Holiday Family Fun!

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I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and you’re finally back into your tryptophan-free routine! We had a fun Turkey Day with my family and it was nice and relaxing! My mom and I ventured out to Kohl’s and Target on Black Friday and since that was my first time going…I’m not sure I’ll do that again in a hurry BUT I did get everything I needed so that made it worth it, I think? Ha!

I absolutely refuse to listen to Christmas music or touch any decorations until after Thanksgiving and we usually decorate our tree, house, etc. the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was fun watching my parents get their tree and the grand-boys helped put ornaments on. They have this great train track that attaches to the tree and the train goes around the tree and choo-choos! It’s really cool and of course the kids love it!

Luke putting ornaments on the tree!

Cousin Nathan helped too! Check out that train - how cool is that?!

My mom took me for a fun afternoon of making a Christmas centerpiece for our table at Natorp’s and we had a lot of fun! The instructors were a great help and it was pretty easy! The class is only $19.99, which I thought was a great deal for what you get! You can also make a Holiday door charm or a Holiday porch pot (each are priced differently I believe). You can register on their website and you can also get a group of friends together and do it as a group – you can bring your own goodies and drinks to share if you wish! Here are some pictures of what we made:

We had the class in a nice warm greenhouse at Natorp's in Mason. They had a ton of different tree branches to use!

They even had lots of different ornaments you could use to add a little extra flare to your centerpiece if you wanted!

These were the end result! You just grab branches and stick them into the "oasis" in layers and voila! You have a beautiful holiday centerpiece!

I went for a fuller, more round look while my mom wanted a gorgeous more tapered look on the sides! They give you the candles but the pinecones and fake berries are a little extra (I’ll be saving them to use next year!). Everyone’s came out stunning! It would be easy to do your own after going to this class if you have access to pine trees!

This was our teacher, Alan, and he was a GREAT help!!

I still can't believe I made this - trust me, if I can do it anyone can!!

This is what it looks like on my table with my Christmas table runner and with watering (the “oasis” i.e. that floral cube that you stick things into holds the water!) it should last at least a month! I will definitely be doing this again next year and actually I would also like to take one of the other classes as well!

A few other things worth sharing – Jen turned me onto a fantastic sugar cookie mix from Costco by Krusteaz that doesn’t have a ton of junk in it. I usually make my own cookie dough from scratch but I don’t always have the energy to make it and then stick it in the fridge  for hours while I wait to roll it out, etc. This mix takes butter and eggs and I was able to mix it, roll it, and have it cooked within 35 minutes! Next time you’re there – check it out!

Luke had fun helping with the cookies!

In the mood for a some sweet ice cream but don’t want the calories? Grab a banana, freeze it and put it in the blender with 2tbsp of cocoa or any hot cocoa mix and you have a delicious chocolate-banana ice cream that you can feel pretty good about! We tried this out tonight after dinner and everyone ate it before I could even think about taking a picture! Of course, if you really don’t want to settle and want the REAL deal get entered into our giveaway for a FREE ebook for making your own delicious ice cream at home! This is a great project to do with the kids over the Holidays!

In this book you’ll get:

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