O Christmas Tree...And a Snowman...Or Two...OK, Four

I don't really have a theme when it comes to my Christmas tree. It's usually just covered in ornaments, so maybe that's my theme. I love the simplicity of it as well as the history that it holds.

Here's a tour of some of my favorites (in no particular order):

I have ornaments from when I was a child. Remember making ornaments out of egg cartons?

This is my favorite from when I was a child. Just beads on a pipe cleaner and shaped into a candy cane.

Here is the ornament I bought for Rondell either last year or the year before (I really should write the date on these). He LOVES to grill so this was perfect. I love the bottle of BBQ sauce...we picture that it's Sweet Baby Ray's.

I buy the kids an ornament every year. It usually goes with what they are into at the moment. This is Jamison's ornament from this year. She LOVES fairies and dancing so this was perfect for her. The little girl has green eyes too, just like Jamison!

Gotta have an OSU ornament. My mom gave this to me one year.

Here's Caleb's ornament from this year. He loves all things Thomas right now. I have to try and keep this out of reach because he always wants to play with it.

Jamison made this wreath when she was in preschool. I will cherish it and hopefully pass it down to her when she gets older and has a tree of her own.

Since my name is spelled in a unique way I love finding things that have it spelled correctly. Above is a snowman that I found at Michael's one year (sorry for the blurry picture). Below is a candy can with my name, also from Michael's. I bought one for Rondell too...it says Ron.

Lastly, this is my FAVORITE ornament. I bought it last year at Hallmark. I think it's really for a teacher but I had to have it because I have fond memories of Charlie Brown. The best thing about this is that it plays the teacher voice of Charlie Brown (you know...wha, wha, wha...) by pushing that little button at the bottom of the picture.

Here are some other things around the house:

Jamison and Caleb's stockings. I bought them at Pottery Barn Kids. They really weren't that expensive, especially since they will have them for many years.

Here's our little countdown. Jamison likes changing the number everyday.

And here's the collection (if you can really call it that). I love the plush snowmen from Hallmark that sing songs. It has been a while since I've been in Hallmark (since starting to make my own cards), so I don't know if they have one this year. I have them displayed on top of my entertainment center.

The Carolers.

Mr. Piano Snowman.

Sledding Snowman and Rockin' Snowman. The sledding one is my favorite because it plays my favorite song...Sleigh Ride.

Thanks for coming over. Sorry the cookies are gone!

Jam Thumb Prints - My Favorite

UPDATE: I saw this cookie party hosted by Jessica Turner on Angie's blog and I thought I'd post my thumbprints.

Last night my mom, Jamison and I (mostly my mom and Jamison) made jam thumb prints. My mom and I have been making these cookies at Christmastime since I was a little girl. They are my all-time favorite cookie.

Jam Thumb Prints

2/3 cup butter (which is about 11 tbs)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 egg yolks
1 1/2 cup sifted flour (or not sifted, if you're like me)
1 cup finely chopped walnuts (or not, if you're like me)
2 slightly beaten egg whites (if you're using the nuts)
Jam (grape, strawberry, or my favorite...red raspberry)

Cream together butter & sugar till fluffy.
Add egg yolk, vanilla and salt. Beat well.
Gradually add flour.
Shape into 3/4" balls.
{Here's the added step if you would like to add nuts...dip dough into egg white. Then dip dough into chopped walnuts until completely coated}
Place on greased cookie sheet.
Thumb.
Add jam into thumbprint (I used a 1/4 tsp measuring spoon to add the jam. You don't want to add too much or it will boil over.)

Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes or till golden.

Here are some pictures for a visual...because I'm very visual:

The dough rolled. That's my mama's hand.

Thumbed.

Jam added and ready for the oven. Not sure what kind of angle I was going for here.

Um, there is no after picture because for some reason ours didn't turn out like they usually do and we couldn't figure out why. I'm sure yours will turn out better (as well as my next batch!)

I'd Like to Thank JennyKate

My blog friend JennyKate gave me this award because she thinks I'm creative. If you have not stopped by her blog, you must. She loves all things Twilight and Starbucks and has an adorable little boy. She has a really fun New Moon party that was done with all kinds of creativity!

Thanks JennyKate...I think you're swell too!

Rules after accepting the award are:

Tell 7 things that you don't already know about me.
Name 7 other blogs to receive this award.
Leave a comment on each of the blogs I nominated.
Thank the person who gave you the award.

I have given this award before...see here and here, but I will tell you more about me because, well, it's my blog:

1. I hate to have something on my hands. For example, you know when you crack an egg and the egg white gets on your hand...that drives me crazy. Or if I have something sticky on my hands, I must wash them right away. I have unfortunately passed this onto my daughter.

2. I love post its. They are so convenient for so many different things.

3. I have the driest skin ever and Winter is my enemy.

4. Pumpkin candles are my favorite candle and I usually burn them all year (is that like wearing white after Labor Day?).

5. I love watermelon but I don't like watermelon-flavored candy.

6. I do not like nuts in my baked goods. I'd love it if more people made white chocolate chip cookies without the macadamia nuts.

7. This is the second time the JennyKate has given me this award...I'm blushing.

One Craft, Some Cookies and a Ton of Lights!

This past weekend was filled with fun times! I decided to share it with you all in one post (with a ton of pictures)...you ready?

My friend Lyndsey and her mom host a cookie party every year and I think they are so sweet to do that. This year I made them each a little gift as a thank you. I got the idea for this craft from my Stampin Up! demo Lisa and then found the tutorial here.

