The Nutcracker | Atlanta

Seeing the Nutcracker each Christmas season was a tradition Max and I started as newlyweds in Scottsdale before Parker ever came along. We skipped going Parker's first Christmas (as he was just a baby) and by Parker's second Christmas, we found ourselves living in Huntsville, Alabama. We took a chance and brought our then almost-two-year-old to the show (which was done on a much smaller scale than the Phoenix production), fully expecting to have to duck out at some point. But, he actually did amazingly well, lasted the entire performance and was the best little audience member (read more about that first show here).

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Holiday Happenings

It's the most wonderful time of the year! Unfortunately, it's brought lots of viruses. Tons. I've been down for the past two weeks - and when I say down, I mean days of not being able to get out of bed 🙈 Including a two-day migraine that literally made me cry. This pregnancy is kicking my butt. Thank goodness for my husband.

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Family Trip to London Day 5

On Day 5, we had tickets to see The Nutcracker at the English Coliseum! When Max and I went to London in 2010, we saw Wicked in London's West End, and as soon as we booked this trip I knew I wanted to do some sort of show again. The Nutcracker with the English National Ballet was the perfect option for us. We slept in a bit that morning since we had done so much the day before (and Max was exhausted after two full days of his conference plus keeping up with everything back at the office). Parker and I were stoked to have him all to ourselves for the rest of the trip!

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Christmas-ing

We spent the hight of this holiday season in London, and I just can't wait to write all about it! The energy, the sights... the accents! 😍 But we were back in Alabama just in time for Christmas at home.

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The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

December is just downright magical, am I right? And being a parent during the holiday season is just the best thing ever. Each year I say it's the year Parker finally understands everything - and once again, I'm going back and correcting myself and saying this is the year! He was just so into everything! Each morning he'd run downstairs to check our advent calendar to see what Christmas activity we were doing that day, and search around the house to see what our elf, Lady, was up to.

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Life Lately - Holiday Edition

Merry December, y'all! Here's what we've been up to during this most wonderful time of the year...

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4 Festive Butters for Your Holiday Rolls

There's a wonderful little restaurant in town that serves an herby compound butter with their bread basket. It really stands out because it's different and unexpected, and husby and I always comment that it's so fancy and fun. In anticipation of the holiday season (the fanciest time of the year!), I'm sharing four festive compound butter recipes. They'll make those dinner rolls on your upcoming holiday table even more special!

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Friday Faves

Friday Favorites from the most wonderful time of the year...

 1. 

I put together Parker's teacher gifts this week, and I adore them! He has six different teachers at his preschool that we wanted to buy for, so I wanted to keep the price for each one reasonable. I was so excited to see the Spode Christmas Tree oven mitts on sale at Kohl's for half of what I normally see them going for! You can still find them on sale here. I own two of the Spode Christmas tree mitts and love, love, love them. For the presents, I combined the oven mitts with bamboo kitchen utensils from Target. They come in packs of three, which worked out perfectly since I needed six (I purchased two packs and used the utensils as singles). I'm hoping the teachers enjoy the mitts just as much as I do!

Spode Oven Mitt

2. 

Speaking of teachers, we are so thankful for them! Parker's preschool is outdoor based and nontraditional (so we don't get very many papers or projects sent home), but my Mama heart was so happy to get these yesterday!

Here's more from this little guy (Q&A idea swiped from Little Baby Garvin because I thought it was so adorable!)

1. What is on your Christmas list? 

My Christmas list is, I need a big bed and a red dinosaur, I really been wanting that red dinosaur. And a twenty-four-hour clock.

2. What is the best part about Christmas?

Track 18 (which is Frosty the Snowman on the Michael Bublé Christmas CD we have been listening to in the car).

3. Where does Santa live?

In the North Pole.

4. What are the names of Santa's reindeer?

Red nose reindeer. 

5. What do you think Santa's favorite food is?

Chocolate. Chocolate cookies.

6. What will Santa bring Mommy and Daddy for Christmas?

You want an Apple watch!

3.

We've been keeping up with our advent calendar for daily holiday related activities...

Most of these were just saved from last year, so I'm planning on storing them and reusing for as many years as I can!

Since the Q-tip painting was such a hit, we painted more paper Christmas trees but this time with pom poms and clothespins (which made bigger "ornaments").

 4.

 

Each December, I usually display the Christmas cards we receive by pinning them on ribbon that's either wrapped around our staircase or framing a window, but this year I was feeling more minimalist. I blame The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up - it's a must-read if you haven't already, and will inspire you to have the cleanest most organized home possible.

Anyway, instead of making a big display, I've been doing what I usually wait until January to do: I've been hole punching our cards as we receive them, and binding them with loose-leaf rings to make a book. Our card goes in the front as the cover. I've been doing this for years now, and I love bringing the books out each December and looking back on years past. Of course each year my stash gets a bit bigger so I'm not sure how sustainable it is, however it's working for now!

