A homemade Christmas

A little late on this post, which means that I have a sick kid at home! He'll be fine, lots of video games and time in p.j.'s will do the trick! This Christmas I had a little more time to 'create'. I enjoy crafting and have had to put one too many projects aside thanks to the Charlie! I left all ornaments in their boxes and as a family we decorated the tree from scratch! It made the weeks leading up very special and we enjoyed sitting around together 'creating'! The corn husk angel was a last minute Christmas Eve inspiration! I happened to have a few corn husks left over from our tamale making and thanks to brilliant suggestions and crafty hands we had a perfect tree topper just in time for Santa to see!

Lots of origami, some snowflake beading, and for the first time EVER we strung popcorn for the tree! Great to have some new traditions!

Dave and I really enjoyed making gifts for his co-workers, and the house smelled marvelous for days!


I am proud to have worked ALL year on this knit sachet for my crafty friend Veronica! It motivates me to keep on knitting and finish that darn scarf!

The little girls in my life were not to be left out! I ran across these tins in an eco-craft magazine and saved up my mint tins all year long. I think they are adorable! The girls thought so too! I will be saving tins again, maybe to make some cactus gardens next year.
Homemade of course should include food! I baked SEVERAL batches of cookies for friends and neighbors but none as special as these gluten free babies! Not as easy as it looks! LOL

My favorite tradition this year was making tamales with my husband! We love to cook and this 3 hour labor of love went smoothly and tasted amazing! Our Christmas Eve dinner was one to remember!

Christmas morning brought lots of fun surprises for the kids, and a flip camera for us!! I'll be uploading some fun videos of Christmas morning soon!

Circle shaped cereal...

Charlie is now a cereal snacker! I was buying my time, trying to avoid that infamous shape....trader o's / organic o's / cheerios! and now I am thanking the cereal gods for giving me some TIME back! I can now finish an entire sink full of dishes, completely cook a dinner, and even address AND stamp xmas cards! Thank you, thank you processed cereal shapes for making my child so happy, and keeping his little fingers busy and outta my hair! :=)

A day of thanks....


I am thankful for my life, my family, and my friends....all things that are here in Vegas....things that make me happy....and thankful. Food also make me happy. Very, verry happy! We enjoyed a delicious turkey accompanied by one too many side dishes! Dave tried out a mashed sweet potato dish with streusal topping...yep, it was amazing! My cornbread stuffing was too dry, but alas I should just learn to live without it! My MIL baked 3 scrumptious pies: Apple, Cherry, and Pumpkin...and we had a new addition to the table, baked Macaroni and Cheese (thank you Danners!) Yum-O! Thanksgiving 2010 was a hit!

What else would we do after a 3,000 calorie meal... but play the Wii!!

Turkey Day dancing....

Note: we were all incredibly sore the next day... :0)