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This month...
These past few years I have always brought a little Christmas to my desk since I have been practically chained to it studying for tests or writing huge papers as the end of the semester loomed in December. This is the first time in five years that I can sit here through the holidays and not have school to worry about. Although, honestly, I would absolutely love to have stacks of papers to grade right now.
Even though there isn't any work this year, there are still some decorations. Since everyone needs a little winter forest scene over their computer monitor right?
And, speaking of school, this past week I received my first real chance at getting to teach this spring. The school is trying to add a section of a class and asked if I would be available.
The answer was something like, "Oh my goodness, heck YES!"
Nothing is set and I'll have to wait until next week to hear more, but it makes me so happy to even get to dream of the possibility of creating a syllabus and lectures.
Hopefully this is the only Christmas that I won't have a desk buried in work.
Back in July I went into the blog's archives to look in on the past seven years. This time I thought it'd be fun to revisit life as the holiday season started...
On November 28, 2011 I was painting a stack of star ornaments.
There was some crafty shopping done on November 29, 2010.
Gifts were being wrapped on November 29, 2009.
On November 28, 2008 I was sharing from my first holiday tag class.
In addition to a scrapbook page, I shared my first ever Christmas tags on November 30, 2007.
The house was all glowy on November 26, 2006.
And on November 28, 2005 Sean and Mac went to their first big concert.
There's going to be a little December documenting around here this year.
We couldn't resist a twenty dollar tree over the weekend. Well, I couldn't resist, Sean would have been just fine.
Now there just might be six trees in this house...which makes me completely guilty of a case of full-blown Christmas craziness. Since there are not enough ornaments around here I've had to get a little crafty with the tree decorating.
Late Saturday night was spent watching college football and cutting out 140 felt circles. They were zipped through the sewing machine last night and draped around the branches. And now onto the next tree decorating craft idea...
Pretty much the entire weekend was spent decorating, getting wrapped gifts under the tree, finishing up some tags for class (it's still not too late to join), taking advantage of the sales, and plotting several new holiday crafts.
When it comes to making stuff, it really is the most wonderful time of the year.
Making cranberry sauce, a silly deer bottle opener that found a new home by the stairs, our traditional chocolate croissant and shopping ads before getting the turkey in the oven, watching the Macy's parade together, carving the turkey and making gravy, the kid's table, plates full of food, and coloring turkeys.
We were so fortunate that every Thanksgiving detail was pretty much perfect...hope your holiday weekend has been too.
Sending along many wishes for a table full of love, laughter, and heaps of good food.
Sean and I had our first date on November 22, 1997. A couple weeks or so before that night my sister had driven out to visit me at school. Since he and I had numerous mutual friends, she got to meet Sean.
Right after meeting him that night she was pretty insistent that I should "go for it" with Sean. So much so that she took matters into her own hands. As we gathered late at night to grab food after a party, my sister asked Sean where he planned on spending Thanksgiving. He said he wasn't sure, but he had been invited to go to the home of one of our friends. Peg said, "You should come home with Nora" and he instantly agreed.
A few days after that first date it was time for Thanksgiving break. By this point I really liked this Sean guy and we were spending hours and hours talking each night. The night before we were supposed to go home Sean asked if he could sleep on the couch at my little one bedroom cinder-block campus apartment because his very peculiar roommate had his girlfriend staying in their room. He came over and as I handed him a fourteen month old McIntosh to hold he told me that was his first time ever holding a baby.
Every moment since that first night Sean has been a family with Mac and I.
Over the years as we have gotten older and so much wiser it has really occurred to me how improbably fortunate our little family is. How could we have ever really known that at age 21 and 20 that this would be something with longevity? That this would be the first of many Thanksgivings together.
All I know is Sean has been one of my biggest blessings, that he is an endlessly dedicated parent, and that together we can crank out some pretty darn good roasted turkey and gravy.
Thanks for being with me for the last 15 years Sean...love you to the moon and back.
The binder is out for turkey referencing, the flowers are waiting to be arranged into little vases, and the cooking supplies are all ready. I am very thankful that my mom has taught me simple recipes for Thanksgiving that can all be made in advance so all we have to worry about on the big day is the turkey and gravy. Oh and fresh whipped cream for all the homemade pies my sister brings.
Hope all your preparations are going well too.