I also have a book going just for Parker. Each December, I add our Christmas card from that year, with the idea being that he'll one day have a collection of all our cards. The first card in the book is the one we sent out when I was pregnant, and this year he's just obsessed with it and how he was "in Mommy's tummy!"

5.

Yesterday I wrote about the Ornament Swap party I attended for Junior League. We played Secret Santa style, and you know the gift you brought is a good one when it's stolen the maximum number of times!

My gift was this ornament from Nordstrom, mostly because "y'all" is officially part of my vocabulary now that I'm a Southerner ;) It was stolen in the game the very last time from my Provisional Chair (who has been an amazing help to me with the league this year), so today I ordered her one of her own as a holiday gift. Order here through Ebates right now and you'll get 6% cash back on all Nordstrom items! (On a side note, tons of our Christmas shopping was done via Ebates this year and I feel so efficient! Instead of a random site getting the commission for advertising, it all comes back to me - score!).

Wishing you all the coffee with extra whip this Friday!

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Life Lately

Life lately has been full of festive fun! 

Last night, Parker played in his very first piano recital! It was a holiday concert at the conservatory where he's been taking lessons for the past three months. The song was a simple Jingle Bells that he knows forwards and backwards, yet my poor Mama self was just so nervous for this little guy beforehand. It would be his first time ever performing for an audience - and at the tender age of three-and-a-half no less! I had a glass of red to calm my nerves before we all took off to drive the four minutes to the historical house where the concert was taking place. Parker was second to play, yet the youngest by far. My Mama heart was just bursting as he so confidently walked right up to the piano with his music, climbed up on the bench and played for everyone. Unfortunately when I get super nervous or uncomfortable, I laugh... and I was definitely having to hold in my giggles as this sweet little guy played. I was so wrapped in nerves that immediately afterward, I wouldn't have been able to tell you if Parker even played the correct song, ha! Luckily Max recorded the performance on video, so I was able to watch it afterward - and Parker did play so accurately and well!

We love Parker's piano teacher - she is just so good with him, and I'm beyond impressed with what she's already done in just a few short months.

The night before, we had Parker's preschool's Winterfest! Max was on business in Rhode Island this night, so it was a Mama/Parker date :)

Parker's favorite part? Dancing to the music with his friends! Though I think the sweets were a hit with him as well. He helped me make brownie bites earlier in the day, which we brought to add to the pot-luck style spread. 

To make, we just did a boxed brownie mix that I poured into mini muffin pans instead of a big baking dish. Once baked and cooled, I piped on melted white chocolate (tinted with green food dye), and topped with sprinkles! So festive and fun!

The night before that (Monday night) was my ornament swap party for the Junior League Provisional Class. I ended up with this darling gold ornament with the nativity painted on it and I just adore it ... and by "ended up with" I mean I totally stole it in a very lively game of Secret Santa Ornament Edition ;)

Going even further back in time, we had a Nana and Papa visit this past weekend!

We all braved the cold and had lots of Christmas fun (especially the tiny guy in the middle!).

We have been going nonstop it feels like, so tonight I'm ready to take a cue from Lady :) Her robe was a gift from Sweet P - he spotted it at Target and said he thought Lady would like something cozy (melt my heart) so we just had to put it in our cart!

Happy Christmastime!

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Friday Five

1. It's the most wonderful time of the year... and the crazy busiest! The first week of December was full of commitments and events, and next week is looking to be just as packed. Last night I helped host my provisional project for Junior League... and after coming home and setting up Lady's marshmallow bubble bath, I ran one of my own (sans marshmallows, ha!).

2.

We've been advent calendaring with holiday activities for each day in December. On Monday, Parker handed out candy canes to all the Huntsville Library employees :) 

Wednesday's activity was visiting Santa Claus! Sweet Parker won Santa over, using his very best manners and asking him for a twenty-four hour clock.

3.

Nap time this week was spent addressing our Tiny Prints Christmas cards...

Am I the only one who hoards Christmas stamps? These gingerbread ones are from years ago, and I have snowflakes and the new Christmas window collection as well... I always stock up just in case I can't make it to the post office one year, except that I do it every single year. They're all the forever stamps so I suppose it's not a bad investment ;) 

I wrote here about DIYing your family photo... I ended up selecting this one above for the front of our card, and talked about our year on the back:

4.

My favorite nap time activity, though, is chalkboarding of course!

Even the playroom chalkboard got a festive makeover!

5.

Max was in London this week, six hours ahead of us. Parker seemed like he was trying to get on London time as well, waking up earlier and earlier each morning this week... pre-sunrise kind of early. So, we did his Tuesday advent calendar activity in the dark of the morning before preschool (and still had plenty of time for breakfast, getting dressed, and even more playing before it was time to leave).

