No Place Like Home For The Holidays!

The holidays at our home are in full swing. Holly and I, both love decorating our home right after Thanksgiving. In fact, the autumn decor comes down the day after Thanksgiving and we typically can get all our christmas decor up in one day. I love being surrounded by things that remind me of my childhood. Things that remind Holly of her childhood, and things that remind us both of the history we are making together.



You have to have jingle bells on the front door. Traditionally, jingle bells are typically on a black leather strap to represent Santa's belt. At least, that was the way it was in both our childhood homes. We found a modern spin on a wreath in pretty chartreuse and red.



Lots of silver, chartreuse and red make up our color scheme.



Our holiday home is not complete without some reminder of Colonial Williamsburg. Pineapples, the symbol of hospitality existed in colonial times, as well continuing in southern traditions and elsewhere. The crystal pineapple candle holders are a fun thing we picked up a few years ago to decorate with at Christmas time.



Making sure our console is decked for the holidays.



We like to put out candy jars, and were pretty excited to find these chocolate balls in chartreuse foil. The almost match perfectly all the chartreuse bobbles on our Christmas tree.



The reason we celebrate Christmas. The Holy Family with shepherds, sheep and other animals.



The Three Wise Men. I like the detail on the camel that accompanies them.



The holiday table.



Another Colonial Williamsburg tradition, setting out the Raleigh Tavern antique reproduction lantern. Also a few folk Santa's that I have carved, the two on the left. And a purchased Santa that has Amish quilt patterns on it. That Santa reminds Holly and I both of my Mom.



My family likes to do lots of craft projects. My Grandma on my Mom's side had a cookie jar that all us kids remember from years ago. My Mom had one in our house as well. Both painted to their own liking and home surroundings. When I was away on my LDS mission for two years, my oldest sister Shelly and my Mom found the same ceramic Santa Cookie Jar. All my sisters, and my sister-in-law got together and made Santa Cookie Jar's for their own homes. My sister had me that Christmas back in 1994 and made me my own cookie jar for my home someday. Holly and I have enjoyed putting this under our Christmas Trees every year since we've been married.



Shelly also made me a fun elf another year for Christmas. She found a fun pattern and sewed this with my other sisters again. Most of us all have one of these holiday elf's in our homes. He looks fun situated on our new Eames white rocking chair.



The Christmas Tree pattern from Spode China is another holiday tradition from both our childhoods. Growing up, we always ate off the Spode China for the Christmas Eve buffet, and for every Sunday dinner in December. Holly's family also had pieces of Spode China too. We both remember the candy box growing up. This piece of china was discontinued 10-11 years ago. They've been very hard to find. I've been on a waiting list with a china company for years, waiting for one to show up from a store that has gone out of business or an estate that was acquired. I was able to find one in October of this year. I gave it to Holly for her Birthday. It's been a fun addition to our holiday this year, to have the candy box that reminds us both of our childhoods.



No Christmas is complete without decorating the kitchen. In our home, lots of stuff gets made in the kitchen at Christmas time and all year round. We've had fun gathering a few fun holiday tins to put out in the kitchen. I like this one by my KitchenAid stand mixer...

Covered in Chocolate

Christmas is just around the corner, and for the cravens that means CHOCOLATE! We started our chocolate fest the first weekend in November when we were down in SLC. We started out the weekend with a wonderful demonstration from a family friend on how to make fudge and caramel or chocolate suckers (the kind that See's makes, but better!).





You pour the hot caramel between metal bars to get the rectangle shape. We all wanted our own so we could make them at home and have convinced Dan's cousin to make us all some. Once they cool down a little you cut them with a very sharp knife and put in the sucker stick.





Dan made butter rum centers for us to take to SLC and dip and roll in chopped almonds. We call them Pollyanna's, but I don't know why. They are yummy!



After we did ours we helped everyone else. Some of the centers people made were snickers, peppermint truffle, hazelnut truffle, and peanut butter truffle. They were all SO good.






This past Sunday and Monday nights Dan and I finished our chocolate dipping. We made vanilla bean centers dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in coconut as well as peppermint centers dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in chocolate wafer cookies (these are my new favorite!).









We made them kind of small this year so we have about 500 chocolates to package up. Hopefully you have all been good this year because I need to get these OUT OF MY REACH!

Happy Birthday

Happy 40th Birthday Cookie Monster! Who knew you were six years older than me? I think we are going to adopt you...

Turkey Coma

Well Thanksgiving is past, but I think I am still in a turkey coma. I guess this is why I'm late posting, so I'll just get to it. We had a wonderful thanksgiving with friends and their family. It was full of good food, laughter and well, mocking. We started with a cheese plate with aged cheddar, brie and goat cheese accompanied by dried figs, dried pear and spiced nuts.



We then ate a wonderful meal of turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, sauerkraut mashed potatoes, cauliflower gratin, green bean casserole (the real deal), stuffing, rolls and cranberry salsa. Sadly I don't have a photo of the finished turkey (oh was it beautiful and delicious!) but here is the "before" shot.



We moved our furniture around so we could open the table all the way and set it with our thanksgiving china.




It turned out very nice. After dinner we played American Idol Wii and mocked and laughed at how bad we all were (well except for Kelly). Thankfully, there are no photos of this either :) We ended our food fest with chocolate pot de creme which put us all into a sugar induced (heavenly) coma.

My Magic Of Christmas

I love the Roger Whittaker holiday song lyrics, "Christmas is Here Again, Stand Up and Cheer Again! Let's leave our heartaches and sorrows behind!"

I love the Christmas Season and the magic, peace and faith it brings to most of the Christian world. The over-commercialization of the holidays KILLS me, but when you set that aside, and truly focus on what the holiday season is all about, it truly is a miraculous reason to celebrate. We all have so much, and so many things to be thankful for this holiday season and throughout all the year, every year.

