Christmas Memories 2012

Merry Christmas friends! It's been so nice to be away and enjoy the holidays with Brandon's family and my own. We are so grateful for our awesome family and the (over) abundance of gifts we received. Each year I say that if I didn't get one thing I would be happy. After moving ten hours away spending time with family has become something I cherish so much. I would take more visits over gifts any day, especially with our upcoming move out of the country.

 

My favorite thing about this Christmas was sitting by the Christmas tree hearing my mom tell stories of Christmases when we were little and how hectic playing Santa was.

 

 

The funniest thing was our annual game of Balderdash. My brother-in-law comes up with the most hilarious/ridiculous definitions and then we quote him for the rest of the year.

 

With all the joy comes a little sadness. This might be the last Christmas with our dog Rudy that we got 15 years ago on Christmas Eve. I hate to think about it, but we all know that his days are numbered. Christmas also makes me miss my Grandma Norma. She made our stockings and I love their uniqueness. I feel like it will be wrong to ever split the four of them up.

 

 

I realized during the holidays the different little joys the internet brings. I gifted two handmade items from a shop that I found through Instagram and I received one from the same shop from my brother. It makes me so happy because I love supporting handmade. Note to self: Next year be sure to take advantage of the cyber Monday deals handmade shops offer.

 

True Love Ring via Amy Cornwell

 

Subtle Mini Necklace

 

I also made the BEST buttermilk pancakes from a recipe shared by Shelley. Not kidding. If you stop reading now to jot down this recipe and forget to come back, I don't care. Go write it down, and then make them. Now. It blows my mind the little joys internet friends bring. They just make your life better and the people in your life too if you make awesome recipes they share.

 

 

Of course Tag man loved playing with his cousin Buoy all weekend but he sure was worn out when they left today. That little man is wiped out.

 

 

I'll be flying solo for five weeks while BD is overseas for the start of our new adventure in Japan. Thank goodness Japanese Santa stopped here. He brought jet lag medicine, chopsticks, and chopstick trainers. Yep, going to need those.

 

 

I also felt like I needed to break in my new toy from BD with a post. He is way to good to me.

 

 

So here I am again documenting some of our life for anyone interested. To all of my new friends made through the world wide web, THANK YOU for sharing your life with me and so many others. I hope you ALL had a merry Christmas and that the new year will be full of great memories for you and your families.

 

Lauren

Boogy Woogy BUGLE snacks!

I fell in love with this little delight last week when we received a bag of Christmas goodies. 

Although peak holiday baking season is over, you may be able to garnish your NYE party table with this dainty snack.

Ingredients: 

Bugles

Creamy Peanut Butter

Dipping Chocolate.

Fill your Bugles with peanut butter. I used a Ziploc bag, cut the corner off and used it like an icing bag.

Then dip the end of Bugle in Chocolate.

Lay on parchment or wax paper. 

Refrigerate until chocolate hardens. 

Enjoy.

Not joking here. The first pan was gone that quick.

So easy a cave man can do it. 

Christmas in Photos

Merry Christmas everyone! Here is a tiny recap of my holiday.

Blue Steel on Christmas Eve

My new camera

His new wheels

Scavenger hunt...

for his Blake Shelton tickets.

Christmas Day at Cades Cove, one our favorite places and annual trip we take each year.

Family photo and I am sporting my new posie from Nest of Posies that I'm in love with. A little Christmas gift to myself and I love all four colors I picked!

More than anything I enjoyed playing Balderdash with my siblings.   I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. 

Ten Randoms 'til Christmas

In no particular order:

I got a part time job until it's time to leave for spring training. I am so thrilled.

We have only bought a few Christmas presents, meaning two maybe.

I'm on my way home to see all my family for my little brothers graduation from MIZZOU. Congrats little bro and to Mom and Dad for having four {MIZZOU} college grads. We hope we've made you proud!

I switched my etsy shop to STORENVY www.laurendarlings.storenvy.com

I hope it snows while I am home.

I'm having a sleepover with my two favorite kiddos for Christmas tonight and they don't know yet. They are going to freak!

I miss my Mr .... already.

I made Chicken Tortilla soup last night and it was amazing. I shocked myself by how good it was. I'll have to share that recipe soon. Brandon ate three bowls so obviously he loved it.

I miss having a live tree at Christmas.

I take my blog way to serious. Its just a blog. =)

Chex-mas Cheer {A Recipe}

I've been hit by Christmas fever! 

And so has everyone else. The stores were a disaster this weekend. 

My fault for not going earlier in the week.

Anyway..I spent an evening in the kitchen, made homemade broccoli cheese soup and red velvet whoopie pies (separate post). Then I made some Chexmas Cheer, I want to share this concoction with you here.

There may be a recipe somewhere online just like this, but I honestly didn't use one and just threw it together.


Chex-mas Cheer

Ingredients

2 cups white chocolate chips

1 stick of butter/margarine (1/4 cup)

2 cups Chex rice cereal

2 cups cinnamon Chex cereal

2 cups popped popcorn

1 cup dry roasted peanuts.

Confectioners sugar aka powdered sugar

Dash or 2 or 3 Cinnamon

Holiday sprinkles

First melt the white chocolate chips and butter for 2 minutes stirring every 30 seconds.

Mix cereals, popcorn, and peanuts in large bowl.

Pour melted butter and white chocolate mix over the dry ingredients. Stir to cover all pieces. 

Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar and cinnamon. Mix.

Repeat again with only powdered sugar. 

Add sprinkles to your discretion. The more the merrier.

Pour out on a pan covered in wax paper or foil to dry. 

