Happy Monday – I hope you all had a great weekend! Ours was spent composting all the Thanksgiving decorations (well, the pumpkins and such – the ceramic turkeys were stored for next year…) and dragging out the Christmas decorating boxes. Though my daughter and I had high hopes, we didn’t accomplish as much as we’d hoped, mainly because we started working on a couple of new decorations that took waaaaay longer than I realized they would.
But they turned out great – and guess what? I made them out of thrift store items so they qualify as a Tuesday Thrift Store Transformation! So stay tuned for the finished project and tutorial on Tuesday.
In the meantime, like even more inspiration for the holidays than you’re probably getting through blogs and Pinterest? I’ve got a few for you I think you’ll like:
How about this cake I saw on Bon Appetit’s web site? It’s pretty fancy and would take a bit of time making the different layers, but it’s not hard and if there was a special occasion – well, this would sure make it even more special.
But you know what I really loved about this? The Praline Chocolate Crunch part (the candy decorating the top) – it’s sort of a fancy chocolate bark with nuts and crispy rice cereal. Which I am totally going to make for our goodie bags this year. Yum.
Then there’s this incredible Christmas inspiration gallery my friend Myra from My Blessed Life put together of all of her Christmas-themed projects and recipes. I love her work because it’s simple, lovely and is for real-life folks. You will definitely find something inspiring there.
Have you ever celebrated Advent with a Jesse Tree? It’s a calendar that traces the lineage of Jesus the whole way through the Old Testament, back to God Himself. My other sweet friend, Tara from Feels Like Home, as put together a Jesse Tree ebook you can download for free that gives Bible verses and more for each day. I wish I had known about this when our kids were smaller, but I think we might go through the book with them now, just to learn a something new (we’re never too old to learn, are we?).
Finally, I believe this is probably the ultimate list of free Christmas Printables from EverythingEtsy.com! There are gift tags, food gift labels, party planners, decorations, thank you cards…the list goes on. Well, at least until 101 – whew. I know you’ll have fun browsing through this list.
As for us, I’ve got to get the decorations finished because we’ve got a couple of parties this week! Not our tree, though – that will happen on Saturday, but it takes up so much room, that it’s probably best to wait anyway. It’s not like there won’t be enough other things going on, decorating wise. Here’s what we’re eating this week:
Monday- Pasta with Roasted Tomato Sauce & Italian sausage, green salad
Tuesday- Curried Turkey & Rice Soup (I made this up last week and it was SO good, we’re having it again so I can post it!), Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread, cut vegetables with Homemade Ranch Dip
Wednesday- Dinner Party: Garlicky Shrimp & Vegetable Pasta, dessert TBA (other’s are bringing salad and bread)
Thursday- Holiday Potluck: I’m bringing an antipasto salad and an appetizer
Friday- Mediterranean Fish Bake, rest of sourdough bread, green salad
Saturday- Homemade Chicken-Pest Greek-Style Pizza
Sunday- Leftovers
I believe a cottage can be anywhere or anything (condo, ranch, farmhouse) as long as you have a "cottage mentality" which puts people above things, celebrates imperfections, embraces simplicity, and finds joy in everyday life. Thanks for joining me!
Oh. My. Gosh. That cake looks AMAZING! (Sorry all I see is the cake haha)
I’m making a blog visit from Organizing Junkie’s Menu Plan Monday today.
I have lots of chicken in the freezer so I’m always looking for tasty chicken recipes.
It’s a sunny and warm day in Las Vegas. I’ve been living on the West coast for 18 years. It’s funny when friends, from Maine, will mention that they’re shoveling snow I caught off guard. That’s right, you’re dealing with snow!
Hope you have a wonderful and delicious week! Oh my gosh ! The cake looks so good.
Thanks, Rona- glad you stopped by! Yes, I hear you with the snow thing – we’re not warm like Vegas, of course, but snow is rare here.
We’re going with traditional and minimalistic this year. i.e. using what we already have on hand. Although did buy a new sprig of mistletoe as my 8 yr old has a curiosity about it. Your mantle looks great!
Cute! Are you going to make him kiss everyone who stands under it?