♫♪ Tradition.... tradition. Tradition.... tradition ♫♪

So one MAJOR tradition with my family is making graham cracker houses at Christmas time.  Every year we have about one normal "house" and then the rest are more of graham cracker creations.  These range from Mater to a plane to San Fran (yes a likeness of the city).  Now that Blake and I are on our own and I can't just hop on a plane to make a house and then come back we decided to give it a shot ourselves.  Let me tell ya, another ingredient search for sure.
First thing you need is a big box of graham crackers.  Well, sorry folks but no graham crackers in this hemisphere...  However, they do have some similar tasting crackers.  That's what matters right?  Only issue is they are only slightly rectangular with completely rounded corners.  But, what's the point of making a creative creation without having to be creative all around?  Bought.
Second is the icing.  Now this is very important as it has to stick to the cracker as well as harden relatively quickly so your creation doesn't completely collapse within 30 seconds flat.  Lucky me, my mom put the final result from years of practice and suggestions in our family cookbook.  Sounds good to me.  Now where to find meringue powder...  Checked a few stores, nada.  Thought about maybe trying a new recipe, but when you have something tried and true you don't want to vary from it.  So, off to ask the helpful store clerks.  Guess what!  Nobody has even HEARD of meringue powder.  Luckily, one smart manager was passing and asked if it wasn't the same as pavlova.  Of course!!  So, instead of coming home with a can/box of meringue, I come with this funky egg-shaped pavlova magic container.  Whatever works though, right?
Third is candy.  Okay, I'll be honest, no real issues there. :)  Not many of our standard materials at home, but m&m's and chocolate chips and the like go a long way.
I also decided to be super creative and make some fondant for cut outs and the like.  Now I'm sure you think that is pretty impressive, but it's pretty much straight marshmallows with powdered sugar.  Works for me!
Ready... Begin.
Go Blake Go!  For a first timer, I will admit he did a pretty good job.  It never really collapsed on him and I know for a fact that that has happened to just about everyone in my family at least once (one wall fell and one ceiling tile went crooked).  Here's his creation during, well, creation!

And here are my intermediate steps:

And of course, here are our completed creations:

It was a fun adventure (although it took me much longer than Blake....).  Hope you enjoy and have a very Merry Christmas!!

In Honor of the Season...

That is....weather season, not holiday season.... I cut my hair... again.  Yes, I know it wasn't too long ago I chopped it all off, but it was getting to that 'I can't do anything with this' stage.  Let's just say I really don't like that stage, so I either pull it up as much as possible, or chop it off again.  I'm far from a pro, especially on my own head, so it takes a good portion of my day to accomplish this feat.  However, after much drying, trimming, retrimming, washing, redrying, styling, and trimming again, here is my completed task.

Ta Da!

Now, I hate the pictures that look like 'here, I'm taking a picture of my hair front view' so I do apologize for that one.  What do you think?  Is it the perfect fit, or should I be waiting till it grows out and everything will be all better? ;)

Cold and Frothy, I mean Frosty...

Blake and I went to this Italian restaurant to celebrate surviving the last 6 months together and I got a fantabulistic drink!  It was rather addicting (and they don't have free refills) so I decided to figure out how to make it for myself.  Talk about sugar rush, but it was very very close to the restaurant version, so here you go. :)

Lemon Granita
3 lemons (or a bottle of lemon juice works, just not quite as fresh)
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup sugar (I'd cut this down to at least 1/3 if not to 1/4, but it is supposed to be sweet....)
Zest the lemons and put in with the water and sugar in a saucepan and heat until simmering.
Strain and cool to room temp.
Add in the juice of the 3 lemons (or a Tbsp of juice per lemon) and put in the freezer.
Check on the mixture every so often and if it starts freezing, blend it and throw back in the freezer.
Keep doing this till the mixture is nice and slushy.
Makes about 12 oz or so, so it was a nice small treat for us, but I'd double it next time for more joy

*Now for how I did it....
zested 1 lemon and added a tablespoon of lemon juice to the sugar/water mixture
strained as well as I could with a colander...  put in the lemon juice while still hot and put it in a metal bowl in the freezer
stirred it with a spoon every 20 minutes or so until it started freezing and then used the blender
**I also did it with raspberries the other day, but I used about 1/3 cup of sugar and put some whole raspberries in the pan to boil
I then put some raspberries in an ice tray, covered with water, and froze.
Once the mixture had cooled in the freezer, I put it in the blender with the raspberry cubes
Also a very tasty treat (a little better with some lemon juice mixed in too...)

So, for all of you freezing your tooshes off, sound good?  I'll make sure to enjoy it for all of you too cold to give it a shot. ;)

And by the way, aren't the flowers so perdy?!  I love lilies, so he did good.

♪♫ I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Unfortunately, the dreaming is going to be the only way I see snow this year.  Not that a green Christmas is all that bad; I loved Seattle Christmas's, but it wasn't exactly HOT there either.  It should be fun to see all the palm trees decorated though. :)  And yet, everyone still has pine trees in their houses.  You can't really go out and cut your own down, and I don't think you could buy any fresh ones, but they do have pine trees!  I saw a picture perfect moment one of my first evenings here and I'll try to recreate it one of these days, but it was of a sunset and you could see the silhouettes of both pine and palm trees.  It was a very cool shot (darn me not having my camera handy!!).  Oh well.
But on to Christmas!  We have a tree, presents, decorations, stockings, and even an advent calendar.  Sounds impressive right?  Right?!  Well, I'll let ya keep thinking that. ;D  However, I do want to share my advent calendar as I find it kinda fun and never-before-seen (by me)!   So, here you are:

Each little box has a note to Blake, so he has something to look forward to each day.  You can fill them with candy as well if you want.  Fun isn't it?

And for all of you newly wedders or tight wads... ;)  I found a cute decoration idea that is pretty inexpensive.  Now, we're great at our own specific artistic abilities, but.... it's the thought that counts.  So, I went and found some medicine cups and the glitter glue and what not and look at what we created!

Bells

Nativity

Can't complain about cheap and creative/cute...  We do have other decorations, but those are our more entertaining ones. :)

And now you have had the first of the Christmas posts.  How do you feel?  ;)

I Give Thanks...

For my last post before Christmas takes over, I wanted to share my thanks.

• I am thankful for a loving husband who supports, provides, and cares for me.
• I am thankful for an accepting in-law family who have welcomed me into their family tree.
• I am thankful for the knowledge of eternal families and the ability to remember my nephew with service and support my friend and her sister's recent loss.
• I am thankful for my calling to work with the sweet young spirits and help them gain their own testimonies.
• I am thankful for the freedoms the United States has to offer and the chance to realize them now.
• I am thankful for the trials that bring us closer together with firmer stances for the next wave to hit.
• I am thankful for the ability to believe how I choose.
• I am thankful for the knowledge I have received over the years and the usefulness it brings to my life.
• I am thankful for the daily blessings sent down from above.
• And lastly, I am thankful for Blake's family in helping me to enjoy my first Thanksgiving out of the country.

It was a great night and really helped me get into the spirit of the Holidays!

*Stay tuned for upcoming Christmas posts!*