Happy Christmas Eve

I thought I would share some pictures of our "home for the holidays" with you. Its filled with nerdy, vintage, candley goodness and smells like mint, chocolate and maple. The hubs and I spent all morning cleaning and re-arranging for Christmas at our house. I like doing christmas at our house, to me its way less stressful than having to pack up everything and go somewhere else, especially if its somewhere I haven't been before. Some how we always end up going somewhere where we really only know each other and its just awkward...I'm not a fan. I'd rather have the whole family over for presents, dinner and usually some rock band on the 360.

 The tree, full of random, bright ornaments.

 My flicker candles, tinsel mini tree and a huge golden quail I thrifted this year

 I won that huge poinsettia at work, I have no idea what i'm going to do with it...but its a nice center piece for now. You can also see my stitched cardinal wall art and our super festive Christmas lights that stay up all year...because its never a bad time to be festive.

 The nummiest candle in the whole world. Bath and Body works "dark chocolate mint" it seriously smells like fudge. I thrifted the candle shade (also BBW) this year too. I've been looking for one for 3 years!

 Leg lamp, last  year's Christmas pic, candle, candle, owl, candle, candle, candle, candle, candle stick..yes, I like candles.

 my hubs let me have my christmas present early, its an eye-Fi card. It sends pictures directly to your computer as you take them! you can see it uploading my previous shot there in the corner of the screen. If you think the background on my computer looks familiar, you're right. Its one of solanah's christmas pictures. I must say I wish my christmas was that girly...i dont know how my hubs would feel about a pink tree though.

 This year I also thrifted this card tree, I really love it! One of those "didn't know you needed it until you have it" things.

 my best friend gave me my first wood wick candle this year, i love the deer on it and the sound it makes... so nice since our fireplace is currently covered by the couch.

 Here are some of my favorite ornaments on the tree

 I don't know if you can tell but the green light is actually a red light with a green cover...somehow we lost a red cover and a green light..haha

 We got two of these carts this year and we've already put them to good use. They're great for serving, this is a tray of desserts, cookies, caramels and some homemade almond roca and peanut brittle from my bestie and her mom.

 COOOOKIIIIEEESS

We also pre-prep all our dishes to make sure we've got what we want for each one...yes we make a lot of stuff out of cans...so sue me. I do use fresh veggies and I make/bake all my cookies from scratch (like that's hard)

My christmas eve outfit isn't very exciting. Its casual and comfortable..after all I gotta fit a huge baby belly in whatever I wear. I have something cuter planned for christmas...if it fits.

..and my bedroom looks very messy...we're in the process of washing bedding right now..sorry.

 My hubs made his first batch of peanut butter blossoms today. They are really tasty. We decided to roll them in large crystal organic sugar instead of the regular granulated sugar. It made them crack a bit more but the texture is really fun and they look so pretty and I like it. Its fun to play with your food.

 Peanut Butter Blossom Recipe
1/2 stick/cup vegetable shorteneing (I like the butter kind)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed firm)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Extra Granulated (or organic sugar) for rolling
12 oz bag of kisses >> put these in the FREEZER the night before (we had about 20 kisses left over)

Pre-Heat Oven to 375
**Unwrap your frozen kisses and put back in the freezer before you make your first batch of cookies.
To make the dough:
Cream your shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar and the granulated sugar together.
Add your egg, mix until the yoke is mixed in and you dont see any big yellow streaks
Add milk, vanilla. Mix until combined.
Add your flour, baking soda and salt to your mixture, beat until combined with your mixer on low-med until the dough feels stiff.
Roll into 1 inch balls, roll the balls in your extra sugar and then place them on the baking sheet (we could fit about 20 on each sheet, they don't spread out much)
Bake cookies about 10-12 minutes, they'll look a little raw on top..that is just fine. Once they have cooled about 10-20 seconds quickly place your frozen kisses on top, squishing the cookies down until they look like little sombreros. Then move off the cookie sheet onto a rack (or paper bag) and let finish cooling. Put your left over kisses back in the freezer for your next batch. Repeat ball rolling, sugar coating and baking until all your dough is gone.
Then enjoy a nice hot cookie with a melted kiss...mmm they're so good fresh from the oven.

Its a fun cookie to make with your kids, I remember unwrapping sooooo many kisses when I was younger. I'm quite the pro now ;)

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!