Friday Things
1. We are on the cusp of Christmas! Are you ready? We areโฆ not quite ready yet. Still need to grab more wrapping paper (and tape!) and have a few last-minute gifts to finish up. Iโve barely done any baking, but Iโm ready to officially kick off the holiday tomorrow!
2. There is a large Christmas light display not too far from our house and we had been thinking it would be fun to take the kids. It opens at 6pm, so on Wednesday night we ate an early dinner, got the kids changed into pajamas, loaded up travel mugs of hot chocolate and decaf coffee, and off we went! Wellโฆ Dominic fell asleep before we even got there and Isabelle screamed THE ENTIRE TIME. Literally. Crazy enough, she was sitting right.next to Dominic and he never even stirred (and heโs our light sleeper). But! Joseph love, love, loved the lights, he was mesmerized, which made the trip worth it :)
3. Joseph had his school Christmas party on Wednesday and I volunteered to help. It was so much fun to see him with his friends and all of the kids having a good time. However! Now I completely understand why these kids are sick ALL THE TIME. My goodness, so many kids coughing, sneezing, runny noses, sheesh. I wanted to bathe in hand sanitizer when I left lololol. Also! He had a Christmas concert on Monday at school and we were SO proud of him! He loved learning all of the songs, and he was an awesome shepherd :)
4. Super exciting announcement!! Starting in January I am going to be hosting a monthly Bake-Along! On the first Monday of the month Iโm going to share a recipe from my own baking bucket list that Iโve made and gotten juuuuuuuust right, along with tons of step-by-step photos and a video, and I would looooooove for you all to bake it along with me that month! Weโll have a hashtag for social and ways to share your photos with me; I thought it would be so much fun to tackle some new recipes together :) The first one will be posted on Monday, January 7th, so stay tuned!
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5. So, I donโt know anything about enneagrams, but I saw someone post this on Instagram the other day and it only took me 3.2 seconds to realize Iโm a 1โฆ see: Lists. Routines are life. Organizing for fun. โWhy did you load the dishwasher like that?โ
6. Do you bake to relieve stress? Enjoyed this article >> The Rise of Anxiety Baking
7. Speaking of stress, really enjoyed this since I have felt behind on EVERYTHING this year, even though I got our Christmas cards ordered earlier than usual! >> Secrets of People Who Donโt Get Stressed During the Holidays
8. I absolutely adore Christmas music, but I was a little bummed when the SiriusXM Billy Joel channel got switched over to holiday music, I was LOVING it. Iโve adored his music since I was in high school, and I love hearing some of the back story to certain song lyrics.
9. Finally, Iโd love to hear about your plans for the holidays! What are you going to eat? Are you making anything or just partaking? Whatโs on your cookie trays?
10. TGIF! I hope you have the best and brightest holiday weekend. Merry Christmas!!
Your children are adorable!
We are eating Ham, Green Rice Casserole, Sweet Potato Casserole, Green Beans, canned Cranberries and Baked Cranberries, Relish Plate and Rolls. For dessert we are having Pumpkin Cheesecake which is a very light dessert.
I rarely bake at Christmas as I have friends who deliver an assortment of Italian cookies, and the traditional cookies and candies. I feel very fortunate they are willing to share. Sure takes a lot of stress off of me at this time of year.
Have a Merry Christmas. Looking forward to your Bake Along.
Have a wonderful Christmas with your family.
I am going back to my family tradition and making homemade beef ravioli and sauce, a big salad, french bread, roasted Vegas and antipasto before dinner.
My cookie tray was cut back this year to biscotti, chocolate crinkles, snowballs and pecan pie bars. I am still thinking of making a batch of amaretti, my favorite.
Whatโs on my cookie tray? Cinnamon Sugar Pecans and Almonds, Man Bars, Rocky Road Bars, Sugar Cookies, Mexican Wedding Cookies, and Pecan โCrackโ Graham Crackers. I know, I know, Iโm an over-achiever! LOL!
I love the idea of a Bake-Along!! Canโt wait to see what Januaryโs selection will be. I created my own Baking Bucket List this year and have been slowly checking things off. Itโs a great motivator to try new recipes.
