Christmas Food

I didn't want to have another post that was all CHRISTMAS and I had a taco recipe scheduled for today. But I had so much fun making sugar cookies with Mr. H yesterday that I had to share pictures and the recipe.

Classic Sugar Cookies from Ratio by Michael Ruhlman
8 oz butter
1 large egg
1 t vanilla extract
8 oz sugar
1/2 t salt
12 oz flour
1 t baking powder

Cream the butter sugar, egg, and vanilla. Gently mix in the remaining ingredients. Bake at 350º for no more than 15 minutes. Watch them closely since my second batch got a bit to brown around the edges.

They were so good. I ate a lot last night and I had one for breakfast this morning.

Last week I did a lot of baking and candy making. I made brownies for Mr. H's class. Then I made buckeye bark and white chocolate Christmas fudge to take Mr. H's teacher Holiday Party! We also brought a bottle of wine.

Buckeye Bark

Buckeye Bark 
1 stick unsalted butter
1 pound creamy peanut butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 pounds chocolate chips (I used a mixture of milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chips)

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Melt 1 1/4 pounds chocolate in the microwave according to the directions on the package. Spread evenly to make a 9 by 13 inch-ish rectangle. Put in refrigerator to harden. Melt the butter and combine with the peanut butter and vanilla extract. Slowly mix in the powdered sugar. Spread the peanut butter mixture evenly on top of the chocolate when it is almost cool (tacky to the touch). Put back into the refrigerator to cool. Melt the remaining chocolate and spread evenly over the peanut butter. Let harden then cut into squares with a big knife.

White Fudge with Red and Green Sprinkles

Microwave White Chocolate Christmas Fudge
1 1/2 pounds white chocolate chips
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
Dash salt
1 1/2 teaspoons (1/2 tablespoon) vanilla extract
1 teaspoon green decorating crystals
1 teaspoon red decorating crystals

Microwave the white chocolate in a glass bowl for a minute. Add the sweetened condensed milk and salt. Stir. Microwave for 20 to 10 second intervals, stirring after each turn in the microwave, until the chocolate chips are almost melted then add the vanilla extract. Microwave once more. After the final turn in the microwave add the decorating crystals and mix until just combined. Pour into a 9 by 9 pan lined with wax paper. Sprinkle the top with more decorating crystals if you'd like. Chill for 2 hours then cut into squares.

My Kitchen Decorated for Christmas

I spent this morning "baking." Mr. H's family does a big Christmas eve dinner. So I roasted some pecans and made pecan pie and I started on the rainbow jello salad for desert. I also prepped for making the savory side dishes for the ham. I hope to have pictures from Christmas Day up on Thursday.

"Christmas Time is Here Again . . . O U T Spells Out"

"Christmas Time" by the Beatles

I saw this on one of my morning runs before it got too cold.
I think it's a real live holly bush. I had to stop and get a picture.

OH MY GOODNESS LESS

THAN A WEEK TO CHRISTMAS!

Mr. Handome LOVES Christmas and boy do we celebrate it. I am less attached to the holiday since my family often spent it traveling. My father got every other Christmas off call. When we were little his pager wouldn't work if we went far away so we always traveled for Christmas so that the Hospital would leave him alone. When we were in town for Christmas we wouldn't stay at home. My mom, my little sisters, and I would stay in a hotel near my Grandma's house for the week. Since everything was always different, I did not grow up with many Christmas traditions or decorations.

Our Tree

I told you all about our tree get last weekend. And, I am so glad we got it last weekend since Mr. H's family went to get their tree this past weekend and the high that day was 10º. After we got the tree up Mr. H put on some Christmas music, brought our decorations up from the basement, and we (he) started decorating!

Mr. H put out decorations up around the house.

Our Living Room
i.e. the Room the Christmas Tree took Over
This tree is smaller than past trees.

Presents: Some from my mom, One from a Student,
and two for my siblings-in-law

We need a bigger tree skirt.

Mr. H's Christmas Tree from College
and the Cards We've Gotten

Mr. H's Rudolph Advent Calender

Mr. H's Santa Chair Covers
I don't like them they are from the dollar store and fall apart. I plan on
making nice velvet ones for our living room when we have a house.

These are my favorite ornaments this year:

I gave this to Mr. H for our first Christmas together.
It did not break even though our tree fell on it one year.
I think this could be a good metaphor for our love:
It does not break though a tree falls on it.

Flowers from my wedding bouquet.

Frango Mints from Marshall Field's
to remind me of home.

Yoda. His lightsaber and ear broke
when the tree fell but Mr. H fixed him.

