Christmas 2009 ---Time to Exhale!

Don't get me wrong I love Christmas! However it always gets really hectic leading up to the Christmas day. I made two trips to the mall and two trips to the outlets. The tree was picked up on Monday and the kids helped me decorate on Tuesday. It may seem last minute but I always feel like I am truly in the spirit- the week of Christmas. On Tuesday and Wednesday I wrapped all the presents for the kids. My baking started on Wednesday with my favorite oatmeal raisin cookies and red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Since we were over another turkey dinner, I roasted my oven stuffer on Wednesday as well. By Thursday I delivered the cookies and cupcakes to my little diva's daycare center. I also made some last minute stops at the mall(I know crazy), Target, supermarket and the Wine & Spirits store. My new favorite spirit is Nuvo . Definitely recommend trying it if you have a chance...

Two years ago I bought the Wilton gingerbread house kit. The instructions are a little misleading because I assumed this was a quick, no frills project and boy was I wrong. The kit requires a lot of set time for the base of the house and adding the roof. Time required is between 1hr to 3 hrs. Although we had fun doing it 2 years ago, I decided to try it again this year. My little man started off with the initial set-up but when the house became uncooperative with collapsing he walked away with his hands up. Oh, and I forgot to mention the messy icing that was on every surface in the kitchen. Just like all well intended projects with the kids I was left to salvage the house and decorate it on my own. Needless to say I was not very pleased with the outcome but it was finished and that is what mattered. Next time I will leave this project to all the talented pastry chefs out there.


I also wanted to bake some Magic Cookie bars and finish my side dishes for dinner on Friday. Magic Cookie Bars are a no fail easy bar cookie. If you like chocolate chips, coconut and nuts it is a really yummy bar cookie. The nice part about the recipe is there are variations to the original recipe. You can substitute the chocolate chips for butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, whatever your preference.

By the end of the night I had a nice champagne flute filled with my Nuvo nightcap. I thought the rest of the night would be uneventful when I attempted to put the presents under the tree. In the wee hours of Christmas morning I was underneath the tree organizing the presents and my little diva decided to come looking for me. Well of course I was caught red handed with a good story as to why I was organizing the gifts "Santa " delivered.

On Christmas morning, the kids were up by 8:00 and ready to go downstairs. The kids were excited while opening their presents and that made the hustle and bustle well worth it.One thing I enjoy about Christmas is indulging on yummy goodies. On Christmas morning I decided to pull out the waffle iron and make the kids semi-homemade waffles. This was a treat because I rarely use my waffle iron. In between cleaning up the kitchen I managed to make homemade rolls, cutout butter cookies and rolled my pie crust.

After dinner which was roasted chicken, cornbread stuffing, greens, sweet potato souffle with pineapples and cheesy macaroni & cheese; I looked forward to my desserts. The butter cookies(the kids ate all of these except for the one), magic cookie bars, red velvet cupcakes and sweet potato pie.

All I can say is a new workout regimen is definitely in the works for the new year after these homemade goodies..










I hope your holidays were filled with friends, family and scrumptious foods! Have a very Happy & Prosperous New Year!