Happy New Year!!!!!!!!

{living}&{doing}

Wow, so.....  I'm not the only person that Christmas seriously crept up on and then whizzed past this year right?! In fact, more to that point, I still have Christmas presents for a couple people to finish up making and Christmas cards to send out..... yep I got that far behind schedule this year...... I also had planned some fun posts for the blog here for Christmas related stuff, but, yeah...... clearly that didn't happen. (Although, I may still do my post on handmade ornaments, as I'm un-decorating, since after Christmas seems to be when I typically get the most ornaments made haha) For that matter I didn't even ever manage to get ALL my decorations up this year (granted I do a LOT of decorating for Christmas so even without getting it all up/done we still had plenty up.)  For me, if i don't get things finished by at least a couple days before Christmas the chances of them getting done before early January are pretty slim, Christmas Eve we have church and then dinner at our house with my family, then of course Christmas day, then the 27th is my sister's birthday, then this year we had an ugly sweater party on the 28th, then the 29th is my mom's birthday, then of course we come up on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, then yesterday we took my sister to the airport so she could head back home, and we have a wedding to go to tomorrow, so it has been a full, but great couple weeks.  But you see why stuff definitely has to get done ahead of time or not at all......

Even though I didn't get a chance to post all of the posts I had been hoping to I still want to share some pictures from some of our Christmas traditions and events before I dive headlong into what's going to be going on in the new year.

Cutting our own Tree.....

posing in the patch before finding a tree

Searching for just the right one (we were only looking for a little one for the front porch)

aaaaaaaaaaaa..... the ONE

My hubbster cutting our little tree

This was everyone's favorite photo, lol, us with our "quarry"

our little tree in place by our front door

and decorated. I really wasn't sure at first what I wanted to do with this tree decoration wise, but I decided to go simple and I think that looked best.

This was a new tradition for us this year.  I had always wanted to go cut my own Christmas tree and last year I found out that the farm that we go to for berry picking, and pumpkins, and to shop in their market has a cut your own patch.  We didn't end up making it out there last year to get one, but I made sure that we did this year, and we plan on keeping this tradition going year after year.

Christmas Traditions

tacky Christmas lights "festival" at a local bluegrass park/camp

driving through the light festival

driving through the light festival

driving through the light festival

driving through the light festival

driving through the light festival

My husband and I at a slightly more high tech light festival..... our local mall does a holiday light show in the middle of the outdoor section of the mall

nursery rhymes window display at one of our local stores in downtown.

the store's other window

and we of course have to have our pictures taken with the Mater and Guido that are outside of one of our local mechanics shop (and not just for Christmas, we've gotten Easter pictures, Halloween pictures, 4th of July pictures, etc.......)

one of our favorite traditions is Christmas lights. We've always driven around finding houses and neighboorhoods with lots of lights, but last year we also found out about a drive through "festival of lights" at a nearby bluegrass park/camp.  We went last year, and as you may have guessed from the pictures (that's only a small sampling of pictures from it) it is FABULOUSLY redneck and SO much fun! It is now a must go for us each year.  We also like to go see the light show our local mall does in the center of it's outdoor area.  They have the lights programmed to "dance" to Christmas music (although I have to say this year we were really disappointed, it was only maybe a third of the length it normally is and they really didn't do as much and the lights weren't really that well synced to the music......).  Another thing that I wait for all year is the window displays of one of our local shops in downtown Fredericksburg..... they always do something really neat, this year it was nursery rhymes.

Christmas Eve Dinner

this year dinner was served in our breakfast nook on my new table

the tablescape for Christmas Eve Dinner

close up of one placesetting

closeup of one placesetting

and with the bowl removed so that you can see my new Christmas plates

close up of the centerpiece.... I actually threw this one together at the last minute because I didn't get the one I had planned done.  I ended up really liking this one though

Christmas Eve Dinner is always at our house after church on Christmas Eve. We always have fish soup/stew, and then each year I make a different side to go with it and dessert.  This year it was a goat cheese and proscuitto with Italian herbs quiche, and a lemon cream cheese pie for dessert. {P.S. here's a link to the recipe I use for the fish soup.... it is sooo good!}

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

decorate your own sweater ornament activity table

sign for decorate your own ugly sweater ornament

decorate your own ugly sweater cookie station

snacks (including ugly sweat min pizzas)

a few sweets

Hubster decorating his cookie

my mom making sweater ornaments

 I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of this party, and really didn't do a whole lot of decorating specifically for it, since the house is already decorated for Christmas, I also don't have pictures of my husband and I in our ugly sweaters, we did take them, but they are on my mom's phone and I haven't gotten them from her yet, but you can see a little bit of his in the picture or him making his cookie.... it was definitely tacky!

