changing up the christmas tradtion

this year, we all dressed in our christmas finest and dined at outback (ok. there are some things we arent willing to change. although, we DID go to a different location, so dont say we arent adventurous.)

craig and me.

after outback we all rushed over to watch the CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR (this event took place of our annual trip to see the christmas carol). they had the rockettes from radio city music hall. i loved every mintue of it. except when the lady sitting in front of us yelled at me to be quiet! this is my dad, taylor, and my mom.

the ladies.

this little cherub didnt get to join in on the fun that nite. but he had fun with his babysitter and "ho ho ho". i love this face!

so far, this december we:

1. took tagg to see santa. bear in mind that i have been "prepping" him to meet the guy for months now.......

it didnt help one bit. "um. yeah. this kid isnt going to smile, so just take the picture." - what i overheard the not-so-helpful-slash-friendly elf whisper to the photographer. ru-ude. but she was right. tagg was NOT having santa this year.

2. attended our ward's christmas pageant. i was obsessed with this manger a guy in our ward put together. it was perfect and exactly what we (the activities committee) had in mind. after the nativity, everyone decorated sugar cookies. fun.

backtracking a wee bit: we spent the nite in bellevue the day after thanksgiving so we could be THAT much closer to bellesquare the next morning. ha. this is my mom and me at snowflake lane that nite.

3. had a date nite at the nutcracker. it was our first time. i enjoyed it. craig was glad when it was over and said "that girl should never fall asleep."

remember the episode of full house when michelle joined the "polite police" and demanded perfect etiquette from the family? well tagg has joined the "prayer police". its not uncommon to say several prayers during a meal.

4. had our annual gingerbread house decorating contest. i blame the missionaries (the biased judges) for my second place ribbon.

i have continued working at the best job ever. these are a few of the holiday cupycakes i have decorated.

happy chanukah.

the present is all buttercream.

maybe this snowflake will inspire the seattle weather. puhlease! i would LOVE another white christmas.

my latest creation. the gingerbread house cupcake. the house is made of two mini cupcakes. i really need to bring a better camera to work. these pictures make even the coolest cupcake look like crap!

deck the halls with lots of chenille stems

thats the classy term for pipe cleaners. duh. so this is the little tree tagg and i picked up at taylor's tree farm. the tree is up in my bedroom and tagg loves to sit next to it while he watches "ho ho ho" (the 70's claymation rudolph the red nosed reindeer).

the tree is all decked out with these chenille stem ornaments i made. they are easy-peasy and really fun to accessorize with mini trimmings.

it kinda looks like this stocking has a tumor at the toe end (it was hard to make the stems round out perfectly) but i still love it.

my favorite one.

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

somehow we convinced my dad to get the tree "early" this year. and by early i mean december 5th! which isnt very early at all but my dad has a hard time getting a tree anytime before the 15th: "well, if you guys want a dead tree by christmas thats your fault."

so we all made it down to our favorite tree farm to pick the perfect tree. i can just hear megan's voice going on and on about something in this picture.

my tree.

tagg's saw. not kidding. jocelyn, you are going to love this one: craig was letting tagg hold the freaking tree saw while we picked out the tree. he claimed it was too dull to even do anything. scary, i know.

my grizzly adams.

hauling our GREEN tree off.

let the countdown begin

i saw this advent calendar in a magazine last month and loved it. it is made by hot-gluing a bunch of little match boxes together and then wrapping each row with purty paper.

i was worried i wouldnt be able to find anything small enough to fit in the "drawers" but these chocolate santas were perfect. although, tagg will officially be on sugar overload by the 25th of december.

exhibit a.

exhibit b. this is face he makes now when we tell him to smile. i love my crazy little christmas elf.

a little bit of christmas cheer

because i need it right now! so craig found out yesterday that he was not accepted to any of the ortho programs he had applied to (and yes this is confusing. especially because one of the possible schools was UW, where he has attended for the past four years and been top of his freaking class the ENTIRE time and scored out-of-this-world scores on all tests/boards. ok enough ranting/bragging but it had to be said) so we are re-grouping and trying to figure out what we are going to do now. i think he will go to one more year of dental school and then re-apply to ortho programs next year. not the end of the world, but definitely frustrating.

so christmas could not come at a better time. we can enjoy our traditions and spend time with our family. and remember the important things. like making glittery-vintage-looking decorations. HA!

no, but really i made this wreath last week and i am obsessed with it. it was kind of tricky finding all the antique ornaments but worth it. now i just have to worry about keeping this thing from busting. happy freaking holidays, everyone.

thats why there were only four to take the picture with

because these pretzel bites are that good. my parents/megan & david recently returned from a trip to san francisco and they couldnt stop talking about these pretzel treats that had eaten. so we of course, got right down to business and made our own batch. trust me. you are going to want to make these right now.

non-recipe recipe for PRETZEL BITES

1. melt a couple hershey CHOCOLATE bars

2. coat PEANUT BUTTER filled PRETZELS bites in chocolate

3. cover bites with heath bar TOFFEE bits

4. let stand for 2 hours to set

5. try NOT to eat 100

mr. eyebrows

this little guy couldnt talk but he sure did let us know what he was thinking.....

he was much more excited when we got outside. his mom told me that his dad always wears hats like this one. so they wanted baby "D" to match. :)

i love this one. he looks so comfy in the blue fuzzy "neeee" (blanket. in tagg's language)

styling a shoot

i was getting ready for a portrait session yesterday and wanted to see if i liked this quilt for a backdrop. tagg was supposed to be my guinea pig. look at that attitude.

after tagg was done he wanted his guy to have a turn. so TAGG placed his little snowman on the backdrop. so cute.

holiday treats & packaging

i was asked to put together the enrichment nite for november. it was a nite filled with ideas for treats to bake and creative ways to package them for neighbors and loved ones this CHRISTMAS (it feels good to actually say christmas!) season.

the hot cocoa box. for some reason the ladies really loved this package. i think the clean acetate was exciting. this box was perfect for a single serving of homemade hot cocoa with a fresh marshmallow and peppermints.

this was my favorite package. i LOVE the window.

chinese take-out boxes make for simple but chic goody bags. this is what every lady got to package up their treats from the evening in.

i LOVE the idea of putting caramel corn (baked, of course!) in this covered-with-gift-wrap paint can.

again, the window. my favorite part.

megan was kind enough to be one of my guest bakers. she taught her AMAZEBALLS cashew roca.

the ladies.

picture quality, not so good. but had to document the only baking disaster of the nite: my mom's microwave peanut brittle. promise this recipe is a winner. something about having seventy ladies watching must have freaked it out.

me. my favorite package. and my green hair poof. what a fun nite!

the H family

i am still in the process of editing this session but i thought they might appreciate a little preview. their backyard was so perfect for the shoot that we ended up staying there the whole time. more to come....