Mr. H got this at a yard sale as a child.
I think it's really cool.

Mr. H is a math teacher so this year we used this ornament
to keep track of how many ornaments we put on the tree.
Mr. H worries we will leave one on the tree when
we throw it out so we always count them.

I got Mr. H a nice Sponge Bob ornament to replace his
ugly plastic one whose nose broke off when the tree fell.

My sister brought back an ornament from Kenya (right).
I like the glass star I got from Target last year post Christmas.

I love Tim Hortons. It used to be our Saturday night date spot.

Mr. H made this when he was a little boy.
He was able to tell me all about it. He got to the craft table
late and they had started to run out of red and green beads.
He only wanted to use red and green beads so it was unfinished.
Instead of being sad he decided this was okay because it
made it different from one his parents already had.
I love my husband so much.

This is one of Mr. H's Ornaments. I think it's really pretty.

My in laws gave us these. I think they are pretty.
They are also paper covered something so they are
not insanely fragile.

We differ as to the proper placement of ornaments which causes some difficulty as we are decorating the tree. I like the ornaments to hang out on the edge of the limbs where you can see them and he likes to nestle them in where you cannot see them. Though, I think his method is more likely to keep the ornaments safe should the tree fall again.

There Will Be Mud

It may or may not be frozen.

A Summary of Our Tree Finding Adventures

This weekend Mr. H and I went to look for a Christmas tree. Mr. H needs to find the perfect tree. The tree he searches for is tall enough that it almost touches the ceiling, it is full, and it is relatively large around. (If Mr. H were a rapper he might make a novelty cover of Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back" about Christmas trees since he can honestly say "I like big [trees] and I can not lie").

Last year, we went to the tree farm his family used to always go to and we went home empty handed because none of the trees there were good enough. The next day he went with his brother to a different tree farm in Edgecomb and found a winner.

So this year we started in Edgecomb. Mr. H picked me up from the CA$H training, where I started to learn how to prepare tax returns to help low income people, around 1 p.m. and we headed north to the Green Acre Tree Farm. Their trees cost about $7 a foot + $3 for bundling so we were planning on spending about $50. They did not take credit cards and Ben had forgotten to get extra cash (I tried to stay jolly so there was no I told you so). We drove aways to an ATM, paid some bank fees, and got some cash. 

Started looking for a tree around 2:00. There's a steep hill from the farm office to down to the trees and there's another hill between the first batch of trees and even more trees. It was cold and muddy. It was right around freezing and very windy. We found one tree right away that was okay but it looked very dead inside so we were both worried that it wouldn't last a very long time.

Top L-to-R: Mud, Green Acre Tree Farm

Bottom L-to-R: Fake Ducks by the Frozen Pond,

Discarded Tires on the Edge of the Farm

(There were at least three "dumps" with trash scattered about the farm.)

We walked around for a long time looking for a better tree. The trees weren't very evenly spaced and some grew into one another so it was hard to see their shape. We didn't find one after walking around forever so we went back to the dead inside tree and some family was chopping it down! We walked around some more up and down the hills looking for another tree that we might be able to take home with us. There were some that looked okay but they were all very crooked and lopsided. (Our second Christmas tree fell over on us so I am a picky about how straight the tree is.) 

We left empty handed after over an hour and a half of walking around in the cold, windy twilight. We got home around 4:00. It was a long disappointing afternoon after a morning learning about preparing taxes. (Not the best Saturday.)

I really wanted to get a tree that weekend. It seemed to close to Christmas not to have a tree and I was afraid that if we waited until next weekend it would be even colder and possibly snowy when we went to choose a tree. After we got home Mr. H called his mom to ask about other tree farms. She suggested Fredrickson's in Monmouth. We decided we'd get up extra early on Sunday and go there.

Mr. H in the Big Old Trees
at Fredrickson's

I was glad we did. As we drove up we saw all the perfect trees in perfectly spaced in a "field" next to the road. From the road, every tree looked nearly perfect. I was so incredibly happy. There was no parking lot so we pulled over by the side of the road next to their office, got out, and started looking. (The all the trees here were only $36 bundled!) It was cold though, with the wind child it was supposed to feel like 14º.

I can touch the celling in our apartment so we use me
as a measuring stick to see if the tree will fit in house.

Fortunately, we found a tree in less than an hour and we had the opposite problem from the one we had the previous day! Instead of trying to find the best tree in a field of mediocre ones, we had to decide which tree was the best of the best!

Ben got out his saw and chopped down the winner and a nice lady helped him saw it down. Ben passed along the kind act and later helped a women and two children, who I assume were her sons, chop down their tree.

