Noel

I love this simple sign, you can find the tutorial here.


The first year I sang in BYU Womens Chorus we had an AMAZING Christmas concert. We sang beautiful arrangements of well known Christmas songs and I loved every second of it. The only sad thing to me is that the songs we sang were not all recorded on the archival cds they give you at the end of the year. That year I fell in love with the song "The First Noel" when we sang an additional verse I had never heard before. I loved it so much I wrote the words in my personal hymn book...which unfortunately I lost. I found these words online but I really think the words we sang the third line was different.

Now let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our Heavenly Lord,
The which hath made Heaven and Earth of nought,
And by his blood Mankind hath bought

This version by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir is equally as beautiful and moving and includes the verse I love. I love to sing this beautiful arrangement someday. Here is my gift to you: I hope you find some time to listen to this beautiful music!

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

Um...don't these look amazing, festive, and so delicious? I want to try these, but with so many recipes I want to try...they might have to wait until next year. :) Find the recipe here from the Recipe Girl.

Christmas Reads

I love reading to my son, especially when there is a holiday coming up! When I was little my dad would read "A Story a Day Until Christmas" every night in December until Christmas Day and we all loved it! I've tried to do the same thing with my son, but with all meaningful stories rather than fun ones. I'm not opposed to fun Christmas stories though--we still read them! In my search to find more Christmas books, I have found a couple of book lists that have some fun looking books on them! Check out the lists here and here. Also here is a great collection of stories you can print off to do your own "A Story a Day Till Christmas!"

What are your favorite Christmas time books and stories?

Christmas Galore

I came across this post from Simply Modern Mom today and LOVE all of her Christmas decor ideas! It definitely is an inspiration to me--I wish I had a staircase in my house like she does!

I have found some other great ideas I would love to try sometime in my Christmas decorating, I guess this post is a showcase of those!

First these simple candycanes look so easy and inexpensive to make! You could make a garland of them or hang them from a garland...all sorts of things! Find instructions in this post.


I love this jingle bell wreath! It is tiny--like ornament size, or gift tag size...or maybe you could group more than one together and hang then from your door so when it opens and closes it makes that lovely jingle bell sound...again lots of possibilities! Find the instructions here.

I love this paper star wreath! But I think even more I would love to make the cute little stars and hang them from the garland over our doorway so it would look something like this:

I love these little stars! One year my roommates and I made tons and tons of snowflakes and taped them all over our ceiling. We loved it! So I might even hang a few from the ceiling to make our big empty room look more festive. Find the instructions for these here.
I think these snowflakes just look like a fun kids craft! Find the instructions for these here.


Finally...to get you even more in the Christmas spirit is this recipe for these Thick and Chewy Gingerbread cookies that looks really good to me! I can't wait to try it and have that wonderful gingerbread smell in our house...
*update, I tried this recipe and thought it was gross. So I changed the picture and suggest you try this recipe instead! It might be the ones I made last year that were amazing--I can't remember which recipe I used!

What are some of your favorite holiday decor ideas?

Snow Globes

I love snow globes! This looks like so much fun--make your own!! Find instructions from Martha Stewart here.

Mistletoe

I totally love this! Ever since we've been married I have wanted mistletoe to grace our halls...however it has yet to happen. This looks easy to do however, and I'm excited to try it out!
Find instructions here!

Creche Exhibit

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

I miss watching the news in Utah, and the familiar news anchors or whatever they are called. :) I was happy to watch this, it looks like a great tradition! If you are in Utah this weekend, you should go check it out! One more awesome thing to add to my list of awesome Christmas functions in Utah!

Cinnamon French Toast

I really love the french toast at Kneaders. It is a.maz.ing. Today on Studio 5, Brooke shared her family french toast recipe and in the video she says her sisters think the Kneaders french toast is almost as good as this recipe...so needless to say, I am so excited to try this recipe! You can go here to watch the video, it made me wish so much that I could go to the Festival of Trees and buy the cookbook!

Christmas Morning Cinnamon French Toast

Batter

Ingredients:

• Combine together:
• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• ½ cup whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 tablespoon of applesauce

Method:

Dip both sides of thickly sliced Texas Toast into batter. Cook in a frying pan at medium heat.

Syrup

Ingredients:

• • 1 cube of butter
• • ¾ cup of sugar
• • ½ cup of buttermilk
  
  
• Add:
• • 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• • 1 teaspoon of baking soda Stir quickly as syrup foams up.

Raspberry Pie

We had a pretty crazy Thanksgiving. It involved our car dying 50 miles from civilization in the bitter cold, having no cell service, trying to get a ride home when my husband thinks the other drivers thought he was a shooter from Moab, my sister in law and her husband coming to get us--driving all night and getting no sleep....going to a house with cats when I am allergic to cats and just wanting desperately to sleep.
Pretty much my favorite part of Thanksgiving day was this pie. And seeing how much my son loved, loved, loved his baby cousin. :) That was absolutely adorable.
Don't get me wrong--I have a lot to be grateful for--for instance prayer, and answers to it, a family who stopped for us and just happened to be going to visit their family in the town we live in. My husband teaches their niece, so it was like we already knew them. They even invited us to their family Thanksgiving dinner where we would have gone if we hadn't been taken to Utah by my sister-in-law and her husband who towed our car and saved us a huge tow truck bill, we had plenty of good food to eat, I became better friends with my sister in law. There is a lot to be grateful for. it was just a very unusual Thanksgiving day filled with less than optimum circumstances. :) Maybe I should say this pie was my favorite part of the meal. I really, really loved it--and I'm not the one who made it, I just wanted to share the recipe. :)

Fresh Raspberry Pie

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 
  FILLING:
• 1-1/3 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 5 cups fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 
  TOPPING:
• 1 tablespoon 2% milk
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine the egg, water and vinegar; stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Divide dough in half so that one ball is slightly larger than the other; wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until easy to handle.
• Meanwhile, in another large bowl, combine the sugar, tapioca, cornstarch and raspberries; let stand for 15 minutes.
• On a lightly floured surface, roll out larger ball of dough to fit a 9-in. pie plate. Transfer dough to pie plate; trim even with edge. Add raspberry filling; dot with butter.
• Roll out remaining dough to fit top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cut slits in top. Brush with milk; sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Eggnog

Mock Eggnog
Eggnog Pie

My first taste of eggnog didn't happen until I was in college and had a roommate who bought some because she loved it so much. She offered me some and suggested to me that I add milk to dilute it since it was my first try...and even then I didn't like it much. But now I am married to an eggnog lover and we get it every Christmas season and I have learned to enjoy it as well! But I still have to dilute it with milk. :) Last year I made Eggnog cookies which were good, and since eggnog seems to be pretty pricey, I am intrigued with the idea of making your own...I've even found some mock eggnog recipes that don't use eggs I would like to try. Here's a list of the eggnog recipes I would like to try:

Eggnog Pie
Warm Chocolate Eggnog
Mock Eggnog
and another version of mock eggnog
Peppermint Eggnog Punch (only because the rum is optional)
Homemade Eggnog

Do you like eggnog? Have you ever made your own?