I am not going to lie, things around our house can get fairly volatile nowadays. Around here there is a charming teenager who is always right. There's a step-dad/husband who, honestly, has endured an excruciating and seemingly never-ending family drama for the last two years. And then you've got me...on my best day I can turn into a beast in a moment's notice. It all means there is a little more yelling around here than there should be, but we're all working on it.
Thankfully tonight the yelling was because we had a game night and someone moved a stick in two cut-throat rounds of Pick Up Sticks.
I've said before that Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday, so then it would make perfect sense that I would craft up some napkin rings days in advance, right?
Yes, I couldn't help but put them together late this afternoon. I put some thick grosgrain ribbon around the bundle of silverware and napkins then used fabric tied paperclips (an idea that I actually recycled from my 12 Tags class) to attach little name tags. After the napkins were put together I may or may not have started setting the table.
This is really one of my favorite weeks of the year. We are lucky that Sean and Mac are off of school, so we get some time to enjoy the rest of the Thanksgiving preparations.
I first mentioned these Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies a couple summers ago and they have been made at least 100 times since. We follow this recipe exactly. Granted when I say "we" I mean Sean since he is the baker around here. I credit these cookies for getting me through graduate level statistics because Sean would bake up fresh batches for me to have at study sessions with my fellow students. I joked that I was never able to bring much statistical expertise, but at least I could bring cookies.
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup room temperature butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
One of the half dozen gatherings we hosted a couple of weeks ago was a fall dinner. It was planned with my mom's best friend's daughter in the height of summer, when we were dreaming of all things fall. Our menu included a cheese plate with cranberry sauce and honey, apple cider marinated grilled chicken with an apple and sausage hash on a bed of cheesy orzo, cheesy beer bread, homemade apple sauce, apple bread with cream cheese frosting and fresh fried apple fritters with peanut putter caramel sauce.
This definitely needs to become a tradition.
And we couldn't have a fall dinner without a little table decorating, so I grabbed a few jars, tore some strips of fabric and got out the scary glue gun. I knotted together the strips of fabric and wrapped the jars using a little glue to hold it in place where it needed it. Add a few washi tape tea lights and you've got yourself a party.
How long does it take to make a fall garland? Apparently it takes about six weeks. I first painted the leaves with homemade woodstain and then couldn't figure out exactly what I wanted to do. Well until this past weekend when my jars of ribbon, some leftover scraps of fabric and a stapler finished up this little project...
It's hanging over my desk as a little last minute fall decorating with the holidays right around the corner.
Now it'd be cute to make one for Christmas...hmmmm wonder how long that'll take?
1. I lay in bed while Sean does more exercising after he runs. 2. I shared some wrapping ideas on The Gifted Blog today. 3. Putting away a huge pile of laundry. 4. One of our neighbors is selling her house and gave us their exercise bike that was barely used in exchange for helping them sell a bunch of items on Craigslist. 5. It was 62 degrees upstairs today...time for slippers. 6. The combo of buy one roll get a second for $1 and a $5 off a $10 purchase means I have new holiday wrapping paper I wanted, but certainly didn't need. 7. Thanksgiving decor on the front porch. 8. Starting to wrap my brother's birthday gift. 9. A bunch of card stock strips for a 12 Tags class idea. 10. A cup of afternoon tea for all three of us. 11. Mac had his first full day of wearing contacts. 12. Our (almost) nightly walks are now in the dark.
{I'm keeping track of the 12th of each month in 2012...you can see all of them here}
Years ago now we were talking with friends when they told us about some mutual acquaintances that had just gotten married after a brief courtship. This couple described newlywed life as amazing saying that sometimes they would just build a blanket fort in their living room and hang out all day.
At the time I joked with those friends that blanket forts were totally the secret to our happy marriage too. It wasn't until this weekend that I finally realized those acquaintances might be on to something...
Okay, we didn't exactly build a fort. When we were lucky enough to have a new couch become roommates with my grandma's couch, we moved the couch that was in our living room to our family room...and the couch that was in our family room moved off onto Craigslist. This past week it occurred to us that since this couch had a pull-out we could pile blankets and pillows on the bed, put a fire in the fireplace on a cool day, camp out with snacks and watch an evening of college football.
This very well might become the secret to our happy marriage.
1. going inward, 2. in the kitchen, 3. Untitled, 4. summer celebration, 5. Product pictures for new prints, 6. Yards of It..., 7. draw everyday 2010!, 8. fresh from the hook
Just a few favorite finds from the last couple weeks...