I love that the Christian, Non-Christian and Secular worlds come together to take some time out of the busy, hectic nature of life and pause and reflect either on the birth of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, as well as to pause to reflect on how we each can contribute to make the world in which we live a better place. In a world of chaos where so many worldly things dictate how we should spend our time, or what we should think or agree with, Christmas to me is getting back to the basics of humanity and to my faith I hold dear in my heart. For this reason, I offer a few personal thoughts on why I think this is the best time of year...

1) Spending time with our loved ones. Pro-actively organizing parties, venues, or just spending quality time with our immediate and extended families, and dear friends who are an extension of our families. This is what Christmas is all about, strengthening our family relationships and creating memories.

2) Continuing and creating new traditions to share with family and friends, and to pass on to future generations. We all are a product of the environments we came from, the good and the bad. Taking those positive things and expanding on them, and teaching others about traditions and family histories are priceless gifts. Legacies of loved ones past, to share with those yet waiting to be part of families.

3) Connecting with our loved ones who have passed on, by cooking their favorite recipes, telling and re-telling of stories, as well as reflecting on all those good things we've learned from our parents, grandparents and those that have preceded us in death. Some of my most treasured items are recipes, handwritten notes, quilts, serving pieces and things of the like that use to grace the tables and homes of my parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc.

4) Getting involved in something I deeply care and am passionate about. So many organizations need our help not only at this time of year, but all year round. Giving of your time and talents to helping make someone else's burdens less, is the true spirit of giving and brotherly love. Whether this be in our religious communities, or physical communities or a combination of both, we all have something to contribute to others and we all have something to learn from others.

5) The thought "gifts are nice, but homemade gifts are best," truly is something I try to incorporate each holiday season. It's easy to just purchase and buy something to give, but giving gifts of the heart, homemade with time treasured techniques really heightens the magic of the season for both the giver and the recipient.

6) Really diving in and understanding your personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and God, our father in heaven. The miracle of forgiveness, and the blessing of Christ's atonement for EVERYONE really can be hard to fathom. But, as Christians we should do our part to really understand our place in the world, and our relationship with others in kindness, compassion and selfless concern. Not only at Christmas time, but always.

As we start December today, Christmas is here again! I'm excited for what the season symbolizes, teaches, and what I can choose to take out of it.

Brined Thanksgiving Turkey

We decided to experiment and do our first brine this year on our Thanksgiving Turkey. This Alton Brown recipe with it's mixture of aromatics, really has the potential to make a savory tasting bird. If it tastes as good as this brine smells, I'll be a happy camper.



Turkey or Chicken Brine Recipe
Recipe Courtesy of Alton Brown

1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon chicken stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice berries
6 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons chopped candied ginger
1 gallon heavily iced water


Begin thawing the turkey in the refrigerator or in a cooler kept at 38 degrees F.
Combine the stock, salt, brown sugar, peppercorns, allspice berries, bay leaves and candied ginger in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Stir occasionally to dissolve solids and bring to a boil. Then remove the brine from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate.

Early on the day or the night before you'd like to eat:

Combine the brine, water and ice in the 5-gallon bucket. Place the thawed turkey (with innards removed) breast side down in brine. If necessary, weigh down the bird to ensure it is fully immersed, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area for 8 to 16 hours, turning the bird once half way through brining. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F. Remove the bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard the brine.

Roast the turkey on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F for 30 minutes. Insert a probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Set the thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees F. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let the turkey rest, loosely covered with foil or a large mixing bowl for 15 minutes before carving.

Last Days

Okay, I guess I have Armageddon on the brain lately. We saw 2012 on Saturday, what more can I say. But this isn't about that, it's about wrapping up the last few days of our Williamsburg trip.

Finally we are to our actual anniversary. As we got ready to leave our room for the day we opened the door and were surprised by a lovely gift from the hotel, hand dipped chocolates and a lovely ornament of the building. I thought it was very sweet.



We started the day in our favorite building. The governor's palace. I love this building because the colors are right up my alley. Bold greens, yellows, blues, and fun patterns.









Plus the grounds are beautiful. I love the manicured hedges, the lush greens, gravel paths, fall trees, the river that runs behind it, everything.







This is the place I most remember being with Dan 10 years ago.



And I guess this is what happens when you try to take a photo and hold an umbrella...



We also enjoyed a cooking class where we learned to make sweet potato bisque. I enjoyed the presentation, but not the bisque. Dan however loved both.






We had our 5 star anniversary dinner that night at the Regency Room in our hotel. We enjoyed a wonderful meal with beautiful piano music in the background. We tried to take pics of our food, but it was a little too dark. But know that it was as beautiful as it was excellent tasting.





We spent the next day seeing EVERYTHING. The silversmith, print shop, yarn spinner...





To round off the day we saw a trumpet and organ concert in the Wren Chapel on the College of William and Mary campus, and got to see the local kids do the fifes and drums parade again (poor things even did it in the rain).





Ending with another fabulous meal at King's Arms, another restored tavern. This is the place that reminds me the most of my dad and the stories I heard of his love for the peanut soup here. I also have vivid memories of sipping apple cider from pewter cups with my family when I was a teenager. What I don't remember is them making us tie on our napkins like bibs. It was funny when the waitress made the guy at the table next to us do it (I thought she was punishing him for being kind of a jerk), and less funny still when she moved on to the next table. I was having none of it by the time she got to our table and she could tell. She forced Dan into his and looked at me and said I could feel free to if I wanted. Dan made me. Don't we look cute?



It was really, such a great way to spend our 10th anniversary. I look forward to fall here again in 10 years for our 20th anniversary, and maybe then we'll take our little girl with us.