Christmas through Brianna's eyes

Brianna got a camera for Christmas!

Merry Christmas from Brianna!

Making for the Taking

It has been non-stop baking, sewing, and shopping around here. We decided on some MUST MAKE Christmas recipes last year, and have loved making them again this year. GamMommy came from Georgia for Kai's birthday and decided to stay and help. It got seriously messy. And no--Kai did not put his feet in the dough. But I also wouldn't tell you if he did:)

The Perfect Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; add dry ingredients, and mix until incorporated. With mixer running, add egg, milk, and vanilla; mix until incorporated.
Transfer dough to a work surface. Shape into 2 discs, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with nonstick baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes, and transfer to prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch in between. Leftover dough can be rolled and cut once more. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes; do not allow to brown. Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Trick: To make them seriously perfect--roll them out in powdered sugar instead of flour. Extra flour makes them yucky and not perfect.

We Love This Icing

Ingredients
1 box confectioners' sugar (1 pound)
2 large egg whites

Directions
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugar and meringue powder. Mixing on low speed, add a scant 1/2 cup water. For a thinner consistency, usually used for flooding, add more water. A thicker consistency is generally used for outlining and adding details. Mix until icing holds a ribbonlike trail on the surface of the mixture for 5 seconds when you raise the paddle

This is like a thick glaze, which is not a regular frosting. You just glaze it on, and then it ends up all shiny and pretty and you can sprinkle it up or leave it plain like my picture shows. It will also harden like a candy coat.

Peppermint Marshmallows

Ingredients

Makes sixteen 2-inch squares
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
4 packages (1/4 ounce each) unflavored gelatin
3/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons red food coloring

Directions
Coat an 8-inch square pan with cooking spray; line bottom with parchment paper. Coat the parchment with cooking spray, and set pan aside. Put sugar, corn syrup, and 3/4 cup water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Stop stirring; let mixture come to a boil. Raise heat to medium-high; cook until mixture registers 260 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile, sprinkle gelatin over 3/4 cup water in a heatproof bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften. Set the bowl with the gelatin mixture over a pan of simmering water; whisk constantly until gelatin is dissolved. Remove from heat, and stir in extract; set aside.
Beat egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff (but not dry) peaks form. Whisk gelatin mixture into sugar mixture; with mixer running, gradually add to egg whites. Mix on high speed until very thick, 12 to 15 minutes.
Pour mixture into lined pan. Working quickly, drop dots of red food coloring across surface of marshmallow. Using a toothpick, swirl food coloring into marshmallow to create a marbleized effect. Let marshmallow stand, uncovered, at room temperature until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Cut into squares.

These are a bit time consuming, but once immersed in yummy hot chocolate, oh my gosh they are worth it.

And then here's an apron I made for my niece. I realized I can't show all the sewing I have done until after Christmas on the chance that some family members actually look at my blog:<

I had to make this pattern up because after I got everything out, I realized I didn't have a pattern. However, I did learn what not to do by my lack of preparation!

alrighty, back to work.

present pain

My husband is kind of hard to shop for, especially when I want it to be thoughtful as well as functional. It's the thinking part that always gets me. Thankfully he does give a list, or mention things he likes throughout the year, so I am not completely in the dark. If I am smart enough, I write it down in that moment when he says it, whereas most times I am a bit distracted with other things and I forget.

Well this year, I was super proud of myself. He saw something on TV 6 months ago and loved it, and I wrote it down. About a month ago I had to do a search for it online, but I found it and ordered it and I was so excited because it was seriously thoughtful and functional.

And then dear husband of mine came out of the office yesterday announcing that he bought the exact same thing for someone for Christmas, and while he was at it he got one for himself.

Seriously? Seriously.

tiny snow-laden villages and such

How sweet is this? It took Brianna and I forever to put together, but it was worth it:)

and check out her dresser! Aaron completely refinished and painted it. It is so awesome to have a husband who can take something ugly and make it beautiful.

