Merry Christmas!!!

Photo by Kara Bee Photography

Merry Christmas Eve! I hope that you are having a wonderful holiday and are making memories and enjoying your family. It’s hard to believe that tomorrow is the 25th and in another week we’ll be entering another year.

Today I have a round up of my Christmas posts from the last 3 weeks in case you missed them (bottom three in each category) and several other holiday posts divided into three categories: food, gifts, and thoughts.

Don’t think it’s to late to read about keeping Christmas calm, traditions, and our focus during the holiday. Now is the time to start planning for next year!

Food:

• 10 Easy Cookie Making Recipes – Growing in His Glory
• 25 Breakfast Ideas for Christmas Morning – Jellibean Journals
• Cinnamon Crumble Coffee Cake – ChristmasYour Way
• Hot Vanilla – ChristmasYour Way
• White Peppermint Hot Chocolate- Living Well Spending Less
• Naturally Sweetened Chewy Molasses Cookies – Keeper of the Home
• Christmas Brunch Recipes – Heavenly Homemakers
• Fanny Farmer’s Fudge – From this Kitchen Table
• Gingerbread Latte – From this Kitchen Table
• Layered Pumpkin Cheesecake – From this Kitchen Table

Gift Ideas for last minute shopping:

• 12 Gifts that Give Back – Frugal and Focused
• Memory Making Gifts for Children – Growing in His Glory
• Meaningful Christmas Gift Ideas – Working Kansas Homemaker
• 8 Eco Friendly Gift Wrap Ideas – Keeper of the Home
• Fancy Cookie Tins – ChristmasYour Way
• The Best Homemade Holiday Gifts-in-a-Jar – Keeper of the Home
• Gift Ideas for a 2 Year Old – From this Kitchen Table
• Gift Ideas for Teenage Girls – From this Kitchen Table
• Ideas for Homemade Gift Baskets (food and drinks) – From this Kitchen Table

Christmas Thoughts:

• 7 Simple Ways to Enjoy More and Spend Less this Christmas – Living Well Spending Less
• 5 Signs Kids are Struggling with Entitlement and What to Do About It – We Are That Family
• Rediscovering the True Spirit of Christmas – Goins, Writer
• Simple Solutions for the Most Complicated Time of Year – The Art of Simple
• 21 Days to a Simple Christmas Day 21 – Money Saving Mom
• To the Mamas of Littles During the Holidays – Vitafamiliae
• Traditions – Andrea Dekker
• When Christmas Becomes a Joy Killer – From this Kitchen Table
• Look Upward – From this Kitchen Table
• Losing the Christmas Chaos – From this Kitchen Table

Linking up to Thriving Thursday,  Let’s Get Real, Fellowship Fridays, Faith Filled Friday, Mama Moments, TGIM, Teach Me Tuesday, Babies and Beyond, Titus 2 Tuesday, Do Tell Tuesday, Homemaking Link Up, Lovely Ladies Link Up,  Pin It Thursday, Thrifty Thursday, Faith Filled Friday, The Weekend re-Treat, Pin It Monday, Link Party Palooza, Strut Your Stuff

fWhat a week. Wednesday morning we woke our kids up, dressed them and placed them in the car. Our daughter asked if we were going to the local book store, but that wasn’t the reason for heading out at 7am. We arrived at Silver Dollar City when they opened and was it ever a fun surprise. The baby, obviously, could not have cared less but big sister had the biggest smile on her face and skipped her way into the park. Operation surprise was a success.

We got back Thursday and then Friday evening my husband’s parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew came for the weekend. Needless to say, we didn’t get a lot of extras done besides cleaning and preparing for company. An ice storm also came through Friday night and most of the churches in town cancelled on Sunday. It made for a relaxing morning yesterday.

Looking forward to a two day work week and celebrating Christmas with my little family.

Breakfasts:

• Cinnamon Rolls (we have these every Christmas, but I made them early when family was here)
• Cranberry Muffins (adapted this recipe a bit for the second morning with family)
• Yogurt and Granola
• Sweet Potato Hashbrowns

Lunches:

• Greek Wraps/Salad with these wraps (family)
• Out to eat (family)
• Leftovers
• Baked Sweet Potatoes (Russets for my husband)

Dinners:

• Red Curry Thai Noodles I always add julienned carrots as well (family)
• Christmas Eve and Christmas Day are still up in the air
• Soup

Goals (affiliate links):

• Read Pride and Prejudice and Primal A Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity (didn’t read at all last week)
• Plan January on the blog
• Finish getting ready for the holiday
• Thank you cards
• End of year donation receipts for our local concert series association

Linking up to Menu Plan Monday