: 1.If using tangerines, use a vegetable peeler or a thin sharp knife to thinly peel the tangerines (refrigerate fruit for another use). Trim peel to form about 6-inch-long spirals. Place a tangerine spiral in each chilled champagne glass, or set spirals aside to add to the rims. If desired, place 1 or 2 maraschino cherries in each glass. 2.In a glass pitcher, combine cranberry juice, Triple Sec, and maraschino cherry juice. 3.For each serving, pour about 1/4 cup cranberry juice mixture into each champagne glass. Add about 1/4 cup champagne, filling glass nearly to the top. Gently stir with an up-and-down motion to mix the drink without destroying the carbonation of the champagne. Calories 103 Capital Eggnogg Serves 9 INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS: Cook milk, heavy cream, and 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, 5 to 7 minutes or until steaming (about 150°). Reduce heat to low. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar in a large saucepan until smooth. Cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until mixture reaches at least 160° (about 25 minutes). Whisk milk mixture into egg mixture. Cool 30 minutes; transfer to a pitcher. Cover and chill 3 to 24 hours. Pour desired amount of praline or bourbon liqueur into each glass, if desired. Top with eggnog. Sprinkle with freshly ground nutmeg. Hot Buttered Rum Serves 35 INGREDIENTS
2. To serve, place 1 to 2 tablespoons of the base and 1 to 2 tablespoons of amber or clear rum in a coffee mug and top with boiling water. Stir until base is dissolved. Sprinkle with additional nutmeg, if desired, and add a cinnamon stick. Makes about 35 servings. We have been SO busy the past few weeks (months) and have not had a chance to really prepare the house for Christmas. Last night, Husband asked me on a date. Our date consisted of finishing up decorating our Christmas tree and wrapping (unwrapping in husband's case) Christmas presents. I had a wonderful time putting up all my ornaments I've collected over the years and setting out my Precious Moments nativity scene! Decorating for Christmas brings back so many memories of celebrations through the years. Each ornament reminds me of a loved one or an experience and my nativity scenes remind me of my grandmothers. I hope the presents we wrapped will remind people of our love in years to come! Here are a couple pictures I took last night! This week , a couple people from my department went to the store and stocked up on TONS of gifts for kids this Christmas. I walked by my VP's office and it was overflowing with bikes, skateboards, backpacks, cameras, projects and tons of other goodies for young kids these holidays. It was wonderful to think about how those kids will feel on Christmas morning when they receive gifts they could never have expected.
One of my favorite things to do during the holiday season is find an angel from the Angel Tree at the mall and spend a little money to give a child what they asked for during the holidays. My VP said he loves to buy coats for children and he always puts a $20 bill in the pocket of the coat so the child can find the money one day. How great is that idea?! I know I love finding my own $1 in a coat so I can't imagine how exciting $20 would be to someone who doesn't have it! In honor of giving this season, I found some links to non-profits that you may want to check out this holiday season. World Vision - Provides a better world for children in third world countries. You can select gifts you want to donate such as animals for food or milk (e.g. a goat), education, health and medicines, clean water, etc. Heifer International - You can choose a gift of training or animals that will help children and families from around the world become more self-reliant. Trees for Troops - This program works with tree growers around the country to provide military families and troops serving overseas with Christmas trees for the holidays. Just because they are away from home should not mean that our troops can't enjoy some holiday spirit. Cards that Give - This holiday season, consider helping others when you buy your Christmas cards to send to friends. Cards that Give makes it easy to select cards from different charities. As you know, it's been an incredibly busy couple weeks for me. In the past two weeks, I have been all over the country and I've seen many different people. Fortunately, all of the traveling and visiting has given me many things to be thankful for - which made today's post rather easy :) This week I'm thankful for our new coffee machines in the office. While I was out, our company replaced our old coffee vendors with a new one. We now have Flavia coffee machines with so many different options and ways to personalize each drink! I have been trying to cut back my spending and Starbucks seems to be where I spend the most frivolous money (okay, in my mind, coffee is NOT frivolous but I suppose I don't need to spend quite so much on it...) Now I don't have a reason to give in to my