Hanging out & enjoying holiday time with friends… hoping the holidays linger on a few more days… and the first snow just feels right!

First snow of the season… and of course I choose to do a quick road trip out-of-town!!! Maybe I need to start checking the weather forecast before I hop in the car!!!

My friend Kristen made her traditional Christmas morning strata in one of my large casserole dishes… according to Kristen…

“Made my Christmas strata in the casserole and the proportions came out exactly like for a 9×13, but so much prettier!”

Another Christmas gift… and another Christmas smile! Looks like Madeline is enjoying her new stamped & soda-fired goblet. Perfect for a sip of wine… or juice… or eggnog… so many options!!!

Looks like Keith & Julie were celebrating with their “special holiday mugs” for Christmas! So glad my mugs could be part of their holiday festivities… even if one of them is painfully unadorned & unstamped… wait, what?!

Hoping you all made some wonderful Christmas memories with your family & friends yesterday. We had a great time with lots of presents, food, games, desserts & laughter! And since many of you know my Dad… he’s doing great, embracing this new chapter of his life… with his newly-found “pandemic beard” looking like he’s ready to play the part of Santa!

And yes, my sister Jen was there too… but I didn’t get a good picture of her! Just this one… that I was pretty sure she wouldn’t want me to pull her “head-shot” from!!! HA!!!

Festive fun with the family update! So the cling wrap game was great fun. Over 800-feet of cling wrap with a hundred gifts, trinkets, coins, candies, OREOs, money, gift cards & more wrapped inside! So each person has a chance to unwrap the ball and whatever falls out is theirs. The person next to them is rolling a pair of dice and if they get doubles, the person unwrapping is done! Next person, next turn… moving around the room until everything is unwrapped. And to make it even more fun… the unwrapper had to wear a pair of thick woolen mittens!!!

Okay, so this was all my niece Taylor’s idea…
but I’ve made a bundle of fun for our Christmas gathering. Over a hundred pieces packed inside, some good, some not… all wrapped up in 800-feet of cling wrap! My family will pass around the ball unwrapping & discovering some gifts along the way! Might not be the best gift ever… but it promises to deliver tons of entertainment for ME!!!

And what would Christmas be with only one dessert???…
so I just HAD to make TWO!!! Right?

A batch of homemade decadent chocolate brownies on a handmade textured platter. Seems like the perfect combination to me!!!

When tasked with bringing a dessert for Christmas… there are certain expectations. I mean, who wants a store-bought dessert when I can make this for my family??? Yummy vanilla cheesecake with chocolate & cherry accents. Oh yes, and some hot fudge to put over it all just in case you want even more!!!

As you know… MORE IS MORE… especially at Christmas!