the nutcracker

Yesterday my mom and I took my daughter to see the Nutcracker.  It's a tradition we try to do every year. It always gets me in the spirit of Christmas and yesterday was no exception! Especially since we got a beautiful snow storm the day before.

I am also planning a nutcracker themed party for my son's kindergarten class.  The cups were the inspiration and I thought the nutcracker theme would appeal to everyone.  I found some cute ideas on Pinterest (see my samples below) and even ordered a nutcracker shaped cookie cutter.

Our elf made a visit this morning and brought the children tiny, elf sized Hershey kisses (aka chocolate chip.)  They loved it! He even put them in a tiny jar that was just like the jar we had our regular sized kisses in! So fun.  Another great Pinterest idea.

And lastly, I thought I would share some photos I snapped with my phone while I was out and about this morning.  I used to think that the fall was the most beautiful season in Connecticut, but I am starting to think that Winter is now in the running.  The trees are sparkling, covered in ice, and are such a contrast to the beautiful blue sky. It truly is breathtaking.

that's a wrap

I don't know about you, but I often find myself thinking about Newtown as we approach the one year anniversary. My heart is breaking all over again.  And, as I mentioned last year, I find it important to thank all of the significant people that are in my children's life, especially around the holidays. It need not be a gift, a note of appreciation is often more meaningful.

This year for all of the special teachers, secretaries, the nurse and principal at my children's school I ordered these glittered letter ornaments from Pottery Barn.  I packaged them in red gift card holder boxes.  I  also ordered these custom cards from Jessica at Tulaloo.  The inside reads "Wishing you Christmas Blessings from A-Z!" I attached them to the box with some dark green grosgrain ribbon.

 

 

 

And, for our bus driver, I found a cute sandwich sized lunch box and tucked a gift certificate into it for lunch on us! We are so thankful that he keeps our children safe on the way to and from school each day.

 

 

And for my daughter's religious ed teacher I usually give some sort of an ornament. This year it's an angel ornament and I tied on some chocolate angels to the package.

 

the smell (and taste) of christmas

As Christmas creeps closer we have been enjoying all of the tastes and smells that come with the holiday season. We enjoyed some gingerbread waffles over the weekend. They were delicious and easy to make. The recipe can be found here.

The children have been enjoying visits from our elf, Jack. The other day he left a message made out of m&m's. They loved it!

 

 

My husband and I have been enjoying eggnog martinis! They are very easy to make.

 

 

 

 

Today it's snowing and the children are home from school.  We are baking our gingerbread houses. the house smells divine. I love Christmas!

 

 

 

that's a wrap

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? Are you trying to check something off your list? I thought I would share the class gift that I have organized for my son's Kindergarten teacher.  My first plan was to purchase an advent calendar and then fill the boxes with Christmas wishes and some gift certificates from all of the students in her class, but the advent calendar arrived damaged and the boxes were tiny and would not hold much of anything. So, plan b was that I decided to make an advent calendar wreath instead! I purchased a fresh green wreath from Lowes for less than $10.  Then I bought some gift certificate boxes that look like tiny presents and attached them to some clothespins with my glue gun. I numbered them and attached them to the wreath. I also sent home tiny white cards and envelopes that the children are writing their Christmas wishes on. I will number them and attach them to the wreath in between all of the boxes. We are going to put some gift cards/other small gifts in the boxes and then give it to her when they start back at school after Thanksgiving vacation.  I even bought a command hook so that she can hang it on her classroom door or on a wall/chalkboard. I think the students will enjoy having her open the envelopes every day and hear the wishes that they have written for her. I tried to make the gift boxes on weekend days or vacation days so that the envelopes and wishes could be read out loud during the day. The parents in my son's class were appreciative that I organized a class gift AND that we can check it off our list before December has even rolled around. Win, win.  I will try to take a photo of the finished product when its done.

merry christmas

 

We had such a lovely Christmas.  On the 23rd we took a trip on the Polar Express.  It's always magical and the kids love it.  So do we!

 

 

 

On Christmas Eve the children spent the morning making cookies for Santa.  We went to church at 4 and then my parents came over for dinner.  I made a baked shrimp scampi that we served over some red, green and white pasta.  We also had a delicious Cesar salad and some crusty bread.  For dessert we had peppermint stick ice cream with some homemade chocolate sauce.  While I was making the chocolate sauce the kids enjoyed decorating their homemade gingerbread houses. 

 

They also decided to make homemade chocolate milk for Santa.  They were so funny adding the chocolate to the milk and test tasting it until it was "perfect!"

 

Santa wrapped the children's gifts in different paper and left their stocking in front of their piles so there was no confusion. 

 

We had a traditional Irish breakfast with sausages and Irish beans and I made a baked french toast casserole.  It was delicious.

 

And we were all thrilled to wake up to snow!  It truly was magical.

