Monthly Musings: November 2022 "Holiday Prep"

 Since I already had 2 posts scheduled for yesterday I pushed off my post for Holly and Patty's Monthly Musings by a day.  It also gave me more time to write it up since we've had a busy week. 


1. Favorite holiday traditions? We don't have a whole lot of traditions left!  My favorite used to be baking/ crafting/ making gingerbread houses with the boys but they don't like to do that much anymore.  We still decorate our tree as a family and watch Christmas Vacation.  We still gift them an ornament each year to signify something about that year.  

The ornament we bought for Alec the year he learned to read

2. What holidays do you celebrate? Just Christmas 

3. How early do you shop? My shopping is 90% done. I typically start around November 1st but I don't have a set date or time in mind.  

4. When do you decorate? We'll decorate the whole house the day after Thanksgiving. 



5. Do you host any holiday festivities? On alternate years we host a Christmas brunch; this is our year to host and already we're planning our menu.  I may end up hosting my family for Christmas eve too but as of right now our plans are a bit up in the air. 

6. Favorite holiday meals or recipes to share? We rarely make the same meal or recipe twice for the holiday.  When my mom started hosting Christmas eve years ago we switched to take out pizza (mainly because their house was being remodeled and they didn't have a kitchen) but it worked out great and if we host it will be take out pizza.  Brunch is typically quiche or scrambled eggs with muffins, pastries (like Alec's snowflake cinnamon roll he made last year or the croissants he made the year before), bacon, and fresh fruit. 



7. Best holiday organization tips? I am a list maker so my answer is always make a list/ keep a chart.  I also make sure that everything has it's own place-- all my holiday wrapping supplies are in one tote/bin so I can just grab and go. 

8. Gift wrapping-- love it or hate it? I LOVE it! I get a little bummed that I have less and less to wrap each year (as those wish list items seem to go up in price and get much smaller).  I use fancy ribbon and always wrap right in front of the TV while watching an old favorite holiday movie or two.  



9. Holiday coffee drink-- yes please or hard pass? Since I don't ever drink any coffee of any kind it's a hard pass for me.  

10. Are you a holiday baker? Recipes to share? Yep! I don't love to bake but this time of year I am up for trying out all the recipes.  Plus my middle son is hoping to be a professional baker one day and he loves to take over the kitchen and whip up something new.  While I don't like eggnog I did find a few years ago that I love baking with it since it does have a delicious taste... 

Eggnog snickerdoodle cookies



Eggnog cupcake with cinnamon frosting


Mini holiday eggnog cheesecakes


Cinnamon bun cookie sandwiches


Christmas crack (with a peanut butter twist or without!)


Holiday tollhouse pie


Peppermint Oreo cookies


We used to make lots and lots of cookies each year as we gifted off tins of cookies to families we saw but didn't really exchange gifts with during the holiday season like my husband's step brothers or my cousins.  

Linking up with:














Comments

  1. Everything looks so festive! That food! I love Christmas crack! I haven't made it for a few years but it is so good that maybe I will put that on my list this year.

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    1. It is so addictive and sweet; I just love it!

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  2. God I wish Alec lived with us- ha!! Always love seeing what he creates- you are blessed!

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  3. These were fun to read! Your lovely mantel caught my eye in the tiny pictures from the link-up. I also love to gift wrap! I put on my favorite Christmas music, spread out at the kitchen table and wrap until I'm done. It's one of my favorite things to do....it kind of reminds me of folding clothes, which I also enjoy. I know, I'm weird. 🤣

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    1. Yes! I love to fold clothes! I usually either watch TV or read a book (propped open by the laundry basket) while folding. I find it very relaxing.

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  4. Really enjoyed reading this post! The snowflake cinnamon roll looks absolutely delicious!! The amount of gifts has gone down here too as the costs of them are going up. My daughter especially has some expensive taste LOL but I figured it's better to get her what she really wants and just fewer gifts instead.
    I love coffee but absolutely don't like any flavored coffees!! Just pure with a splash of regular milk.

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    1. I'd rather spend more money getting them what they really want than spending money on small gifts that will go unused or just like the waste paper bin by next Christmas.

