Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas from the Risingers!

Clearly, someone is enjoying his first Christmas. :)

May you have a blessed, fun-filled day with Christ at the center!

Quick Winter Gift

Notice that I did not say Christmas gift. That was on purpose, for a couple reasons: 1) This would make a great housewarming/hostess/whatever else gift during the winter months, and 2) I wouldn't want anyone to think I am giving these away as Christmas gifts. You are not allowed to know what you are getting until Christmas. So just because I made these this week does not mean they are Christmas gifts, ok? Just wanted to make that plain.

Moving on...this was a super quick and fun project that left me saying, more! more! And I thunk it up all by myself, ohyesIdid. Here it is: Peppermint Hot Chocolate Mix. (Original, eh?)

I cheated took normal hot chocolate mix and added crushed peppermint powder and some extra cocoa. My lovely assistant helped me crush the peppermints and candy canes by smacking them with a hammer and then unwrapping them.

Here is a closeup of the layers (and whats all in there):

The jar is just a $1 jar from the dollar store, and it isn't as big as it looks in the pictures. Seriously though, how cute are all the layers? It left me wanting to make more! I will certainly be looking for opportunity to make these and give them away!

Have you been doing any last-minute crafting or gift-making?

 

Gifts and Other Randomness

This may be the most boring Christmas post you'll ever read, but I thought I would share how we do our gift-giving around here and hook you up with some links to what I'm reading in the blog world these days. Which you probably all know and have also been reading, but I'll link you up, just in case. Just to say I did. And help the poor soul that isn't. (I think that was pretty bad grammar, but moving on...)

I mentioned before how there is usually anywhere from 35 - 55 people around at Christmas.Which is a blast, but makes for a wholelotta presents. We try to keep them trimmed down some by drawing names. Everyone's name goes in a hat and we draw the lucky person we get to buy for the next year! Kids draw kids names, and adults draw adults. It works well, and keeps everyone from having to buy 55 gifts! Here is what our tree looked like last year, pre-open presents time:

And yeah, that picture doesn't really show them all. Just take my word for it...there is a lot. But oh the fun.  Christmas morning we all gather in the big room.

It usually takes us a couple hours to get them all opened. (Because, heaven forbid if two people are opening a gift at the same time! No, its one at a time around here!) We have certain ones designated to be the garbage collectors, and my aunt always hands around paper bags to store the loot. So things stay pretty much organized and under control, considering the amount of people we have. (It probably helps that we've been doing this for 36 years, too, dontcha ya think?)

We also play a gift exchange game that everyone brings tacky gifts for, so almost everyone gets to walk away with something else...

(He'll be okay, believe me.)


Don't let me change the subject or anything, but here is a roundup of some of the other fun Christmas stuff going on in blogging land:

Katie is doing "The 12 Days of Christmas" which has been super fun to read. (Her blog keeps crashing my browser tho, doesn't anyone else have a problem with that? Its like, "for heaven's sake, Firefox, just let me read her fantastic blog!")

Life...Your Way is doing 101 days of Christmas (overachievers) as well as some other random Christmas stuff! 

Jen is sharing some of their Christmas decor..so beautiful as always.

As is Clara. So cute!!! (Ok, so John and Sherry are doing most of the decor, but ya know.)

I Heart Naptime has a ton of great ideas, and fun things to see and read about (and pin! oh the pinning!)


Oh, and not to completely change the subject again, but have you noticed how many people are having babies this Christmas? In the last month I know of oodles of beautiful babies that have been born. I just learned of another one right this second, which is why I am boring you with this tangent. Just making sure you knew that.

How does your family handle the gift-giving? What fun and "pinsperational" (sorry, couldn't help it) things have you been reading these days? Please share, I'd love to read along! (and pin along) Do you know anyone that is having babies? Just curious...

 

Christmas Cookies!

Holly and I talked last week about making Christmas cookies, and I mentioned having some little ones around to help me with it. Here are some pictures (and the recipe!):

It definitely involves making a BIG mess....

Carefully cutting out the shapes....

Frosting them....

And some very serious sprinkleputtingoning....

But boy, are these things good!

We just won't say how many fingers got licked in the process. ;)

Here is the easy peasy recipe....

Sugar Cookies

Cream: 1 1/3 cups soft butter, 1 1/2 cups sugar, and 2 eggs

Add: 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/4 cup milk, 4 cups of flour, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tsp. baking powder.

Divide dough in half. Chill 1 hour.

Roll out on floured surface. Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes.


Frosting: cream 1/2 cup shortening and 1/2 cup butter.

