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Our Family wants to wish you a very, very merry Christmas – May it be filled with the Love, Joy, and Peace throughout the Season!

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Did you know you can order your Christmas Cards from Uniquehorn Designs?

A year and half ago I went to the Book Expo with my mom. One of the things I received there was The Elf on the Shelf book and elf. I even got the book signed. I was very excited about this book because I thought it would be a great tradition to do with Zane.

Last year I read him the book but we didn’t really go beyond that. This year now that Zane is little older we opened up the book after Thanksgiving and read it to him. And we let him name his elf, he named him Puzzle.

The idea behind this special little elf is that he goes and tells Santa if you have been good or bad every night. So every morning when the children wake up they can find him in a new spot.

I wasn’t very good at moving him at first. Mainly because I think Zane is still a touch too young for it. But as we get closer to Christmas and since we have met Santa Claus I have been moving him.

We have also integrated the advent train with the elf. We tell Zane that when he is a good boy Santa sends back a hot wheels car with Puzzle to hide in the house. This has been great fun.

If you want to learn more about the Elf on the Shelf you can visit their site.

This is the first week in December and the first week I will be sharing our family Christmas Traditions. If you wish to join in please add your link below.

This year we are going to be starting a lot of new traditions, now that Zane is more aware of Christmas. Last year I bought this Train Advent from Target after Christmas and got a great deal on it. Zane loves the train and for the whole first day we had it up he was trying to convince Granny he needed a ladder to get to the Choo Choo.

The compartments are very small so I cannot fit very much in them, so we write a little note and put a small piece of candy with it. Usually I put in a starburst or a few smarties or skittles in the slot (from his Halloween candy ~_~ ).

On the note we write a place for him to find like Daddy and Mommy’s shoes or baby Zarek’s high chair. We are giving him one new Hot Wheels or Matchbox car for each day. We were wanting to fill up a little car case we had gotten him this summer, so this seemed the perfect way of doing that.

Do you do and your family do an advent? What is your favorite tradition every year? Feel free and add your link below if you have posted about your family tradition or traditions. Please link back to this post, thank you!

Our decorations are up, I have my Christmas cards ready to address and send out, and I have cookie dough ready in the freezer. We are ready to start having some Christmas guests. Are you?

Tonight I am going to share with you some of my favorite appetizer recipes out of my all time favorite cookbook. To give you an idea how much I love this book I have a funny story for you.

I was planning a party coming up soon so as I was going to work I scooped up my cookbook. But when I arrived at work I couldn’t find it. That’s when I realized I must have left it on the roof of the car. I loved that book I was so upset.

I decided to do the unthinkable. I was the only one working that day and it was a Sunday and we rarely had anyone come into the shop on Sundays. So I through up a sign saying I would be back in 45 min and left. I drove home searching along the road all the way looking for my book. I had no luck. I got back to work late, but no one even noticed I was missing.

I called my husband crying because I was so distraught over loosing the cookbook. He promised to take me out to Powell’s Books and buy me a used copy that night and we did. I was so happy to have a new copy of my book.

The name of the book is Favorite Brand Name 4 Ingredient Cookbook (aff link). So on to some of my favorite recipes from the book.

Hot Artichoke Dip

• 1 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing or Kraft Real Mayonnaise
• 1 cup (4 oz) Kraft Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 (14-oz) can artichoke hearts, drained, chopped

1. Heat Oven to 350F
2. Mix all ingredients: spoon into 9in pie plate or 2 cup casserole
3. Bake 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Garnish as desired. Serve with tortilla chips, crackers or party rye bread slices

Philadelphia Cranberry Orange Spread

• 1 package (8oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup cranberry orange sauce
• 3 tablespoons chopped pecans, toasted

1. Spread cream cheese on serving plate
2. Top with sauce, sprinkle with pecans. Serve with crackers.

Tortellini Kabobs with Pesto Ranch Dip

• 1/2 bag (16oz) frozen tortellini
• 1 1/4 cups ranch salad dressing
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1. Cook tortellini according to package directions. Rinse and drain under cold water. Thread tortellini onto bamboo skewers. 2 tortellini per skewer. (Or if you do not want to deal with skewers everywhere just use toothpicks)

Combine salad dressing, cheese, garlic and basil in small bowl. Serve tortellini kabobs with dip.

