Christmas Snow!

FINALLY!

CHRISTMAS SNOW!

Snuggle time, GO!

Christmas Wish List 2010: Made, and Checked Twice!

Christmas is a time for dreaming, yes? This is my wish list this year, my e-letter to Santa, if you will. It is much shorter than in years past. I think as I am getting older, I am becoming more selective and choosy about what comes into our little house. I also do not need much! But, in the dreaming spirit, here are things that I would want.

What's on your Christmas list?

Incredible Christmas Mail!

Woo-hoo! Lately I have been the very lucky recipient of some fabulous Christmas mail. I have been waiting for a little sunshine to take better, gleeful photographs, but guess what peeps? I live in New England. And it's dark here.

***ENTERING THE SEASON OF BAD BLOG PHOTOS - POOF!***

But, I digress.

It all started with a surprise package from a dear blog reader, Wendy.

She sent me this killer vintage teapot, and a Paris Linens tablecloth, like this, but green! I am smitten! Thanks Wendy! P.S. When are you getting a blog, ahem?

Shortly after, I commented on Crafty Bean's awesome patchwork tree ornaments on Flickr. To my happy surprise, she offered to trade with me, and not only sent me a tree ornament, but a cool crochet/recycled card ornament, a Snoopy sticker, all wrapped beautifully in poinsettia fabric.

Then my awesome friend Sister Diane, of Craftypod fame sent me her 2010 Christmas Zine (which you can purchase for yourself by clicking this link). I look forward to your zine every year Diane, thanks!

THEN, unbelievably, I won a stocking giveaway by Diane's mother, Pam at Gingerbread Snowflakes! I could not believe my luck! The stocking arrived in a huge festive box stuffed to the gills...

There were four ornaments, a huge candy cane, Christmas teas, dulce de leche white hot chocolate mix, chocolate pennies, cookie cutters, a straw ornament kit and holiday baking cups inside. The most squeal worthy part of it all was one of Pam's fabulous gourd nesting dolls:

SQUEAL! Thanks Pam!

Lastly, for the fifth year I participated in Freshly Blended Annual Ornament Swap. I really lucked out this year, and had a great, creative swap partners!

1. Soap Ornament from Meryl in New Jersey : I think this is such a clever idea! You hang the soap on your tree for the season and use it afterwards. Plus (which my flash photo does not show) the soap gives off a very pretty glow! 2. Flamingo from Chelsea in Florida : I laughed a hearty belly laugh the second I opened this ornament, it's so Florida and so atypical of New England! 3. Birdie from Nicole in New Jersey: This one was packaged up beautifully, and I just love birds! 4. Sparkly Shell from Alpha in Georgia: This is so shimmery and pretty in person. 5. Tree from Nanette in Tennessee : This was the first ornament I received - it's very big! 6. Snowflake from Amanda in Michigan: This snowflake captures the light beautifully! 7. Kite Ornament from Kirsty in Texas: I love this fun unique kite ornament! 8. Recycled Soda Can Ornament from Jody in Michigan: Lastly, I was so impressed with this recycled ornament...it came in fantastic packaging...

How ultra-cool is that?! The soda tabs hold the box shut. Crafty-genius I tell you!

The Christmas cards have also been rolling in, and I've been hanging them on the cassette shelf with care!

I am so blessed this season!

What about you? Have you received any fun holiday mail?

PS..........

Hobbes says, "The stocking is mine!"

Patton Oswalt's "Christmas Shoes"

Hello dear friends! I have been too caught up with the Christmas season to blog in the past few days! Whew! Lots of cleaning and sewing and recipe scheming going on in these parts! I have also received such an overabundance of fantastic mail love lately - that I cannot wait to show you! *SQUEEEEEEL* I love this time of year!

For lack of a proper blog post, I thought I would share a Christmas comedy video that was new to me this year, and made me chuckle. WARNING: This video is not child/office friendly and is potentially (totally) offensive, but I happen to find it hilarious! For all of my fellow dirty humor lovers, I present to you Patton Oswalt's Christmas Shoes.

My Bazaar Bizarre Boston 2010 Vendor Picks

GOOGLE READERS - Visit this post at G+N to access fun links!

Last Sunday, I attended one of my favorite holiday events, Bazaar Bizarre Boston. If you were unable to check BazBiz out, today I am bringing you the next best thing...

The following links are my favorite vendor picks from Bazaar Bizarre. I made purchases from some of these vendors, and collected business cards from the rest for both my future reference, and your clicking enjoyment! Perhaps, if you have some Christmas shopping to do, you will consider patronizing these indie businesses? Enjoy the links!

