the perfect gift

Let's talk about gifting! Remember waking up Christmas morning and having no idea how hard your parents worked to put together those presents under the tree? Long gone are the days of leaving out the cookies Christmas night and going to bed! It seems like forever ago, but there was a time where you would march into your elementary school with $5 and buy all of your presents in the Lil Shoppers store. I'm talking about the stores that the PTO set up to help all the little kids buy their parents knick knacks and decorate ornaments that they made. Does anyone else remember those? I loved those days, and I know for a fact that my parents still have a little trinkets from those days. They were such tiny gifts, but we picked them out, wrapped them and made them the best gifts ever!

I am still a lover of homemade gifts. Especially ones that my 2 year old makes! His attention span is somewhat limited, but he does love arts and crafts for about five minutes. We totally capitalize on that and have him make as much as he can throughout the month, to send to our family. This year I got a few wooden pieces from Michaels and let Luke (and Ryan) use their imagination to decorate them. I love how they turned out, and wish we could be there to see them opened! 

Supplies:

Small bird house

Kid's washable paint

Clear sealant to use after the paint dries

I also love the idea of putting my son's face on everything. So, family expect to open a lot of coffee mugs with Luke on them.  My MIL never waits to open her presents, so I am sure she is happily sipping from her Luke face coffee cup!  Calendars are usually on my mom's Christmas list, since it is an easy chance to get lots of pictures up on the wall, and completely useful. We opted to use Shutterfly this year, because they have some insane sales throughout the month, and it is super easy to ship to other addresses.


shutterfly.com

Yes, I am secretly hoping for that new GPS watch to be under the tree, but I would also love a coffee cup or a homemade gift from someone I love. 

What are your favorite gifts to give and receive during the holidays? 

Happy gifting, 

spreading the holiday cheer

This is the first year in my adult life that I felt like I had enough people to justify giving out a fun and festive goodie bag. I am a regular at the gym (ugh, I know right) so that means gifting the parking lot man, the front desk ladies and my beloved child watch ladies some yummy goodness. Luke is a huge part of my passion for the gym (free child watch, anyone?!?) so I wanted him to help pick out the goodie bag and help make the goodies. I want him to grow up knowing that Christmas is more about giving and less about receiving. I want him to put as much effort into gifting as he does looking through the toy magazine. Huge dreams, right? Well, I am on my way! 

Michael's is dangerous any time of year but luckily around Christmas they are the JCPenny of craft stores, everything is on sale, always. I got these cute Reindeer to-go boxes on deep discount. I believe they were marked down to $3.50. 

I already posted about the amazing sugar cookie recipe and annual decorating contest here. Luckily we keep most of the cookies, so we had a huge amount to give away. This was after a few days of attempting to keep them in my house and them disappearing daily. 

I wanted another easy, but good, Christmas cookie. While looking through my Facebook feed, the Kentucky Butter Cookie popped up. I clicked on the link and thought that it looked really good and REALLY easy. I was right on both thoughts. I did not change the recipe, so check out the Cookies and Cups Blog for the recipe. Interestingly enough, Luke did not like these. Everyone else I sampled them on, loved them and thought they were yummy. I even had some with my morning coffee (whoops) and thought it added a nice bonus. 

We handed the goodie bags out well before Christmas, so I think  we had a bit of a surprise element, which was nice. I loved seeing Luke hand them out and the huge smile he had on his face. We even took a big pan of the cookies to our local firehouse. Ok, so this wasn't just us being nice to our local firemen.... when we bring them goodies, Luke has free reign to the fire trucks. Which, he loves and it kills a good hour of our night. 

If I could hand out a Reindeer Goodie Bag to each and every one of you, I would! Thank you for letting me share my life with you! I truly appreciate you all! 

Holiday love, 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

By now most of you know that I have slight obsession with pumpkin. Well, decking the halls happens to be my second obsession! I am not crazy enough to do any decorating before carving the turkey, but after the food comatose goes away, you can find me unpacking my 10+ Christmas totes and decking the halls. Before I got married I had started to collect Christmas decorations. Honestly when we got our first house together, I mentally did an inventory of all the wonderful places I could add Christmas cheer. I love it! 



Growing up we would always go to a "cut it yourself" tree farm and those are some of my favorite memories from childhood. As you can imagine, there are no such places in the deserts of Arizona, so we have found the next best thing; Brian and Kelly's Christmas Trees. Yes, you pay slightly more than the big box stores but you are supporting a local business and the trees are hand picked from Oregon! The tractors are also an added bonus for Luke, he LOVES farm equipment!