Chunky Hawaiian Spread

• 1 package (3oz) light cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup fat free or light sour cream
• 1 can (8oz) Dole Crushed Pineapple, well-drained
• 1/4 cup mango chutney* (which I have never used in this recipe)
• Low Fat Crackers

*If there are large pieces of fruit in the chutney, cut into small pieces

Beat cream cheese, sour cream, pineapple and chutney in bowl until blended. Cover and chill 1 hour or overnight. Serve with crackers. Refrigerate any leftover spread in airtight container for up to one week.

Cheese Creme Dip

• 1 package (8oz) Philadelphia Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 jar (7oz) marshmallow creme

1. Mix cream cheese and marshmallow creme with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Refrigerate.
2. Serve with assorted cut-up fresh fruit or pound cake cubes. Garnish as desired.

Now I am hungry. I have made all of these for multiple parties I have had and have had rave reviews (especially the Hawaiian Spread).

Tomorrow I will be doing my December meme about family traditions. So if you want to share your family traditions, come on over tomorrow and link up!

If you would like some more yummy recipes please visit Balancing Beauty and Bedlam. Or you can go to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free to find more appetizer, mocktail, and cocktail recipes.

Super Surfing Sundays are all about the great posts I have seen this week. Have you seen anything great this week? Hope you will share them with me!

• Construction Party – I had to bookmark this. Even though Zane’s birthday is 5 months away I am getting excited! This year he will be so much more aware of what’s happening and it will be fun. Frustrating part is I will have no idea what he will be loving at that time so I can’t make plans yet! Trucks and construction sound like fun!
• Lego for MUJI Paper and Block Set – This is a great idea!! I hope we get to see them in the U.S. soon.
• How to Fall in Love Again – Ann write about how to make a point and love on your husband.
• How to Make a Memorable Holiday Cookie Swap – I used to host a cookie decorating party. But this was a big chore and hard to do when I had a little one to take care of. I think this year I may do this instead.
• The Twelve Days of Christmas – This is a very sweet idea. I may think of someone I would like to do this with. I may have an idea.
• Cheap Kids Stocking Stuffer or Gift – I love this, I have wanted to make crayons in the past and it didn’t know you could use silicon muffin tins. And I didn’t know Target had some in the $2.50 section. I may have to make these for the neighbor girl.

Do you post your faves on your blog for the week? Then please add your link!!

I’m so excited about Christmas coming up. I keep thinking, “Oo, I need to start pulling out the Christmas decor.” But then I realize we haven’t even celebrate Thanksgiving. I want to be able to take time and enjoy Thanksgiving.

This Christmas is going to be a fun year with Zane. He is more aware of things now and we will be able to start making some family traditions and next year he will remember them.

So December I will be posting about some of the traditions I am excited about and making a point of doing this year. I will posting a new one every week. Some of the traditions I am really, really excited about this year are doing an advent calendar, hosting a cookie party, making ornaments for friends, and the Elf on the Shelf (which I may pull out right after thanksgiving!).

I want to invite you to join me in posting your holiday traditions, so if you are interested in joining me next month please leave a comment.

What are your favorite traditions? Do your children get excited about these traditions?

Every year I make Christmas ornaments for our friends. Some years I find an idea right away, sometimes it comes right down to the last minute. I have been making them for years.

It started out of necessity. Money was tight and we were not going to be able to buy our friends presents. I pulled out some of our glass ornaments and pulled out some stain glass paint from a past project. I painted snowflakes, gingerbread men and more on the ornaments. Then I put our friends names on the ornaments and the year.

Everyone loved them so much that I decided to make ornaments the next year, too. And so it now is tradition for us to give our friends a special Christmas ornament every year. Sometimes this there only gift sometimes we give them a little more.

The second  year I created an ornament by pouring acrylic paint into clear ornaments and swirling it around, you can follow this tutorial if you want to try it. This is a great craft to do with children, too.