There was of course a bunch of other stuff from the past few weeks, but the idea here is just to give you a few of the highlights, and activities...
{We did of course have a Theme Food Week for December the week before Christmas that I haven't gotten posted yet, but I think it deserves it's own post so I'll try to get that up this weekend too}

~

And so now, as I sit here on this dreary/rainy first Saturday of the new year, it's time to start planning for 2015.  We have a few trips that we are hoping to be able to go on this year, as well as our typical little day trips and activities.  For the blog I'm hoping not only to chronicle not only that stuff, but I'll be continuing on with Theme Food Week, and I'm planning on testing out some more Homemade Homemaking projects this winter.  And of course more crafts and collecting and decorating (I still have several re-decorating/remodeling projects I'm hoping to get done around the house this winter/spring), parties, and fun stuff.

And so I bid farewell to 2014.  In some ways it was a not so great year, but it also brought some amazing times and experiences for us, and good or bad I truly believe that all things in life are vital to making us a better us, and I refuse to be anything but thankful for the experiences, no mater how much they may hurt, or how difficult they may seem to deal with/get through.

And a welcome 2015 with excitement and hope. (and perhaps a slight amazement that it can really be 2015 already..... I remember as a kid figuring out how old I would be when the year 2000 came and it seemed so old and so far away, and now that I'm about to turn 30 this year, I look back at those 14 years olds and they seem SO young and 14 years old and the turn of the century seems so long ago, even while it sometimes feels like that was just yesterday)

Praying for blessings and cheer, and strength for you and yours in the new year!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

Theme Food Week :Thanksgiving Deconstructed {November}

{cooking}

So........ I know I am super late posting this, but it was just yesterday as I was working on the menu and grocery list for Theme Food Week for December (which is this week) that I realized I had never posted  November's Theme Food Week! A bit late, but better late than never right?...........

November's Theme Food Week theme was "Thanksgiving Deconstructed" - each night focused on one part of a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal: Turkey, gravy and stuffing; Cranberry Sauce; Green Bean Casserole; and Mashed Potatoes.  My sister who was home for a visit chipped in and made some sweet potato fries, so that covered sweet potatoes/sweet potato casserole too. so, without further ado, here is the menu and recipes from Thanksgiving Deconstructed Week:

{Menu}

Monday:

Turkey, Gravy,and Stuffing Pizza: Okay, this may sound weird but it was SOOOOOOOOO good! I saw a similar idea on line somewhere (I don't remember where) that inspired this meal, but this particular recipe is my own.  I started with a pre-made pizza crust (usualy when I make pizza I just get refrigerated pizza dough, but this crust seemed a little more substantial and I thought it might hold up to these toppings better) Mine was Wegman's brand and it worked out really well because it had almost a dinner roll flavor.  The pizza's "sauce" is turkey gravy (just from a can or jar) and I topped that with chunks of turkey breast, turkey stuffing and some mild cheddar cheese.  The original idea for this I think was supposed to be an idea to use up leftovers, but for mine I just cooked some boneless skinless turkey breasts cut in chunks in a pan on the stovetop, and used boxed stuffing mix (which I had no idea was so quick and easy to make lol).  Like I said it was really really good, much better than I thought it would be even.

Tuesday:

Cranberry Sauce Topped Chicken Thighs, Cranberry Rice Pilaf, and Steamed Broccoli: Today's Thanksgiving dish was, can you guess?........ Yep cranberry sauce! And both of these recipes were really good this is the recipe for the chicken (although I have to say I followed the recipe for the sauce, but just baked the thighs like I would any other time), and here is the cranberry pilaf. I was actually surprised I liked this as much as I did, because there was orange juice in it and normally I can't stand rice with orange juice in it, but I guess the cranberry or something balanced it out in this, because I really liked this dish.  The broccoli was just steamed and tossed with butter, salt, and garlic powder.

