It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Wow I can't believe it's December already! Weren't we just bringing out our fall decorations and relishing in being able to wear sweatshirts and drink cider a couple days ago?!

I love Christmas. I'm one of "those people" who checks the radio every day starting at Halloween for those two special stations that eventually play Christmas music 24/7... Love love love me some Christmas music! I got a few evil stares at work for those couple of weeks before Thanksgiving when I listened to it... But now it's December! They can't oppose me now, muahahaha! :)

The Tuesday before Thanksgiving I received my wreath from our school's fundraiser. And I couldn't wait any longer. I texted my hubby (who wouldn't be home until late because of his night class) and asked if it was ok if Abby and I decorated... and he said yes!! So up from the basement I pulled my supplies:

We don't have much. The big tote is mostly full of ornaments. We've only been married 6 years, and we don't really add anything to the stash each year. Maybe that will change now that we have a kid...

So first things first! The tree! While I grew up in a family who went out and bought a real tree each year, Rocky is not a fan of the mess and the cost of a real tree. Our first Christmas, we bought one of those little 3-foot fake ones, and since we have two cats and an 18-month-old, it will probably continue to be our best option for a few years. :)

 All we had to do was move the houseplant and unfold the tree! After spending a few minutes sorting through ornaments (only using the non-breakables and the ones I wouldn't care if they broke...), Abby and I set to work.

Last year I was super excited to receive the Willow Tree 6-piece Nativity for Christmas, but had to just pack it away with everything else until this year!

I love how the candle is like the star of Bethlehem. :)

Then a couple days later, Rocky was home from school for Thanksgiving break and it was a beautiful, sunny day! I asked if he'd be willing to put up the outdoor lights if I tested them out for him. :) He agreed -- but only if I would also go borrow a ladder from the neighbors!

After a lot of finagling with extension cords and clips, we were finished just as it got dark:


The best part? It's all plugged into one of the outdoor porch lights, so we just flip the switch inside the house and all of it lights up! We don't even need to go outside!

 Best. Invention. Ever.

So there you have it. Our little bit of decoration. I've pulled out the Christmas candles (Yankee Candle's "North Pole" is ahhhmazing!!). Christmas music is playing on the radio. All we need is snow! ;-) Welcome to December!!

I'm so busy, busy, dreadfully busy...

Have you seen that episode of Veggie Tales? The rendition of the Good Samaritan? Where they sing the song "Busy, Busy"? (I tried to find it on youtube, but apparently the only video of it had the audio disabled because of copyright...)

Well that song has been running through my head lately... This past weekend I volunteered at our church's high school youth group fall retreat. I feel like I should be catching up on my sleep right now while Abby's asleep... but I'm writing instead. :) And this week is Thanksgiving here in the U.S.! Our local schools only are in session today and tomorrow. Thursday my family will be double-dipping -- heading to Rocky's mom's side of the family for noon-ish turkey lunch, and to his dad's side of the family for evening-ish appetizers and finger food snacks. Lots of fun times with family!

I'm not a Black Friday shopper. I used to be a Black Friday worker. And I did enjoy it actually. Getting to the store at five in the morning, preparing to open the doors at six. The non-stop flow of customers, helping people find what they need, and hopefully not running out of our doorbusters too quickly...

But this year I will be thankful to be able to sleep in on Friday. Maybe I'll check out some online deals, from the comfort of my own home.

Sunday will feature yet another turkey dinner, at my mom's house this time.

And the next thing we know, it will be December.



They say time seems to go by faster the older you get. This year seems to be passing me by like a freight train.

In the midst of everything going on in your lives the next month, make sure you take the time for fun. Play in the snow with your kids. Go drive around and look at Christmas lights. Get in your pj's and read the Christmas story. Savor that last bite of pumpkin pie. You've gotta wait a whole nother 12 months until you get to do this again...

What types of things do you ENJOY doing this time of year?

Happy National Homemade Bread Day!!! {apple butter recipe included}

At the beginning of the month, a little birdie at school came into the office and printed a calendar with all of those fun little holidays -- you know, like Talk Like a Pirate Day. And I discovered that November 17th is National Homemade Bread Day!

Since I already wrote a post about my love for my breadmaker, I thought I would tell you about what I worked on in my kitchen the other day -- what I would even dare to call "bread's perfect companion" (although I'll probably say that about another recipe I have planned too... :)

**Spoiler alert!!** Mom, Dad, Grandmas, other family members -- this post is going to detail your Christmas gifts. If it serves to make you hungry in anticipation of the day you receive my gift, great. If you don't want to know what I'm making, stop reading. Although the title of this post pretty much gives it all away anyway.**

This year for Christmas things are a little tight. As I'm sure they are for a lot of you. And since I always wonder what to get for those parents and grandparents in our lives who already have "everything" -- other than updated pictures of Abby of course -- I started thinking about cheap, consumable things I could get/make/give them. After seeing this pin on Pinterest (which you may remember seeing mentioned in my Pin the halls with boughs of holly post), I had my idea!