Package for giving if you haven't eaten all of it yourself. 
I etched PEACE on the side of this jar from the dollar store and embellished with some Christmas colored ribbon. My first ever win on a blog giveaway was this etch all cream from I {heart} Nap Time. This is the first time using it and now I am obsessed.  I quickly realized I should have used the words COMFORT & JOY cause any food or snacks going in this jar will probably provide both.

Anyways...consider yourself warned is delicious. 

Or as Fergie would say, D to the E to the L-I-C-I-O-U-S! 

Linking up here:

Magic of Christmas

Hello friends. Are you all scurrying to finish your Christmas shopping and holiday decorating. Do you have lots of parties to attend and goodies to bake? Have you been looking for opportunities to give this holiday season? Read on..


Growing up my parents always made sure we had presents under the tree. When you are younger you don't even thing of the financial side of Christmas. As we grow older we come to realize just how blessed we are to have presents under the tree. 


Is it really about presents? This year my siblings and I are tossing around the idea of not giving each other gifts. A lot of time throughout the year we will surprise one another with a little something just because and that is enough for me. Honestly now that I have moved ten hours away from my family, time is the only gift I want this year. Spending time with them is priceless. We always have a good time, always. As our family begins to expand with husbands and girlfriends it just becomes that much more fun!



There is something that has been heavy on my heart the last few weeks. I want to be able to give. I want to be able to help, even just one person this Christmas. I know how blessed I am and I want to share that with someone else. If I can help more, wonderful, but one was what I was looking for. 


I have been praying for an opportunity to be able to help someone in need this holiday season.


I received a text asking if I would like to help a child in need. I asked for more info and this is the email that followed.

Hey Lauren,

Here’s the info

I have a partnership with Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Right now we are selling gift albums for the children there as a Christmas gift. We have specific albums geared toward boys and girls filled with about 20 different toys and gifts for Christmas. Here is a picture of the album they get to choose from:

 

They are $30 per album with free shipping. We will be delivering them to the kids at Children’s Mercy on December 23^rd. For some of the kids, this will be their last Christmas…. and we’re trying to make it as special as possible. We did it last year and it was very well received by the children and their families! Please let me know what you think or if you know anyone else that wants to donate too.

Answered prayer? I think so. I asked Brandon if he cared if I bought two. I absolutely love kids, if you know me, you know this. Two children in particular.  Honestly if we could afford it, I would buy 50. I hope that is the case some day. 

Would you like to help?

Here's how:

Go to this website.

Item # 747910 for Kaleidoscope Ribbon Ensemble

Ship to: (make sure you ship to this address so they arrive there so she can deliver them)

Chelsea Weingarten

14009 Barkley St. Apt 802

Overland Park, Kansas

66223

If you've been praying to help make a difference, this might be the answer you were looking for also. If you decide to donate an album or two please leave me a comment or email me so I can let Chelsea know. - Thanks!

Happy Holidays. 

Stocking Stuffer Magnets {A Tutorial}

I took a tiny break from signs although I'm thankful I have several orders to fill before the holidays. 

Today I decided to make some small crafts. Actually I decided I was making a gift for my neighbor based on the CSI Project. I've always wanted to enter but I don't have a porch I've redone, couch reupholstered, or any of the larger challenges, at least not yet. So I am starting small and hopefully inspiring. 

I made these adorable fabric magnets. They are sorda like rosettes but kinda not. They are pretty simple to make and require few supplies.

What you will need:

Fabric

Button assortment

Thread & needle

Liquid Stitch - or sewing machine

Hot glue gun

Scissors

Magnets

First cut strips of fabric into 1" wide by 14-15"

I fold the 1" strip in half and used Liquid Stitch to stitch together the raw edges.

Okay, this part is tricky. I did it different on each magnet and couldn't come up with a good way to get these started. See photo.

Then I stitch from the back and gathering the fabric in a spiral, stitching as I go.

It looks pretty messy in the back, that means your doing it right. 

But it's okay cause then you hot glue a 3/4" power magnet over that stitched up mess. 

Flip it over and add whatever type of topper you like.

I used some plain black buttons and turquoise buttons for mine but other ideas include decorative beads or brads. This is where you can personalize your magnets. 

I love them for a few reasons. They are cute. They are something you can use. They are something you may need. They are relatively easy to make require little supplies and frustration. They will stuff a stocking. 

Christmas Challenge

This Christmas will be our first as a married couple. Since we have our own place together I realize there is no longer all of my favorite decorations that I have gotten used to over the past 24 years. And this made me sad. I absolutely love Christmas decorations. We have had none.

I was in town and I was going to look for some new decorations for the house. As of late, I have been investing quite a bit in my new shop and therefore came to the realization that it might be smarter to save the money. I had some help with this realization...(ahem) thanks hubs. Let me be clear. He never said, 'you can't buy any decorations.' He kindly reminded me that neither of us are working at this point and we won't have any income until this spring. Reality, yes. Guilt trip set in. I wasn't the happiest, but he was right. What is the point of spending lots of dough on decoration for will stay up for about thirty days?


This created a new challenge for me and an opportunity to take lemons and make lemonade as they say. I headed to the house and began right away pulling things to transform into our Christmas decor.  I didn't spend a single cent. I created our Christmas shelf from ONLY stuff I already had. I also created a HUGE mess. But we all know that messy spaces are productive spaces. 


This was my result. I'm pretty much in love and catch myself staring at my sweet little Christmas haven. Ahhh. Christmas.  

Now, I challenge you my crafty, creative friends. I'd love to see what you can come up with! Happy FREE Decorating. 

P.S. Can you believe I didn't use Pinterest ONCE to make this little shelf. I'm so proud of myself for that. I love it as a resource but I'm glad I used my own ideas this time. 

Linking up with Sundae Scoop
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