We are indulging in wonderful traditional festivities…i.e. hot cocoa drinking, cinnamon ornament making, present wrapping, and soon to be cookie making!  How are your holiday plans shaping up?  Did you complete your wrapping?  I finally wrapped all of our presents and loved every minute of it!  I’m just glad to not get hit by a present every time I open my closet now!

We’ve been wrapping for days for the Calico Critters.  And quite honestly, it’s so satisfying because when working in the miniature form it equals quick satisfaction.  It’s so easy to make a sweet little Christmas scene for darling little fingers to play with all Christmas season.

We’ve been enjoying doing all kinds of holiday photo shoots at home since the fires in our area have been so serious.  It’s truly tragic to have these fires taking control.  This one has burned over 250,000 acres in California.  We have been praying for the firemen everyday and staying indoors most of the time due to bad air quality.  Hence the photo shoot sessions and our indoor camping ideas.

We set-up the tent for the week in the guestroom since we were desperate to entertain indoors with something new and exciting.  We had a lovely picnic in there, slept in it for a few days and played in it, too.  Clearly, this family is all about camping!  We love it.

 

This Handy Dad in the Great Outdoors is a fabulous book for dad’s and has some fun ideas for camping with your kids.  We got this for Dada for Father’s day one year and it was a hit.  Some fun ones are making leaf impressions with crayons, and building a teepee.

S’mores in a pot are just as good, actually even better because for once my chocolate was truly melted!  So, this is how we have been passing our indoor time during the fire dilemma.  We also have been doing more Christmas crafts, making cinnamon ornaments and painting them, embellishing bottle brush trees from the 99 Cent store of all places, and decorating trees as a fun paper craft.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This dessert was a fun tangent from not really doing desserts most of the time.  We did a peanut butter chocolate pudding parfait with layers of banana and chocolate chips with a strawberry on top.  This is so yummy after it’s been chilled and firms up.  I wish we had had whip cream though.

We’ve really been into playing My Little Pony Candy Land but our own made up version.  Just using her pony toys instead of buying the new game.  It’s a fun way to spice up an old game!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This is a super simple family recipe right outta the 50’s but it is amazing and my kid eats every bite on her plate every time.  Try it!

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Ingredient List

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 rotisserie chicken – take all the meat off the entire chicken and shred into little pieces

3/4 C mayo

two bags frozen broccoli – steam for 5 minutes until semi-tender, not too soft.

2 tsp. curry powder

salt to taste

2 tsp. lemon juice

1 cup cheddar cheese

Grease your casserole dish, place all broccoli on the bottom.  Mix your sauce i.e. the mayo, and soup and the seasoning.  Put chicken all around the broccoli, then cover with the sauce.  Top with the cheese, evenly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min.

This is so yummy and I love a casserole that my toddler will actually eat!!!  She’s still in the phase where all the food pretty much can’t touch and so it is really hard to make real meals.  But not with this one!

One more fabulous thing we are into right now is making homemade salad dressing.  It’s simple.  I can’t stand to buy something that is so easy to do at home.  Just whipped it up in the good ole Ninja and voila a yummy balsamic vinaigrette.  Don’t forget how easy little things like this are in the kitchen, a little oil here, a little vinegar, some herbs, a little minced garlic – that’s all folks.

So that’s us A LA MOMENT!!!!  Enjoy your last few days preparing for the super lovely Christmas day which is right around the corner.  Finally.  It seems like it’s taken forever to get here.  But I usually feel that way because I start crafting so soon after Thanksgiving.  Cheers.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!