Author: Suz

Categories
Everything Else

Getting Ready…

For Christmas!
I think we’re about done. Decorations are out. Nothing but Christmas music playing on the radio. Christmas cards sent~ two years ago we sent super cute wedding photo ones; last year I found fun owl cards at Target. This years are a lil more boring but they work!
Cookies baked & exchanged. I’ll get around to posting my favorite recipes of ones I received soon.Gifts are purchased and most are wrapped. I need to pick up a few gift bags & bows but everything looks nice under the tree. I can’t put bows on until we get up to my parent’s~ due to Moe eating them &/or getting smashed on the car ride up. Oh and it might snow this weekend~ what a great way to get even more in the holiday spirit!The owl tree!

Our manger scene, along with a few wooden carolers.
This end table has all red & white items like snowmen & candy canes.
This end table has a tree theme. Just need to add a good picture of Jason & I in front of the tree to that frame.

Categories
Food

Christmas Cookie Exchanges

I love holiday baking! And I better with three cookie exchanges in the next week!!
Tomorrow I’m going to our Raleigh Chi O Alum group exchange. I bought a huge thing of Craisins at Costco a few weeks ago so I wanted to make cookies with them. I thought I’d make the oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies that I made for Thanksgiving for one of the exchanges but I wanted to see what else was out there with Craisin’s.
I searched on Kraft Foods this afternoon and thought this Kris Kringle recipe sounded yummy. I halved the recipe since I thought I only needed 3 dozen. I made the dough then realized after looking at the evite that I needed more like 4 dozen. So although Kraft Foods calls these “Big Batch” cookies, mine are little and I was able to make 43 ~ 6 bags of 6 cookies plus 6 on a plate to share and 1 for me to try later as dessert!

Kris Kingle Cookies, adapted from linked recipe (I halved)
Ingredients
1 c (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 c sugar
1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 packages baker’s white chocolate, chopped (I used 2/3 c of white chocolate chips)
2 c dried cranberries (I used 2/3 c Craisins)
2 c chopped pecans, toasted (I used a lil bit of chopped pecans I had in the pantry, not a huge fan of nuts in sweets)

Directions
Heat oven to 375.
Beat butter and sugars in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in flour, baking soda, and salt & mix well. Stir in nuts, cranberries, and white chocolate.
Drop rounded spoonful of dough onto baking sheets. I lined my kinda crappy ones with these and my good nonstick sheet was fine.
Bake 9-11 minutes (My oven worked best baking right at or a lil less than 10 minutes). Cool on sheet for 3 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.

Categories
Everything Else

Christmas Decorating!

I made an unexpected trip to Midlothian this past week to help my parents and grandparents decorate. I went after work and made it home in time for dinner with family including my brother & his girlfriend. We then decorated the living room & more formal Christmas tree.
The plan for Saturday was to decorate the stairs in the AM, then get a tree, decorate the outside then decorate the tree & rest of the inside. But that plan changed because of the rain & SNOW (it didnt stick but was still pretty to see)!! So instead we decorated the inside then Mom, Nana & I ran a few Christmas errands. I can’t wait for Christmas morning; I might just have pick out the Kitchenaid stand mixer I’ve dreamed about at Costco with Nana!!!!! I’ll update with pictures from my parent’s house and of my mixer Christmas morning. Until then look at it from the Amazon picture. 🙂I left Sunday morning and kept up the decorating spirit at our house. I put up the owl tree, decorated the tables & mantle. We got our tree from Lowe’s and I think we picked a good one! We finished decorating the tree late Sunday night.
My grandparents & Bocce then stopped by our house on the way home Monday. Jason & I left work and did a few projects. Nana & I made bows & hung pre-lit wreaths on the windows & front door.Jason & Pawpaw gave our mailbox a major makeover. They sanded off the peeling paint, repainted white primer, put on a new rubber box that won’t rust and redid the hanging numbers. It looks awesome!

Categories
Family/Travel

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Charlotte this year. We celebrated the holiday with my mom’s side of the family. We ate an amazing Thanksgiving buffett at Cypress. Mom was able to get an apartment for us to stay which searved as our gathering spot. We celebrated birthdays and played a lot of games ~ uno, Mexican Train Dominos & Left, Right, Center. My brother was the overall game winner for the weekend. It was very nice getting together with everyone and was fairly drama free!
Its a busy & pretty rough year for my mom’s parents and her sisters. Ma fell and broke her hip last January. She had surgery, went to a rehabilitation center & tried to relearn to walk which didn’t work very well so now she is in a rehabilitation/nursing home within my grandfather’s retirement community. Mom, her sisters, & I tried to be there as much as possible over the last year to give my grandfather & grandmother a break.
At this point, I’ve gotten used to how Ma is now and get excited to see her & how she interacts with us. Mom & I hung out with her at a couple of meals and a “work out” session. It was wheelchair pilates. The vast majority of older people lifted their legs a lil, clapped and stretched; Mom & I did the same but full out & we got sweaty!! Ma’s left leg which she fell on does move well but we got her to move her arms & kick her right leg.
But seeing my brother & cousin see her for probably the first time in a year was pretty sad. It made me realize how much really had changed since last year when we were all together at Ocean Isle; running around shopping etc. I know aging happens and my brother & I have been very lucky to have four grandparents our whole lives, but I’m not ready to lose any of them yet! For now, I hope to spend as much time with my family as possible and be grateful for the blessing of family.

Categories
Food

White Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I’ve been trying to come up with cookie recipes for the two cookie exchanges I’m going to in December. I think I might have to make these as a trial before Thanksgiving to see. I loved making white chocolate cranberry sugar cookies last year around the holidays and I think adding oatmeal might be a great addition!
Cranberry White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
from Good Things which she adapted from recipe on the back of Craisins

Ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, softened
2/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
a little more than 1 1/2 c. oatmeal
1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 c. dried cranberries
2/3 c. white chocolate chips

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment.
-In bowl of stand mixer, combine butter and brown sugar and beat on medium high until light and fluffy in texture and color, about 3 minutes, while you gather other ingredients.
-In large bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt, stirring to combine.
-To butter and sugar add eggs, one at a time, beating to combine well after each addition, then add vanilla.
-Stop mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl and turn back on lowest setting.
-Add oatmeal mixture, then cranberries and white chocolate, beating just until barely combined.
-Remove bowl from stand mixer and bring over to baking sheets.
-Best way to do this is with your fingers (although messy) – pick up loose balls of dough about 2 to 2.5 inches in diameter and place onto baking sheets at least 2 inches apart (I place 11 cookies on each sheet, dividing dough into 22 cookies total).
-If you have leftover cranberries and white chocolate chips, top cookies with a couple of each.
-Place in preheated oven and bake for exactly 10 minutes.
-Remove from oven, cookies will be slightly golden around edges and middles look a bit underdone.
-Let cool 5 minutes on cookies sheets and then place on wire racks to cool completely before serving.
*I will edit her recipe instructions once I make them and add my own pictures. I don’t have a kitchenaid stand mixer so I’ll be using my electric mixer. *