Wednesday:

Green Bean Casserole Soup and Dinner Rolls: Here is the recipe for the soup.  The only change I made was not blending the mushrooms in, I just sauteed them and added them to everyone else's soup as it was served, since I can't eat mushrooms.  My mom and I liked the soup, my husband, not so much, but I wasn't souper {<-- see what I did there? hehe] surprised by that. This was also the night my sister made sweet potato fries, and we ate them as an appetizer, I have no idea what recipe she used, but Pinterest I'm sure is loaded with them.  I can tell you we didn't season them the way her recipe said, it used coconut oil, which we did, but we put a little salt and pumpkin pie spice on ours instead of whatever seasoning the recipe used.


Thursday: Off night (we actually ordered Chinese take-away this night lol)

Friday:

Mashed Potato Lasagna: No real recipe for this one either.  I had seen somewhere another "leftovers" idea to use mashed potatoes in place of ricotta in lasagna.  Of course my mashed potatoes weren't leftovers (well actually, they kind of were because I had made them the night before, before we decided to get Chinese) and basically I just replaced my usual ricotta mixture with the mashed potatoes, that were seasoned with garlic and Italian herbs. I have to say it was pretty good, and very filling.


Of course as I said this week is Theme Food Week for December, so hopefully I will be able to get it posted this weekend or the beginning of next week (with Christmas SO close though I make no promises ;)

Thanksgiving {part 1}

{living}

My, my how November has flown by! I had fully intended to post the first part of this two part blog several weeks ago, but {as I'm sure no one at this point will be surprised by} with everything else going on I never was able to get it done.  I can't really say that I complain about having so full a real life life that I often don't have time to spend a lot of time in the online world, but it would be nice to actually manage to post at least a little more often. HAHA. Maybe one day.
    But for today it is almost Thanksgiving, and I'm finding myself with several days of mostly free time.  I know that sounds like an odd thing to say a few days before a major holiday, but what you have to remember is that my husband and I go to my parents house for actual Thanksgiving, (which means that I only have a couple things to make for the dinner and at least one of those I will be making over there), and my big Thanksgiving rush is actually anywhere from a week to a few days before real Thanksgiving, when we have our annual dinner party - Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner.  Now if you were to look back at posts from last fall I do believe I not only talked about Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner, but promised picutres of my decorations from years past.  Well, if you also look back to last fall you will see that I never did get those posted {oops}, so that is Thanksgiving {part 1} this year.  Now as I mentioned I had intended to post about the tradition and the pictures from past years several weeks ago (well before this year's event) and then post pictures from this year along with some recipes for the second post for Thanksgiving this year.  But, I suppose since we've already had this year's dinner I will go ahead and post about it on this post as well, and tomorrow (or maybe later today) do my second post of Thanksgiving goodies ;)

First, a little background on Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner tradition.  Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner started 9 years ago (which I believe was the second Thanksgiving I was in this house) and at the time both I and my small group of close friends were all unmarried, and all went to our parent's houses for Thanksgiving (actually I'm not even sure we all had our own places yet, we were still pretty young), but we wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving together as a group of friends, and of course we all know how I love to entertain, and so Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner was born.  The first year we did it the evening before Thanksgiving (hence, I believe, the name) and for the first couple years we continued to do it if not the evening before then at least in the same week as Thanksgiving, as the years went on we started varying the dates a bit more to fit everyone's schedule better and it has ranged everywhere from being a full week before "real" Thanksgiving to being the evening before.  Also a couple years  into the tradition I started doing themes for the dinner and decorations, and along with that the dinner really started maturing along with our little group, as we added husbands and kids, and now we've finished our 9th year of dinners and will be having a special 10th anniversary Pre-Thanksgiving Dinner next year (and yes I am already planning it). 
    So there's the background, and now on to the pictures! As I said the first couple years didn't have themes (and we didn't take nearly as many pictures back them either), and I think there's at least one other year that the pictures are on storage on a device somewhere and I'm not sure which one right now, so I'm not posting all 9 years on here, but you'll get the highlights ;)

Thankful For The Little Things

The dinner table, set with a miniature table center decoration and miniature wreaths as favors on the plates

another angle of picture of the dinner table

close up of the miniature table center decorations (mini gourds, mini flower arrangement, and mini faux pears)

