Category Archives: holiday

I am being mocked by paper.

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So, you remember a couple of weeks ago how I wrote this post about how awesome of a mom I am and how Rylee & I did this really great Christmas craft and that it was ok with me if you were jealous?

You don’t remember? Here’s a quick refresher:

Yea, well…that Christmas craft has come back to bite me in the butt.

Big time.

Every single time Rylee excitedly asks to tear one more link of the chain off I cringe.

Every link being torn off means we are one day closer to Christmas.

And with each day closer to Christmas I’m reminded about how I still have gifts to buy. And gifts to wrap. And lists to make. And things to bake. And…and…and…And so many other things on my seemingly endless to-do list.

Overwhelmed much?

The anxiety…it’s getting up there.

Stupid freaking paper chain.

Two Weeks + One Day

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Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There’s no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! www.duncanhines.com

 

 

In two weeks, my sister flies in from Chicago. In two weeks and one day, my other sister will make her drive down. And then Christmas time can really begin.

I love this time of year for all sorts of reasons, but one that ranks right up at the top of my list is that my sisters are in town and we’re all together. Since we’re all together but a couple of times a year, we do our very best to spend as much time as possible together. Almost all of my favorite memories with my sisters are when we’ve decided not to go out but to just stay home, drink some wine, play some games and have a good old girls’ night in.

Last year, with budgets tight for us as well as our extended families, we decided to try something new for our girls’ night in. We spent weeks trading emails with recipes, coordinating ingredient lists, ideas for craft projects and other items we’d contribute to making gift baskets for our extended family members. {I even designed us a logo for labels…yes, I’m aware that I’m a total nerd}

Armed with copious amounts of wine and two Kitchen-Aid Mixers, we got to work.

Before it was her bedtime, even Ry was able to get in on the action!

We had quite the set-up and completely took over my kitchen and dining room. It was awesome.

{By the way, did you know that wax paper and parchment paper are not in fact the same thing? I did not know this. Good thing my sisters did because things could have turned out very differently.}

At some point we’d been non-stop baking for so long, we may have gotten a little delirious…

And slightly inappropriate…

After multiple bottles glasses of wine, laughing until our bellies hurt, one good dance party and who-knows-how-many hours of baking later, we emerged victorious with 6 gift baskets, full of treats both sweet and savory, to show for it, plus so many extras!

That girls’ night in was just what I needed, and I can’t wait to do it again this year!

Remember to check out Duncan Hines’ website www.duncanhines.com to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective

Where I go and get all sorts of crafty. It’s OK to be jealous.

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Saturday afternoon, we set up some of our Christmas decorations. Sunday morning, within seconds of waking up, Rylee wanted to see what Santa brought her in her stocking…because NOW IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!  !!   ! {seriously, she was that excited at 6:57 AM}

To keep from having to explain that every morning for the next 3 weeks, I devised a plan.

I pretty much amazed myself with what happened next, so I thought I’d share.

We did a craft.

Then I took photos along the way so that I may share with you.

Please note, that while my photos look to be amazing, professional grade material, I did in fact take them with my phone.

Like I said in the title…it’s OK to be jealous.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Construction Paper, your choice of color(s)
  • Scissors
  • Glue
  • A cute little helper, still in footie PJ’s, if at all possile

Step 1: Gather your supplies and take them to your official crafting space. {Or the floor in front of your wood stove. Whatever.}

Step 2: Cut your paper into the required number of strips. Since we made this on Sunday, we needed 21 strips…because there were 21 days until Christmas. Get it?

Step 3: Glue your strips of paper, ring style. Continue until you’re paper is gone.

Step 4: Hang up and admire your amazing creation. Then tear off one ring each day until Christmas is here!

Truth be told, I had big plans to make some awesome Advent calendar complete with fun Christmasy activities. Much like this one…

 

Then…well…life happened and this is what we ended up with.

The good news is, my kid LOVES it and doesn’t know the difference.

Uhhh…hi?

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::dusts off my laptop::

Hey Strangers! It’s me, Katherine…you know, the one that keeps up this blog. I clearly threw that whole NaBloPoMo thing out the window…roughly 6 days ago. Oh well. It’s amazing how easily blogging can take over your life. Invade your thoughts and yes, even your dreams. It’s also, as equally amazing how easy it was for me just to turn it all off. For four glorious days I only opened up my laptop twice. And neither was for anything remotely blogging and/or social media related.

So what the heck have I been up to these last 6 days? How was my Thanksgiving?

My long weekend was both jam-packed yet completely relaxing.

Our Thanksgiving was unlike any Thanksgiving I have ever had. It was so quiet. Some of my longtime readers may remember the gathering of my “entire family”. This year, for one reason or another, all the families were not coordinating. And to be honest, we were more than ok with it. We ended up going to my in-laws for breakfast then headed back home. For the rest of the day it was just Andy, Rylee, me and my dad and my younger brother. I made a full on spread. We played games. We ate. We ate some more. It was really, really nice. And completely uneventful.

Friday morning I got my haircut. And, knowing that I’d have cute hair, we also snapped some family pictures before lunch. The afternoon consisted of me editing said photos. And napping. And of course, nothing is better than Thanksgiving leftovers for dinner. So easy.

Look, I got bangs!

Saturday was our states big college football rivalry, the Civil War game. My sister is a die hard beaver fan & alum. Her fiance? A die hard duck fan. So naturally, they came down from Portland and went to the game. Her fiance’s sister & brother in law also came down (or up, since they’re from Nevada?) with their 2 girls. I babysat the girls while they all went to the game. I didn’t know quite what to expect considering I had never met them before, but it went well. Rylee and the girls got along great and it was really nice getting to meet some of the “extended family”. We wrapped up the day with pizza for dinner and my sister & soon-to-be-brother-in-law stayed with us that night and we were all in bed before 9:30 PM. {we are such party animals}

Sunday we carried on our standing six-year tradition of wreath making with my mom and younger siblings. Rylee got to participate this year too. She mostly just had fun running around outside while we worked, but she and Andy worked together to make her very first swag. They brought it to me and Rylee & I wired it up and put a bow on it, then Ry wanted to hang it on her play structure. Pretty much the cutest thing ever. Everyone was gone by 1:30 and we wrapped up the long weekend quietly as a family of three.

Oh, hello Christmas Spirit!

Of course, it wasn’t all sunshine & rainbows…we found out that our rental house has a leak in the roof and the brand new flooring that Andy installed in July is pretty much well ruined. He spent a lot of time on the roof located and fixing {fingers crossed} said leak. And, Sunday while we were wreath making, Andy & my dad were off to cut firewood, only to return home an hour later because our suburban broke down on the way there and they barely made it home.

But, you know what? I’m going to go ahead and focus on all the greatness from the weekend and worry about our mechanic’s bill later.

Oh and because I know you’re all dying to get a little sneak peek at a family photo…

So, now that I’m back…how was your long weekend!?

My Work Here is Done

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Last week, exactly 9 days before Thanksgiving and 41 days before Christmas, Rylee and I were on our drive home when she noticed that things were…different.

There was a Frosty the Snowman scene painted on the window of a convenience store.

She noticed it as we drove by and huffed and snorted and let out a heavy sigh.

I said nothing.

Pretty soon, we could see houses twinkling away, adorned with lights.

She huffed and snorted and sighed again.

This time, I said, “What’s the problem, Ry?”

She huffed and snorted and even “tssk-ed” this time before answering me in a clearly irritated voice, “It’s NOT Christmas time yet! Why do they have snowmans and lights up!?”

And so I say…my work here is done.