Add 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 5 cups confectioners sugar, 3 teaspoons milk, and 2 egg whites.

Color them red (or pinkish, like mine) and green, if desired, and top with loads of sprinkles!

This is a necessary part of Christmas, I tell ya. Don't miss out on the fun and yumminess!

Look what terrible thing happened this weekend....

I guess I can tolerate it this one week of the year. :)

Christmas Serving...and Fun!

Rachel, Carrie and I had the opportunity to go to a local Nursing Home and help with a Christmas party!

A lady in our church (I'll call her Mrs. H) holds a Bible study there once a week, and Tuesday was the last one for the year. She decided to make it a Christmas party, and asked us to help out in the music department. We also helped give out goodies and presents to the residents that came, and the girls especially enjoyed wheeling people around in their wheelchairs.

This was such an important opportunity for us to take some time to focus on others during the Christmas season. So often we are thinking of ourselves, what we have to do or buy, or what we will be receiving. If we think about anyone else, we remember Jesus, because after all, He is the reason for the season! But stopping to focus on others and give them a merry day is also very important. And we have bunches of fun doing it!

This is Candy, Mrs. H's dog. He goes in to the Nursing Home once a week to make his rounds (and get slipped a few treats!) Everyone gets excited to see him coming!

 { The residents that attended }

Candy was very impressed by the devotional part, can't you tell?

{When can I have my treats?}

The whole place was beautifully trimmed for Christmas!

Everyone left with a load of goodies!

Having a great time!

Candy made a Christmas card for everyone. (all by himself, I'm sure!)

Quite a party!

It was an enjoyable time, and one that the residents will not soon forget. I am so glad we had the opportunity to do it for them!

What have you done this Christmas season for others?

Coffee Chats: Merry Christmas!

Hey folks, welcome to our chat! Come on in a sit a spell. We're only chatting once this month because of the ca-raziness of the Christmas season, but we hope you'll join us in reminiscing about our childhood Christmases and discussing plans for this year. Join us in the comments section, and we hope you'll stop in again real soon!


Nicole : I can not believe Christmas is here already.

Holly: I can, but I can't at the same time. Yes, the year is flying, but I love October-December so much that it's what I look forward to every year.

Nicole: Yes, I agree that it is the best time of the year!

Holly: Are you ready for the big day(s)?

Nicole: Of course not.

Holly: Haha!

Nicole: I still have some presents to finish up, and I'm scurrying to get everything ready for our Christmas program on the 23rd. I just have to finalize a few costumes and props, and (hopefully) that will be ready to go. How about you?

Holly: Whew, you're busy! Surprisingly, I am ready for Christmas! Presents are all bought and pretty much wrapped and mailed. I just need to make some cards and tags. Our Christmas cantata is over, road trip to Chicago planned, and all we need to do is pack and give our dog a bath and trim. Which, I will gladly pay anyone to do for me...

Nicole: Sounds like a blast. ;)

Holly: The only place I'm not ready for Christmas is work. Where I am so far behind that it makes my head hurt to think about it. :)

Nicole: Ouch, not cool. Are you doing any baking for the holidays?

Holly: Kinda. We have a young married's class Christmas party this weekend, and I'm making some cute appetizers and yummy peppermint chocolate shortbread for that. Other than that, I don't have any baking to do. And I must say, I'm enjoying it :)

Nicole: Peppermint.Chocolate.Shortbread. Oh my stars.

Holly: Yeah...can't remember where I found it, but I'll have to pin them. How did your cookies turn out the other day?

Nicole: They came out really nice, we had tons and tons! Sprinkles were EVERYWHERE!

Holly: How fun!

Nicole: Yes, it was fun, especially with 5 kids to help...we just won't say how many times fingers were licked in the process!

Holly: Ummm....good thing I'm not eating any of those cookies! That brings back memories of making sugar cookies with my mom and sister though.

Nicole: Yes, I always did it growing up, too.

Holly: It's been several years since I've made any, unfortunately.

Nicole: Sugar cookies are pretty much my *favorite*...but maybe that is because we mostly only have them for this one season? I'm not sure!

Holly: They are delicious. Especially with yummy, colorful icing. Or is it frosting? I can't keep that straight.

Nicole: Frosting on mine. Icing would be the thinner stuff. (In my opinion)

Holly: Gotcha. Are you done with baking, or are you just getting started?

Nicole: Pretty much done, I think. I made the things for the Ladies Meeting and the cookies yesterday, my mom is finishing up some sweet breads today. I don't think I will have too much more to do in the cooking department.

