Friday, December 10, 2010

Excited!

Just a short note today to say how EXCITED I am about the holidays!! Last night I got several presents wrapped & put under the tree, so in my mind it's officially the holidays! There's such a difference when you actually get presents under the tree!

I am also excited because the Goodroes are coming to town this weekend to visit!! Mom & Dad haven't ever seen our house decorated at Christmas {this will be our third Christmas on Daly Street}, so we decided it was high-time they made the trip over! I think we are going to check out the new outlet mall in Leeds {Shops at Grand River} & try to wrap up our holiday shopping. It blows my mind that we will actually start our gift exchanges with extended family NEXT WEEKEND!! Where have the holidays gone?!? I'm also hoping that we will be able to ride around & see some Christmas lights while Mom & Dad are in town. This was something that we always did when I was growing up in Snellville, & I think it's only appropriate that we do it now in Birmingham!

Wanted to also say what fun I had this past week with some good girlfriends - Wednesday night a few of us went to the Innovation Depot in downtown to make our own stockings!! When I say 'make your own stocking', I mean it. They provided the burlap & all the various fabrics, buttons, pins, yarn, thread, etc... but we actually assembled everything & sewed the stockings together.

I have to admit, I was a little overwhelmed when the sweet girl was explaining what we were going to be doing, but I quickly got over my nerves & just went for it. 2.5 hours later we all had stockings! Everybody's looked amazing - very unique & I thought reflected each personality very well. I named my stocking the "Raggedy Ann" stocking - I went with a patchwork-style design. It actually turned out better than I thought it would - take a look for yourself: {please excuse the clutter on the bookshelves...}




It ended up being the perfect holiday-inspired evening with good friends! I know that everybody stays so busy all year, and the holidays are no different, so it was really good to spend an evening just relaxing with friends.

I also wanted to share a recipe that I tried last weekend for the Baker's house warming party {which, by the way, was a TOTAL success!!} It's a recipe that I found on another blog, Plain Chicken, which my friend Natalie introduced me to... it's a recipe for Sausage Cheese Muffins, & I like to think of them as a really nice alternative to sausage balls {the muffins aren't nearly as greasy}:

Sausage & Cheese Muffins




1 lb. hot ground pork sausage
1 tsp onion powder
3 cups all-purpose baking mix
1 (10.75 oz) can condensed fiesta nacho cheese soup
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk (I used skim milk)

Cook sausage and onion in a large skillet over medium to med-high heat, stirring until it crumbles and no longer pink. Drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 375. Combine sausage, baking mix, and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Stir together the soup and water; add to sausage mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon until lightly greased mini muffin tins, filling to tops of cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned.

This recipe made about 36 mini muffins, so get ready to feed a crowd when you make them! Last weekend I made over 70 of them for the house-warming & they were all gone (needless to say, a crowd-pleaser!).


I think that's all for now - I'm going to continue my Christmas playlist on Pandora {hey, it's only the holidays once a year, right??}

Until next time...

peace & love.

the bakers.

1 comment:

  1. Soooo cool that you made your own stockings! I may try that next year. Daron and I are still using our $1 stockings from Wal-Mart. hahahah! rednecks

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