He loved it so much we busted out the paints and paper trees the following mornings as well, joined by ginormous cups of coffee for Mommy :)

If you're looking to do the same project with your little one, you'll need:

Q-tips

Crayola Washables

An empty plastic egg crate

Green card stock cut in the shape of a Christmas Tree

*I also like putting down parts of cardboard boxes to serve as a workspace

The Q-tips help keep the colors from mixing, and bonus - they're a breeze to clean up since they go straight into the trash afterwards.

Have a happy holiday weekend!!

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Holiday Hosting!

I love hosting in December! Since our house is always decked out for Christmas, the parties are extra festive (and extra easy as there is no need for more decorations!). Max and I came up with a genius idea for our hosting this year: we had two different parties to host - one for his division at work, and one for my Bunco group (I always leap at the hosting calendar for Bunco when it comes out so I can secure December!). Our genius idea? To host the parties two days apart, with the same exact menu. We had around twenty people on each respective guest list (ladies only for Bunco), so that helped in that we needed similar amounts of everything. Hosting them back-to-back was great since we just stayed in party hosting mode, and the best part was serving the same foods twice. We didn't have any cross-over in guests, so all of this worked (I even wore the same dress for both parties!). 

My favorite part about our parties this year? The champagne bar! In addition to red and white wines, I put out an ice bucket of champagne along with three different champagne cocktail recipes. It was a hit! We went through seven bottles of champagne at Bunco alone! We have tons of identical and inexpensive wine and champagne glasses for this exact purpose, so wine charms are a must to let guests identify their beverages. These gold numbered ones are darling and these gemstone ones would make a fabulous gift! 

I love cranberries at Christmastime, and since we have a ginormous rosemary bush, I combined the two for a festive drink garnish. To make, just spear several cranberries with a toothpick to create holes, and thread a sprig of rosemary through (remove the rosemary from the stem on the part that will do the threading). On a side note - rosemary is super easy to grow. It also seems to thrive in any environment (even the Scottsdale desert). I planted our Alabama rosemary with my Mom in the spring of 2015 and it's still going strong, and has gone from a teeny tiny starter to a huge bush. It does seem to go a bit dormant in the dead of winter (it snows here in Huntsville) but springs back after.

I also use the cranberries for my signature holiday water (I've been doing it the exact same way since my Scottsdale holiday parties). I fill a beverage canister with tons of ice, add cranberries and sliced oranges, then cover in water. My beverage canister was a gift from my Mom, and while it only makes a few cameos each year, it's one of my very favorite things! (Similar beverage canister found here.)

Our menu was a mix of purchased and homemade dishes, all of which could be prepared ahead of time (so nice when you're feeding twenty-ish people). When it came time for dinner, everything was being warmed on the stove, in a crockpot or in a roaster, and guests just served themselves buffet-style.

I read somewhere that real silverware makes eating so much more pleasurable versus eating with plastic. It makes sense - we wanted something that would hold up to the tamales, ha! I always bring out our beautiful engraved silverplate flatware (gifted from Parker's Gigi), and it makes everything seem even more festive. Bonus, it's dishwasher safe so we just toss them all in when the party is over. For dishes, Parker's Nana gifted us the gorgeous Spode Christmas Tree dinnerware. I feel the same way about the plates - they are too pretty to not use, and just like the silverplate, they go straight into the dishwasher post-party. It's actually so perfectly loaded at the end of the night since everything matches! I did purchase some extra matching dinner plates this year since we were hosting up to twenty. We felt it was a good investment since we'll definitely be hosting lots more holiday dinners over the years.



For the appetizers, simple and make-ahead was key. This goat cheese with pesto was gobbled up both nights.





To make, just spread some herbed goat cheese into a bowl, top with jarred pesto and sprinkle on some toasted pine nuts.

For appetizer labels, I used a chalkboard pen on black paper to mimic a blackboard (because I'm a bit chalkboard obsessed). 

The Bunco party was first, and proved to be a bit more rowdy as it was a bunch of ladies, and we had the late night rounds of Bunco to boot! 

I did come away with a few ideas and pointers for Max's work party - for example, the Buntinis I served at the Bunco dinner weren't labeled with the flavors. One of the Bunco gals suggested topping the raspberry vanilla ones with raspberries, and the lemon ones with lemon zest, which I did for the second party.

I think it made them look even more adorable! 

I ended up doing all the flowers myself. Costco has such a beautiful selection and the best prices in town. I purchased one holiday greenery bunch, one bunch of red roses and one of white hydrangea, which was enough for several displays. I just love the red rose/white hydrangea combo!

Holiday festive makes me happy!

Are you doing any holiday hosting this year?

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