Christmas 2012

 My Family on Christmas Eve

 Miss M with her new nightgown from the elves

 The kids in their new jammies!

 Miss M with her new American Girl doll

 H opening his headphones

 Opening the fishing rod and reel from my parents

 Miss M and her holiday Barbie

 My mil and her gift from us

 Miss M and my dad reading Twas the Night Before Christmas on Christmas Eve

My mom opening her gifts...

 

Hope your Christmas was merry and bright!

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Candy Cane Peppermint Cheesecake

Candy Cane Peppermint Cheesecake

 

Each Christmas Eve, I like to serve a special dessert, along with the usual spread of cookies and candies.  In the past, I've purchased (yes...I know...) "fancy" desserts.  This year, I made my own.  Here's the recipe:

 

Ingredients12 ounces creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookies, broken into pieces
3 tablespoons melted butter
1- 1/2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sour cream
4 eggs
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup coarsely crushed peppermint candy

Preparation
1. Place cookies in a heavy zip-lock plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin. Pour into a buttered 9-inch round springform pan and pour melted butter over crumbs; mix to coat, then press evenly over bottom and about 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Bake in a 300° oven until crust is slightly darker and looks a bit dry, about 10 minutes (leave oven on).
2. Meanwhile, in a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until well blended. Beat in sour cream. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend after each addition. Beat in flour, vanilla, peppermint extract, and salt until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pan over baked crust.
3. Bake until edges are just golden and center jiggles slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour. Run a knife around edge of pan rim. Place pan on a wire rack and cool cheesecake completely in pan. Cover and chill until cold, at least 4 hours or up to 2 days. Run a knife around rim again, then release rim. If any liquid has pooled on surface of cheesecake, blot dry gently with a paper towel.
4. Decorate top of cake with crushed peppermint candy, pressing it in gently with your hands.

 

Enjoy!

 

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

 



Festival of Lights

This free photo collage personalized with Smilebox

 

 

We made our annual visit to the Festival of Lights at Blue Spruce Park.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit.  My favorite was the RV light scene.  Of course, Miss M loved her visit with Santa!  She even threw in some new things to her list, much to the surprise of Santa! 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

 



O Christmas Tree 2012

 

Our Tree for 2012

 

 

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Front Door Welcome

 

Here's our front door decorated for the Christmas season.  It's the first year with the lighted garland around our freshly painted black door.  I really like it.  I also added the nickel D to the wreath. I bought a plaster D at Michael's and sprayed it with Nickel spray paint.   The hardware on the door and light fixtures are nickel, so I thought it would be a nice touch.  I'm thinking a new welcome mat is in order.  I'll keep my eye out for one while I'm out shopping this weekend!

 

Thanks for stopping by!

~peace~

Lisa

Trimming the Tree

After a very busy day, we came home and trimmed the tree.    I will post a picture when it is completely done.  H is at hockey practice, and he has a few of his favorite ornaments to hang.  Then I'll add the bows and the tree skirt and call it done. 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

 

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Christmas Ornaments

 

I made these ornaments today as gifts for my colleagues at school.  They were so easy to make!  I filled clear glass balls from Michael's with some buffalo snow, topped it with a bow, added a vinyl monogram to personalize it and added an ornament hanger. This was my first attempt at using vinyl with my Cricut and it went really well.  I am going to do some more with vinyl in the future.   

 

 

 

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

 

Christmas 2011

I hope that everyone had a lovely Christmas! I hope Santa was good to everyone too!

We had a nice holiday.

Here's our annual Christmas Eve family photo...this was the best of the bunch. My fat is hidden, my teeth aren't too awful and my double chin isn't taking up the whole picture ...yep, love holiday pictures of myself. I had hoped to get a closer shot, but my brother was struggling with the camera...lol.

The elves brought the kids new jammies on Christmas Eve.

Here's Miss M modeling her new Christmas jammies! She is such a hambone!

H with his gift of the year...an iPod touch.




Miss M with her Barbie camper from Santa. It is by far the hit of Christmas 2011!

Thanks for stopping by!

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Snowman Face Cookies

Miss M's Dance Christmas Party is Tuesday. I agreed to bring in some cookies for the party. Of course, I couldn't just do regular cookies. I found these cuties at BettyCrocker.com and made them today. Here's the recipe:

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2cup butter or margarine, softened
1 egg
1 container (12 oz) Betty Crocker® Whipped fluffy white frosting
Red string licorice
Assorted candies

1. Heat oven to 375°F. In medium bowl, stir cookie mix, butter and egg until soft dough forms. On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart.