Starbucks cravings every morning and I can create my own drinks here in my office instead! I spent the weekend in Kansas visiting my family and I am so thankful for them. All 5 of my mom's brothers and sisters and their children live there and it has been 5 years since I last saw everyone (which was at my grandfather's funeral so it wasn't the happiest family reunion). It was definitely time to get back and see everyone. Especially because my dear cousin, Heather, just got married and I wasn't able to make her wedding. While there, we made a dinner in honor of my grandmother (who passed away in 1988) so everyone cooked dishes that reminded them most of her. We also got to see EVERYONE and spend some great quality time together. My uncle is a singer and karaoke is a family tradition. The picture above is my Uncle Bob, cousin Heather, my mom and myself singing.... though it looks way better than it sounded! haha. I'm also thankful for children. The picture to the left is my cousin Seth's little boy Ayson. He is 2 1/2 and I had never met him before. He is absolutely adorable and I got some really great videos of him running around and playing. Children are so sweet and have such a great way of looking at the world. The more I spend time with them, the more I enjoy their innocent yet insightful prespective of the world. Lastly, I am thankful that I get to spend my first Christmas with my husband. I got home late Monday night and since I had been away from the house since the day after Thanksgiving, we only began decorating on Tuesday evening. We are still working on our tree and our mantle but it is beginning to look so pretty in our house! I'm excited to have my first married Christmas and I'm lucky to share it with someone so special. I'm back! I've been gone for over a week traveling for either business or to visit my family in Kansas. I have finally gotten back and I'm ready to post some more Christmas recipes!! Today I am using some Italian Christmas recipes my friend Amanda sent me from Food & Wine magazine (thanks, Amanda!). They look scrumptious!! Arugula Salad with Prosciutto and Oyster Mushrooms INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS:
Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Salsify, Chestnuts and Ham INGREDIENTS
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Three-Cheese Mini Macs INGREDIENTS
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Happy (almost) December!! In honor of this wonderful Christmas season, I thought I'd start out with some yummy Christmas cookie recipes. The first looks absolutely amazing. My favorite kisses are the peppermint kisses that only come out during the holiday season. I found this recipe on a blog that my friend pinned on Pinterest. It looks incredible!!! They are called candy cane blossoms. How cute is that?!? Candy Cane Blossoms recipe from Hershey's INGREDIENTS: 1 bag Hershey's Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 egg 2 cups all purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 2 tablespoons milk Red and Green colored sugar DIRECTIONS: Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies. This is another recipe that my friend posted on Pinterest. You can find it at this blog called BakerGirl. Reindeer Cookies Printable Recipe INGREDIENTS: 3/4 cup peanut butter 1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 1/2 cup shortening 3 tablespoons milk 1 tablespoon vanilla 1 egg 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt Chocolate-covered mini pretzels Mini brown M&Ms Regular-sized red M&Ms DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375°F. Combine brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat until just blended.In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.Form dough into 1-inch balls. To make reindeer-shaped cookies, pinch the bottom of the ball slightly to form a point, then gently flatten with your hand. Space cookies about 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, until set or just beginning to brown. Remove from oven and immediately (and gently) press two mini pretzels into the tops of the cookies for the reindeer's antlers. Press two mini brown M&Ms in for the eyes and one red M&M for the nose. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack or paper towel to cool completely. Makes about 40 reindeer cookies. Source: Peanut butter cookie recipe from Jif. Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone! I hope everyone has a spectacular Thanksgiving with good friends and family and I hope your dinner is fabulous! Don't forget to give thanks for all of your blessings this year.
Here are a few links to pages with ideas about how to put those leftovers to good use! http://gothamist.com/2011/11/22/what_to_do_with_all_of_your_thanksg.php http://www.dailyfork.com/2009/11/5_delicious_things_to_do_with.php http://www.countryliving.com/cooking/thanksgiving-leftovers-1110 http://allrecipes.com/Recipes/meat-and-poultry/turkey/leftovers/main.aspx |
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