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  5. This is definitely putting me in the holiday spirit. ❤️❤️

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    1. I am really starting to get excited for the holidays!!

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  6. I'm impressed with all your shopping and hope to have a lot of mine done by the end of the month. I feel like I always find some other little things in December. I can relate that it does seem like we have less and less to wrap though as the presents get more expensive :).

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    1. I definitely keep picking up little things through much of December but like to have all the big gifts and the majority of my shopping done by Thanksgiving or so. That way if I don't get around to buying those little things in December it's okay as I think of those as bonus gifts.

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  7. Now I am hungry! Ha. I can't believe you are 90% done shopping already. So jealous.

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    1. In all honesty we don't have much to buy! Other than my 3 kids we only buy for our parents since the nieces and nephews all want money.

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  8. It is harder to keep up with traditions as our children get older. We have started to make new one's that fit with my girls being a teenager and an adult. I can't wait to get the Christmas decorations up. I think we will do it next weekend.
    I hate wrapping gifts. I get my girls to help with it now. hehehe x

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    1. We're starting to make new ones too. We'll put up all our decorations next weekend... I typically try to tackle it all in one really long day.

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  9. We used to make pizelles, but now that we are gluten free we haven't. We may research a gluten free recipe and see how they turn out. It's so nice to have them to give to neighbors.
    XOOX
    Jodie
    www.jtouchofstyle.com

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    1. Oh I bet you could find a good gluten free recipe; it seems like almost all recipes can be found gluten free nowadays.

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  10. Love eggnog recipes and that snowflake cinnamon roll is AHHMAZING. Have a great weekend.

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  11. I'm going to have to take a look at that snowflake cinnamon roll recipe and see if I should even attempt it for Christmas morning! It looks delicious as well as many of the other things!!!

    When I think of hunter green, my mind always goes to a deep dark plum or aubergine (I'm working on my husband's vocabulary...can you tell). I'm betting you'd have just the scarf to go with those colors! I'm always so impressed by your tallies! I don't keep track, and so many of my clothes are so old, I'm probably well past 30 with some and barely out of 10 with others! I always love your posts, Sally! They give me something to think about!


    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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    1. I think you'll be surprised that the snowflake isn't as hard to make as one might think (not much more work than traditional cinnamon rolls anyway).

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  12. I'm so looking forward to Christmas. We already have the lights outside!

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  13. All the food and desserts you guys make look incredible!

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  14. That snowflake cinnamon roll is beautiful! I'm impressed with all of the fun desserts you make!

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  15. We have similar traditions, and I agree that they change as the kids get older. I'm still holding onto the ornament gift each year and decorating the tree together!

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    1. Me too! So far those are holding strong; Alec even requested that night off from work not wanting to break tradition.

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  16. my only favorite holiday celebration is christmas only. thanks for sharing all these beautiful holiday photos.

    JULIE ANN LOZADA BLOG
    INSTAGRAM: @julieann_lozada

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  17. Your tree is beautiful! I wish I were a better wrapper. My dad will wrap anything, he’s so good, but I will only attempt to wrap hardback kids’ books, haha—possibly the easiest thing to wrap! Lastly, and most randomly, as a General Hospital watcher (LOL), I love that you guys have take-out pizza for Christmas Eve. Something always goes awry for one family on GH, and so they end up with pizza for Thanksgiving—it’s been a running gag since at least the ‘90s.

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    1. My grandmother taught me to wrap so I'm best at wrapping shirt boxes!... but no one really asks for clothes anymore. I do still use gift bags for any odd-sized shape gift but I like how the matching wrapping paper looks under the tree so much better than an assortment of gift bags.

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  18. I love wrapping gifts while I watch a favourite Christmas movie. All your baked goods look so delicious! Every year my goal is to bake more around Christmas time but by December it is just so hot here! The weather has been so strange this year and we are yet to have consistently warm days. So maybe this year it won’t be so hot and I’ll be more motivated to bake. I really enjoyed reading about your Christmas traditions and it’s helped to put me in the Christmas spirit.
    Ruth@playworkeatrepeat

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    1. It must make it hard to want to bake when it's so hot out; sadly, we never have that problem! LOL. We're usually hoping a blizzard doesn't wreck our plans.

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