2. Bake 11 to 14 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.

3. Frost and decorate 1 cookie at a time. After spreading frosting on cookie, add licorice for band of earmuffs and candies for ear "covers" and snowman face.

Enjoy!

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Handmade Christmas Cards

These are a few of the cards I made for the Christmas Card Exchange that I participate in each year. I used the K & Company Die Cut Cardmaking Pad and Elizabeth Brownd Layered Accents for these cards. I think they are coming together nicely...only 15 to go!

~blessings and peace~

Lisa

Christmas in JULY!!

My new sign for Christmas

My Celebrating Home Consultant is cleaning out her "case" and had this goodie up for sale. I love it and thought it would make a great addition to an evergreen wreath.

Happy Christmas in July!

~peace and blessings~

Lisa

Flowers from my Husband

I love the stocking for the vase. So clever!

Peace and blessings,

Lisa

Another Outside Photo

It's a little dark...so I'll try again tonight. This was last night at 5:15, so it's getting dark quite early here. The icicle lights are hung now too, so I'll try to get one with them on!

Blessings,

Lisa

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas....

We started the Christmas decorating on the outside of the house. You can't really tell in the pic above, but the wreath and garland match and have some pinecones and bluish berries in them. Thought that was perfect with the blue house AND I've had both for years!

This was taken with the flash on....What do you think? We're going to add wreaths to the top of each window of the house, with a red bow. Or should I go gold or something else? Not so sure, so comments are appreciated! DH is hanging the icicle lights along the gutters tomorrow or Sunday. Then the outside should be complete once I get the wreaths bought and hung. Then I'll start on the inside.

Thanks for stopping by!

Peace and blessings,

Lisa

Christmas Extravaganza

On Sunday the Ladies' Guild of our church hosted a Christmas Extravaganza. Here are some photos from our table...

A long shot of our decorated table. Each guest received a chocolate angel and a jar of homemade jelly.

One of the candle centerpieces....I love battery operated candles for things like this! No wax to worry about or flames.

Our main centerpiece....

My mom and Kim, my brother's girlfriend

Tina won a door prize!

Robin did too!

Thanks for stopping by!


Peace and blessings,


Lisa

Log Cabin Arts Festival

On Saturday, I made the annual trip to the Log Cabin Arts Festival. While there, I picked up a few Christmas gifts for the family. Above are two Soap-sicles for the kids. Miss M got Watermelon and H picked Raspberry. I'll use them for stocking stuffers. The seller has a website at www.bathavenue.com Check it out! She has some great scents.

Each year, the kids and dh get an ornament (or two!). This year, I bought J a jacket ornament with his college alma mater, Saint Francis University, on it. J wore a similar jacket during his college years, so I thought it would be a good memory. I bought H the CC jacket for his school. He was with me, so he was super thrilled with it.

I also picked up this bucket and apple pointer for my student teacher. I'm going to fill it with some school goodies and a gift card for her end of placement gift.

My "big" purchase was these rugs for the kitchen. They are handbraided and machine washable, which I love. I bought the runner for in front of the sink and the smaller one for in front of the door in the dining area. I wanted a much larger one for under the dr table, but they didn't have anything that large available.

I'm happy to have started some of my shopping for Christmas. I have a few other gifts hidden away and am looking forward to having it all done by December 1st, so I can enjoy the holiday season more stress free.

Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings and peace,

Lisa

Can you say Christmas?

As you know, we are moving. Our new house won't be ready until August, so we have to put most of our things into storage. This is the pile, 3 boxes deep, of Christmas items that we carried down last night. This does not include any Christmas dishes or glassware. Crazy, huh? PLUS I got rid of tons of it last summer for the garage sale. The pile doubled in width when we added all the other holiday items. I have a serious holiday addiction! Thank you to my brother for allowing us to take over his garage with our stuff!

Blessings,

Lisa

Christmas Lights and Santa, too!

We had planned to visit the Festival of Lights at Blue Spruce park last Saturday, but there was a snowstorm. On Sunday, dd was sick with a fever. So we headed out on Tuesday night to visit with Santa. Miss M couldn't wait to ask for a kitchen for Christmas. Santa did deliver on that one! Below are photos of some of the hundreds of lights surrounding the lake. This year's theme was Toys of the Century.

Water-skiing Santa

Hula Hoop Girl

Education

The Nativity

The Festival of Lights runs through January 1st. Visit here for a dollar off coupon.

Thanks for stopping by my little corner of the world!

Blessings,

Lisa

Christmas Lights 2009

Our home lit up for Christmas


From the other side, white lights everywhere.

The back of the house...with our nativity.

Merry Christmas! Thanks for stopping by!

Blessings,

Lisa