icy winter days

CHRISTMAS HAPPY LIST

| homemade egg nog | 

(see the recipe at the bottom)

| skidding around on icy sidewalks

| youtube Christmas playlists |

| ordering 5 million books off of thriftbooks.com |

(best. website. ever)

| hosting friends over for dinner |

| game nights by the glowing Christmas tree lights |

| packing for a trip to Costa Rica |

(be jealous) 

| skyping my Mother |

| laughing at my own jokes |

| doing crazy college student things |

(mainly 'cause of Charlie)

| bundling up in 4 layers of clothes |

 It's been a cozy winter so far. Cooold -- but lovely. For Advent, the husband and I have been crossing things off of our bucket list. We put up our first Christmas tree together, visited downtown St. Charles, did our Christmas shopping on Amazon and experimented with homemade eggnog.  

Somehow we ended up with (literally) 16 dozen eggs from Charlie's grandparents. Making eggnog was the obvious solution. I love eggnog -- I could live on it. This recipe makes such creamy, rich nog -- infinitely better than the stuff you buy at Wal-Mart. There's something satisfying about slurping on the foam and bragging about your abilities in the kitchen. 

1 dozen eggs

4 cups milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

2 cups sugar

nutmeg to taste

~ Separate the yolks and the whites

Cover the whites and put them in the fridge

Whisk the yolks with sugar until it's creamy and banana colored

Beat in the milk and cream

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour

Beat the whites until it forms stiff peaks

Fold it into the creamy mixture

Serve with nutmeg ~

*recipe is not mine -- it's from the wonderful inter webs*

In case y'all haven't heard. I am headed to Costa Rica in a next week with the Herrick fam. You won't be hearing from me for a while. BUT I will have several thousand pictures to share once we return. There will be a bombardment of jungles, beaches, volcanoes and toucans here on the blog ;) 

Till then -- stay safe m'dears and have a Merry Christmas! Praise the Lord for sending His marvelous Son!! 

Homemade Christmas {hot chocolate}

     Though this recipe is already on the world wide web, I just had to share it with you! It makes so much hot chocolate mix that I am going to have to give some away for Christmas. Once again my mason jars will come in handy for that:)


HOT CHOCOLATE:

(Makes 15 cups of mix or 45 servings. I know! That's a lot!)

10 cups dry milk powder
4 3/4 sifted confectioners sugar
1 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 3/4 cups powdered non-dairy creamer (there are different flavors)

and don't forget some small marshmallows, and peppermint sticks:)

Chocolate was discovered in the 16th century when Spanish explorer Cortez brought it to Spain from the Aztecs Indians. The Spanish made it a hot sweetened beverage and guarded their precious drink carefully---  It wasn't until a century later when it began to spread across Europe. That's when chocolate houses started up in England and became extremely popular. Thank you Cortez! :)

Homemade Christmas {ornaments}

Here is your ordinary Christmas bulb--  boring, plain, and unappealing.

 

And here is your new Christmas bulb! -- beautiful, old fashioned-y, and delightful in every way:)

 

NOTE: modge podge is all I used (and a book that I didn't feel bad tearing up. Books make up the majority of our wall insulation, but I couldn't find a single one to tear up. I had to buy a romance that looked badly written:) Anyhoo, modge podge is likely to get all over everything when you use it. I spent several minutes peeling layer after layer of it off my hand when I was done.

 

Christmas bulbs (at Wal-Mart) x4 -- $2.99

Paperback novel -- 25 cents at the thrift store

 

Another pretty Christmas ornament is this button bulb that my sister Clara made. All that is needed is a styrofoam ball, buttons that you'll never use otherwise, and hundreds of sewing pins.

 

We taped a layer of tissue paper underneath the buttons to avoid any foam showing. Also you might want to put the hook in first before you start pinning buttons on (unlike like us. lesson learned.) Then you'll have a ornament that is as cute as a button! haha-- get it?