Did you discover anything fun and new? My *most* favorite BazBiz discovery this year? Sweet Lydia's marshmallows and s'mores, NOM!

Just popping in to say...

...that sometimes, mostly when Dad is not home, Hobbes decides that it's computer time with Mum!

Oh hai! Are you wanting to use the internets?

Hobbes Loves Mum!

Mum loves Hobbes!

FLUFFA KISSES!

Sigh...I love my cats.

P.S. Do any of you take about 1,548,999 photos of your pets, too? Or is that just me?

Nova Scotia Shortbread Cookies :: A Story, and a Recipe

The following story and recipe are excerpted from a big project that I am currently working on. I am sharing them here today in honor of my friend Pam's International Winter Holiday Cookie Swap. Go visit her blog for links to delicious cookie recipes from around the globe!

The Story

While I was growing up, one thing that I remember about Mom is that she loved strawberries. As a little girl, I was told time and time again that while Mom was pregnant with me, she would eat chocolate ice cream with strawberries from Friendly’s nearly every day. That intense love of the combination must have been passed on to me, because to this day, when given the chance, I will inhale chocolate ice cream with strawberries on it, (great for the waistline, thanks, Mom)!

This love of strawberries could be found in nooks and crannies throughout the Duclos home...a little pink cook book written about all things strawberries, painted strawberries decorating a wooden trivet hanging on the kitchen wall, sliced strawberries sprinkled with sugar in the refrigerator.

Strawberries even popped up during Christmas-time, when sparkling strawberries hung in our tree and Nova Scotia Shortbread cookies were cut into strawberry shapes, and dipped in chocolate, without fail, each year.

When I was in second grade, my teacher asked each student in the class room to contribute a recipe of their favorite Christmas cookie for a class cook book. There was no question as to which recipe was, and still is my favorite.

Nova Scotia shortbread cookies are one of my essential holiday traditions. Though I do not decorate them with sugar, as Mom always did, I will always cut them with a strawberry-shaped cookie cutter. And I will always think of Mom when I do.

Ingredients
1 lb. butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup corn starch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
bittersweet chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

Soften and cream the butter in a bowl, then add sugar and corn starch. Continue creaming the mixture, adding salt and vanilla. Start adding flour until the dough becomes too heavy for the mixer. Knead the remaining flour in by hand.

Pat out onto a cutting board until the dough is 1/4 to 1/2 an inch thick. Cut out into any shape and bake at 325 degrees for 15 minutes.

If you would like to make your shortbreads as I do, cut them into strawberry shapes (strawberry cookie cutter available at Bake It Pretty), bake, cool, then dip the cookies into melted bittersweet chocolate. Place the cookies on parchment paper, until the chocolate hardens. Enjoy!

Beautiful Brunch Week :: The Big Morning!

Before...

During...

After...

This concludes my Beautiful Brunch series. I hope that you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Until next year!

Beautiful Brunch Week :: Day Five - Buffet Traffic Control Strategies

Whoops...I had one more post lined up for last Friday that did not make it in before the end of Beautiful Brunch week. I was a little busy preparing for my own Beautiful Brunch! This last topic is important to consider while setting up for a Beautiful Brunch, so here it is, better late than never!

An easily overlooked part of party planning is designing an intuitive layout. Last year I piled all of the food on the same table that my guests were writing their cards. No cards were harmed, (thank goodness), but there were a few near brushes with sticky buns!

This year, I tried to create a more mindful atmosphere. Everything was placed with a purpose, and hopefully allowed my guests to interact a little easier with my home...

This dresser in my dining room is one of the first pieces of furniture that you would see when visiting my house. I usually place my mail, keys and sunglasses here. I cleared the everyday fare, and covered it with a festive tablecloth to turn it into a coffee station. This way, the first thing that greeted my guests was a hot beverage.

Assuming that most of my guests would fix themselves a cup of coffee, I also placed instructions and materials for the guessing game described on Day 4 on the same dresser. This way, all the guests noticed the game right away, and participated!

Let's move into the kitchen...I pulled my table away from the wall, which created a circular pathway around the food. Not only did this small change allow numerous guests to graze upon food simultaneously, but I could also easily serve hot dishes directly from the oven.

As guests meandered around the food table, a hot chocolate station, complete with instructions, was in plain sight on the countertop closest to the stove. I left a small saucepan on the stovetop, so that guests could heat individual servings of milk for their hot chocolate as quickly as possible.