Holly: So, do you have a big Christmas Eve or Christmas meal?

Nicole: We do have a big Christmas meal with my grandparents (which will actually be on Christmas Day for a change...imagine that) and then with the other side of the family we actually have a big breakfast meal, at noon. We're weird like that.

Holly: Breakfast is definitely good anytime of the day!

Nicole: Yes, and we have a spread, let me tell you. It is so yummy. What will you be doing this year for a Christmas meal?

Holly: I have no idea. This is my first full Christmas day not in Ohio with my family since I was 4 or 5. Sob. My family always had our big Christmas meal on Christmas Eve because we didn't want to do dishes on Christmas Day. Go figure. We always had finger food and just hung out munching on Christmas Day. I love it. But...this is the first year to spend the holiday with the in-laws, so I really don't know what to expect.

Nicole: Sounds exciting! "Firsts" can be lots of fun. Have you and Andrew made any of your own Christmas traditions yet?

Holly: Kind of. In college we started the tradition of going to McAdenville, NC (aka: Christmastown, USA) to view the absolutely gorgeous lights. It's even better this year since we only live 15 minutes away now.

Nicole: Oooh, I've been there a couple times too! I'd forgotten about that place.

Holly: Something I started this year and we're going to do as a family next year, is the observation of Advent. I use Ann Voskamp's Advent devotional, and it has been so amazing to go through this year. It really sets my mind on the true Reason for Christmas. I'm kind of sad our denomination doesn't observe it, but as a family we always will. We plan to stay home next year for Christmas, so I'm sure we'll get more traditions then.

Nicole: That is a great idea! I know a lot of people, regardless of religion, observe some type of Advent to get their minds focused on the true meaning of Christmas.

My family has a gazillion traditions (no joke...ok, practically) but the main one that stays the same is family. Some of my extended family I only see at Christmas, and it is an extra special time getting caught up with each one in person and not over Facebook. Nothing compares to the in-person chats.

Holly: That is the neatest thing about your family. Most families aren't that close, and that is so special.

Nicole: It sure is! My Aunt is like a hostessing queen and always has the house decorated nice and everything all festive.

Holly: I love, love, love decorating for Christmas!

Nicole: Have you had fun decorating your new house this year?

Holly: Oh yes!! I did a post about that on Tuesday. It's been so much fun since, and I know this is weird, but the entire decorating scheme of the living room is done to make Christmas look amazing. My Christmas decor colors are red, white, silver, and a little green. So the white couch and gray walls really make it look nice. I had a blast!

Nicole: I love, love red and white decor. Love it. Did I mention I love it?

Holly: You may have.

Nicole: I absolutely botched any of my own Christmas decorating this year (as in, all my decorations are still in bins...sad, but I can barely see my carpet yet anyway, so I didn't bother) but I had fun with the decorating at the church. It is so much fun to take an idea and see it all pull together!

Holly: I saw that, it looks great!

Nicole: Do you purchase any decor items after Christmas, when stuff goes on sale?

Holly: I did last year. I got 60 silver and red glass ball ornaments at Target the day after Christmas for $6 or $7. Score. I really don't need any Christmas decor right now though, so I didn't buy any this year and probably won't even get any after Christmas either. You?

Nicole: No, not usually. Most of my decor just accumulates from who knows where. And most of the stuff at the church becomes a, "stink, I ran out of lights" trip to the store. I am usually more interested in buying the discounted Christmas chocolate than anything. ;)

Holly: Haha! Good plan!! Clothing bargains are my favorite the day after Christmas. That's another my family's traditions: shopping :)

Nicole: Oh yeah? Sounds fun!

Holly: It is! It's funny, 'cause some families don't think they have a ton of traditions, like ours, but if you search hard enough, you can find them!

Nicole: Yes, I think you would notice the traditions even more if some dared to suggest not doing them...I know for us, its cries of, "But we ALWAYS do that!"

Holly: So true.

We can't close the chat without mentioning some of our favorite Christmas songs: secular and sacred.

Nicole Oh yes...Rocking around the Christmas tree!

...just kidding, just kidding!!

Holly: You slay me.

Nicole: No seriously, I have to say "O Holy Night" is one of my top 5.

Holly: Me too!! I get all teary-eyed every time I hear it! "Silent Night" too. There's just something about it.

Nicole: As for non-sacred, I have always liked "Let it Snow, let it snow, let it snow" for some weird reason....because I don't really want it to snow, I just like the song.

