House Building Season

Gingerbread house building season is upon us. What is not to love in the tasty little spice cookies that are topped with sweet icing. 

Oh ginger, you sweet thing.

via pocket pastry chef

rock recipes.blogspot

wilton

Mouthwatering...................

Amelies

The perfect combination...... Hot chocolate and Gingerbread.

craftzine

List of Gifts

There is much more to Christmas than the commercial aspect of gift giving; but most of us do get wrapped up {sorry for the pun} in the lists of gifts we need to buy. I am generally good at making a gift choice for someone without asking 'what would you like from Santa'. 

I have been searching for some idea's and have found some different items that I think would work well wrapped up and under the tree. I have special people in mind for several of the gifts, but thought that maybe this quick list may help with a few idea's for you as well.

Great Hostess Gift ::  Acacia Rectan Cheese Board from Crate & Barrel

For Her : Vintage style travel jewel cases from Pottery Barn

For anyone ::  Old World Leather journals from Chapters.ca

Hostess Gift: Woodfire scent candle/diffuser from Z Gallerie

For Him {or Her to compliment great French cuff blouses} : custom cuff links from WhiteTruffle on Etsy

For Her : leather coin purse 'If the shoe fits buy it' - it's perfect to tuck a little gift card in. From chapters.ca

For Him or Her : Roots leather weekend bag {we both of one of these, available in black as well ... love it!}

For Anyone {in need} : a little self therapy fun note pad from Z Gallerie

For anyone : Adele, live performance DVD {the power voice} from Chapters.ca

For the Cook : Herb Keeper from Crate & Barrel 

For Anyone : Clarus display boxes from Crate & Barrel. Perfect to tuck special keepsakes in.

For Her : Tiffany Scooter charm & a bevy of other great charms/accessories At Tiffany & Co.

For them : Sweet words to dream on. Pillows from HoneyPieDesign on Etsy

Etsy is a great place to get some terrific idea's and many of the blogs I follow {check my list of fav's} have their own wonderful gifts and products to offer as well. 

Something I have always told my children rings so true especially at this time of the year when we tend to overindulge : 

'It's not the presents, it is your presence'.

Countdown to Christmas

We have only a couple of days left on our beach vacation and in my mind I have started to organize the list of things that need to be done for Christmas. 

Somehow I thought that the hard part of our trip would be going from this.........

via bountifulhome

to this....... OK, this much snow is an exaggeration for even us right now.

I managed to set up some of our Christmas preparations before we left two weeks ago. My Granddaughter was delighted to set up the Christmas tree with me and was amazed when all of the lights twinkled. 

We went with my Daughter and Son for our now traditional Santa visit with Baby Kya. Last year at only 7 months she thought the pom pom on Santa's hat was fascinating; this year nothing about Santa was fascinating. 

She cried her little heart out, Poor Santa, he must go home each night with a complex.

Grandma encouraging Kya to go and talk to Santa.

Important things are in order ..... like a little girls holiday dress and new party shoes. 

Kya's new party shoes...... she's ready for the holidays.

I know that when we get home I'll be taking the list, checking it more than twice and running at top speed to get things in order. 

The important things are that two weeks from now we will all be together enjoying our Christmas traditions.....midnight mass with Richard, opening the Santa stockings, sharing breakfast and a big dinner ......and every yummy nibble in between. There will be a bevy of picture taking to ensure that we have all of the memories of the day catalogued to share with each other.

via beautyandthebudget

I will be watching Sande at A Gift Wrapped Life over the next week to help me with some creative ways to put the finishing touches on on Christmas packages. Her creativity and gift idea's are inspirational. Not to be missed is Sande's selection of 'Objects of Desire', there are some great gift idea's there.

via A Gift Wrapped Life

I love the bustle of the holiday season, the twinkle of the lights and the pretty things in the stores. But more than anything, I love that everything we do together as a family sets yet another page in our memory books, and builds another tradition as a family.