Beautifully set tables with a bit of bokeh ready for loved ones to gather ’round.
Hubby preparing Christmas dinner while wearing his presents.
Grandma Mestanza proudly posing with her almost-as-tall-as-her grandchildren
Little Lion Man giggling on his granny’s knee.
One tired little boy tucking into Grandpa to sleep.
Cousins cuddling.
Sisters striking a pose.
Happy children loving most of their presents…
and exclaiming, “This was the best Christmas ever!”
On Christmas Eve, a calm feeling came over me. Although I still had the entire house to clean for company while Allan prepared a huge Italian feat for my family, I felt like it was no big deal.
Since Halloween, life has been pretty chaotic from birthday celebrations, school projects, races and then the holidays came. For months, I’ve felt like I was drowning. But for the first time in months, I felt like I could finally catch my breath and I enjoyed the moment with a few more cleansing breaths while I cleaned.
I suppose I felt calm because this was it. The last big thing I had been stressing over was now coming to a close. The presents had been bought and wrapped. Most of my Christmas cards had been mailed. All that was left was to enjoy Christmas and I was truly enjoying it, ironically while I scrubbed toilets.
Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were perfect. The kids were so excited about all of their presents. The food was fantastic and we shared lots of laughs and good cheer with our families. And it felt so good not to worry about anything (school projects, races, blogging) for a little while.
With today being Boxing Day, we’ll spend a quiet day at home cleaning out closets and cupboards to find space for all our lovely new things we received from Christmas and then we’ll donate all our old gently used toys and clothes to charity in the spirit of Boxing Day. Today could be another calming, therapeutic cleansing day for me in many ways. At least that’s what I’m hoping it to be.
Although I’m enjoying my Christmas calming and cleansing moments, it leaves room for some new goals and plans for the New Year. But that’s another post.
What are your plans and goals for the New Year?
Next week for Music Monday, I would love for you to share a song that captures your plans for the New Year. Will 2012 be more of the same or are you taking on new endeavors? Tell us your thoughts with a tune.
Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
The kids and I have been making Magic Reindeer Food as part of our Advent calendar for years now. At first, the food was a mixture of old fashioned oats and glitter. Then, I learned how dangerous glitter can be for animals or small children when ingested. From then on, we made our reindeer food with only edible ingredients. Of course, oats are still part of the mixture but instead of craft glitter, we use edible glitter like red and green cake sprinkles.
This year, we added a few more ingredients to make it more like trail mix. After all, those reindeer have such a long journey and they’ll need the extra carbs and sugar to that fuel flight.
Emmalynn, Allana and I had fun searching through the pantry for snacks the reindeer might enjoy. Along with the oats and edible glitter, we added raisins, dried cranberries, Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch, Corn Flakes, peanuts, gum drops, mini marshmallows, Cheerios, pumpkin seeds and wasabi peas. Wasabi peas might seem like an odd addition, but I thought the reindeer might like a little heat on the way back to the frigid North Pole.
After we combined our ingredients, we poured the mix into Ziploc bags and added the how-to poem. This printable Magic Reindeer Food poem tag can be found here.
On Christmas Eve just before bed, the kids, Auntie Simone and I will sprinkle the Reindeer Food in the yard. Of course, we always leave carrots for the reindeer next to Santa’s cookies and milk too.
To start the holiday season with a splash, my family and I set sail once again for SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration.
The evening’s Christmas festivities started with small reception to meet some new friends: a sloth, a sea lion and a macaw.
During the reception, we snacked on sugar cookies and sipped on hot cocoa while the Sea of Trees danced and sang. With 25 more trees this year and comprised of more than 200 thousand individually choreographed LED lights, the Sea of Trees truly brings the season to sea.
Once our senses were dazzled and our bellies were full, we made the long journey to the North Pole for The Polar Express Experience.
Liam and I traveled by foot through the Wild Arctic while the girls traveled by train with Daddy. Little Lion Man and I followed the frosty paths through the polar bears and beluga whales to find our way to Santa.
This year, SeaWorld added a new show, O Wondrous Night- The Greatest Story Never Told.
“O Wondrous Night tells the greatest story never told, with more than 30 carols, based upon the Christmas Story and told through the eyes of a variety of live animals. The 30-minute show features puppetry and dance against the backdrop of traditional Christmas music and a true living nativity including camels, goats, sheep, an alpaca, a zebu and a flock of white doves.” -SeaWorld
Unfortunately, my girls were more interested in rides without queues than shows depicting the real season for the season, so we spent the rest of the evening in Shamu’s Happy Harbor.
In between rides, we stumbled upon two lively elves playing a game of marshmallow toss and the girls joined in the fun.
