Holiday

Things have been a little quiet here. Oops! With two blogs, I usually find my stride with one and the other kind of just suffers. Since it’s the holiday season (aka baking season), I’ve been a little busy in the kitchen, so I’ve had a good bit to share on the other blog because of it. At the same time, I’ve been working on quite a few things non kitchen-wise, which I want to share with y’all.

One of the biggest pieces of news I have is that I entered a recipe contest. It was a local one that my newspaper held, and I stumbled upon it sitting in traffic reading one of those billboards that seems to flash from one ad to another. I immediately started brainstorming in my car when I saw “Holiday Dessert Recipe Contest”. I had two ideas in my head and the idea I tested out was a peppermint bark cheesecake truffle.

I ended up making one batch and brought it to my coworkers. I thought it was a decent dessert, but I mean, you are your own worst critic…I just thought it could be better. However, my coworkers started raving about these truffles and quite a few of them wanted the recipe. So I thought, maybe this truffle is perfect just the way it is. So that evening, I submitted the recipe.

To become a finalist, you had to be in the top 10 popular vote-wise. The hard thing about it was that if you wanted to vote, you had to register on the website. So, that made begging for votes even harder. I was in 7th or 8th place with votes in the end, so I barely squeaked by as a finalist. Whew!  (Thanks to all of you who voted for me!)

After I was selected as a finalist, I had to bring my truffles to the newspaper’s office for a taste test. I can’t tell you how nervous I was to bring those truffles to the office. What if they all HATED them? I started to doubt my recipe. So, I thought…maybe if I put them in a cute tin with some paper shreds, I might get some presentation points? (I have no clue if this was part of the judging criteria, but to me, a pretty dessert never hurts!)

I was told that they were announcing the winners on Saturday at a furniture store, which was 40 minutes away from our house. H offered to bring me, since he knows that I ::really:: needed to know and waiting until Monday for a possible phone call would just KILL me. So, we went.

I can’t tell you how nervous I was. My palms were sweaty, I had butterflies in my stomach and I kept telling my H that there was no way I placed. No way. Listening to some of the finalists, you could tell they knew what they were doing.

They announced 3rd place (wasn’t me)….2nd place (wasn’t me)…so, at this point, I told H at least I tried. The 2nd and 3rd place winners won gift certificates to a local grocery store, which to me, would have been completely awesome to put towards the Christmas dinner we were hosting! But yeah, didn’t win 2nd or 3rd place.

They go to announce 1st place, and my H is just smirking. I was 99% sure I was just going home empty-handed, because the 2nd place winner made a cheesecake. Why would they choose another cheesecake-type dessert to win? However, they said “Peppermint Bark Cheesecake Truffles”.

WHAT?

I WON?

I looked at H and started tearing up like a dork. I’m such a dork. I couldn’t BELIEVE I won!

The prize for 1st place was a $1000 for Paula Deen furniture at the store. I already discussed with H that if I won, I really wanted to get my family a new sofa for Christmas. He was totally on board with the idea since my family’s sofa is/was about 20 years old and had DEFINITELY seen better days.

Sadly, the store didn’t carry Paula Deen sofas, but thankfully, the clerk who helped me allowed me to use the credit towards ANY sofa. SCORE!

So, my H and I finally found this sofa set that was discontinued on major sale. Not only were we able to get a sofa, but we also got my family a loveseat. I tried to keep it a surprise from my Mom as long as I could, but in the last few minutes, I had to spoil it, since we had to clear the old sofa and the stuff around it before the delivery people arrived.

Blurry shot, but here is the new set!

My family absolutely loves the new furniture, which makes me so happy. When it comes to the holidays, I care more about giving gifts than receiving them. I truly love to see the reactions of those I give gifts to, and this one just had me beaming.

Thanks so much to The Advocate for having this contest! Winning this contest was one of the big highlights of 2011 for me, and I’m sure it was for my family too!

I really can’t believe it’s almost Christmas. The tree is decorated, stockings are hung, (most of) the gifts are wrapped and food gift boxes are finished.

It’s sort of a routine now….a different routine than it was for me 15 years ago. I tend to miss being a kid during the Christmas season.

I remember when I was younger, my siblings and I would glance over every page in the Sears Toy book. We’d carefully write our lists in our best handwriting, give the lists to our parents, and they made sure that it got in the mail for Santa. Even after the lists were done, we still looked over the book, dreaming about what toy might be ours on Christmas. It was such a happy time, full of anticipation and excitement.

When the holidays were approaching, school was out. I remember lounging around, watching cartoons, adding sprinkles to freshly baked cookies and drooling over the smell of fudge and pralines cooking on the stove.

