HOLIDAY DREAMING

I had a very quiet day at home and decided to do a little baking. Nothing for the holidays yet, just some goodies for taste testing. Only the best makes it to the holiday table. And I have some seasoned judges. Tomorrow I am going to start to bake and freeze. First up are some heavenly chocolate cookies that get help from a brownie mix. I got this recipe from Cass at That Old House. Give her a visit, she has a lovely blog and such a great sense of humor...you will love her. Anyway, she wrote about a cookie she likes to make and all you do is take a regular brownie mix, add 2 eggs and 1/4 cup of oil and mix. She added chocolate chips, I added walnut pieces, and your good to go. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. They taste like brownies! And oh! So easy!
I made chocolate chip cookies from a recipe I've had forever. I am sure you have your favorite. These are chewy and full of flavor. And simple. Love that.
I keep waiting for the cold {brrrrrr} weather and yet it has been in the 50's here all week. I want to whip out that new parka and North Face boots {okay, I can be a label bragger}, but the weather is not cooperating. I was looking at scarfs the other day at Target...yum, all the patterns and colors. Here in the Midwest, the cold brings out the fashionista in all of us. Why not look good while your lips are turning blue?
Thanksgiving plans are underway. I am breaking away from tradition. Who? Blondie? ;-D. After a long search for Christmas dishes to buy and have as a yearly tradition, I finally decided on the Winterberry collection by Phaltzgraff. I have had them in the box since last January when they went on sale. Well...we are not having Christmas dinner here, so I decided I am going to showcase those babies on Thanksgiving. It's going to look a lot like Christmas! There are no Christmas trees or snowmen on them...just some lovely holly and berries. And last week I ordered and received some matching wine and water glasses. I picked out some napkins with holly in a bit of a contrasting pattern from Kohls and I will mix these up with white ones. I am still working on the centerpiece but I know I am going to add some white pumpkins and branches lest we forget it's Thanksgiving.
This is my Thanksgiving and Christmas plate that we serve our turkey on. I've had it since we were married. I love the subtle color and how it works for both holidays. Isn't that turkey darling?
I have a favorite website, Terry's Village, that I find a lot of cool stuff at. I'm not much for whimsy when it comes to holidays. At Christmas I love to collect Old World Santa's and I have a thing for snowmen as long as they are not screaming red, black and green. This site has a little of everything and for the 3 months before Christmas, I place an order every once in awhile for a few favorite things. It all has added up over the years of course, and I have more spread out throughout the house. Give their website a peek, the prices are wonderful.

So, I have shopping and baking next week, cleaning and fluffing. We have 8 coming for dinner and then we are hosting dessert for about 30. Everyone brings a dessert and as we did last year for the kiddies and the young at heart, we have a contest for the most original and tastiest dessert. Somehow, those little munchkins always win! ;-D

So, that's it for my holiday countdown and a lot of rambling. For all of you that posted on my kitchen reveal, thank you so much for your kind compliments. I am loving it. It truly is the heart of my home. Have a great week! :-)