That concludes my traffic control strategies! Do you have any useful tips for a smooth party? If so, leave them in the comments!

Beautiful Brunch Week :: Day Four - Party Favors, Games and Door Prize Ideas

If you were my guest, likely the first words that you will hear upon arriving to my house are "Would you like a drink?" or "Can I get you something to eat?" I am the type of hostess who really enjoys spoiling my guests. I like to dote, fetch drinks and serve up tasty treats. It give me great to satisfaction to hear a guest slurp a good cup of coffee, or ooh and ahhh over something I've baked.

If I had my druthers, I would create fun party favors for my guests at the card writing party, so that each one could take something home...perhaps little baked oatmeal kits, as pictured in the Beautiful Brunch Day 2 post. However, I am expecting more people than my 20-something artist's salary will allow me to splurge on, so favors for all are out...

I put my thinking cap on to come up with an alternative, and what I settled on was the idea of having a door prize. One larger favor, for one lucky guest! But, how, oh how to choose this lucky guest?

(((Thinking cap went back on for a bit)))

A game!

Card Party Guessing Game

Have each guest guess how many addresses are on the hostess' Christmas card list. Ask them to write their name with their guess on a slip of paper, and deposit it into a decorative vessel, such as a vase or bowl. The winner is the guest who guesses the closest or actual number. If two guests guess winning numbers, eeny meeny miny mo it, or close your eyes and pick a winner!

I think this year I am going to whip up a batch of delicious blueberry muffins, and package them up in a pretty piece of Pyrex that I picked up at the thrift shop for a door prize. Mmmm, who doesn't love muffins?

What about you? Party favors, yeah or nay? Ideas for favors, games or door prizes? Leave them in the comments!

Beautiful Brunch Week :: Day Three - Hints for Making Delicious Hot Chocolate (with Recipe)

Ever try to make hot chocolate and have an experience like this? Warning: naughty words in this video.

Friends, let me tell you, Nesquik and Swiss Miss ain't got nothin' on my hot chocolate! So let's roll up our sleeves, tie on a jaunty apron and channel our inner Juliette Binoches and make the real deal, eh!?

Hint #1: Use whole milk to make your hot chocolate. Water, skim and percent milks are too thin, and will make your hot chocolate taste like hot dirt! Good hot chocolate should be creamy and decadent. Use the fatty stuff.

Hint #2: Use cocoa powder and/or melted chocolate. Many store bought hot chocolate mixes have additives, fillers and goodness knows what else in them! We want hot chocolate, so use chocolate!

Hint #3: Pre-mix the cocoa powder into a paste. This all-important step prevents the "powdery magma, movie Dune in my drink" situation that Dane Cook speaks of. Detailed directions in the recipe below!

Basic Hot Chocolate for One

Note: For everyday hot chocolate, I solely use cocoa powder. I swear by Droste Cocoa from Holland. If you want a richer experience, by all means, melt some chocolate in with this recipe!

Step 1: Using your drinking mug, measure 3/4 of your mug's worth of whole milk. Heat in a small saucepan over medium heat, taking care not to scald the milk.

Step 2: Measure two heaping tablespoons each of cocoa powder and sugar into your mug. Add to the mug a splash of milk or cream, and stir the ingredients like a freakin' tornado. What you will create is a chocolatey paste, that will combine easily with your heated milk. (No powdery magma).

Step 3: Pour heated milk into mug. Stir, slightly less enthusiastically than Step #2, until combined. Enjoy!

That is my basic, stand-by recipe, but maybe you are a person who likes to dress up your hot chocolate a little bit more? If so, check out the following decadent, delicious links!

6 Delicious Ways to Prepare Hot Chocolate via My del.icio.us Account

1. Grown-up Hot Chocolate with Amaretto via CRAFT - I can personally vouch that this recipe is absolutely delicious!
2. Spiced Hot Chocolate via Perches in the Soul
3. Pumpkin White Hot Chocolate via Good LIfe Eats
4. Vanilla Salted Caramel via Good LIfe Eats
5. Hot Chocolate with White Chocolate Liqueur and Peppermint Schnapps via Heather from Shivaya Naturals
6. Hot Chocolate on a Stick via Giver's Log - Give cute hot chocolate sticks as a holiday gift. Also includes multiple great tips on making delicious hot chocolate at home.

How do you like to enjoy hot chocolate? If you have a favorite hot chocolate recipe, tell me about it in the comments!