On one of my (many) shopping trips to TJ Maxx earlier in December I found a coffee advent calendar. What better advent calendar is there? I might be slightly biased with my love of coffee though. It was my favorite purchase of the day, which might be bad because I was actually out looking for gifts. Oops! Haha. My fiancé and I have been enjoying a cup of specialty coffee from it for the last few days. It is undoubtedly one of my favorite moments of the day, not just these 12 days but every day we always make sure to have a cup together.
This cookie is a twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie and I don’t know if I can go back now! The coffee and toffee pieces work well together and you can definitely taste the coffee, which is my favorite part.
We are in the single digits in our countdown to Christmas 2020! What better way to celebrate than with a little booze? Mimosa’s are a tried and true brunch drink with our families. For mother’s day we do mom-osa’s and every other time it’s the classic orange juice sweet drink as an option on the menu. Mimosa’s are my favorite brunch drink so the idea of putting that into a cookie, hello perfection. Excuse me while I drink a mimosa while eating these mimosa butter cookies and celebrate only 9 days before Christmas! We have to finish the champagne we opened right?
This citrusy butter cookie gave a new flavor profile to our 12 days of cookies after the peanut butter and oreo brookie, peanut butter crackles, and pudding thumbprints. Do you have a favorite drink at brunch?
This cookie stood out to try because it looked super easy and the biggest bonus… we already had the ingredients! I always love when we have the ingredients for a cookie! At my house, vanilla pudding mix is a staple for one reason: cinnamon rolls. My cinnamon roll dough uses vanilla pudding mix and you never know when you need to make a batch right? We were right about this cookie, it was fun and came together beautifully. The smooth pudding with the crumbly vanilla and chocolate cookie made for an enjoyable combination.
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It was a busy day at work but being able to have a calm, delicious moment of bliss with a cookie was much needed. I flipped on some Christmas music, sat by our beautifully decorated tree, and enjoyed the moment. I’m definitely team coffee most of the time but this peanut butter cookie called for a cold glass of milk. It’s so easy during the season to get so stressed out that we don’t stop to just enjoy. Enjoy the lights, the music, the love that surrounds us. If 2020 gave us one gift, it was the gift of remembering to be embrace these moments.
I hope all of you have a chance to take a minute to eat a cookie and enjoy the season.
We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to continue our annual tradition of 12 Days of Cookies leading up to Christmas because… well… 2020. However, with all the events in 2020 cancelled, I’m happy to announce that our families 12 Days of Cookies will continue this year! It might feel a little different but with extra precautions in place, we decided it was a tradition we could keep this holiday season.
What better way to start out with a gooey, crunchy flavor explosion! I’ve made a brookie in a brownie pan, so putting that into a bite sized cookie seems like quite possibly the best idea since sliced bread! This one was a hit because not only was it a nice gooey chocolate brownie, but it is combined with a peanut butter cookie that has actual peanuts for a crunch. This one will be hard to beat, but there are 11 more days so we will see!
Comment below with an annual tradition you are excited to continue this holiday season!
Every year around Christmas since my sweet nephew was born, we have gone to an event at Heber Valley Railroad called the Polar Express. The train is decorated with Christmas lights in the cabins, workers are elves, and during the train ride Santa even stops by to say hello! It has been a tradition our family looks forward to every year, especially my train obsessed nephew. This year, the situation looked a little grim to our chances of going but that wasn’t going to stop my parents from giving us a memorable trip to the North Pole.
My whole family is very do-it-yourself. I mention my mom a lot but my brother has graphic design and drawing skills, and my dad can build anything. What do I mean by that? When he found out my nephew liked trains, he BUILT a ride on train in their backyard. This train isn’t just for kids though, any adult can ride it (and we definitely do). With a working train in their backyard, the polar express event would look different but we could still do one.
They thought of everything for this event! When we arrived, my parents had ordered some food for dinner which we ate while my nephew excitedly played with the mini polar express train setup on the kitchen table. Once we all ate, we went into the backyard to find we had travelled to the North Pole! Complete with the North Pole sign, Santa, his elves, stockings, and a train with twinkling Christmas lights going around on the tracks. They even had a few fire pits going to keep us warm in the cool 30 degree weather. It was a blast!
When we did go back inside my parents had setup a projector in the family room connected to the kitchen and we watched the movie Polar Express as we all happily drank our hot chocolate and munched on treats left in the stockings we found outside.
Moral of the story, just because your tradition needs to change, sometimes it ends up being for the better! I had more fun this year than ever before and it was all thanks to my parents creativity and that special Christmas magic.
I’d love to hear from you! What is a tradition you had to change up in 2020 (because well… 2020) but you ended up loving even more than the original!
It’s Christmastime and I am so excited to have a new project to show everyone. I started on this project in October and yes I was definitely listening to Christmas music through all the steps! This project got put after a few other ones on my list based on when they needed to be done, hopefully you have already checked out the stocking I made for my mom’s birthday or the start of the interchangeable O home sign (this one is ready and the only thing left is to take photos and share with all of you!)
It’s the first Christmas in our new house and I am so thrilled to decorate the outside with our own personal touches. I’ve done wooden cutouts before (Anyone remember the Thanksgiving Minions?) but this will be the newest and first addition to my fiancé and I’s collection. I might already have plans to add more of the memorable characters to the front yard in the coming years!
Which character would you like to see next? Comment below with your idea!
Happy December Eve everyone! I hope you are all as excited as I am for the upcoming month leading up to Christmas. I was so excited for the traditions to begin that I decided to make this Gingerbread Cutout Cookie while we put up our Christmas tree. It might be a little out of eagerness for the upcoming 12 days of cookies tradition! While the house filled with the sweet smell of spiced cookies, we happily sang along to Christmas music and decorated. Normally we don’t have gingerbread cookies during the tree setup but I’m sensing a new tradition!
Do you have a baked treat tradition when trimming the tree?
Happy Thanksgiving! I am so grateful for my fiancé, family, friends, cute doggy, and the opportunity to create beautiful things! This is a HOME sign commissioned by one of my really good friends, one for her and one for her mom’s Christmas gift. While I still need to make the other holidays (Christmas gift deadline), I had to make sure that I finished the thanksgiving turkey in time for today! What are you thankful for today?
Make sure to hit the follow button to see my other holiday Disney interchangeable O for these signs in the coming weeks!
Happy Birthday to my role model, my friend, my mom!
One of my favorite things to do is to find and give the perfect gift to family and friends. Well, after working on this stocking on and off for years, I finished it in time for her birthday this year! I can’t remember a Christmas that I didn’t have the handstitched stocking my mom made for me. It brings me a lot of joy to know that from now on she will have her own handmade stocking. She gave me one of the best gifts growing up; a love for crafts and of course, Christmas! Making this stocking will forever be one of my favorite gifts I have ever made for her.
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