Monday, December 10, 2012

Christmas prep is in full swing!

So, I wrote about getting our tree, which I'm still just so thrilled about. We put it up in our front room and decorated it. White lights, silver garland, and red, green, and gold ornaments with my angel on top. I'm really happy we can have it in our main room where people can enjoy it. How, you may ask, can I do this with two small kids? Well, that's why I love Craigslist and the fantastic woman who sold me one of those "super play yards" that I can put up around my tree to keep the kids away. Mwuahahahahahahaha.

Brett put his train up around the tree last night, and I've got just a few finishing touches to put on before I post some pictures.

I'll be starting my holiday baking as soon as I can get to the store. I need some batches of Christmas Crack! Yum. My mouth is watering now.

My baking is somewhat restricted this year, since my hand mixer finally kicked the bucket. Granted, most of this, I can do by hand. But there are some things I want to make that require butter & sugar to be creamed together, and I just don't have the muscle or the speed to do that with a wire whisk and some elbow grease. Good thing a hand mixer is on my list! :) Maybe I'll be doing more...post-Christmas baking. Good thing the Christmas Crack is easy and requires no mixer. I can churn out batches of that stuff like it's going out of style.

The most exciting part of Christmas prep is making gifts! Like I mentioned in my last post, I make gifts for our families since we don't have the money to buy a lot of stuff. I have so much fun hunting down the "best" ideas for Christmas gifts. It's just so exciting! I love imagining the look on someone's face when they open it. Granted, my gifts probably aren't as thrilling as some things you can get in the store. But I put a lot of thought and effort and time into them, and I hope it shows. Last year I gave bath salts and sugar scrub, with some little pots of homemade lip gloss (which was delicious, by the way).

This year, my theme is different. I'm not giving it away, because naturally I don't want to spoil the surprise! But I really hope people like my gifts.

I'm documenting the process of making some of these, so look forward to some fun posts after Christmas!

2 comments:

  1. My mixer vibrated itself off the counter making cinnamon rolls for conference in October, so I can tell you first hand that it does take a lot of arm muscle to handmix cookies. My mom used my mixer dying as an excuse to buy herself a nice new KitchenAid and is mailing me her old one.

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  2. Laura, do you know what brand, etc. of hand mixer you'd like as a replacement? I'd write a letter to Santa if I were you, and my guess is you'd merit more than coal this year! Fun memories in this post!!

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