Christmas Time is Here

I try to keep Christmas decorations boxed up until after Thanksgiving, but once the leftovers are refrigerated the wait is over. 

Yesterday I pulled everything out of the basement and while I trimmed the tree, Bryan put up lights in all the windows! I love Christmas decorations!

I saw this cute Christmas garland on Anthropologie's website a few weeks ago and decided I did not want to pay $128 for something I thought I could make. So here's my rendition:

I think it's pretty cute! (and I already had almost all the materials)

These are all the finished, stuffed, hand sewn letters. I'm still considering adding a few buttons or snow flakes... what do you think, does it need a little extra something? Also- I can make them say anything, in just about any color. Should you like it enough to want something similar, let me know!

Happy Turkey Day!

We just wrapped up our very first hosted Thanksgiving!
Last year we lived the dream.
And this year we had all our friends over who didn't go home for food and football and lounging. I've never tried to make the whole Thanksgiving meal before, but it was a total success! Everything was delicious!

specially brined turkey & green bean casserole

 half cornbread- half french bread dressing. Seriously the best dressing I've ever had.

 sweet potato casserole with a pecan crumble topping

our favorite canned & sliced cranberry sauce --- haven't had any "real" stuff that we liked

home-made Almond-Raspberry Linzer cookies in the cutest shapes! squirrels, turkeys, pumpkins & leaves

 

 pumpkin cream pie

 yum! A little bubbly to sip while cooking!

 cheese ball

goat cheese with dill and paprika

We had seven friends join us, two of which experienced their first American Thanksgiving today.

 Even Elizabeth joined us via Skype from Atlanta!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We had a wonderful day watching the parade, the dog show, and football games on our borrowed TV from out-of-town-Elizabeth. 

Today I am most thankful for my family, my friends, and for The Pioneer Woman's Thanksgiving recipes.

I had the most Wonderful Birthday!

I turned 25 last Friday! And my sweet husband surprised me with a birthday dinner with our friends!
Before dinner he took me to the top of the Prudential building for a cocktail as we overlooked the whole city. It is beautiful up there!

After a drink we walked down to the Boston Gardens which our little French restaurant overlooked and I was more than surprised to see our friends waiting for us! 

 The WONDERFUL chocolate-raspberry cheesecake that Vera MADE for me!!!

Most photos taken by Carolyn and used with her permission! Thank you so much for capturing the night!

Miss Martha Turns 3

Martha celebrated her third birthday earlier this week and we were so excited to help make her day really special. I feel like birthday number three is the first one that might actually be remembered and it deserves to be made a big deal of!

There was a special celebration of Martha's life in her class which I was so honored to be a part of! 

 She placed a lit candle in the center to represent the Sun.

 Then carrying a small globe she circled the Sun three times to represent how many times the Earth has circled the Sun since she was born, stopping after each rotation so Tiffanie could tell a few significant things from each year of her life!

 Then they shared photos of and a poem about the Birthday girl. (I wish I had the poem Tiffanie wrote, it was really cute!)

After school, I prepared a special birthday dinner!

That included specially requested "Indian Corn" (corn on the cob)

 And even a pear pie!

Happy Birthday, Dear One! You're the coolest three year old I know! Thanks for being my friend!

An Excuse

Well, the weather turned cold and I didn't do anything exciting. That's my excuse for not blogging for two weeks. I apologize and promise it won't happen again.

What were we for Halloween, you ask?

We were a true love story.

A truly complimentary pair.

A couple that has lasted through the ages.

We were a breakfast and brinner (breakfast-for-dinner) staple.

We were a FORK and a WAFFLE!!! (please note my butter-pat-hat) Hand made by yours truly out of felt, a hula hoop, tin foil, and any other extras I could make use of!

Martha's birthday was celebrated in the form of a Halloween Party and I had a lot of fun making the kiddos costumes and helping Tiffanie prepare for the party!

Adele was a flower and Martha was a Purple Kitty Cat (both at Martha's request)

For a month, when asked, Martha said she wanted purple cupcakes for her birthday. What could be better to a 3 year old than turning the purple cupcakes she's requested into purple-kitty-cat-cupcakes?!

mini pumpkin pies

And oh, the decorations! I love Halloween!