A Few of My Favorite Things- #3

Alton Brown's Sugar Cookie Recipe- Because I sometimes can't sleep, I flip around with the channels and came across this awesome episode last Christmastime. I thought it was so cute and Alton actually made the recipe seem "not too difficult." As a result, the kids and I made the cookies last year and they came out great. We had the most fun decorating them on a snow day. Just sharing the recipe with you does not do it justice so enjoy this video.

I have also included some pix from our cookie adventure last year.

For the recipe, just click on the link in the video...enjoy and fa la la :)

A Few of My Favorite Things- #2

Christmas Vacation...well not an actual vacation...the movie! Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold is just priceless. This is a family favorite and during the month of December, every year, we watch it 5 plus times!

The best part of this flick? The comical lines of course! What I also love about this movie is the fact that it incorporates so many of our family traditions...it just blows them up and twists them around so that we end up with pure belly laughs!

Do yourself a favor, add it to your Netflix Queue immediately or rent it...just watch it...can't wait to say I told ya so!

Here are some of our favorite lines and pix from the film...













Clark: "Can't see the line, can ya Russ?"

Cousin Eddie: "They had to replace my metal plate with a plastic one. Every time Catherine would rev up the microwave, I'd piss my pants and forget who I was for about a half an hour."

Clark: "Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?"
Eddie: "Naw, I'm doing just fine, Clark."

Todd (standing next to his wife Margo): "Hey Griswold! Where do you think you are going to put a tree that big?"
Clark: "Bend over and I'll show you!"
Todd: "You got alot of nerve talking to me like that Griswold!"
Clark: "I wasn't talking to you"

Clark: "Hey, Kids, I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted Santa's sleigh on it's way in from New York City."
Eddie: [after a pause] "You serious, Clark?"

Clark: "Lotta sap in here! Mmmm... Looks great! Little full, lotta sap"

Mrs. Helen Shirley: "Yes officer, it seems my husband's been abducted. The man was, was wearing a blue leisure suit. Plates were from Kansas. He was a huge, beastly, bulging man."

Clark: "We're gonna have the hap hap happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap danced with Danny fucking Kaye."

"Merry Christmas! The shitter was full!"

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things...

Another year of giving...another year of sharing...another year of decorating and baking and mistletoeing and preparing for our King.

I am going to share some of my favorite things with you over the next month. They are little things that I find pleasure in wearing or smelling or doing or just enjoying during the holidays each year.

I hope to read about your favorite things too...what do you like to wear? bake? share with your family and friends? What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?

My first favorite thing is Yankee Candle's Christmas Eve. The first time I picked up the large jar in a local Yankee store, I took one look at the picture of Santa on the sleigh, lifted the cover and smelled pure Christmas Eve excitement...a perfect blend of sugar plums, cool air and pure Christmas magic. I buy a new one every year as I burn the large jar so often and for so long that it is gone by the end of each holiday season. I can't wait to purchase this year's candle this week! Try it- I guarantee that your home will start to fill with the magic of Christmas.

Holiday Stroll- Nashua

We decided to partake in the holiday stroll in Nashua NH tonight. It is the first time we checked it out and really enjoyed walking around and getting into the spirit. Diana was a typical fox- people watching and not missing a trick! I have to give credit to Ally. She was going to walk around with her boyfriend and she suggested to us that we should join them- well we took them up on it and it was a great night.

We even got to see Santa...and although the practices went well, by the time we got up to Santa, Diana had a complete meltdown. I snapped a few pix and I actually got it on video (stay tuned- I do realize I am not as good with getting videos up here as I am with pix though)

Since 1993, the Stroll has served as Nashua’s official kick-off to the holiday season.

Each year, close to 30,000 people from across New England visit downtown Nashua to enjoy this FREE holiday event.

The evening kicks off with a procession from City Hall to Railroad Square where the City’s official Christmas tree is lit.

Much of the downtown is closed to traffic for the evening, allowing Strollers to enjoy the live entertainment, sample offerings from street vendors, dine in downtown’s fine restaurants and do holiday shopping at our unique specialty shops and boutiques.

What are you doing to kick off your Christmas season?

Thanksgiving 2010

So this year we decided to do something very special for Thanksgiving...the idea was suggested to me three different times and on the third time, I knew it needed to be done.

The first time it was suggested to me was by a new friend I met when I was taking a class this past summer. She and her husband do this each year with a bunch of friends- sounded like a blast.

The next time it was suggested to me was in a book I was reading this summer on the beach- Jennifer Weiner's newest book, Fly Away Home. I thought, "this may be a sign?"

The third and final time it was suggested to me was by my mom as we were sitting on the beach, over Labor Day Weekend. She asked, "I have always wanted a beach house...I even thought it might be nice, for something different some year, to have Thanksgiving at that house too."

I got the chills when she said that and proceeded to blab on and on about this being a sign and how my friend already does it and they just did that in the book I was reading and blah....blah...blah

Well, my mom took everything I said with a grain of salt...never really thinking I would act on it.

I didn't stop on that day. I did my typical research and found a gem...a steal...almost too good to be true but definitely meant to be.

When I talked to my mom, she said great! She said they would be in and then I already knew my in-laws would be pscyhed. Rob smiled and said sure.

The weekend was great...relaxing and just good to be around our family. When you are going through a crisis, you sometimes have no choice but to live in the moment...live for today and enjoy the present. I can say that Rob and I did just that. Yes we were coming home to the same stresses and unknown but we did enjoy three days in paradise...well York, Maine to be exact.

On Wednesday, "The Monk" and I headed out early...I had some errands to do and my goal was to get all of our things and unpacked and have the ambiance set and cocktail party ready to go before our parents arrived. Well I got mostly everything done...it was just so much more work than I had anticipated.

Though it was work (and Monkey behaved so well- she sat in her booster chair while I ran up and down the stairs 25+ times with things), it was great to be there.

Every window we looked out, had a view of the ocean...it was unreal... a true dream come true. I was even able to get a few appetizers made before my parents arrived.

My mom felt the same way too! She felt that she belonged in that house...my dad started to sweat when my mom announced that she is going to buy it...I do hope that comes true but in the meantime, it was funny to watch my dad's reaction as my mom walked through the house squealing!

My in-laws arrive awhile after and finally Roberto with our beloved bulldog Bambi...we had cocktails and apps and I don't think I disappointed! I went with the following: Thanksgiving Cocktail Meatballs, Dates Stuffed with Cream Cheese and Almonds and Wrapped in Bacon, Fried Smoked Mozzarella in Phyllo with Honey and Figs and Cheddar Cheese and Crackers. My mom made her awesome hot mushroom dip with breadsticks and we enjoyed champagne cocktails and J. Lohr Cab.

Thanksgiving was filled with the warm of family and tradition. My mom and I started the day with a brief walk (it was SO COLD but so beautiful!) and quickly found how out how close we were to the Nubble Lighthouse...I took some good pix there. Later, when my aunt and uncle and cousins arrived we enjoyed our feeding frenzy. Our cocktail hour included my mom's famous stuffed mushrooms, and also her date nut cheese ball and crackers. My aunt made awesome bruschetta and then dinner was very traditional and very yummy.

The rest of the weekend, we enjoyed walks outside, some Christmas shopping and chilling in our dream house. Titanic was on last night which was the perfect end to a great time with family :)

Here is to endless thanks and prayers that things will come together for my Rob very soon.