Christmas in...September!

As many of you know, I am obsessed with Christmas. But as many of you also know, I usually try to hold off until after Thanksgiving to give into my urges of merry tidings and good cheer. And that was my strategy for this year as well except that good old Mother Nature had another plan. We were minding our own business, driving home from our camping trip when the rain became hail...then became....SNOW!
Can you believe it? Here we are in September, and here I've been trying my best to keep my holiday spirit at in check, when all of the sudden it starts to snow! And oh my goodness, let me tell you! I'm not talking about a couple of sissy flurries. No. I'm talking about a full on, no expense spared, honest-to-god snowstorm!!! Woohoo! It was so beautiful I could hardly stand it!
In my wildest dreams I'd only hoped to see a little fall color on the trees during our trip. But Lady Nature overdid herself, and gave me Christmas in September!
I was lucky in addition because a.) I was not the one driving through the two inches of icy slush on the road, and b.)  my Sweetie had a Christmas album in his CD case. (BTW, this is something anyone who knows me has on hand in case of such emergencies.)
So what did I do? What any other normal person would, I pumped up the volume on The Blenders holiday album, sang along, felt Christmassy all over, and took hundreds of photos of the beautiful storm!!!
I don't believe in miracles, so I don't mean it literally, but it was a Christmas miracle! It's a world record for me too. My first Christmas music in September,!?! Holy cow. And it wasn't even weird, because if you'd been there you would have thought it was the middle of December. How awesome is that? Don't believe me? Throw on a holiday album and take a look at these photos and see if you don't feel like Christmas has come early this year. (BTW I didn't take these in black and white, they are in color, it's just that it was so snowy!)

Holiday Projects

I know Christmas is over...boo. But not for me really. I still have my tree up (and not because I am lazy), and I am slowly refolding ribbon, and breaking down boxes, and enjoying the remnants of the season. I tackled several projects over the holidays including baking, crafting, and drawing, and finally I can show them to you! Here is a sample of some of my homemade holiday treats and gifts!

Ink drawing for my brother

Ornament for my little bro

Making Packers Xmas ornaments

Vegan truffles

"Light" writing picture for my cousin

Making chair ornaments out of champagne ties

And adding corks to complete the set

Some of my champagne chair ornaments for mom

Holiday Wine Club!

We had our Christmas Wine Club at my friends Kelly and Jonathans house this past Tuesday. As always it did not disappoint! Their house was festively decorated, there was a fire in the fireplace, there was Christmas music on the radio. They set a pretty table with some really beautiful placemats, and it was just so fun!
We had salmon with caperberries (my first caperberries EVER!) and tarragon (I think) and potatoes made with maple syrup and cloves! So delish! I went back for seconds, and may have even sneaked thirds!
Our class was on dessert wines, so they were pretty sweet. (We tried a sauternes, eiswine, vin santo, tokaji, and a muscat.) The vin santo tasted like a sweet port, and the Mom made a banana tarte, and I made a baked brie (that acquired a hole somehow in the oven so all the cheese melted out! what a disaster!) and Kelly made a really tasty chocolate cake, that was only semi-sweet and really complimented the dessert wines.On top of all that we had a couple meat and cheese plates and crackers! You cannot imagine what a lovely evening it was! Ahhh...so Christmassy! Here are a few photos of the festivities!

Naughty but Nice Xmas Cookies!

I made Christmas cookies again this year! Well, actually I enlisted the help of my friend Daniel, who happens to be a wonderful baker, and I just assisted him. But anyway, I opted out of the traditional snowmen and Santa shaped cookie cutters for a more original twist on the classic holiday cookie. I decided to use the lingerie cookie cutters my mom bought me in France a couple years ago. I have a bustier and a bra and panties (or one piece and two piece swim-suit if you prefer something more conservative). Anyway, it took one night to bake the cookies, and a second night to decorate them all. It was a lot of hard work, but very fun. And we drank champagne and listed to holiday music the whole while, so that helped out a lot.  I think they came out great, AND they are 100% original. You can't buy these tasty treats in any store. Anyway here are a few photos.

The "Winter Wonderland" collection

Men's wear

The "Holiday Classics" collection

"Holiday Classics" Seperates

Yummy Cookies!

Oh la la!

"Feliz Navidad" 

The Perfect Gift...

Everyone has that friend, or family member that is hard to buy Christmas gifts for. You know the one I'm talking about right? Well, consider your problem solved! Why? Because  a good old fashioned hand made Christmas sweater is the perfect gift for ANYONE! And where can you find these festive and merry jumpers you might ask, why at: http://www.myuglychristmassweater.com of course! Here are a couple of my favorites! (The dresses are especially fun don't you think?)