A sleepy holiday weekend

Not much is happening around here this weekend - Shawn is sick, and I just stayed around town cleaning a bit and looking online and in stores for white bookcases.  No luck.  We will try Elder's tomorrow if he feels better - I am striking out completely on Craigslist.

So instead I bring you pictures of Christmas.

Max & Turk enjoying their elf mice.

Another shot of my new ornaments.

The Presbyterian Church, decked out for the holidays.

This little beauty, enjoying Christmas Eve at my Mom's.

Grandparents, getting into the holiday spirit on Christmas Eve...

And Christmas Day!

 

And Turk lounging on my new red throw...

and wondering what part of the tree to snack on next. 

I really think we should bring back the twelve nights celebrations, and stretch out the Christmas parties through January 6th.  Six days is not enough.  : )

Hoping your Christmas is Merry & Bright,
Jess

Merry, Merry Christmas!

In addition to the normal decorations, I did something new with the chandelier this year:

 

And I used the leftover ribbon & ornaments to add some red to our tree.  

 

I really love the red against the blue dining room - I'm going to try to remember to do this next year, too!

 

Jess

Christmas is coming...

And we are ready!

Christmas Cookie Trials: Fruitcake Cookies

I am trying out new cookie recipes for Christmas.  This one is beautiful!

These are Ina Garten's fruitcake cookies, with the pecans & apricots substituted into the recipe from "Barefoot Contessa at Home".   I got the substitution from the recipe online.  I just kind of eyeballed the ounces of fruit and nuts, and substituted Moscato for the dry sherry.  I did use baking raisins (they come in smaller packs, and are moister - and I think they were really good for these since the cookie is so dense), and maraschino baking cherries because I couldn't find any candied cherries. 

It was beautiful and smelled just like fruitcake.
The cloves are the only spice, and the batter smells amazing.

I let the first batch brown a bit too much (I blame the 'golden brown' instuctions - really, the edges of the cookie should have just barely browned. 

They are so pretty with the cherries and apricots. 

Merry Christmas in October,
Jess