Growing up Christmas mornings were always busy. We had a short amount of time to open gifts before we had to get ready to go to my Grandmothers house. We never had time for a formal, or even informal breakfast so the tradition of Sour Cream Coffee Cake was started. It’s so yummy and goes perfect with a nice cup of hot chocolate or coffee. It’s also easy to snack on while everyone opens gifts.
When I started working on the gallery prints for our dining room I knew that the recipe for this needed to be included. I haven’t done our dinning room reveal yet but here is the print I made with the recipe in case you wanted to try it at home. It’s very easy to make and will impress any guests for breakfast.
In past years one of my favorite parts about the holidays were the cards. I loved coming up with a theme, taking photos, designing a card, and even stamping them. The problem is it can get very expensive. While I know family loves to receive the cards we thought this year we would spend the $100 is usually costs and spread some cheer to others. We used the money to buy toys for Toys for Tots, purchased $5 gift cards to give to a few people we regularly see at the stop light by our home, and also donated to the Alex Gruenburg Memorial Scholarship. He was a dear friend who was always thinking of others before himself.
That doesn’t mean that we didn’t do the photo shoot though!
After a busy month I am finally done decorating for Christmas. Good thing because it’s this week! Here is a photo tour of our home decorated for the holiday and ready for family to arrive.
Although it’s still relatively warm around here I am told the cold weather will come and when it does it stays for months. I figured what better way to keep warm than have a little station dedicated to making warm tasty beverages. The buffet in the dinning room was the perfect location and we snagged a new Keurig from Target on Black Friday.
It was the perfect excuse to make a fun printable.
And finally purchase this beauty I have had my eyes on for awhile.
I filled it with lots of coffee, chai latte, and a variety of hot chocolate packets. The top holds some accessories to make each cup extra yummy.
Then I found some tacky but cute Christmas mugs to make it a little more festive.
There are two things that make me happy during the bitter winter months; hot chocolate and snuggly warm blankets.  I decided I wanted to make the perfect snuggle blanket for the Mr. and I for the chilly nights we have coming our way. Since I am still a beginner sewer I decided to try my hand at a tie blanket. A family friend had made each of the kids one when they were born and it has been some of our favorite go to blankets.
I purchased 2 1/2 yards of a red plaid and gray fleece from Hobby Lobby. The plaid just shouted Canadian winter to me!
Here are a few tips:
– When deciding on the size blanket make sure to factor in about 6 inches on each side that you will lose from the ties.
– Fleece is pricey so wait until a sale of after a holiday to score a good deal.
– Pattern fabrics can be tricky if the cutter doesn’t cut the fabric straight (or make sure the previous person did) so watch them carefully.
When I got home I aligned both pieces on the floor and trimmed the access off.
Now for the cutting…
You will want to cut a 6 inch square out of each corner, then cut 6 inch deep and 2 inch wide strips down each side. I found that the natural lines in the plaid pattern made it really easy to cut straight lines. Since my blanket was rather large I decided to cut a few strips and then tie continuing that pattern around the entire blanket. I used a simple double knot making sure to pull tight on each one.
I was worried about each piece shifting in the laundry so I used crochet thread to make small knots throughout the blanket.
I am pretty excited about my first tie blanket. It looks so warm and inviting and I am sure the Mr. and I will be able to snuggle up underneath for several movie nights come winter.
Overall this project cost about $30 (because I didn’t get the fabric on sale :/) and took about 45 minutes to make. I had so much fun doing it I decided to make each of the kids a stroller tie blanket for our winter walks or skating down the canal.
Parker has the attention span of a gold fish lately so I try to find quick activities we can do to focus on his fine motor skills and creative freedom. Salt dough ornaments only require a few ingredients found in most kitchens, are very easy to make, and don’t take much time to decorate.
A batch of salt dough ornaments requires 2 cups flour, 1/2 cup salt, and 1-2 cups water. Mix the flour and salt together adding in water a little at a time until the dough is sticky enough to form a ball. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. After you roll out the dough use cookie cutters, play dough tools or good ole hands to make your ornaments.
Bake for 30 – 45 minutes depending on your oven. Some of the ornaments may bubble up but you can make a small slit on the side and push the air out. Once they are cooled it’s time to paint!
Luckily they are safe if a munchkin decides they look too much like cookies 🙂
