Santa's Christmas Light Review

My husband and I have a yearly tradition of driving around looking at Christmas lights.

We put on Christmas tunes and I bring travel bottles of wine (for me). :-)

This year I thought it would be fun to drop these notes off with a Candy Cane to people who really work hard on their displays.  It added some fun to this years trip and hopefully will make someone feel a little better about all of the hours spent on Christmas decorating!

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Christmas Thank You for Your Delivery Person

This is such a great idea for your busy UPS, FED EX or USPS delivery people. 

I live in the midwest so the temperature here can be miserable and my delivery people are always working overtime during the holidays this is a nice way to say "Thank You"

Tip* Make sure that if you put out sodas/water that you take them in at night if it is cold outside. 

If the sodas freeze they will explode and water will expand and break open. 

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Christmas Cinnamon Buns - YUMM!!

Cinnabon Like Cinnamon Rolls Delivered Christmas Eve

Every year I try to think of something different for an edible

Christmas gift other than the standard Christmas Cookie.

This year I choose Cinnamon Rolls - and for a few of my friends 

kicked it up a notch with a Bourbon Icing!

These are HUGE so four is plenty for a gift.

The recipe is as follows:

Cinnamon Buns like Cinnabon's®

Prep. Time: 4:00
Serves: 12 - 15

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
3 Tbls. ground cinnamon
(2) .25 oz. pkts. active dry yeast
1 tsp. granulated sugar
1 cup 110 degree water
1 cup warm milk
2/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup melted butter OR margarine
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs - slightly beaten
up to 8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup melted butter OR margarine
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts OR pecans - optional
1/2 cup melted butter OR margarine
1/3 cup granulated sugar
4 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup melted butter OR margarine
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. maple extract - optional, but recommended
up to 6 Tbls. hot water

-Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar and the cinnamon; set aside.
-In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in warm water; set aside.
-In a large bowl, mix together milk, 2/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup melted butter, salt, and eggs; add yeast mixture and 4 cups of flour to mixture; beat until smooth; stir in enough flour to form a slightly stiff dough.
-Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 8 minutes.
-Place dough into a large greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours.
-Punch down dough and let rest for 5 minutes.
-Roll dough out onto a floured surface into a 15" X 20" rectangle.
-Brush 1/2 cup melted butter over dough; sprinkle cinnamon sugar evenly over dough; sprinkle nuts evenly over dough, if desired.
-Tightly roll up dough and pinch edges together to seal; cut the roll into 12 - 15 slices using dental floss or thread.
-Coat the bottom of a 13" X 9" X 2" baking pan with 1/2 cup melted butter; sprinkle 1/3 cup sugar evenly in the bottom of the pan.
-Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the prepared pan; cover pan and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.
-Bake rolls in a 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
-Stir together powdered sugar, 2/3 cup melted butter, and extracts; stir in hot water, 1 Tbls. at a time, until the glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.
-Spread prepared icing over slightly cooled rolls.

I replaced a shot of bourbon instead of extracts in the icing for my friends that are Bourbon fans.

Next just a couple fun elves to deliver the gifts!!

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Pine Cone Place Cards

I found these on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. This cost $11 and I got everything at Michaels (Pine Cones were 50% off today), if you have the right pine tree you obviously can get them for free. And the Martha Stewart silver paint was $4.49. It took about 30-40 minutes to do twenty of them.

Start with basic pine cone.

Add Martha Stewart Silver paint to the tips...

I printed out 3x2 name tags using calligraphy font "Tangerine" - Free on freefonts.com (sorry a bit blurry)

30 minutes later here is the finished product - NICE!

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Holiday gift basket

Every year I spend a full day in the kitchen baking Christmas cookies.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind baking but a full day of it at the Holiday Season sometimes ends up being more stress than fun.

I switched it up a bit this year and spent about 2 hours in the kitchen
and ended up liking it just as much, if not more.

I made Fresh Bread baskets with Pear/Cranberry Chutney and Pecan/Honey butter ...YUM!

There are a lot of people that think making home made bread is hard but if you have a mixer it takes about 10 minutes.
I used an Easter Bread recipe because it is a little sweeter and it is super easy

This dough takes about 30 minutes of actual time out of your day but about 3 hours of rising time.

In a measuring cup mix together 1 cup lukewarm milk (you will need to warm it in microwave for about 30-45 secs to get it lukewarm) and then add 1 package of yeast. stir with a fork for about 30 seconds to dissolve yeast. Add 2 tablespoons sugar and 3 heaping teaspoons of bread flour to give it a thick consistency (don't worry, you can't mess it up). Set aside for 10 minutes and cover with a towel.

In your mixing bowl mix 2 cups bread flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 cup Olive Oil, and your yeast mixture which now should be somewhat puffy from rising. Mix it all together on medium speed for 10 minutes with dough hook. Should end up a firm, smooth dough.

Place dough in large bowl and cover with towel. Let rise for 1.5 -2 hours.

Punch down dough after risen and shape any way you would like (I rolled out two foot long strips and braided them. Put on baking sheet and cover for another hour to rise.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-20 minutes.

I added an pecan honey butter spread in a jar along with a cranberry relish.

The honey butter is super easy with just 3 ingredients; Pecan Honey Butter Recipe

The cranberry/Pear Chutney was pretty easy also and the tartness goes great with the
bread and butter. Cranberry Pear Chutney Recipe

All and all this was a lot easier than making dozens of cookies and it's a little something 

different for a gift during the holiday season!

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My free Christmas Tree!

This year I decided to make a 100% natural Christmas tree (except a burlap bow at the top) for my back patio.

Everything on this tree was found on the side of some road close to my home. It is amazing the beautiful foliage that is still left this time of year!

Backseat of my car with weeds that will soon be ornaments!

3 cans of spray paint; 1 gold, 1 silver and 1 red .

This weed was one of my favorites, up close it looks exactly like a snowflake!

These also turned out pretty cool! Be careful, these have small stickers on them.
I took a pair of yard gloves and scissors with me when I went out to find my free decorations :-)

These were just so pretty I left them alone, they glow with the lights behind them.

and more...

I took the above from bushes in my yard, great filler- Spray painted the ends and done!

I also picked pine cones out of my yard and sprayed them red to add a little color.

The finished product is below!

Total cost for me, zero! Used spare paint and my burlap bow came from scraps of burlap I had.

Not bad for a FREE TREE!

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The Pumpkin Project

So this week I decided to day a "staycation" at my house, a vacation where I don't leave home. One of the things I decided to do was not turn on the TV for a week and instead do fun things, read, take hot baths, pamper myself, etc. This was my Tuesday evening project. The cost was around $30.00 and it took a couple hours but I think they turned out pretty good.

                                First I picked out 7 pumpkins from Wal Mart for $2.50 a piece.

 Then I used scotch tape to attached stencils to each pumpkin (stencils $4.00 Wal Mart).

I took some old black paint I had and painted the inside of the stencil.

Added Bows on top ($3.00 a roll at Wal Mart)

Almost Finished!!

I added a coat of clear spray paint to make sure my letters did not melt off and put on steps leading to my house. Nice relaxing Tuesday night and something to add to my Halloween décor!

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