Very Merry

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  We couldn't have asked for a better holiday.  I feel truly overwhelmed by the blessings in our life, especially having our families so close at Christmastime and throughout the year.

We started our celebrations on Thursday night with a get-together at Ray & Amy's with friends.  Friday morning was spent doing a little more baking and wrapping... And Santa made a house-call to see Ellie again this year!

{picture from last year, since I'm a bad blogger & forgot to take one!}

Friday night we attended a church service and grabbed a quick dinner with my parents, then headed to an annual Christmas Eve party with Jeff's family. 

{Whittakers at Christmas Eve party}

We ended the night back at my dad's house and woke up to sure signs of Santa's visit!

Christmas early-morning was spent opening gifts with my parents, then opening gifts with Jeff's family mid-morning, then over to my grandparents' house to eat!  Fortunately, my sister, her husband & son came from South Carolina for the day too! 

{our sweet Ellie girl on Christmas morning}

I really can't say enough how fortunate we are... I feel beyond blessed by the thoughtfulness and love our families give to us!  This week both of my brothers are heading into town with my nephews, and we have New Years Eve plans with great friends at the lake... The celebrating continues!  

{family portrait on Christmas morning}

Tis the Season...

To be busy!  Sorry for a lack of updates last week... I was called into jury duty on Monday and selected for a trial that lasted all week.  Which was also the same week I had finals for grad school and a few projects to wrap up at work.  Whew!

Fortunately, by Monday, the trial was over, grades were posted (continuing my streak of all As since I met my hubby in senior year of my undergrad), and work projects have been completed!  In other news...

I made Jen's Chocolate Peppermint Bark cookies for a Christmas cookie competition at the hubby's office and was voted 3rd place, out of about 15 entries!

Definitely add these to your holiday baking list!  I ended up making 3 more batches to include in our boxes of Christmas goodies.

I also made Jen's Lady Strawberry cake for his office Christmas party yesterday, by special request from his coworkers... I thought it ended up looking festive with the red strawberries and green bow!

Please ignore the giant baklava pans in the background... Holiday baking has truly taken over our kitchen!  Stay tuned for an easy wreath project (well, at least you can save it for next year!)

Holiday Linky Party

If you missed yesterday's post, be sure to check out part 1 of our holiday decorating!  I'll mention again that in between all my grad school papers & projects and work, I still have a few finishing touches to make... But here are the second half of our decorations! 

Be sure to join the Holiday Linky Party at the bottom of this post to share yours too!

Amy and I each got a $5 wreath from Home Depot, and both decided it needed a little something more. I found bunches of glitter pine cones on sale at Michael's for $0.29 and a package of red holly berries at the 'Everything's A Dollar' store. It ended up being a really cheap way to change up the wreath!

A new way to display our Christmas cards, and those unused Christmas lights...

And finally... The Christmas tree!  We don't have a themed or color-coordinated tree.  We received almost all of our ornaments at an ornament shower during our engagement.  I absolutely love putting each one on our tree, and thinking about all the family & friends that gifted them to us!

Now let's all share in our first ever Holiday Linky Party!  It's easy... Just click below to enter, select a photo as your thumbnail, and link to your own holiday decorations on your blog!

Can't wait to see all the great ideas for the holidays!

Christmas Decorating

Jeff & I did a little holiday decorating last weekend, motivated by all our holiday inspiration images.  I will admit that in between papers, projects and work, I still have a few finishing touches to make... But I wanted to share some today and tomorrow, so that we all have time to inspire each other's decorating too!  Remember to get your pictures ready for our Friday Linky Party!

Last Saturday, my sister came over and helped me get started with our mantel... I noticed that my favorite mantel inspirations had groupings of similar items and/or colors (must go back to my love of symmetry?)  So I went with a red and silver ornament-theme...

I found garland at Wal-Mart for only $2, and battery-powered white lights at Michael's for less than $3, which ended up being much cheaper than purchasing pre-lite garland. 

Most of the other items we already had, with the exception of a few more red ornaments (also found at Wal-Mart for $2.50 for a set of 12)

For our entry table, I found a pretty runner at Home Goods and decided to stick with the gold color-scheme on this table... Adding my 12 Days of Christmas ornaments and gold ornament tree (a yard sale find).

Are you almost done with your decorating?  I have an easy wreath project and a few more decorations for tomorrow (then we can all share in a Linky Party!)  Only 15 days to go... Can you believe it?

Christmas Giving List

I can't wait to show off our holiday decorating from this weekend!  And be sure to get your pictures ready too, because I'll be hosting a linky party later this week... We can all share ideas & pictures with enough time left to actually use them this holiday season!

But for today, I'll be sharing my own holiday wish list... Hopefully this will help inspire you with some gift ideas for someone on your list!

eternity scarf from Etsy... In light gray (pictured) or 'bold blue' to go with my new winter coat (a merry-Christmas-to-me purchase)

holiday tidbit plates by Vera Wang... To dress up our china for the holiday season!

gray leather tote from Etsy... Totally stolen from Bryn's holiday list (she featured in tan, and you can only imagine my excitement to find it in gray!)

the wonderbar... yes, I am asking for face soap for Christmas, but not just any old face wash!  If it makes me look like Erika, then I'd like a stocking-full, Santa!