On Christmas Eve, my sister and I would talk non-stop about the next day. We shared a room, so this led to a fairly sleepless night. We’d wake up at the crack of dawn, tip-toe downstairs, wake up our brother and sister and watch Christmas cartoons, waiting for Mom and Dad to come out with the video camera. It was a rule that presents could NOT be opened until Dad got the camera. 🙂

Once Dad would get the camera, I remember ripping open our toys from Santa, amped up on Hershey’s Kisses and Mom’s Mickey Mouse pancakes. We’d all scream, “OMG THANK YOU SANTA!” (I’m pretty sure Christmas Day with kids is the reason Advil stays in business..haha!) This happened again at my aunt’s house, where we all met up for Christmas. By the end of the day, we’d come home with way too many presents and a sinking feeling of “it’s over…no more Christmas”. :-

As an adult, things are a little different. I mean, of course, I look forward to the gift giving and receiving mumbo jumbo, but, as an adult, I will say, that I now understand that consumerism does not hold the true value of Christmas. As a Christian, I know that we are rejoicing Christ’s birth and HE is the reason for the season. To this day, I cringe when I see “X-mas”. I think most people don’t think the way I think, but I think it’s such a disregard for the reason of Christmas. Not to get all religious on y’all, but seriously, Christmas is a celebration for CHRIST…why “X” Him out?! Lame…

I like to look at Christmas with a different perspective now. It’s not the gifts that get me excited about Christmas (and I’m being completely serious…completely..). It’s really about seeing family and friends. Christmas just SCREAMS gathering to me, and I love that I get to see so much family at once. It’s wonderful to catch up and reflect on the past year with them. 🙂 While I can say, I completely miss that level of anticipation over Santa’s surprises, I have to say, I can appreciate this new outlook on the holiday season that I have as an adult. Not only does it make me feel a little bit more fulfilled, but even after Christmas is over, it’s not a sinking low feeling that I had as a child anymore.

What do you think of the Christmas season, now that you’re an adult?

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things. If I’m not in the holiday spirit before then, I’m definitely full of spirit right afterwards! Over the past 3 Christmases, we’ve slowly added to our decor.

The new additions to our mantle is Millie’s stocking and holder, the knit Christmas tree and the fabric bowl full of leftover ornaments that I purchased to make our wreath last year. I love it!

Since we don’t have much space for a Christmas tree, we definitely LOVE our skinny tree. The hubs bought this at Kohls on major sale. The majority of the ornaments are from Sam’s Club. They sell mega packs of ornaments in different color themes, and I fell in love with the brown/bronze pack, since it’s neutral.

And, as you may know, this is Millie’s first Christmas with us. I was pretty worried about how her curious little self would react, but she ignores it, for the most part. 🙂 I think she has some Christmas spirit too (gotta love puppy smiles).

How is your home decorated this year? Feel free to share some blog posts. 🙂 I love seeing holiday decor!!!

Is it a little too obvious that Beyonce is on my playlist right now? Man, her music makes me get up and dance around. The dog is usually scared at this point…she probably thinks I’m ill or something.

I still can’t believe how fast the holidays are approaching. I plan to send my holiday cards in less than a month…eek! I started sending Christmas cards to family in college. I propped my Canon SD200 on my chair, sat down next to my little 3 foot tree in my dorm room and smiled…alone.

The picture turned out super cute. In fact, the hubs still has that Christmas card in his cubicle. 🙂 I ordered the cards from Shutterfly, and everyone who received one thought it was a sweet gesture since I wasn’t really near my family in college. 🙁

This year, our card will have me, the hubs and sweet Millie in it. Not so alone anymore!! 🙂 Of course, Shutterfly came to mind when I started browsing for our Christmas cards. Boy, have the designs gotten awesome! I remember having about 40 choices 4 years ago….this year, they have HUNDREDS!

Here’s a few cute ones that caught my eye….

Images Source

As you can see, they cover religious, modern and traditional card types. 🙂 After a good bit of browsing, I am totally getting this. 🙂

Image Source

I just love how fun this card is…from the fonts to the colors. It’s classic, but fun and a bit modern, don’t you think?

These are very simple to make too. All you have to do is upload your picture(s) and place it in the card! Then, wait anxiously in the mail for your holiday goodies to arrive. 😀

Also, if I were hosting a Christmas party this year, I could see myself mailing these invitations out. Easy peasy and very cute…just sayin’. 🙂

Now, if you blog like me, Shutterfly is generously offering 50 free photo cards if you blog about what cards you would send this year! Just fill out this form and wait for the email confirmation about the details for what to include in your post!

If you don’t blog though, these cards are extremely affordable, and sometimes, Shutterfly even has coupon codes to make them even more affordable! 🙂

Do you send out holiday cards?

FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, but opinions about the brand are my own. I will be receiving 50 free photo cards from writing this post. 🙂