Happy New Year: December Wrap Up

Happy New Year, Readers! I hope that your holidays were full of family and friends like me! December was a whirlwind of activity, and January has us all resting and taking it easy. We are all recouping from the activity! It was nice to focus on family and take a small break from writing. I have to say though, I absolutely love writing this blog, and missed posting and interacting with my readers daily. I could not wait to get back, and start sharing again!

As we ease into 2013 and think about goal setting, I would just like to take a small glance back at December 2012 for a little recap.

As you know, as soon as Thanksgiving leftovers were in the fridge I started the holiday decorating and planning. Since the Christmas music has been playing for awhile in our house, I got permission to put the trees up in November, but the rest of our holiday cheer got put up in December. I started with a quick and simple snowflake garland made by my little elves. Then I worked on the creating a holiday mantel, dining tablescape, and putting out my favorite sentimental Christmas decorations. Also, I was actually impressed with myself for getting our Christmas book Advent Calendar going by December 1st!

It wasn’t all Christmas in our house in December (I think it was getting to be overload), so I tackled a home project that I thought would be nice to have ready for the kids while they were on Winter break. I created the perfect creative spot for them to work on drawing, coloring, painting, and crafting with some storage containers I already had on hand. Also, with the help of a friend, Brian was able to get rid of our rusty basketball hoop.

My kitchen was busy as it is usually around this time of year, but not everything had a holiday theme. I shared my recipe for homemade chili as well as a quick guacamole I made for the kids.

Then it was time for some sweets. It was birthday time for me, and since I am a December baby, and I don’t think that Christmas cookies count as a birthday treat, I whipped up some cupcakes with my favorite chocolate buttercream frosting. Finally, I baked vanilla biscotti and dipped it chocolate as the SmartCookie recipe to pair perfectly with coffee and late night studying.

I am so looking forward to 2013 and cannot wait to share some amazing ideas with all of you!