Revue Retro reading glasses... Just in case asking for face wash didn't make me feel old, I wanted to throw in a new pair of reading glasses.  But I do get tired of leaning in so close to this computer screen (oh, in dark burgundy, please)

white sapphire stud earrings from Etsy ... to save this list from practical items!  And because they are adorable, handmade & economically priced (hint to hubby)

What's on your holiday wish list?  Do you ask for practical, or fun gifts?

Holiday Inspiration: Christmas Mantels

So far, the week here has been a little cold and rainy... And strangely enough, it is putting me in the perfect mood to decorate for Christmas!  I just want to cuddle up with my hubby, sweet puppy, sweatpants, and a cup of hot chocolate... put some Christmas music on the radio... and decorate!

Unfortunately, all that will have to wait until this weekend.  But in the meantime, I've been scouring my favorite blogs and sites for inspiration!  I'll be the first to admit that my decorations were lacking last year, so time to get the ideas flowing...

Other than the Christmas tree, I think the most important holiday decoration is the mantel.  Here are some of my inspiration images...

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Stay tuned for a few more installments of holiday inspiration this week!

Thanksgiving Recipes

Everyone knows that I am thankful for Paula Deen... and all her butter-filled recipes!  And what better time to indulge in Paula's southern cooking than Thanksgiving?

I made her pumpkin bread and mini-pecan pies... Both were big hits, so I wanted to pass along the recipes for your upcoming holiday gatherings!

{image via Paula Deen Magazine}

Paula Deen's Pumpkin Bread
Ingredients:
3 cups sugar (I substituted 1 cup brown sugar)
1 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 cups canned pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease & flour baking pans (I used Baker's Joy and it worked like a charm).
2.  Mix sugar and oil with mixer.  Add eggs and blend.
3.  Add pumpkin and blend.  Add water and blend.
4.  Combine remaining ingredients and add slowly to mixer.
5.  Add pecans.
6.  Fill pans about 3/4 full and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown.

Recipe yields 2 loaves (I only had mini bread pans on hand, and was able to make 6 mini loaves)

Paula Deen's Mini Pecan Pies

Crust:

1 stick butter (8 tbs)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3-ounces cream cheese

1.  Soften cheese and butter.  Blend well in mixer.
2.  Stir in flour.
3.  Chill 1 hour.
4.  Shape into 12 equal-sized balls.  Place in ungreased muffin tins.
5.  Press down to shape into crusts.

Filling:
1 egg

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Dash of salt

2/3 cup chopped pecans

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 
2.  Beat egg, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
3.  Divide half the nuts among muffin tins (over crusts).
4.  Add egg mixture over top.
5.  Top with remaining nuts.

6.  Bake for 25 minutes, or until filling hardens.

Recipe yields 12 mini pies (or 24 if you use the mini-muffin tins)

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all!  Hope that everyone enjoyed a long weekend filled with friends, family & fun!

Every November, Jeff proclaims that Thanksgiving is his favorite weekend of the whole year... and this year, I have to agree with him!

We started off Thanksgiving Day with the Turkey Trot... and ended with tons of food & family!  I am so thankful that we were able to eat with all the Whittakers and visit with my family (including my sister, my brother & his family, and the DesNoyers!)

Friday morning, Jeff hit the early-bird sales... While my sisters and I waited to hit the mid-morning ones.  After checking several people off my Christmas list, we prepped for camping. 

Jeff headed to the annual Thanksgiving camping trip (10th year in a row for him and his friends) early Saturday morning.  I joined a little later in the afternoon, and must admit that I had a great time!

We ended up with 16 people total - providing lots of friends, food, and comforts even in the cold outdoors.  The guys had a battery hooked up to a computer with satellite... Still not sure how, but we watched football in the woods.  And grilled hot dogs and burgers, played corn hole, and rode ATVs... Definitely a deluxe campsite!

{image via the Morrisons}

Sunday night I headed over to my Yiayia's for the first round of Christmas decorating!  Jeff and I are planning to get our tree some time this week... Can't wait for a chance to get our house in the holiday spirit!

Less than 4 weeks until Christmas... Let the countdown begin!

Christmas Cards

I'm all about 'respecting the turkey' and not skipping from Halloween directly to Christmas... but I also can't help but get excited about my favorite time of the year!  Not to mention the fact that it is never too early to get organized for the holidays.

Jeff & I are putting together our annual Christmas spreadsheet (nerd alert)...

... And choosing our Christmas card!  This year, I've been in love with the photo card offerings from Minted.  We've narrowed it down to three contenders so far.

Card 1:

Card 2:

Card 3:

What do you think?  Do we have a winner?  Do we need to attempt an actual 'Christmas card' photo session?

Purple, Gold & Green

We were fortunate enough to spend Mardi Gras last year in New Orleans with Jeff’s family – and had the best time! We had a Mardi Gras shower, went to tons of parades & parties, and got to spend time with all the Whittakers!
















I loved that homes around the city were decorated for Mardi Gras, and have been planning to do the same at our house ever since… So now Fat Tuesday is just around the corner, and I’m making my plans to decorate this weekend. I’m attempting to make a wreath for the front door out of the beads we collected during that trip… Here are a few inspirations I’ve found:


These instructions for the Mardi Gras wreath with ornaments below will definitely be my template.

How cute are these signs! Click here for instructions on how to make your own at Embellished Bayou or visit their adorable Etsy shop. If I get overly ambitious, I may give one of these a try too... Or just do some Etsy shopping!




{images via Embellished Bayou}