Tag: Christmas

Decorating, Family, Holidays, holidays, winter, xmas

Not My Favorite Day☹️

by HouseResortLeave a Comment on Not My Favorite Day☹️
Taking down my Christmas decorations

I put up our Christmas decorations, with Nat King Cole singing to me, and a glass of eggnog waiting for me on the kitchen counter. I take Every ornament in my hand and memories rush to my head, and I smile and sometimes have tears in my eyes, remembering the days we sat at the breakfast table, glueing and sprinkling sparkles on our new creations. Our house gets filled with color. Red, green, and gold. Poinsettia plants tucked in every corner, and the smell of our new fraser fir Christmas tree fills our home. Bowls of candy, and cake pedestals filled with homemade cookies, ready to be gift wrapped for friends, and neighbors decorate my house like a Christmas card. I love sliding every heavy box filled with decorations out off the attic, and I am never surprised to hear my husband growl, when he finds a broken string of light. Even the rush drive, to buy more lights is memorable.

Today, I am collecting my Christmas decorations, and putting them back in boxes for next year. This is not one of my favorite days !! There is no music, no eggnog, only the frustration of how the same decorations refuse to fit in their original boxes?!! Christmas always seems to come too fast, and go by too fast, and I never seem to feel, I had enough time to enjoy all the memories I had pulled out of my Christmas boxes. But I am sure, I have collected more memories, with my fast growing “older” family, and I am positive I have gained few more pounds from baking Christmas cookies. For now looking forward to next year, and the hope of another Christmas, with Nat King Cole Singing to me, as I decorate my house, and drink my eggnog with a dash of tears.

Handmade sparkly bell & ginger men 💕
Christmas, Decorating, Entertainment, Family, Holidays, holidays, Home, winter, xmas

Watch me decorate for the holiday season🎄

by HouseResortLeave a Comment on Watch me decorate for the holiday season🎄
Watch me decorate for the holiday season🎄

When we picked up our Christmas tree, I also picked up an arm full of clippings. I wanted to use them in decorating my mail box, the living room and the dining room. Also Adding trimmings ( Faux red berries, and pinecones) that I had saved from last year’s Christmas wreaths. I thought they would add texture, color, and dimension to the all green clippings.

I put on my garden gloves, since I was getting sap all over my hands, and started layering the branches. Included smaller branches to cover some empty spots, and added pinecones and the berries in between the greens. Later I add another layer of Christmas ball ornaments and a string of lights.

Just to see different looks, later I added poinsettia plants, my small decorative Christmas trees, and just making it colorful, bright, and sparkly I also added mercury candle holders in silver, gold, and green.

Candles with pine cones, and faux berries

All together 5 looks for a very warm, colorful, holiday season decor. you can watch my video on how I put together everything on the fireplace mantle and my dining buffet table. I hope you enjoy watching it, and please support me by subscribing. Have a safe Holiday Season. https://youtu.be/nYq5ohkaOjA

Christmas balls, and candles in Christmas colors

Decorating, Family, Holidays, winter, xmas

Christmas Tree Clippings from Fraser Firs & More🎄

by HouseResortLeave a Comment on Christmas Tree Clippings from Fraser Firs & More🎄

I started this ritual four years ago. We pick up our Christmas tree, and I collect an arm full of clippings, using them later to make our mail box festive like everyone else’s in our neighborhood.

After we choose our tree, we get back to the car, and wait for our tree to get wrapped to the top of our car. Here I stand next to a mountain of clippings, and I always ask for permission to dip into the mountain, and I am always encouraged by the sales people to pick up the entire load 😂 Beautiful, green branches, with the fresh scent of Fraser Fir, that fills my car, as I drive home with our Christmas tree (which we can’t smell) on top of the car, looking like a Christmas card.

After a few days, weather permitting, I take some branches, and the trimmings that I will be using, to the mail box, and start working. It usually takes a few minutes to arrange the branches, trim a few, add berries and pine cones to make our mail box looking festive, colorful and beautiful. 🎄

I kept these berries and pinecones from last years wreath, I add them for color and more texture🎄

I still have plenty of clippings left, I am planning on using them around the house for center pieces, and the fireplace mantle. I will Take photos for another blog, stay tuned 😉Have a wonderful holiday season🎁

Christmas, Decorating, dessert, Entertainment, Fall, Family, Gifts, Health, Holidays

Holiday Baking is on ❄️🍪🙌

by HouseResortLeave a Comment on Holiday Baking is on ❄️🍪🙌

Cooking and baking has always been a fun hobby that I have enjoyed immensely. I am an average cook that loves to experiment with cooking healthy meals. I enjoy baking, just simply because I am addicted to chocolate, and for me a lovely pastry with coffee, and tea is a trip to heaven and back☺️

Christmas peppermint bark

This year, more than ever in my life 😥 I have been cooking and baking for my family, and now for holidays I have decided to bake new goodies and find my new favorites.

I started with :

Pizzelle

Pizzelle 👩🏻‍🍳 every Christmas we enjoy eating these lovely lightly sweet giant snow flakes all day long when we travel to see grandparents. This Christmas I had to bake our own batch 😳 I pulled out my pizzelle maker which I had received years ago as a Christmas gift, and used grandmas’s recipe. After a couple of tries they came out perfect snow flakes 😋

Italian wedding cookies

Italian wedding cookies 👩🏻‍🍳 they are made with crushed almonds, and coated with powder sugar, and look like small snow balls. They are beautiful to look at, and are lightly sweet, and believe me when I say 🤣 you can’t stop at just one.

Cranberry bars

Cranberry bars 👩🏻‍🍳 using leftover cranberry sauce from thanksgiving meal, I baked these thick delicious bars with two flaky layers of dough, cushioning a layer of my chunky cranberry sauce, and a layer of walnuts. I am already thinking of making more of these bars with almonds. This is my absolute new favorite 👍

Peppermint barks

Peppermint bars 👩🏻‍🍳 I have always bought them as gifts for friends, and loved having them during holidays. This year never found the time to purchase them on time, so I decided to make some. Couldn’t perfectly layer the white chocolate over the dark chocolate, but the result was a swirl of dark and white with crushed peppermints that made little ones very happy to crush and spread over the baking dish. Easy, fun to make, and very delicious. Next time I will make it thinner, so it would be easier to cut, and I have more to eat👍

I wish you all happy cooking and baking💕please check out our YouTube channel. And please subscribe and leave your comments. I love reading them and sharing more videos with you. https://youtu.be/Qb8lgNMk8AY

Christmas, Decorating, Entertainment, Family, Holidays, Home

Keeping it together 🥰

by HouseResortLeave a Comment on Keeping it together 🥰

I can list many things we are not doing this Christmas, but I realize I will be only whining, and not respecting the facts that this has been a historic year. The events of this year has changed many lives, and will change the way we used to entertain for many years to come. Special days like birthdays, anniversaries will be remembered as not so memorable, and our photos will be good evidence of that, but we also know family get togethers during Halloween, thanksgiving and Christmas will never be the same again.

In my Family events that get us together include our grandparents, and close relatives. Their presence is necessary and important to us, and their visits has always left an impression on our children. Every occasion matters, and they are memorable. This Christmas family visits are not possible, and to keep grandma, and grandpa part of our fast growing family (one day they are toddlers, next day they are teenagers) we are staying in touch using everything accessible to all of us.

Sending pictures while trimming the tree, baking, and decorating the yard has kept our family close and involved. Trying to create memories together while not being in the same space. Keeping it together until things are back to normal !! “after all tomorrow is another day”❤️