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Peace. Love. Cookies.
Our mom is the Christmas cookie queen! Each year she bakes about 15 different types of cookies (gingerbread, teatime tassies, Nordie bars, melting moments, sugar cookies, peanut butter blossoms, thumbprints, fudge, just to name a few) and sends them out to friends on beautiful, elaborate platters that our dad delivers on Christmas Eve. Sam and Emma love going to Grandma Lolo’s house on Christmas Eve to help fill the platters (and maybe sample a cookie or three in the process). Unfortunately our mom is not doing cookie platters this year due to COVID-19, but next year we promise to bring ALL the Christmas cookie content to you. In the meantime,…
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2 Things You Should Really Make This Week: Antipasto Squares & Sparkling Raspberry Shrub Cocktails
Tis the season for festive cocktails and yummy appetizers! My Saturday night consisted of raspberry shrub cocktails and antipasto squares and I wouldn’t change a thing. We had a bring your own heavy appetizer night with the fam and there was way too much food and good bottles of wine so in my eyes it was a very successful night. These were both new recipes to me so I really didn’t know how they were going to turn out which is always a little concerning when you are serving something to other people. Thankfully, they were both so good and really made the night (along with the other apps like…
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Feliz Navidad with Christmas Nachos & Holiday Margaritas
We want to wish you a Merry Christmas with nachos and holiday margaritas! Last Friday I walked into the grocery store (QFC) to discover these Xochitl Red & Green Corn Chips. And like any other sane person, I immediately thought “Christmas Nachos”! Quickly followed by “with Holiday Margaritas.” Of course, I then texted Mallory. Three bags of chips later, Mallory and I separately brainstormed our Christmas nacho recipes. Mallory went the route of traditional Christmas-themed toppings (i.e. red and green) – diced bell pepper, salsa, jalapenos, tomatoes, and avocado with CHRISTMAS QUESO. This stuff is amazing! Mallory and I literally stood in front of the stove with a bag of…
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Here’s whats going in our kids stockings!
Every year our mom stuffs our kids stockings (talked about it in our holiday traditions post here) but this year because of Covid we have to be big girls and buy our own stocking stuffers! We had some big Santa boots to fill but I think we did pretty well! My personal goal was to buy things the boys will actually use and not immediately end up at the bottom of one of our many toy bins. We shall see. All the things we have bought for Jack’s stocking (18 months), Joe’s stocking (4 years old), and Sam and Emma’s stockings (turn 8 on 1/3!) are listed below. All items…
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Celebrate the Holidays with a Snow Globe Cake
Do you have a friend or loved one with a December birthday that you would like to celebrate in a special way? Or perhaps you are looking for a fun holiday baking activity with your kids? We have a recommendation for you: make a snow globe cake! This baking project is a simple and fun with a definite WOW factor. Kids can help make the cake layers, spreading the frosting (if you are brave!), putting on the coconut snowflakes, and designing your snow globe scene. And we had time to make this cake because we, unlike our mother, buy our children’s’ gingerbread houses prebuilt instead of tracing, cutting out by…
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Gingerbread Houses
With many of the fun Christmas activities shut down this year, we are making the most out of festive activities at home… like gingerbread houses! It’s an easy activity the kids love and it takes relatively low effort on my part especially because I buy the houses pre-built. Just about every store carries some sort of gingerbread house kit these days so just keep your eyes open. This Gingerbread mansion that Costco carried is my personal fav but we tried to get a few more and they seem to be sold out everywhere now! Target also carries a cute prebuilt gingerbread house but be warned it does not come with…
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Favorite Holiday Trader Joe’s Buys
We love Trader Joe’s all year long but especially during the holidays. Its the best place to buy festive items for kids snacks and school lunches. A great place to pick up hostess or teacher thank you gifts. The only place we like to purchase greeting cards! And our favorite place to pick up items for a holiday cheese or charcuterie board back when communal serving was still a thing. In order to expedite your next shopping trip, below we have highlighted all of our favorite Trader Joe’s 2020 holiday purchases. Make sure to get to a Trader Joe’s location soon – the seasonal items have a tendency to sell…
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Holiday Traditions
The holidays are our favorite because of all of the fun traditions that come along with them! Our mom is the Queen of Christmas so we grew up doing all of the fun things and we have managed to keep a lot of it up for nearly 40 years. So if you by chance are looking for a fun tradition to add to your holiday itinerary, here are a few of our family favorites, including a pajama fashion show of Christmases past! Matching Pajamas on Christmas Eve One of my very favorite Christmas traditions is matching pajamas. I know matching family pjs are all the rage now, but our mother…
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Holiday Cocktails
Dear Santa, all I want for Christmas are some delicious holiday cocktails… Its Friday and I think we all need a fun holiday cocktail to kick off this first weekend in December! While our December calendar looks very different this year with absolutely zero holiday parties, we are refusing to say “Bah Humbug!” Instead, we are finding ways to be more celebratory at home. If we cannot go to the holiday cocktails, lets bring them to us! One easy holiday cocktail you can try at home – a Poinsettia. Its a mimosa but instead of orange juice you combine prosecco or champagne with cranberry juice to taste. Pomegranate juice is…
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Holiday Book Recommendations
The pile of holiday books on our coffee table in the family room gets taller and more precarious each year. Okay, if I am being honest, its at least three tall, lopsided piles. When the holidays are over, I pack up the books along with all our holiday decorations and put them away until the following year. Sam and Emma love when the holiday books get unpacked – they read and pour over the pages for hours – treating them like old friends they haven’t seen in quite awhile. Admittedly, I buy too many books for Sam & Emma, holiday and otherwise. (Yes, I was that kid that brought a…