Holly: I like "Walking in a Winter Wonderland" because I was actually married by a "Parson Brown". No kidding. Except we call him Pastor Brown, but same difference. It makes me giggle. And this is a new one, but I cry every. single. time. I hear "Christmas Shoes." Apparently I cry at a lot of Christmas songs....

Nicole: Yes, yes, love the christmas shoes song! (I can hear Ben mocking us now...oh well)

Growing up we always listened to the "all Christmas music station" for the whole month of December ("Star, one-oh-one!" was the name of the station...I can still hear it now). There was this sweet song called "The Maine Christmas Carol" about the spirit of Maine at Christmas time....so sweet and "homey" feeling!

Holly: Awww... I love songs like that! "Christmas in Killarny," I think Bing Crosby sings it, is like that too. I love it. Back home Sunny 95 is our all Christmas station. Here it's 102.5, but it doesn't have the same ring to it. :) My mom loved a Christmas tape she had by the Statler Brothers, it was full of those old-timey, feel good Christmas songs, and we found the CD a few years back. Now Andrew and I love to listen to it.

Nicole: My mom is addicted to Karen Carpenter...harder to find these days, but totally a tradition for us!

Holly: Oh yes, they are Christmas classics! And who doesn't like Linus and Lucy, the famous piano song from the beloved Charlie Brown Christmas?

Nicole: Oh yes, they are with Rudolph and Frosty in a class all their own!

Holly: Awww, I'm homesick for childhood now!

Nicole: You can watch them as an adult. Its ok at Christmas. :)

Holly: I know, and I do. I had to introduce Charlie Brown Christmas to my husband. Still have to get him to watch Frosty and Rudolph too since he's never seen those. So it's fun to see him watch them for the first time.

Nicole: WHAT!!??!! Your poor, deprived husband.

Holly: I know, I know.

Nicole: I'm surprised he survived childhood without them!

Holly: We're in therapy now for that. Just kidding!!

Oh, and true story: when I worked retail, the store I worked in had TVs everywhere that usually played sports stuff. The night that Charlie Brown Christmas was on, I convinced my manager to let us turn it on all the TVs. It was great. We had customers standing around watching!

Nicole: Oh how fun! I just love that at Christmas, anyone can get away with stuff like that.

Holly: Yes, it's fantastic, and most everyone is in a great mood!

Well folks, we want to wish you all a very Merry CHRISTmas, and we'd love to hear all about your Christmas traditions, decorating, baking, and all other things holiday related! Share with us in the comments section!

Christmas Recipe: Cheese Ball

Before I give you this recipe, I should explain a few things about our Christmas celebration. I told you last year about how my extended family gets together every Christmas (this will be the 36th year in a row!) and spends about 3 days together. This year there will be 39 people (a few cousins and their families only can come every other year, and this is an "off" year, or the number would be well over 50). 39 people + 3 days of celebrating = a whole lotta food. My Aunt sends out a list of food for everyone to bring/make that looks like this:

 Yeah, we're pretty serious about our food. We live to eat, not eat to live. :) But with all that food, we don't have your typical sit-down Christmas dinner. We open presents Christmas morning (a 2 hour project) and then have an enormous breakfast at around noon. The rest of the time, we just spend snacking and fixing things like fondue, etc.

Here is one recipe that we enjoy each year. It is an easy thing to make that can be put out at any time of the day.

Cheese Ball

8 oz. cream cheese

1 jar sharp cheddar cheese spread

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

Blend and form into a ball. Chill over night in plastic wrap. Remove and garnish with parsley. Serve with crackers. 

Maybe you can add it in to your Christmas festivities this year! Hope you enjoy it!

Ornament Cupcakes

My siblings and I tackled a dessert project for our ladies meeting that was loads of Christmasy fun! It was so much fun, in fact, that one of my brothers (I won't say which one) even volunteered to help us without being asked. Wowzers! For a member of the male species to volunteer to cook in our house...well, lets just write it down, folks.

Here is the original inspiration photo, via....wait for it.....Pinterest, of course! (And here is the link to my Christmas board, in case any of you missed it before. Keep your eye on it, its a-changing all the time!)

                                                                                           Source: Uploaded by user via Nicole on Pinterest

Pretty stinkin' cute idea, is it not? I thought it would make a fun, festive dessert for our ladies meeting, so we tried our hand at it. I bought these supplies to make the embellishments for the top:

Rachel made holes in the Reese's by poking a hole and then widening it with a knife. That was the easy part.

I undertook the task of breaking the pretzels to form hooks, and let me just tell ya, it was anything but easy. I don't know how they got the perfect looking ones in the Pinterest picture. I had looked at the large pretzels in the store, but they didn't look very "hookish," so I settled for the small ones. Still, it wasn't easy!