Apples were buy one bag get one free last week. So on Tuesday morning I visited my favorite recipe website in search of the perfect apple butter recipe. I'd heard it can be made in the crockpot, and since I was going to be home all day I figured I'd give it a try!

I peeled and chopped my apples, and put them in the crockpot. I think I had about 14 apples total, a mix of one bag sweet and one bag tart. Then I mixed together the sugar and spices and dumped them on the apples, stirring to coat.

I covered it and turned the cooker on high for an hour, then low/warm for about 7 hours. Very similar to making applesauce. Once the apples were really really soft and brown, I mashed them with a potato masher, then decided to make things a little messy in the kitchen... :) I scooped the mixture into my blender and made it super smooth (it took 2+ batches in my blender). Then I dumped it all back in my crockpot and left the lid off for a couple of hours, stirring every 1/2 hour or so. I'm sure I've said it before, but my crockpot likes to cook HOT. So the entire process didn't take as long as most recipes say, and I needed to be extra careful I didn't burn the fruit.

At this point, the longer it cooks, the better! The difference between applesauce and apple butter is that apple butter has cooked longer and therefore more water has evaporated (plus there's more sugar and spices in the butter). I read about a trick to know if your butter is done: Take a spoonful and put it on a plate, let it cool and see if 1) it holds it's shape and 2) there is no liquid (water) around the outside of the puddle.

You can still see some liquid in this photo. I think I let my butter go another hour or two after this.

And that's all there is to it! At this point you can process your containers of butter however you choose -- it both freezes well and cans well. I'd gotten some cute, small jelly jars (4 oz) and decided to can them.

Then I realized I don't have proper canning equipment. Oops.

It was nearly 8:00 at night, and I didn't have a car (the hubby was at his master's class), so I wasn't about to walk down to the store. So I searched my cupboards and here's what I came up with:

Not ideal, but it worked. Each jar only had to boil for 5 minutes. Yes I had to do them one at a time, so it took me an hour. But it got done. :)

This batch ended up making a dozen 4 oz jars, plus one 8 oz freezer container (which I brought to school yesterday with some homemade bread... :)

So my plan for Christmas? A basket with a jar of apple butter, a jar of cinnamon honey butter, and a small loaf of homemade bread. Yum!

How will you celebrate National Homemade Bread Day today?? :)

Slow Cooker Apple Butter 5 1/2 pounds apples - peeled, cored, and chopped 4 cups white sugar (you REALLY do need a lot of sugar -- don't cut it down too much or the butter won't solidify) 1 Tb ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp ground cloves 1/2 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp salt Place the apples in a slow cooker. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and spices. Pour the mixture over the apples in the slow cooker and mix well. Cover and cook on high 1 hour. Reduce heat to low and cook 7 to 11 hours, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thickened and dark brown. [After this point I took the time to put the butter through my blender for a smoother consistency] Uncover and continue cooking on low 1-3 hours. Stir occasionally. Spoon the mixture into sterile containers, cover and refrigerate, freeze, or process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes.

Pin the halls with boughs of holly...

I finally took the plunge and joined Pinterest a couple of months ago. And let me tell you -- it's ADDICTIVE. In a good way I suppose. :) If you've never heard of Pinterest, it is basically a place where you can take any ideas you see online and "pin" them to "boards" on your profile -- sort of like a visual bookmark. The neat thing is you can see what your friends (from Facebook and other places) have pinned too, and you can re-pin their ideas onto your boards too!

Since my hubby won't let me put up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving (he would even prefer I wait until December 1...), I thought I would do a little searching on Pinterest... just to get some ideas. ;) Here are some of my favorite things I've found so far:

Thumbprint tree -- make with salt dough and a cookie cutter

 Scrabble ornaments -- great gift idea for Rocky's family (they LOVE to play!)

Wreath for the front door made from popsicle sticks. Decorate with paint or glitter.

Fudge in cookie cutters -- great gift idea!

Cinnamon honey butter -- another great gift idea!

Advent idea -- Wrap 24 Christmas books you already own. Kids get to pick which one is read that day. Stack under kids tree in bedroom. Half the fun of presents is unwrapping them!

See how fun this is?! If you'd like to join the Pinterest craze, leave me your email address in the comments below (use "at" and "dot" to help prevent spam) -- you have to be invited to join, and I will gladly send you an invite. :)

Musical Mondays: Christmas in July!

Image courtesy of mterraza

I love Christmas music.

I'm one of those weird people who gets so excited when a certain local radio station starts playing Christmas music around or before Halloween.

I wish I could pick one favorite Christmas song. We had this discussion with some friends last December. I really cannot choose just one. It really depends on the genre we're talking about.

There are certain carols I love (Silent Night, O Come O Come Emmanuel).

More modern holiday songs (White Christmas, It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas).

Fun Christmas songs (All I Want for Christmas is You, I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas)

Other modern Christian Christmas songs (Here With Us, Breath of Heaven).

And even songs [traditionally] without words (Carol of the Bells, Coventry Carol).

Oh and the one we kind of made up in our praise band a couple years ago, taking the words of It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and putting it to the music of Fernando Ortega's Our Great God...

What about you? Are you able to narrow down your list of favorite Christmas songs to just one or two?