Hope that you all had a magical Christmas too. 

christmas "tree"t

Yesterday was my daughter's last day of school.  We thought it would be nice if she gave a little something to each of her classmates.  Since they are studying trees we decided tree shaped lollipops would be perfect.   We also found some letter stickers made out of branches.  My daughter used a sticker for the first letter of each of her classmates names and then wrote the rest with a pen.  We added some green ribbon and put them in a glass tree shaped jar to deliver to school. 

grinch party to go

I love living in a small town in Connecticut where my daughter's teacher is also our neighbor, my son's teacher's two daughters are our favorite babysitters and the local librarian has become a dear friend.  When someone in our town is sick or needs help everyone pitches in.  There is a wonderful website called mealtrain that organizes dinner for families that need it.  We made dinner for a family last night and with it I decided to give them a "Grinch party to go."  

 

 

I included supplies to make a Grinch ornament......

 

 

 

A personalized basket filled with "The Grinch" movie, popcorn, drinks and snacks......

 

And some green Grinch cupcakes for dessert.

thankful for teachers

 

 

 

I don't usually address current events on my blog, but what happened on Friday has truly hit home;   as a former first grade teacher, a parent to a current first grader, and a resident of Connecticut.  Even though I didn't know any of the families, this feels personal.  As I wrote on my facebook page...."In my humble opinion, First grade is the most magical year. The world begins to open up to new readers, a sense of growing independence and curiosity about the world unfolds and yet these young children still maintain a sweet innocence about them. To all of my former students, colleagues, family, and friends I wish that the magic of First grade will live on in your hearts forever in memory of all of those sweet, innocent first graders whose magic and wonderment has disappeared forever."
If you follow this blog you know that I always try to appreciate teachers, and all of the people that are involved in my children's lives for that matter, for every holiday.  This seems even more important after the tragedy in Newtown on Friday.  This year for Christmas we went in on the class gifts, but also gave cupcakes to all of them.  I had Jessica from Tulaloo make some adorable gift tags.  They say "Have yourself a Merry Little Cupcake" and she put our name on the cupcake pick.  Adorable!  Our local bakery packaged their delicious cupcakes in these cellophane bags, but you could also make your own cupcakes and buy the bags here. I also attatched a cupcake ornament. This holiday season make sure you appreciate teachers everywhere.  A hand written note or even an email of appreciation is the best gift they could ever receive. 

**Tulaloo has designed a new collection - titled "Breathe Love" - and 100% of your purchase price will be donated directly to the school. All donations will be used to provide gift cards to allow school administrators and teachers to purchase supplies and materials to spruce up the temporary school they are moving into and make it feel warm and welcoming as the students return. You can purchase 8x8 posters and note card sets here. **

that's a wrap

 

 

A fun gift idea for your friends and neighbors with kids is some homemade sugar cookies and a decorating kit.  I found personalized plates (sometimes you can find them for sale on Zulily) and put some homemade sugar cookies on them.  I included frosting and a container of sprinkles.  I attached the recipe for the sugar cookies to the plate and I found a plastic light bulb shaped ornament that I filled with sprinkles to attach to the decorations.   

a very vineyard christmas

 

This past weekend we were invited by some friends to spend the weekend in Martha's Vineyard!!!  We had the most amazing time.

 

We saw a parade!

Did a little shopping.

Had fun at the beach.

And saw the sights.

 

 

 

We can't wait to go back!

hello kitty christmas

This week my daughter had a friend over for a play date.  When I was at the store recently I saw this pink Hello Kitty gingerbread house and knew my daughter would LOVE it so I grabbed it.  I thought it would be a perfect activity for the play date.  To make it even a little more special I made some cute straws with Hello Kitty's signature bow and put out some more candy and frosting for the girls to use.  Unfortunately the cookies were a little soft and broke before we were able to get the house together.  So we improvised and decorated flat house shaped cookies instead.  The girls didn't care one bit and had a blast together and that is all that matters. 

that's a wrap

One of my former colleagues and friends is celebrating a big birthday later on this month.  I have always admired these monogram wreaths from Ballard Designs and thought that would be the perfect gift for her.  I wanted to give it to her early so that she would be able to enjoy it all month so, while she was away on a little vacation last weekend, her daughter snuck over and hung it on her front door for me.  The card read from "A to Z here's to 60!" All I had to do was add a pretty ribbon and a card.  This is a lovely gift for a December birthday, as a special hostess gift, or even as a Christmas gift.  The wreath form was so thick and the greenery was just wired to it, so it can definitely be used year after year. 

brown paper packages tied up with strings

 

 

Some of our dear friends recently moved to Colorado.  We always used to go get our Christmas trees together so I thought it only fitting to send a gift with a "going to get your tree theme."  I packed fleece hats for the little boys so that they would stay warm.  Cocoa with marshmallows and some mini peppermint schnapps nips for the parents to add to their cocoa.  A CD of Christmas music to play in the car and a homemade ornament to hang on their tree.  I just printed a picture on some vellum paper and stuck it in a clear plastic ball.  I figured if we couldn't go together to get our tress that at least they would know that we were thinking of them when they went to get theirs.  I popped it in the mail the day before Thanksgiving because they were in Connecticut celebrating the holiday and I wanted to make sure that it made it to Colorado before they got home and went to get their tree.  What about you friends do you have any fun traditions around going to get your Christmas tree?  I'd love to hear them!