This year we will be celebrating New Years Eve with snacks, drinks, and games with friends and as you know we love games ( for proof see The Game Chest). Today I am prepping a large batch of guacamole from the box of avocados my parents brought with them from SoCal and chocolate covered cheesecake balls…
A Handmade and Heirloom Christmas
This Christmas came with many wonderful surprises and most of them didn't come in brand-new packaging. Because my parents drove to Corning NY they had room to bring along some meaningful items. So we had a wonderful handmade and heirloom Christmas. As I mentioned earlier (see Oh Christmas Tree ) this year my parents have passed…
A Very Corning Christmas Present
My parents came into town on the 19th and after hours of catching up, eating dinner, and sharing a few early gift surprises Luke and I gave them their Christmas card. The card explained their Christmas Present: a trip to the Corning Glass Museum and chance to make one of their own Christmas ornaments at the…
Merry Christmas
Today I am excited to have my parents here to celebrate Christmas with us. This morning we will open stockings in our PJ's while enjoying coffee and then have our Halvorson style Christmas breakfast of Blueberry Buckle and Smokey Links (or bacon) with scrambled eggs. We will open presents and enjoy a slow day at…
The Lamppost
Well this is a first, up until now I have not shared any of my creative writing or poetry on this blog. But today, Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share a new poem I wrote. I was inspired by Reliant K's Christmas song "Like a Lion" which was inspired in turn by C.S. Lewis' Lion Witch…
Infinity Scarf Life Hack
I have collected many scarfs since college from cheap target finds, second hand shop beauties to international wares from my travels to Italy and countries through the Middle East. The trends of how to wear scarfs continually change but one thing I knew: I was not going to buy more scarfs to fit-in with this…
Christmas Candies
As I made clear earlier this week, I am a baker but some great holiday goodies such as Christmas Candies don't require the time, ingredients, or effort of baked goods. So this post is for all of you procrastinators who still want/need to put together dessert plates, goody bags, or fill up stockings with easy…
Oh Christmas Tree . . .
Whether you decorate with a specific color scheme, use garland and tinsle, or put an angel, star, or santa hat on top retrieving and decorating Christmas trees is a tradition everyone does in slightly different ways. For some it is time to get out the artificial tree and assemble others will go cut their own…
Christmas Cookies
I love to bake. If I haven't said that on this blog yet I'll say it again: I love to bake. I grew up looking forward to the holiday season as a chance to make cakes, cookies, and candy for friends and family. I loved sharing the kitchen with my mom helping her prep all…
Tis the Season
Tis the Season to be busy. . . fa la la la la . . . Last year Luke and I had a very quiet holiday for two. We had barely any presents to buy, few holiday decorations to put out, no family visiting us, and we were still so new to the area we…