Friday Favorites: Goodbye 2016

I can hardly believe that this is the last week of 2016!! Next time I post it will be 2017 - how did that happen!? Here are my favorite things from the last week of 2016.

1. First off, I'm in my absolute favorite state this weekend - Vermont!! And I am with my absolute favorite people!! I love celebrating the New Year surrounded by a few of my favorite things!!

2. I am making 2 of my favorite dishes for dinner to share with our friends and this Stromboli is one of them!! I adore this Stromboli and ate it way too often this summer!! If you are interested, you can find the recipe HERE.

Top 5: Chrismtas Gifts

I have been sharing a whole lot about Christmas this week, and I'm sharing a little more today! Today, I'm talking about my top 5 favorite presents that I received this year for Christmas! I got some really fun gifts, but here are my favorites...

Christmas Day Recap

I decided to split up my Christmas festivities into a few posts because there was just so much & I thought I should spread it out. Yesterday, I shared a wrap-up of my Christmas eve (you can find that HERE!) and today, I am sharing how I spent Christmas day!

Before going to bed on the 24th, I made a deal with the Bean that we would get up to open presents at 9:00AM. I made that deal thinking she would get up at 6:00 excited and chomping at the bit and hoping to get a little bit of a sleep in because there has not been a lot of sleeping in for me! Well, that was a big mistake because it turns out I was the one who woke up at 6:00 ready to go - really I woke up several times throughout the night!! I was so darn excited!

I helped my mom fold some laundry while we waited for my dad and the Bean to wake up. Once everyone was up we got to open all of our presents!! 

Christmas Eve: Free Food

I have mentioned how my family spends Christmas Eve, but I don't think I did it justice! So here is a little wrap up of my family's Christmas Eve...

Music for Monday

Christmas happened and it was glorious around here! I hope your Christmas was marvelous too! Well, because Christmas is over I'll stop sharing Christmas music every Monday - which means I have to return to my pre-Christmas Music for Monday graphic! And if I'm being completely honest, I don't love the regular graphic half as much as I love the Christmas one! So, It might get re-vamped in the new year! Until then, I have a fantastic song to share with you today!

Friday Favorites: Merry Christmas

This week has been so full of Christmas goodness & I can hardly believe that the big day is THIS weekend! Here are some of my favorite things from this week...

1. When I did a little Christmas house tour, I forgot to include one of my favorite decorations... This sign! My mom picked this up a couple of years ago at a local gift shop & I love putting it up every year!

Gingerbread Men

I shared a recipe for mini gingerbread about a month ago. This is the exact same recipe but instead of quartering it, I made it in its full form! The recipe is from Sally Fields' cookie book & it made about 100 four inch gingerbread men.

Start by creaming together 1 cup of softened butter and 3/4 cup of brown sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Biscotti

In a few posts lately, I talked about my family giving tins of cookies to our friends and family at Christmas time. We usually included Hershey Kiss Snowball Cookies, Peanut Blossom Cookies, Shortbread Cookies and these biscotti cookies! This Biscotti recipe comes from the All Around the World Cookbook by Susan Lukins, but here is how I make them...

I used an electric mixer to make these, because I was doubling the recipe and making several batches, but you could easily do it by hand or with a food processor. Start with 1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour.

Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party 2016

My family had our Jammy Cocoa Christmas Party this past Saturday and we had so much fun! Here is how we host this party...

First, we ask everyone to come for 6:30 in their favorite Christmas jammies. The picture above is the Bean and I in our matching pajamas. We ordered these pajama bottoms from The Company Store last August and we paired the bottoms with a Pajama top that we got a couple of years ago. I highly recommend The Company Store for Family Pajamas! They are very reasonably priced, especially if you order them off season. You can find their selection of PJs HERE!

Music for Mondays: a couple songs

This is the very last Monday before Christmas, which means this is my last day to share Christmas songs. So, I'm sharing three because I couldn't choose just one!

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday! This week was a good one. I got to do a little bit of all of the things that I love - cooking, crafting, baking... Here are my favorite things from this week:

Hershey Kiss Snowball Cookies

These cookies remind me of Christmases when I was little. I used to help my mom unwrap all of the Hershey kisses and roll them into the middle of each cookie! These might just be my all time favorite Christmas cookie and I highly recommend trying them!

Christmas Decor

This past weekend, my family got our house all decked out for Christmas and I have been loving it! The twinkle lights have been such a joy to cuddle up and read by! Here is how we do Christmas decor at my house...

Picking our Tree

This past Saturday, my family drove up to Hadley Christmas Tree Farm to cut down our Christmas tree! This is a tradition that my family started last year and it has become my favorite! I love the drive up there, running up and down the rows of beautiful trees, the hot chocolate afterwards... I love it all! Here are some pictures and a little bit about how we get our tree!

Music for Monday: I Pray on Christmas

Happy Monday, everyone!! My family put up our Christmas tree this weekend and got our house all decorated so I am in full Christmas mode! I will be sharing all about our latest Christmas adventures tomorrow & Wednesday but first a carol for you to enjoy!

Friday Favorites: Finals Week :(

This week has been long! I had one final exam Wednesday and one yesterday evening, so my days have been full of nothing but studying! Here are a few of my favorite things from this week...

Top 5: Christmas Movies

Today, I'm talking about my five favorite Christmas movies. I posted about my favorite non-holiday movies back in July - you can find that post HERE. When I did that post, I had a hard time not including all of my favorite Christmas movies, but I wrote them all down & saved them for today

Party Games: Christmas Edition

The holidays are quickly approaching, which means you likely have some holiday parties coming up. I thought it was about time I share some of my favorite Christmas party games that my family has used at various Christmas parties over the years. My family calls this game 'Twas the Night Right Before Christmas Present Pass and here is how we play:

Cinnamon buns

I was scrolling through Pinterest on Friday and found a recipe for 45 minute cinnamon buns from The Recipe Critic - so I made them! :) They took a little longer than 45 minutes but I think they will get easier the more I make them! My whole family loved these and after one bite were already making plans for me to make them again! You can find the original recipe HERE and here is how I made them...

Music for Monday: On this Winter's Night

There are only 19 days until Christmas - that's 2 more Christmas Music Mondays (not including today's)! I have so many holiday songs that I want to share, I should have started sharing in September! The song that I am sharing today, is one that my mom discovered last year and it was my absolute favorite song last Christmas. I have to admit I kept listening to it all through the winter, because it is kind of less Christmas-y and more winter-y - I will likely do that again this year! :)

Friday Favorites

It's December and I can hardly believe how quickly November went! I always find this time of year goes by so quickly, so I do my best to enjoy in my favorite things! Here are some of my favorite things from this week...

Winter Things :)

It's December and I could not be happier! Today, I am going to share some of the things I am looking forward to doing this month!