Although the girls wanted to stay for s’more fun, it was time to end the evening on a high note by remembering the Frosty the Snowman philosophy. We’ll be back again someday.
Many other Orlando amusements parks charge an additional fee to participate in such extravagant holiday festivities, but all this magic and wonder is included with a SeaWorld admission every weekend night throughout December including Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
On Dec. 31, families can ring in the New Year SeaWorld style! On New Year’s Eve, SeaWorld offers a spectacular musical celebration with DJs and live bands plus a bold fireworks display to send a wave of welcome for the New Year ahead. With special show times for New Year’s Eve, the festivities continue until 1 a.m.
For more information about the last few days SeaWorld’s Christmas Celebration or to purchase a Fun Card, visit SeaWorldOrlando.com.
But wait! There’s more!
Saturdays in January, SeaWorld kicks off a new program Just for Kids featuring special performances by LazyTown, Max and Ruby, the Doodlebops and Choo Choo Soul. Check SeaWorld.com for dates and show times.
Does any else feel like Christmas threw up on them? That’s the ugly metaphor I’m choosing to describe the Christmas chaos I’m feeling. You should see the state of my house. I think the tree is finally decorated, but I still have a gazillion cards to post and a pile of last minute gifts still yet to buy and of course, tons of wrapping to do.
However, all of that will be put on hold, because today I am chaperoning a field trip to Legoland with Allana’s class. I plan to write some cards on the bus on the way, but with how car sick I get, I could literally puke Christmas. I may need to rethink that plan.
Anyhow, this Music Monday post will be a little light today because I’ve got so much to do, like blog about our anniversary date in the midst of the Christmas madness. Yesterday, Allan and I had a fabulously fun Serendipity-style date, but I’ll explain all that in great lengths in another blog post.
While you wait for all the details, I’ll tease you with a movie clip from Serendipity set to Nick Drake’s Northern Sky.
If you didn’t know already, I have this thing for movie soundtracks and I absolutely LOVE the Serendipity soundtrack, so I have to include the song even though it’s not a Christmas song. It’s a very fitting song for our anniversary because my Allan comes from a northern town in England and of course, like I said, a perfect way to tie in a tease about our Serendipity-style date.
But Christmas music has been the Music Monday (and Xmas Dolly’s Monday’s Music Moves Me) theme for the past month, so I’ll share a Christmas song from Serendipity.
And since tomorrow night is the first night of Hanukkah, I’ll leave you with some Matisyahu. Besides, it will take nothing short of miracle to help me with all this Christmas chaos.
Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
Just as I had expected, she did it again. Kelly captured some gorgeous shots of my family for our Christmas portraits.
Funny thing, we didn’t have to travel far for our portrait session. All of these photos were taken at the North Pointe Village in our neighborhood. Upon a closer look, you may notice the Pasco office building, Residence Inn, Carrabbas, International Beer Garten or an abandoned Up the Creek Mongolian Buffet in the background.
If you love these photos as much I do, please leave a comment on Kelly’s blog so I can win an 11×14 print. Thank you in advance! 
I took my best girl to the cinema yesterday. Just me and my gal catching a show and we had a swell time, see. A real swank time, I tell you.
It’s hard to shake the circa 1940s slang after being immersed in it for a couple hours. As an early Christmas present, I bought tickets for Holiday Inn for my sister since it’s her favorite Christmas movie. She was surprised to learn that I had never seen it so she asked me to join her rather than her hubby.
With its old world charm, the Tampa Theatre is the perfect cinema for a showing of a classic film and I loved watching the movie for the first time on the big screen as it was intended. The larger than life dance numbers and set designs help your appreciate the art of film-making in a time before CGI and green screens.
Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby’s characters were delightful and endearing, like the way you want to remember these classic Hollywood film stars. Although as beloved as they are, it’s the songs and the dancing that truly steal the show, of course.
The song, White Christmas, makes its debut in Holiday Inn, however, most people know it as the theme song for White Christmas, which will also be showing this holiday season at the Tampa Theatre on December 23.
Much like my sister, Holiday Inn captured my heart with singing and dancing. I enjoyed watching this classic Christmas movie on the big screen so much that I plan to make this a new holiday tradition for us.
That’d be swell, I tell ya. A real hot dog!
Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
Last Sunday, my mom, my sister and I held our annual Christmas cookie baking day. For our annual cookie challenge, my electric mixer churns all day long to produce dozens of delightful treats and every year I surprise myself.
My baking has come a long way since the days of slice and bake cookies. My friend, Chrissy, still teases me about the time I tried to pull off store-bought Snickerdoodle break-apart cookies as my own at a cookie swap. Yep, I used to be that person.
But not these days! Now, I’m like Betty Crocker whipping out batches of cookies and I’m certainly not intimidated to try new cookie recipes. No more break-apart necessary!