{Starred posts include recent Flickr Favorites and the blog entries I've found & saved (with a star) in my Google Reader}
1. Anyone willing to admit along with me that they've started listening to Christmas music too?
2. Yesterday's sharing about Friendsgiving colors ended up inspiring a quick little blog update. I wanted to embrace all the fall colors before the holidays fast approach...
3. Today's highlights included it being cool and drizzly (my favorite) and a great lunch with a friend.
4. Today's low lights included having my eyes dilated for what seemed like forever.
5. I wanted to share this super cute, printable free calendar from Miss Tiina...already looking forward to organizing 2013.
6. I also discovered a new favorite iPhone photo editing app called Afterglow...loving all the options it has.
7. Friday around here will be spent accomplishing a multitude of tasks so that this weekend can have a little guilt free relaxing.
8. Therefore Saturday will be be spent watching lots of college football...as a loyal fan I am absolutely enthralled by the dream season Notre Dame is having.
9. But don't worry, Saturday morning we are hosting a planning breakfast for our annual neighborhood holiday progressive dinner. You got to love that we have made planning a social event a social event in and of itself.
This was our eighth year celebrating an early Thanksgiving with one of our groups of friends...we have hosted Friendsgiving in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Again this year we looked forward to having our dining room table full of friends. Since it's potluck we only had to make a turkey and a couple other easy dishes...that left plenty of time to come up with a color scheme and to craft up some napkin rings.
For the napkin rings I sliced little strips of fabric and cut them into uneven pieces that I sewed together with a very cooked, messy zig-zag stitch. I then took the long piece of sewn scraps, wrapped them a few times and knotted it around the bundle of silverware. It was fun to have so many colors and patterns involved.
We also have a tradition of making a new playlist each year and then a CD of it gets sent home with each family.
Here is both a Friendsgiving and Thanksgiving version of the CD covers in case you want to put together some music to share for your celebrations this month...
Download Friendsgiving CD Cover Download Thanksgiving CD Cover
Can't believe Thanksgiving is in just about two weeks...it's my very favorite holiday of the year so I am looking forward to it so much!
I took some time to work on the 12 tags class...that's a peek of the tags I am sharing tomorrow. If you're still thinking about joining the class you can sign-up anytime this month...it will be easy to catch up on all the ideas waiting there for you.
I made a quick thank you note to send out...I am loving fall colors and reusing card ideas that I find from other amazing crafters.
And this guy went to vote with us for the very last time before he will be able to cast a vote himself in two years. And now his mom and step-dad are going to bed incredibly nervous that a crucial proposition for the state education system passes.
Last year I decorated some jars for our dining room table at the last minute before Thanksgiving. They were promptly packed away the next day to start getting ready for Christmas. This year they are being recycled as decorations on our mantle...
Speaking of Thanksgiving crafting, I put all the projects I've made over the years in one place with a link in the sidebar. I'll share what I made for Friendsgiving later this week...
As of this evening we have finished hosting six parties in nine days. Sean and I just counted it all up. We had eighty people in the house...including twenty-five teenagers and fourteen kids. We cooked up twenty-two different dishes. We went to the grocery store five times. I ran to the florist around the corner to purchase a few stems of flowers three different times. We cooked a twenty-four pound turkey. I wrapped tea lights in washi tape in four different color combinations. We did too many dishes to count and we had an awesome time.
This month...
1. We are 2/3 of the way through hosting 6 dinners/parties in nine days and so far, so good.
2. Tomorrow is the sleepover we host twice a year. And Sunday is Friendsgiving. I am getting napkin rings, music and (of course) washi tape tea lights ready...
3. Despite the work on these dinner details, since the dinner is on Sunday we will be using paper plates again.
4. Tonight we purchased a 22 pound turkey...the largest they had at the store. But then we stopped at another store on the way home and they had a 24 pound turkey so we exchanged the one we had purchased fifteen minutes before. My mom always taught me to find the absolute biggest turkey you can.
5. I ran to IKEA today for picture frames and walked out with a new plant. I pretty much never leave the place without a plant and a cute new pot to grow it in.
6. The holiday wrapping supplies came out of the attic today. They are still all over the guest bed which is not exactly where they should be when nine girls are spending the night here tomorrow.
7. And I can't let you go without another darn reminder about the 12 Tags class...
8. Thanks to everyone who has signed up already...the e-mail with the link and password to the class blog will be sent out soon. If you'd like to join in before we get started on Monday you can purchase your spot here.
