Lots of Random Christmas Fun

Happy Christmas week!

We had such a nice weekend in and around Jersey City. We actually had no commitments this weekend and it felt really nice to just take some time to enjoy doing Christmasy things. This post is a bit of a mash up of all of the Christmas things I want to cover before Christmas is here, so it's long and random. I hope you enjoy it though!

On Saturday, I really had an itch to do some baking and so I got to it!

On the list were peppermint brownies with buttercream, creamy eggnog cookie bars, funfetti cake balls, and dark & sticky gingerbread loaf cake. Everything turned out so decadently, but my favorite of the bunch was the gingerbread cake.

So sticky, so delightfully gingerbready and just all around delicious. I plan to make up some treat plates this week to share with co-workers and to bring for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations.

 

On Saturday evening, we took Penelope to the Turtle Back Zoo. They had a holiday lights special and a Frozen-themed night so we thought it would be such a fun outing for Penelope.

In addition to hating on her picture with Santa, she essentially cried and/or whined throughout the evening and so we called it quits pretty early on. Still glad we went, and her Santa picture is pretty priceless. Even the other parents in the queue couldn't get over it. 

Ah well.

I also took some time this weekend to photograph some of our holiday decor!

I've been meaning to document some of my favorite Christmas ornaments for a few years now and never really had the time to photograph everything. Well having a free weekend right before Christmas really helped me get 'er done! Once I started snapping away, I realized that there are SO many ornaments on our tree that I love so much. I always try to purchase a Christmas ornament on any vacations or travels and love having them to commemorate key milestones in our lives! I had so many that I grouped them into some collages below.

{pirate ship/estonia bell/baby's first}

 {jackson hole moose family/budapest egg/albuquerque balloon fest}

{swarovski snowflake for our new home/cookie monogram/aruban palm}

{siesta key/london things}

{our new home/estonia bell 2/swedish horse}

{favorite target ornaments/our first christmas/rainbow row}

and our stockings:

No mantle up in this place, but we do have a nice ledge underneath our living room window. A little clear tape in lieu of stocking holders did the trick {I'm terrified P would pull heavy holders right down onto her noggin}.

 

On Sunday, we hit the park so that Penelope could burn some energy. It was cold, but still fun. 

After heading home for the rest of the day, P napped and then we made a gingerbread house! I had never done one of these before and I feel like I've been missing out on something major for many years. We had a blast putting this together and Penelope LOVED it. She mostly enjoyed snacking on gum drops and mini marshmallows, but she also really liked sitting at the kitchen table like a big girl, listening to Christmas music and occasionally adding a few {previously licked} candies to the mix. We tossed the mini jawbreakers that came with the kit, so the colored candy is a little sparse {noted for next year to have some other toddler-approved candies on hand!}. It's not gorgeous, but it was made with love and I'm happy to have this new tradition for us to do together. With all of the frosting and sticky hands, i didn't get to snap any photos of her enjoying the process and so I asked Penelope to take a picture with the finished gingerbread house. This was her response:

I swear, we really did have a great weekend aside from this moment. And the whole Santa thing. Just keepin' it real for ya!

Have a GREAT couple of days leading up to Christmas! I'll be back tomorrow with a quick post before the holiday.

How did you spend the weekend?

Have you ever done a gingerbread house?

What are your favorite Christmas ornaments?

also: our favorite traditions {which have changed since P came along!},  how we spent christmas 2013, my favorite christmas song.

Comments

[Sues]

Penelope's Santa picture is a classic! So is the picture in front of the gingerbread house :) Love it!!