It's a little magazine holder that holds gift cards.

Inside each holder I put four little 3x3 gift cards that they can use when they give gifts. Can I just tell you that I love Designer Paper and how it coordinates with the cardstock by SU!

Lyndsey and her mom really go all out for their cookie party.

Chicken Club Wrap...yum.

Hummus, veggies, and pita chips.

Cheeseball...one of my favorites.

Festive drinks. Have you tried the sparkling drinks from Trader Joe's...very good.

Everyone enjoying the good food.

Lyndsey and her mom even have door prizes. How fun is that?!

And of course...the cookies. There was a very nice variety.

Here are the chocolate chip cookies that I made. Simple, yet oh so delicious. I just used the Nestle Toll house recipe (do any of you remember that Friends episode?), only I substituted the butter with butter Crisco .

Sunday we went with a group of people to see the lights at our local zoo.

Jamison was super excited...

...Caleb, not so much at first.

Here's my friend Tonya's daughter...all bundled and ready to go.

The gang.

More of the gang.

Despite the cold temperatures the kids really had a great time.

In the reptile house there was a snake you could touch. Notice I am BEHIND the camera. No snakes for me.

Whoa baby!!!!

One of my favorite parts about our zoo is the manatee exhibit. This isn't the best picture, sorry.

The lights were amazing! My pictures do not do them justice, you just had to be there. This year all of the lights were LED.

This was the display right outside of the aquarium.

This is the display around the lake in the zoo. At certain points in the evening they play music and the lights "dance" to the music. It was really neat.

Me and my homie Tonya.

Are you still there? How was your weekend?

The Simple Woman's Daybook - December 7, 2009

For today...

Outside my window...Snow. Just a little, but it's still snow. I'm sure my kids will be thrilled!

I am thinking...that this will be a nice, productive week since we don't have that many plans. I have a few gifts that I want to make for people and I need to mail out my Christmas cards.

I am thankful for...a great time seeing the lights at our zoo. It was pretty cold so I was worried the kids might not last but we had a GREAT time. I'll post about it with pictures tomorrow.

I am reading...Captivating! I'm so excited to have finally gotten myself together to get a book. This book was recommended to me by my friend Tonya and I've heard that it is a pretty good, inspirational book. After this I'm ready Twilight...I just have to.

I am hoping...that someone comes through with a sewing machine for me for Christmas. One can hope, right?

From the kitchen...cookies from the cookie party I went to this weekend (I'll post about this later too).

Around the house...the Christmas decorations are going up slowly. I have all of my Hallmark snowmen up and the tree is up with lights. Rondell and the kids are going to put the ornaments on tonight. I bought Jamison a cute fairy ornament and Caleb a Thomas ornament this year. I love buying them ornaments each year.

One of my favorite things...Christmas lights. The zoo was just beautiful and I love driving through the neighborhoods and looking at all of the houses with lights.

A few plans for the rest of the week...bake cookies (jam thumb prints...Kelli, I will post the recipe!), post about our fun weekend, make gifts for a few people, mail Christmas cards. I love this time of year!

Share your journal here.

Thanking God on Friday

** I am thankful that there are events like this to support a wonderful cause. Check it out!

** I am thankful that God refocuses me towards what HE wants my priorities to be, not what I think they should be. Now I just have to be obedient to that (good thing He works on that too!).

** I am thankful for the upcoming holiday season.

December Craft Challenge - Advent Calendar

I am so excited to participate in Heidi's Craft Challenge this month. The theme is Christmas and since I already had plans to make an advent calendar, I thought that would be a good craft to make for the challenge.

Initially I was going to do a traditional calendar with something for each day, but I ran out of ideas. So, I decided to have a weekly countdown to Christmas. I was inspired by this tutorial and tweeked it to my simplified calendar. So, the idea is that each week (on Sunday because that is our family day) we'll go over the activities that we'll do for that week. Here are some things we are going to do:

Watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas (we did this Monday...a day early)

Go to the zoo and see the Christmas lights

Drink hot chocolate

Make Jesus a birthday card

Put up our Christmas decorations

Make Christmas cookies

Watch the Charlie Brown Christmas Special (December 8)

Drive around and see the lights in our neighborhood

Read about Jesus' birth

So for the calendar I used paper mache boxes that will hold the list of that week's activities. I traced the lid and applied some festive scrapbook paper using Mod Podge (gotta love that stuff).

Here's one box with the paper glued to the lid. Then I used my Cricut and cut out the numbers 1, 2, 3, and 4 for each week. **I can tell that I do my crafting at night because there's always mood lighting in my pictures.

I cut out 25 squares from scrapbook paper and then mounted them on cardstock. I used my Cricut again to cut out the numbers for each square.

I made the 25 square slightly bigger and used scrapbook paper that says Merry Christmas.

Finally, I made a heading, glued everything to a canvas and then added some embellishments.

I am thrilled with the result even though I realize that I will only be able to use this for this year...still worth it.

Wordless Wednesday - All I Want For Christmas...

All Things Love in November

I can't believe that November is over. I love this because it gives me a chance to remember all of the great things from the past month.

1. Thanksgiving!

2. My new camera! I still have a lot to learn about it, but so far I am in love.

3. My birthday. I had a great time.

4. Canada Dry Cranberry Ginger Ale. It only comes out this time of year and I try and stock up so that I can enjoy a little longer.

This post was inspired by All Things G&D