Here are some duds...and yeah, that wasn't even all of them! It was hard to break/cut them in just the right spot without ruining the hook I wanted.

After I finally got enough hooks, my mom said, "You know, mini candy canes would have been cute for that, too." Um, thanks mom. YOU'RE A LITTLE LATE!!!! Maybe next year. (That would be pretty stinkin' cute, don't you think?)

For the cupcake part, I just made a normal chocolate cake recipe from a box (don't throw stones) and a white frosting recipe that my mom had. Just standard stuff. It didn't really matter how they tasted anyway, these are all about the presentation. ;)

My willing helpers!

Rachel did the frosting...

Justin did the sprinkles...

... and as much taste-testing as he could sneak in. :)

Carrie put the tops on (while I was still feverishly trying to make the hooks).

I personally think they came out really cute! Just think how much better they would have looked with a mini candy cane! (Swoon) It was a fun, easy project that everyone enjoyed. 

December 9th

Think we've had some rain?? Its better than snow!

Christmas Ladies Meeting

I already showed you the decorating I did for our Ladies Christmas Party on Tuesday night. Here are some of the other details that I planned out for the night.

Our church has a ladies meeting on the first Tuesday of every month, which is slightly informal. Every lady brings some kind of snack to share, we have a short devotional, and discuss upcoming church events. The December meeting, however, is different. We meet downstairs in the fellowship hall and have a meal together, play some Christmas games, have a devotional, and sing Christmas songs. It is such a fun time! We knew that Mom would most likely have a newborn this December, so she asked me to plan it this year. I was happy to!

We started off by reading the Christmas story from Luke 2, and singing a Christmas hymn. Randomly throughout the night I read some snippets of information about different Christmas traditions: Christmas trees, ornaments, Plum pudding, Carols, Yule log, etc. So many of those traditions we just do without even knowing why or where it came from!

For a menu, I made a large chicken pot pie and a cheeseburger soup. I asked some ladies to bring side dishes and desserts, and there was plenty of food! Going with my red and white theme, I made a red punch as well.

We played a couple of Christmas games. This Christmas Word Scramble...

...which was a hoot, especially when I told them that "magi" was pronounced "maggie" and it was what Jesus would have been named if he had been a girl. I got some ladies for a few seconds! :) (If you would like a PDF copy of this Scramble, leave me a comment, I'd be glad to send you one!)

I also gave them a Christmas quiz with some tricky questions from the Bible about Jesus birth. You may or may not be seeing some of those questions in the near future. :)

We ended the night just sitting around and chatting. It was so nice to be able to sit and fellowship (and laugh!) with these ladies! I am so thankful I had the opportunity to do this for them.

What Christmas parties have you been attending (or hosting) this Christmas season?

Pinteresting Decorating

Yes, make that the 350th dorky pun about Pinterest, but I just couldn't help it. :) I shared some of the decorating I did in the auditorium of our church, now I'd like to show you what I did in the fellowship hall!

Seriously, what did we do before Pinterest? A lot of my ideas came from there. (Here is a link to my Christmas board for ya.) In most cases I took an idea and tweaked it to make it my own. I was very pleased with the results! I did a red and white theme, which I think is just super elegant for Christmas. I know the traditional colors are red and green, but there is something about red and white that slays me.

I decorated this room primarily for a Ladies Christmas Supper that we had on Tuesday night. Here are some of my centerpieces:

Just different sized red and silver balls in a glass vase, all from our local Dollar Store.

Starlight mints in a narrow vase. Do you know how hard of a time I had to find red starlight mints??? I finally had to settle for the red and green ones in a mixed bag. For pete's sake Canada, get with the program. ;)

Pillar candles in glass holders, with a large cloth napkin, some glass beads, silver ribbon, and a random bowl of green (sigh) mints. (Shh...don't tell anyone, but I have a little bowl upside down under one of the candles to make it taller. It will be our little secret, mk?)

More small red and silver balls in another style vase. 

Here are some shots of how the tables looked:

Garland and glass beads ran randomly down the middle of each table.

The table for food had some of those cloth napkins, some garland and a few colored lights running down the middle. Oh, and a beautiful orange, heavy duty extension cord to power the lights.

The drink station - more colored lights and a cute snowflake tablecloth.

The long tables again....so pretty!

I'll be back in a day or so to share what I planned for the menu and the games that we played. It was a fun night! I have missed these ladies, and am so thankful I had this opportunity to have a Christmas supper with them.