Plus, the best part about making my own from scratch is that I know exactly what ingredients are in each batch. There’s no hydrogenated oil or artificial flavor. Just some sticks of good ol’ fashion butter!
Since I’m not scared to try new cookie recipes, I decided to give Publix’s Peppermint Shortbread a whirl. This recipe was featured in the Publix’s Grape Winter 2011 magazine, which is currently on display on the kiosk at the front of the store.
Of course, Publix’s recipe called for 1 cup (2 sticks) butter because every good shortbread needs lots of butter. However the recipe didn’t call for salt, which I thought was odd since cookies are typically made with unsalted butter. So, I consulted Iron Chef Allan the Joy of Cooking to compare shortbread recipes. Sure enough, Joy’s recipe stated unsalted butter and ¼ tsp of salt.
Not a difficult recipe by any means and the results are delicious! And look at the presentation! How pretty and festive! I impress myself sometimes!
Peppermint Shortbread
Ingredients
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup crushed peppermint candies
1 cup cold unsalted butter, cut up
½ tsp peppermint extract
Directions
Preheat oven to 325.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
In a large bowl, lightly combine the flour, sugar, salt and crushed candies. Then, pour dry ingredients in electric mixer. Add cut up butter and peppermint extract. Combine on a low speed until mixture resembles fine crumbs.
Remove bowl from mixer. Use your hands to bring mixture together and shape into a ball. (The warmth of your hands will soften the butter and help mixture come together.)
Divide dough into half. On the prepared baking sheet pat each dough half into 6-inch circles about ½ inch thick. If desired, flute the edges with a fork and prick each dough circle several times with prongs. Cut each dough circle into 8 wedges (like a pizza) but do not separate the wedges.
Bake about 20 minutes or center appears set. Cool on baking sheet on a wire cooling rack for 5 minutes. Slice wedges again while warm. Remove wedges from baking sheet and place on wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 16 wedges.
Note: The next time I make these cookies, I’ll split the dough into two loaves instead of two circles and then cut 2 inch bars into the loaves prior to baking. By doing this, it will offer more than 16 servings, which is necessary for a Christmas cookie swap. And speaking of Christmas cookie recipe swaps, don’t miss this one!
Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are flinging for this week’s Friday Food Fight.
*Also submitted at*
Our Christmas tree is up. Well, it’s standing. The lights have been hung and the garland has been festooned. That’s it.
Our Christmas tree enthusiasm and skills seem to be lacking this year. Typically, our tree is up before Thanksgiving, but not this year which just goes to show you how crazy busy we’ve been. There is some serious Christmas procrastination going on in this house.
But a busy schedule and a missing tree didn’t stop me from ornament shopping because I bought this ornament just before Thanksgiving. Originally I bought it for my online Xmas Ornament Xchange, but I found a better one so I decided to keep it. Besides, flip-flops are so me since I wear them all the time outside of my running shoes. It’s a Florida thing.
I suppose I should hang it on the tree instead of snapping bokeh photos and blogging about it.
I’ll do it later. First, I have run.
Don’t miss out on this ornament exchange! The linky party closes Sunday!
“Have you decorated your Christmas tree? Share a favorite Christmas ornament.”
I read somewhere that Zooey Deschanel’s voice helped land her role in Elf. Since first watching that movie, my husband has had a crash on Zooey Deschanel all in part to her voice. Normally, Allan doesn’t have a thing for blondes, but he could see past this siren’s golden locks in part to her soulful, sleepy bedroom voice.
Once he learned she was a brunette, Zooey Deschanel had a permanent spot on Allan’s laminated list somewhere between Marisa Tomei and Amy Adams.
Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of Zooey Deschanel’s voice. I’d prefer to watch her in (500) Days of Summer or as the adorkable Jess in her new hit comedy, New Girl rather than listen to her sing. However, I had a change of heart when I heard She & Him’s In the Sun, but more recently when I heard their new Christmas album, A Very She & Him Christmas.
More than another Christmas album filled with favorites, She & Him honors these songs with pure and simple renditions, perfect for cool nights drinking hot cocoa in front of a fire while gazing at the tree. In a world of autotune and over produced music, each song sends you back to an era of a simpler time when families sat around a radio for enjoyment.
My favorite song on the album is The Christmas Waltz. Zooey’s style and tone reflects the true heart and feel of the song. Watch She & Him’s live performance on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
I’ve downloaded the songs from amazon and on the sly, I’ll add a few songs to Allan’s player as a surprise for our anniversary in a few weeks. Christmas songs by She & Him will make a sweet, romantic gift, especially since Zooey’s voice is like sugar straight from the candy cane. (Watch out, Jewel!)
Pssst! Speaking of gifts….Don’t miss this one!
Visit Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.