Enjoy reading your Friday Things. We always have Christmas Eve with my family. My parents supply the me while my sister, nieces, husbandโs and myself bring the sides. This year we decided to make side dishes from different countries. Poland, Ireland, Belgium, Armenia, England, Kazakhstan. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Iโm taking off for a week and a halfโฆjust to bake. Yup, a baking vacation. Iโve got most of my supplies, just a few left to get. I ordered myself some new bread pans and a new cake stand in anticipation of a chocolate cake recipe I want to try. I am definitely making your cream cheese filled pumpkin muffins. And Iโm starting to make a list of everything I want to make โ your site is one of my main sites I use to make my list. Iโm also using the Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook, which is one of the best bakery cookbooks Iโve ever read. BTW, I make your baked oatmeal every 2 weeks during winter. I use dried cranberries, walnuts, diced apples and sometimes dried blueberries. I just love it. Have a wonderful holiday!
Would love to hear what youโre planning on baking for Christmas! I always see so many recipes that look amazing but I have a tough time narrowing things down
Merry Christmas. I canโt believe how fast your littles are growing up! Joseph is SO big and looks so sweet.
2018 for me had incredible highs and very low lows. 2019 will start with my chemo treatments on January 3โbald in winter yikes!
In an effort to keep my mind occupied until then I baked cookies as my gifts. I used Stella Parks โBravetartโ and did Americana cookies, Oreos, Nutter Butters, Fig Newtons (these were stellar โ every pun intended โ versions I highly recommend the Oreosโspot on), Choc Chips (Jacques Torresโ recipeโIโve made forever) and then royal-iced sugar cookies (Dorie Greenspanโs recipeโyum!) in snowflake and stick shapes. The sticks were decorated as Santaโs belt, a snowstorm and half a Christmas tree. Oh and Bakedโs Brownies. I also did Red Velvet Cake Pops shaped and decorated like Santaโs hat from Bakerella. Iโm exhausted and all of my neighbors, family and friend are munching away and happy. So much better than another candle I think.
Your dog pictures make me smile every day; goldens are my favorite too and must love to snuggle because my friend also has 2 and they lay together often.
Iโm making prime rib as usual for Christmas dinner but am slow roasting for the first time this year and hoping itโs as good as Iโm hearing. Merry Christmas to you all!
From an Enneagram 1 to another: I just have to comment on Isabelleโs striped sweater outfit. I think itโs Gap because I have a sweater from there that matches it exactly! If you havenโt already bought yourself one to match her, you must! Then share photos! You only get so long to wear matching clothes with her so you might as well start early! ๐
I am visiting friends so will be helping with Christmas dinner prep. Weโre having turkey and Iโm providing the brine as I won a silent auction foodie item that contained a packet of brining mix. ย I spent hours trying to perfect your Maple Walnut fudge recipe and got it right 3 out of 5 times and managed to save one other attempt. ย Next time it will be perfect every time! ย The only other thing I made was Butter Tartsโฆyes, I am Canadian. ย So good! ย Your daughter is such a cutie, very much looking like a child now rather than a baby. ย Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!
Hi. First, your children are so beautiful and get even more so with each post. As far as baking goes, I agreed to bake for a friendโs party and for her I made thumbprints with green and red buttercream centers, dipped Oreos in white with 3 different decorations, the Tangled Christmas Light Cupcakes, Spritz cookies (snowmen, trees and candy canes) and molded flower cookies using the rose mold in various colors. ย For my own giveaways I made spritz cookies, cowboy cookies, filled date/nut pinwheels and my own peppermint patties and lemon creams dipped in Belgian chocolate.. ย Wrapped the peppermint patties in gold and green foils.ย
P.S. ย For Christmas, my husband bought me an Ankarsrum Mixer. ย Canโt wait to try that out.
WellโฆI had to google thatโฆwhat an awesome gift!!!
Joseph is so adorable wrapped up as a Christmas present. Very excited about your new baking challenge.
Soooooooo so sweet your doggies lay together like that..Iโd love to see a video one day of how they manage to do that so wellโฆget so close lolโฆlove it..Merry Christmas to you michelle..many special blessings to you and your family. Thank you for your special gifts to us readers all year long. You are a special light
Your children are adorable and Isabelle is a mini-you!! I canโt believe how much she resembles you! This year we are hosting Christmas eve because weโve moved to be closer to our kids and grandkids. We found our house and although things are still packed we are excited to have the family at our house. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you and your family.ย
Michelle, ย first, your kids are beautiful, such wonderful smiles!! I did lots of anxiety baking. I am retired and I think I made 20 varieties of cookies/bars/bark/fudge. I give them as gifts to my family and close friends.ย
Merry Christmas to you and your family.ย