We are hosting family Christmas this year, which means my immediate family will be making the journey to our house. I LOVE hosting Christmas, so I had to get a large and in charge tree this year. We opted for a 9' Noble, they are perfect to place heavy ornaments and they are oh so fragrant! 

Everyone has their own way of decorating their tree, but I thought I would share my small Christmas tree ribbon hack.  Our tree topper is from a cute small store in Florida and was purchased 8 years ago so here is a similar one. Michael's always has amazing sales on their Christmas ribbon. Every year I pick a new color at a super low price. This year I went with a burlap and red glitter ribbon. 

Directions:

Cut 4-5 equal length cuts of ribbon. Put the tops together and place two facing forward and two facing the opposite side, attach with pin. 

Sew a few stitches into the top of the ribbon. I used red ribbon to hide within the red glitter. 

Place the ribbon on top of the tree, positioning them around the top. 

Add on your tree topper and you have the perfect top to the tree! 

We do not do a theme tree, but rather a collect all tree! When we got married, our parents gave us a few ornaments from our childhood, which we cherish. We also make a point to get an ornament from each place we visit. We have some from Panama, Germany, the Mackinac Bridge and so many more. It is a fun tradition that I am so happy we started. 

Merry Christmas, 

The Perfect Sugar Cookie

I have SO many memories of making Christmas cookies with my family. Some years we would whine and complain, not really knowing how hard my mom worked to get those cookies on the table. As an adult, I now owe my mom so many apologies because a good sugar cookie takes hard work and lots of time. So, Mom, I am sorry for the times I put up a fight, you are the reason my love for sugar cookies exist! My older sister even gifted me a Saguaro Cacti cookie cutter, because she knew I could find many uses for it! 

I have a deep love for Sugar Cookies and so do our good friends, Lisa and Jay. I have spoken about them before, but I don't think I have given them enough spotlight. Lisa is my best friend, she is the calm to my storm and someone that I am thankful for, no matter what the season is! Jay is our Miller Lite loving bestie who tells Lisa when it's time to head home and silently drafts during our fantasy football league draft party. They are our Tucson family and we have so enjoyed starting and continuing traditions with them. Every year we hold a Christmas cookie decorating contest. Lisa takes this contest very seriously, and we all totally let her take the lead. She brings the BEST decor and very generously lets us use them! Equally as important are the cookies themselves, and I am responsible for those! 

I had been on the search for the perfect sugar cookie for many years. I like mine semi soft and definitely not crunchy. I tend to over make these yummy cookies, and I am not apologizing for it. They are the perfect cookie to serve at a party, welcome a neighbor, or surprise your husband on your anniversary. After many days tweaking and many batches of sugar cookies, I think this one is darn near perfect. 

Below is the recipe to the perfect sugar cookie and whipped buttercream icing. If you have a favorite cookie recipe, I would love for you to share it with me, but also give this one a try. You will LOVE it! 

The Perfect Sugar Cookie 

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, at room temp

1 3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs, at room temp

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup sour cream

5 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Directions: 

In a large mixer, add in butter and sugar. Mix for at least 4 minutes, it is SO important to mix the butter and sugar really well (this goes for any baking recipe). 

Once the mixture is well incorporated; add in the eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Mix well. 

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Slowly add in the flour mixture to the mixer. Mix well! 

Separate the dough into small sections. Cover dough with flour, generously. Wrap the dough in wax paper and cover with saran wrap. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or store in freezer until you are ready to roll out. 

Preheat oven to 350°
Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Traditionally, people recommend using flour to roll out the dough and keep the dough from sticking. I LOVE using powder sugar mixed with a little bit of flour. This adds a little bit of sweetness and works so well with the flour. Trust me on this one, it makes a huge difference!!

Buttercream frosting:

1.5 cups of butter

8 cups powdered sugar

4-5 TB heavy cream

2 tsp vanilla

food coloring and sprinkles

Directions:

In a large mixer, add in butter and powdered sugar. 

Turn mixer on low and while the butter and sugar is mixing, slowly add in the heavy cream. Depending on how you like your frosting you may need slightly more or less, just wait for the consistency you like. 

Once incorporated, add in the vanilla, mix well. If you are using multiple colors, separate equal parts frosting into little containers and hand mix the food coloring. Let sit for a few minutes before applying to cookies. 

This frosting will not harden like some sugar cookies, but instead get nice and firm after some time in the refrigerator. 

Decorate and top with whatever fun sprinkles and decor you have!! 

Enjoy! 

Happy decorating,