Then I created an ornament by stuffing snowflake sequins into the glass ornaments and adding glitter. I used glass paint to date them. Then I tied fun blue and white yarn all over the wire that sticks out of the top. And then added a nice ribbon to hang it from.

The year before last I used Styrofoam balls and wrapped them in ribbon. With them my friends received word plaques decorated with ribbon to  match the ornaments. Here is an example of how I decorated the words. To decorate the balls I wrapped them with the main color over and over. Then used the accent color to add little decorations. Here is a simple tutorial on how to make some similar ornaments.

Last year I found these really neat metal word tags that were meant for scrapbooking. They were on sale and I knew I could use them to make ornaments. I snapped them right up. I used wire to add some large crystal beads above the words and to create a hanger. They turned out very elegant and unique.

I also started creating ornaments for an ornament exchange that I am a part of with my Ladies’ Game Night. I always create something with a dice theme. I created dice with Styrofoam and sequins with a tutorial similar to this. Last year I created an ornament similar to my snowflake ornament but added tiny dice to it. This year I created a die with a box I made from cardboard and glitter pom poms.

You can use this tutorial to make similar ornaments.

I wish I had taken more pictures of my ornaments, but the memories of making them are still with me. I also love when I go to my friends homes and see them on their trees.

Want to find more ideas on making homemade ornaments? Check out Craftster.org a great site for anyone who loves to craft. Or you can just head over to flikr and search handmade ornaments for inspiration.

I will create a personalized design for your Christmas photo cards  for $2. I am in need for a little extra money for my family for Christmas so I’m up for hire on designs.

I know you can get those generic prepackaged designs from a lot of companies, but please consider supporting a mom in need. You will get a card no one else will have and will be unique just for you and your family for only $2.

You can print them at Vista Prints, Shutterfly, or even at Costco for pretty inexpensive. And depending where you usually get your photo cards out you may save money this way!

You …

• Let me know if there is anything special you want on your card (colors, etc.)
• Send me your photos
• Give me the info you would like to share (Name, quote, greeting)
• Tell me what size you need

I will …

• Edit the photos
• Create a unique design just for you!
• Do one revision for free after the rough draft
• Send you the file in jpg format

Other great uses for these:

• Email the cards to your friends and save yourself printing and a stamp
• Post them on facebook for your faebook friends
• Post them on your blog for your readers

Enter to win a completely free photo card design from me. How to enter:

• Comment
• Post this contest on your blog with a link to this post
• Tweet it!

One random person will win a personalized photo card design by me. Contest ends November 15th.

The Snow

We got snowed in for almost two weeks. TJ had to keep working because where he works there was not very much snow, but the Portland area was near impossible to get around. I was off work for about two weeks minus one day I was able to make it in.

Being snowed in with a 1 1/2 year old is not much fun. We would have played in the snow more but with being pregnant I had to be very careful of the slippery ground. Plus Zane loved the snow so much that he would go into full 2 year old meltdown when you tried bringing him in. (Which if you knew him is not very him.) So I was not able to take him out by myself.

Poor Zane was so bored of his toys by the end that he was pulling things out of drawers trying to find something new to play with. Including at one point he pulled out a couple of my shirts and started running around with those.

The Flood

Just before Christmas Eve our house started flooding. The weight of the snow was too much for our roof. Zane’s room was the first to start getting the water and seeing his room torn apart was traumitizing for him. So he spent the night at Granny’s the night before Christmas Eve.

The next day I found water in the master bedroom (which we use as a bonus room), so TJ had to tear that room apart also.

Our Christmas

Luckily we had been invited to TJ’s sister’s house to stay Christmas Eve night. It was nice to get away from the house and the flooding. TJ picked up his mom, Deanie, and Zane to bring them to his sisters and we had a wonderful night. I finished a small crochet project for our gift exchange. We watched A Christmas Carol on their tiny TV while eating popcorn and drinking hot chocolate.

Christmas morning was fun watching Zaney enjoying his Christmas. Last year he had a cold so all morning he cried and did not enjoy opening presents. So this year watching him play on his trike and try to teach him to open presents was so much fun.

We had a wonderful Christmas besides being stuck in the snow and the flooding. And can’t wait till next year with two little boys to enjoy it with.