 

 

Homemade Christmas {wrapping paper}

 Crafts are beautiful. Admittedly most of my ideas are stolen from other people (Pinterest, craft shows, and blogs are chock full of wonderful DIY projects) but the splendor of crafting is that each and every project is going to be unique. This blog series isn't telling you anything, it is showing you one way of doing things. There's no right or wrong way, so cut loose and let your own creativity flow!

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 Making your own wrapping paper is a simple way of personalizing your gifts not to mention that it's completely free! (That is if you've invested in stamps and ink:)



 

 

All you need is a roll of butcher paper/freezer paper (both of which are ridiculously cheap) or better yet, the sides of a paper grocery bag. Just cut out the bottom and use the inside.

 

 

The rest is self explanatory! Clara and I had so much fun coming up with different patterns. She created the spider, alphabet, and Blue Jay themes.

 

 

 

 

These will certainly add some rusticity to your Christmas tree this year! Also vintage Christmas postcards are extremely easy to find in antique stores this time of year. They will add a nice touch to your home made wrapping paper:)

Homemade Christmas {center pieces}

     My inspiration for this bottle is from here-- a blog I discovered thanks to Pinterest. Instead of twine I used macramé which required a huge amount of hot glue. It was worth it:) You can use these bottles for practically anything:) vases, center pieces, decorative wine bottles or to play the 'jug' like Briscoe Darling in Andy Griffith.....

 

Bottle: free (this one was in our woodshed, but you can use wine bottles or coke bottles)

Twine: 3-5 dollars at Hobby Lobby.

Macramé: roughly 10 dollars at most craft stores.

Net price: 15 dollars for enough supplies to make several vases.

 

 

Buttons, burlap flowers, twine braids, or ribbons are simple ways of embellishing your final product. I am still discovering the millions of ways twine and macramé are useful, so you might see some more blog posts about them:) 

 

Mason jar candles-- a common craft project, but one with so many possibilities! I've seen them on Pinterest made with book pages, music sheets, and/or paint.

 

The two I decorated are especially easy to make. A lace doily, some cut up newspaper, a little ric rac and TA DA! My next mason jar experiment is to modge podge fabric onto a couple and see how those come out.

Homemade Christmas

I am absolutely thrilled to begin this series!!!

Most people complain about the commercialism and expense of Christmas. Parents outdo themselves in gift-giving, yet children soon tire of their brand new toys. Some people mean well by giving overly expensive gifts only to find out that it was ill received and secretly returned to the store. There must be a better way to show the Christmas spirit! --A less expensive and more meaningful way to express your love to others.

That’s why I’m starting this blog series: (Which I’m completely stoked about:)) to share ideas and resources that can help you save money and (hopefully) relish the experience much more. Welcome to “The Homemade Christmas!” Sit back and relax to enjoy the world of creation and ideas!

There will be posts with decorating ideas including homemade wreaths, Christmas tree ornaments, paper chains, lights, how to make your own wrapping paper etc. The list goes on and on.

  I will share some of my favorite recipes and creative tips to make your home attractive to visitors. (Did you know that if you boil cinnamon sticks your house will smell absolutely lovely?)

The highlight of this series will be gift making--- or should I say gift ‘transforming’. We are going to take some old items from an antique store and transform them into something beautiful. This is the perfect way to make a gift personal not to mention that it is significantly cheaper than buying brand new materials. These posts will include ‘before’ and ‘after’ pictures, how I went about it, and the net price of everything I used. Hopefully that will get your creative juices flowing so you can transform your own gifts.

And lastly I will throw in some delightful Christmas poems and the history behind Christmas hymns we sing all the time. Such as “Silent Night”, “Angels We Have Heard on High”, and “Lo How a Rose”.

Your thoughts and ideas are welcome. PULLLLLEEEEASE comment if you would like to contribute something. Sound like fun? Then let’s get started!