The Food (gosh I hadn't realized how much the meal itself has developed over the years, this buffet looks so sparse to me now!) mini (aka cut) sauteed green beans, baby corn, roasted baby potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and Cornish game hens as "mini turkeys"

close up of the Cornish game hen "mini turkeys" I think this was the best part of this theme

mini pies with a mini scoop of ice cream for dessert

Enormously Thankful

giant cornucopia on the buffet table

I made the giant cornucopia from a wreath and grapevine "ribbon", the giant pumpkin and giant corn were purchased, I made the giant grapes and the big leaves and big feather looking things were purchased as well

and with the food on the table (Turkey, sauteed green beans, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, stuffed onions, and corn pudding)

The table, with it's "enormous" centerpiece - giant fake acorns flanked by two giant pinecones

different angle of the table

closer view of the centerpiece

Naturally Thankful

This was the first year I started putting the buffet in the doorway between the living room and the craft room - which worked much better

The dinner table and it's "natural" decorations

burlap placemats (that I made) and pears with letters made with cloves spelling out "Give Thanks" from one side of the table and "Be Thankful" from the other side of the table (I also made the stands they are on by spray painting small glass vases white and gluing them to the bottom of plates

The buffet table and the hanging decorations (another reason I like having the table in the doorway - so I can decorate over it) Looks like we had turkey, corn pudding, cranberry sauce, Brussels sprouts, stuffing, and roasted potato leaves

some of the food, but also a little bit better view of the "produce" turkey I made that year

and a close up of the potatoes, I cut them with leaf shaped cookie cutters to go with the theme before roasting them

pecan pie cake for dessert

appetizers

Glowing With Thankfulness

The buffet table and hanging decorations pre food

close up of the table itself so you can see the decorations a bit better

the dinner table setting, I used satin fabric rather than actual tablecloths for both the dinner table and buffet table that year

overhead view of the table

overhead view again

the place settings - the little turkey cross stitches were the favors

close up of one of the little turkey figurines I spray painted with gold leaf spray paint

The kids table

kids table place setting including a little craft for them to do while they were waiting for dinner

appetizers in the kitchen

these decorations were actually covering/hiding some things that were sitting in the windowsill that weren't very fall looking

and with the food and the battery operated tealights in the hanging glittered jars turned on.  We had turkey, Stuffing, Mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, Brussels Sprouts, sauteed green beans, corn pudding, roasted glazed acorn squash with pomegranate seeds, and I think that was all the food, I can't really tell super well in this picture lol

Pumpkin mousse with whipped cream and sprinkled with colored sugar for dessert

new wreaths I made for the front hallway windows

and finally this year:

Traditionally Thankful

{this year the decorations were a little more simple,since the theme was vintage Thanksgiving, and even at that there were a few things I didn't get pictures of, not really sure why I think I was just really tired by that evening because I'd had such busy weeks for several weeks and hadn't been sleeping great for the few days before, and babysat the day of, for whatever reason we were joking a few days later about me failing at my picture taking job.....}

My mantle decorations for this year..... all the decorations were based on a vintage theme (basically mostly inspired by a mid 20th century Thanksgiving - 1940/50/60's) so lots of honeycomb tissue paper decorations, from the research I did honeycomb decorations seemed to be the most common vintage Thanksgiving decorations

the dinner table

the table again, with some honeycomb turkeys and green glass turkey dishes for the table center decorations

these kitschy little molded turkey tealight candles reminded me of molded candles I'd seen when looking at vintage Thanksgiving stuff and were the favors for this year... and looked great in front of standing fan folded napkins at each place setting

Appetizers (and a new kitchen table - I'll be blogging about that later)

a brie volcano! Yum!

The Buffet Table (I know its a weird angle, but I was trying to not have to get the currently super messy craft room in the background of the picture haha) We had some different stuff for food this year, again trying to fit with that more vintage thanksgiving theme.  We had turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, corn pudding, sweet potato casserole , creamed onions, and dinner rolls.  We also had pumpkin pie and pecan pie for dessert, but I didn't get pictures of them.. oops

instead of my normal cranberry sauce i made a cranberry sauce mold this year to fit with the vintage theme

and we even had molded butter (I didn't make this though, I bought it this way)