The office and the Tree Bundler.
They also had a shaker which shook the
loose needles out of the tree before they bundled it!

Then we carried our bundled tree back to my car and loaded it up. I tied most of the knots since I considered my self a sailor for a brief time in middle school (I took lessons and sailed on the Lake). We got back in the car and I poured us the hot chocolate that I had packed in my thermos that morning, it was still scalding after over three hours in the car.

I did a good job tying the tree to the car.

The Sun Roof is Useful for Monitoring the Tree
We watched the tree and it did not budge even though
we were going 55 mph and going around curves.
I have mad knot tying skills!

We got home and Mr. H had to go sing so we left the tree on top of the car. He got home from his performance right before dinner so he took the tree down and measured it. It was 9 feet tall! We knew we'd have to cut off some but we weren't expecting it to be quite so tall. Our ceilings are only about 8 feet high. He cut off quite a bit. (I'm going to make a swaggy thing for the front door with the trimmings, I think, since there is a lot.) We brought the tree in to put it in the stand and it was still too tall! Our ceiling was okay. We trimmed off a bit of the trunk and tried again. The tree was still too tall; fortunately, the ceiling was still okay. The third time was the charm.

My Lumber Jack Husband

Mr. H ended up cut about four inches off the bottom of the once we got it inside.  But we got it up eventually and it fills our living room. Mr. H keeps talking about how nice it looks and smells. I think he is very happy with it so all the trouble we getting it had over the weekend is forgotten.

We let it rest a day. Just incase. The trunk was a little crooked and I we didn't want it to tip over. We usually decorate it right away. Also, we were very tired.

Holiday Outfits

It's the holiday season! Hanukkah and Thanksgiving are next week!

Mr. H and I alternate holidays with our respective families so one year it's TGive with my family and Christmas with his and the next year it's this other way around. Our families are so different!

Holidays with my family mean time with my mom's whole family and it's kind of dressy. When we were little our parents would put us in nice clothes but, now that my cousins are all old enough to dress themselves, it runs the gamut from jeans to nice slacks and nice shirts or sweaters. I usually dress nicely and make my poor husband dress nicely too. My in-laws just do holidays with their nuclear family + me and they are so casual. They don't dress up at all so I wear jeans to fit in.

I like dressing up and I like being festive thought I don't like it when others over do it (they've been playing Christmas music at the mall since November 1st, that's too soon). For holidays, though I want to look nice, I also want to wear something that will let me eat as much as possible in comfort. I love my Lilly Pulitzer Biaocchi pants for this purpose. They are super comfortable, dressy leggings so they are prefect for eating as much corn pudding, dressing, pie, and apple crisp as is possible. (Note: the biaocchi pants are now called the Travel Pant and are available here or if you're on a budget or need tall or petite sizes give these Old Navy Ponte Leggings a try.) I also recommend a flowy top as a fitted one will show just how much stuffing you've had.

Below are my dressy and casual outfit suggestions for the Holidays. I've also got a board on Pinterest where I've been pinning ideas for holiday outfits.

Thanksgiving Outfits

Shell: Talbots, Similar Here
Cardigan: Tory Burch Simone Cardigan
Pants: Lilly Pulitzer Biaocchi/Travel

Top: Talbots
Pants:Lilly Pulitzer Biaocchi/Travel

I may have to repeat this OOTD for TGive.

Blouse: Elizabeth McKay, similar here

I love my Elizabeth McKay Blouses.
The ruffle makes them just a little extra special.
If you can stand cashmere next to your skin then you
might want to try the Cashmere version.

Christmas Outfits

Dress; Talbots (last year)

I love this dress from Talbots. The plaid is so festive. I also love that I got it on
sale. It is a size too big but that is perfect for days when you want to
see how much corn pudding, stuffing, and apple crisp you can eat in one go.

Shirt: L.L. Bean, they no longer have the Princess Mary Tartan
Jeans: Joes' Jeans Cigarette Cut

Shell: Talbots
Cardigan: Tory Burch Simone Cardigan
Pants: Lilly Pulitzer Biaocchi/Travel

I'll likely need the cardigan since it will be
freezing in both Maine and Chicago.

Shell: Talbots
Pants: Lilly Pulitzer Biaocchi/Travel

But! This top is so cute on its own!

Shirt: Lilly Pulitzer
Sweater: J.Crew, old
Jeans: Joe's Jeans Cigarette Cut

You can't go wrong with Pink and Green
for Christmas (or any time).

What do you do for the holidays? Do you have Friendsgiving? Do you get together with your extended family or is it just your nuclear family? Do you dress up? Do you eat a lot?