The pink knobs were, of course, my idea:)

Days 8 & 9

So here it is all decorated. I'm sure I could do more, but for now, this is enough. I've realized that I'm going to have to hit the after-Christmas sales this year now that I have space to display things. And of course, we still have days of Christmas crafts ahead of us:)
Some people have the perfect looking Christmas tree. My tree is perfect for me. It's a whirl of old (and I mean old) and new ornaments with splashes of crazy color. Brianna was the main tree decorator this year, so three cheers for her!
and no--it is not an optical illusion. My tree is totally crooked. I wish I wish I knew how to take pictures that really showed how everything looks in real life. It is seriously sparkly..but no sparkles in these lame shots:(So you might say this is just an ordinary glass vase of ornaments. Not so, my dear! This is an ordinary glass vase of ornaments with a vintage ribbon that I adore around it! Truly one of my favorite Goodwill finds ever. My mind has been swirling with ideas of things I can wrap it around!

I posted this shot because you can see the coffee table color really well. It was the ugliest thing ever left here by the previous family and Aaron refinished it. He's amazing!

My favorite thing on here, beside the nativity that my Aunt Barbara gave me, is the White Christmas record album.

cute message Brianna put up in her hallway...

and I am done.

Day 6 and 7

A newspaper Christmas tree! here's the link to the instructions...

This is how beautiful things begin... haha!

I told Brianna to go make some Christmas art and she came back with this. She's good.

Day 5

I took pictures for our Christmas card

This is how it went...

Day 4

Just a few little things...

oh how I love to read Christmas books

I put up my nativity and I had this random star mirror wall decoration thingy and oh-my-gosh I had a plan. Here is the result. When I am completely done decorating I will give a full room view. No peeking yet:)
Last year I took a lot of photos of the snow and trees before Christmas. I decided to frame them and put them all around the house to give a wintery feel. Just a bit of Carrie art.

what a crappy picture of a picture. I really need to start photographing during the day. Oh well(if I didn't have the whole photographer stigma attached to me--way less pressure:)

and can I just say that choosing paint color is not my idea of fun this year. I have gone through 4 colors in my office and then 3 colors in my bedroom. It looks amazing at the store--and then on the little square thing--and then on my wall I want to throw up. I am EXHAUSTED just trying to make it right. I just want to paint already. I am seriously considering just going back to blah beige. yes...it is THAT serious.

How is that for a Christmas AND lamenting post? haha!

Day 3

Snow Wreath

Okay-I totally love this. It took me and the kiddos 20 minutes to make. I got a foam wreath and glued cotton balls to it. I think it looks so cute on our office door. I also think I am a genius because I googled the idea and can't find anyone else who has done it. So finally--an original idea from me! And if you are someone who has happened to have done this before... just let me live in my glory for a sec, okay?

Day 2

Letter to Santa Old sweater chair cushion covers

I took some old sweaters, cut them to size, and stapled them around the existing fabric. So easy!

24 Days of Christmas

I have the high aspiration of doing something Christmas-y every day. I want to give my family some fun memories of cookie making, decorating, crafting and gift-giving this season as well as preserve those memories. Therefore I blog what we have done. This idea is, in retrospect, insane. However, pretty much everything I do is copy-cat anyway (with a bit-o flare from me), so it's just a matter of my following instructions:)

So let's begin:

Day 1
Our advent calendar. Some socks strung up on a rope with a small present and scripture/lyric/song/silly reindeer dance inside. I stuck some scrapbook sticker numbers on for the day. Luckily I adore socks, so I had some fun ones already on hand. Thank you for the idea Martha.

I LOVE wreaths. I'll be be making a ton of different ones. This is one where we just gathered some sticks and pine cones from the woods and twined them together (okay--just kidding--it's all Michael's, baby) and then I glammed it up with some ornaments. You were about to feel totally and completely inept as a crafty mother, weren't you? No no--don't worry. I'm not THAT good.

and hung some of the same ornaments with fishing string to the chandelier. It's all bright and sparkly. I love it.

I love edible decorations. I put some cloves in some oranges, put them on a cake plate with some leaves and berries and voila! It smells so good.