christmas quiz!!

(an outtake from our christmas pics from year...don't ask about the gun)

christmas quiz 

i've seen this quiz on a couple of different blogs and thought i would join in.  originally from here.

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? EGGNOG...and hot chocolate, love them both!!!
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? wrap them...this year i forgot to use a different paper and i'm not changing it now.  let's see if they notice.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? white.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? no, i always forget.
5. When do you put your decorations up? the weekend after thanksgiving.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? cheese tamales...YUM!!
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? hmmm,i guess just being together with all of my cousins and family.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? never believed in santa.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? some gifts because we usually spend christmas eve with andy's family and christmas day with my family. 
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? white lights, a lot of different hand made ornaments and a few store bought ones.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? love it for a day or weekend. i don't think i could ever live in snow..i'm always cold as it is...luckily for me it never snows here.
12. Can you ice skate? kind of, if you count staying on my feet and not falling ice skating.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? getting engaged!!!!
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? time with my family...for sure! 
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? cookies!!! i'll take one of each! 
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? driving around to see christmas lights
17. What tops your tree? a star.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? giving...i love making gifts for other people and it's definitely about the kids for me.
19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? neither...i'm not really a candy person but they aren't yuck.
20. Favorite Christmas show? elf, it's pretty funny.
21. Saddest Christmas song? is there a sad christmas song?
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? hmmm, drummer boy, i think mostly because i love hearing julian sing it.

tamale factory

yep, it was a factory...and we were only getting started.

last weekend i had so much fun helping make tamales with my family. 

 our family is BIG, so it's an all day affair in order to make enough to feed everyone.

we don't mess around...or i should say my grandma and my aunts don't mess around.

i showed up and production was already underway.

some of the lovely women: my grandma, aunt mary, aunt monica, and my mom.

these pictures are not the greatest because i just had to do a quick drive-by photography, click, click, back to work...ha,ha...i told you they are serious about the tamale making.

even one of my uncles got busy...i think he was the fastest masa spreader.

my cousin crystal, my cousin daniel and myself were the only ones representing our generation.

i love traditions and i want to keep this one alive in our family.

the best part about this day is that i actually got a copy of the recipe.

my grandma didn't really want to give it out, but i was sworn to secrecy to keep it in the family.

i have already had one or two (OK who am i kidding, i have probably already eaten close to a dozen) and they are super delicious.

forget the tripod...

it was late afternoon going into evening and i, in my always last minute fashion, decided we needed to go take our christmas card pictures...right now!!!  

quick, quick the sun is going down.

i grabbed the camera and tripod and kind of glanced at everyone to make sure we were somewhat decent.

i wanted to take pictures out in peter's canyon but the sun was slipping away too fast.

i love train track pictures but i couldn't remember if there was even any access to the closest train tracks.

we found a little spot where there wouldn't be too many people to see us and freak out.

i went to mount my camera on the tripod and ugh, the little screw was missing.

we were there and it was now or never so the camera went on the tracks and a little rock angled it up...

i love the angle...i think it turned out better than if it had been on the tripod.

this is the card that went out to family and friends...

MERRY CHRISTMAS all!!!

diy: sewn envelopes

 so i made our christmas card a not so common size.  

when i was making it i knew it was going to be hard to find an envelope but i wasn't too worried because i had just finished our advent envelopes and they were super easy to make.

i checked a few stores with no luck so i drank some coffee, ate a chocolate bar, and washed it all down with some jolt...ha, ha.

i actually just worked on each step whenever i had about 2 minutes

so here is how i made them...

 i measured out the size to be about double the length of the card plus about 2 inches and about half an inch more than the width...don't get confused.

so long rectangles...make one first to make sure you have the right measurements.

 yea, i used my fabric rotary cutter...it's pretty dull anyway.

 trim two of the corners.  

this is going to be your flap.

this will make it easier for the recipient to get the card out.

i kind of just winged it with that curve...hey, it's handmade right?

 i sewed it pretty close to the edge...maybe 1/8 of an inch from the edge.

 i also used a little glue also.

hopefully you have all of your cards mailed by now, but next year if you feel the need to add one more thing to your plate...maybe not...i may be the only crazy one.

i will probably be using this quite a bit because we like homemade cards..usually they go without envelopes but sometimes it's fun to open a little something.

here and there

just some randoms...

swinging in trees before the death chill made it here
     daddy's workers
            making popcorn garlands
                    a little artwork
trying on a popcorn necklace
     beautiful
            tamale factory
                   damage after the gail force winds
envelope making
       wind damage clean-up
              a new painting
                    mrs. claus love
lights...a lot of lights
       a birdie cape
              nutter butter reindeer about to meet his match
                    big girl on little trike

1 more week...eek!

next week is christmas...i'm in big trouble.  

i have quite a few things things left on my to make list

meanwhile we have been enjoying a new tradition...

opening one little envelope each night from our advent calendar.

this is the first year that we have actually had an advent calendar and it will hopefully stay with us every year.

it has been super simple things that we would have probably done without our calendar, 

but the calendar has made it a little more exciting...

hot chocolate with marshmallows

making candy-cane reindeers

watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas

reading a christmas book

making paper chains...

it has also been a good visual to see how many more days until christmas

i love traditions and i hope the kids will look back and have great memories of our advent calendar activities

making the calendar was a little last minute so i just made simple little envelopes out of brown craft paper and stamped the numbers with paint.

i went a little crazy with the sewn envelopes this year...i will share a little more this week.

happy sunday!

candyland

would you believe i forgot my camera today when i went to help out in ella's class today?
yea, i did.  so no cute pictures of the construction of these little edible houses, but the final product came out pretty cute.
julian even got to join in the fun...so now we have a small village.
twice as much candy was consumed as was utilized on the houses...for sure...i'm sure a couple kids went home with an aching belly.

goats, waterfalls and marshmallows...

 we had a little special day trip planned for this weekend and it turned out even better than what i had expected.  we ventured into nature and took a little hike to a beautiful waterfall.

 the air was cold and crisp so we warmed ourselves by the fire before we headed out.

these two just wanted to hang out with this guy.

 we were not disappointed when we finally made it to our final destination...

it was beautiful!!

we could have the spent the rest of the day there racing stick boats in the water but we knew we still had quite a hike back to the nice warm fire.

 we made it back and were treated to big fluffy marshmallows and a toasty fire.

 back in town we had a nice hot meal.  i think ella was a little zoned out after hiking the 4 mile hike.  

both of the kid's did so good on the hike.  

i am so proud of them.

 we finished off the night with a drive through Christmas Tree Lane.

it turned out to be the perfect little day trip.

we will definitely go back.