Aaaahhhh! *Sigh of relief* I have officially put the holiday boxes away and what is out is out. What didn’t make it out, isn’t coming out this year, and I am OK with this. I am REALLY OK with this! I am so OK with this that the birds are chirping and the angels are singing and beautiful Christmas carols are filling my days. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire… 🙂
The kitchen is cleared, prepped and ready for some holiday baking, cooking and cocktail experimenting! Do you have a favorite thing to bake during this time of year? We receive bags of cookies from friends (thanks Rosenbaum’s) and homemade caramels (thanks Ms. Yi, our piano instructor) every year! They are delicious and decedent and so greatly appreciated. I personally love to bake but sadly I don’t really have a “baking”
Christmas tradition. I made dessert for my bunco gals last night (more to come on that) which is a family recipe but not something I do every year. Maybe I need to start one…! Any suggestions? 🙂
One thing I do LOVE to experiment with though, is the Christmas cocktail…more to come on that later this week! 😉
Oh and the holiday cards! They are starting to roll in and I so very much love seeing every one of those faces come out of the festive envelopes. It brightens my day and fills my chalkboard wall with all the love and goodness we have in our lives. They are on display till the end of January and then I transfer them to a silver case that stays on our baking shelf all year round.
Speaking of cards…I need to quickly get this post written so I can work on ours!!! The designer: always designing for others but her own cards are the last to great produced. *sigh* Hopefully my printer can help me with another Christmas miracle! 🙂
Finally, our family room! It is PACKED with all our Christmas fun: gingerbread houses (a couple half decorated…some family members are faster frosters and decorators than others. Tee hee!), the Nutcracker collection (spilling out to any open shelf available), the advent cottage getting more decorated day by day (what accessory will be in the advent calendar pocket tomorrow?) and of course my favorite throw blankets of all: RED PLAID!!!
I hope you too have been able to put the boxes away, turned on the holiday music and started baking some of you family’s favorites this season!
Merry Holidays to you all!
xo, Melissa
Melissa K Manos Designs 