Happy New Year!

Dear 2009,

You have been good to us!

We greet 2010 with anticipation and excitement.

Family Tradition

When I was dating my husband, I had the privilege of meeting his grandparents. They are the neatest grandparents I'd ever met. However, it wasn't long after I'd first met them that their health started to deteriorate.  Fortunately, I was able to receive a first hand lesson from grandma about how to make her famous cinnamon rolls.

Grandma's cinnamon rolls are what dreams are made of. In the eyes of my husband, there are no other rolls.  My son craves their sweetness. As soon as he was big enough to pull open the deep freezer door, I knew that our days of keeping cinnamon rolls around were gone. 

Cinnamon rolls only come around when it's the holidays, or special occasions, so needless to say as soon as November rolled around, I started making rolls. 

The recipe grandma used is top secret. When I said my marriage vows, I was sworn in as a "Keeper of the Rolls". If it wasn't for this one small issue I would share the cinn-a-love with you my reader. But, I think if I were to divulge, I would have two very angry Aunts flying in from Kansas to teach me a thing or two about tradition. 

So even though these are not the rolls my family dreams, of, they are pretty good.

Even though I'm not quite sharing our family's traditional recipe, I'm curious.  What are your traditional family recipes?

Journal Your Christmas:: Week 1

I started Journaling my Christmas on Tuesday December 1. I have really been enjoying it. I love waking up early in the morning to take some time for myself to journal. Although, I have to admit - I usually end up spending more than my allotted time on this. I drink my coffee & let my creative juices flow. A little later, my kids wake up one by one & stumble out the dining room where I am working. As they rub their eyes, they pull out a chair to join me. It's a perfect way to start the day.

I find that I am usually running a day behind the class. I'll spend the morning collaging  the topic that was prompted.  Then, the next morning, I end up journalling after I've had all day the day before to think about what I want to write about. 

I decided to use a new technique in my art journalling this go around. I watched some instructional videos from Teesha Moore - my favorite journal artist. I have to say that its working out well for me. In the past when I've tried to create things that are inspired by other artists, I've gotten really frustrated.  This time, however, it's flowing.

What have you been doing to take a little time for yourself during this busy season of joy?

Deck the Halls :: Cinnamon & Oranges

{Orange slices dehydrated & ready to hang}

{making cinnamon ornaments}

Year after year, I'm finding that I really enjoy making our Christmas ornaments. (I realize the irony in this, mom.)  Growing up, and especially in my teen years, I only wanted to use certain ornaments. The ones that matched, and definitely no HANDMADE ornaments. That cute little santa the my sister made out of a toilet paper roll? No - absolutely not. Our tree had to look like one of the perfectly decorated trees that are on display in the stores. Why? I have no idea. Looking back, I see how silly that was.

Now that I have kids of my own, who are old enough to start making their own decorations, I love it. In fact, I'm thinking that I might be done with store bought ornaments all together. 

Some of my favorite decorations to make are dehydrated orange slices & cinnamon ornaments.

To make the orange slice: (I actually used tangerines)

slice oranges/tangerines into thin rounds

dehydrate by using a food dehydrator or by placing in an oven at 200 degrees until the slices are crisp.

These slices look great hanging in a window as sun catchers, added to garland, or hung a tree by themselves.

There are a lot of recipe's out there for cinnamon ornaments.  The one I used came from Martha Stewart.

1 c. ground cinnamon

1/4 c. applesauce

1/2 c. white craft glue

What are your favorite holiday decorations to make?

Deck the Halls :: Cranberry Garland

Materials

• Fresh cranberries
• Fresh limes or oranges
• Sharp knife
• Large needle
• Waxed dental floss

To calculate how much garland you will want to make to cover a tree, you’ll need approximately 8 feet of garland multiplied by the height of the tree. For example, if you have a 6-foot-tall tree, multiply 6 times 8, which means you would need approximately 48 feet of garland.

To calculate how many cranberries you will need to make the amount of garland you want. Take 1-lb. bag of cranberries for approximately 5 feet of garland. Thus, if you want to cover a whole 6-foot-tall tree with cranberry garland, you would need 9 to 10 lbs. of cranberries. 

1.  Wash the cranberries & limes/oranges

2. Slice the lime/orange into thin slices & set aside.

3. Thread the needle with dental floss.

4.  String one cranberry on and secure to the bottom of the floss by tying a knot.

5. String on cranberries & lime/orange slices until the garland is your desired length.

Today's Mama Interview

I was interviewed by the lovely Em of *e*.  She writes for Today's Mama & asked if she could do an interview on the Stocking Stuffer swap.

Go check it out!