a little video of leko on christmas day

leko really got into opening presents on both christmas eve and christmas day.  ryan captured a little video on his phone of leko opening his presents on christmas day.  what a cutie!  (the music is: "step into christmas" by elton john.)

love, laurie

christmas day 2015

we had such a great time celebrating christmas with our families on both christmas eve and christmas day!

on christmas morning, ryan and i shared breakfast and exchanged christmas presents with each other at our house.  leko enjoyed helping us too!  he's so good at tearing the wrapping paper with his teeth.

in the afternoon, our families and friends came up to our house to celebrate christmas day.  we had dinner and of course our traditional tiramisu for dessert, along with a ton of christmas cookies.  we exchanged gifts with ryan's parents too.  it was such a great day!

^caught red handed!  this guy sure enjoyed taking the bows off the presents with his teeth.  how naughty!^

^leko camped out on ryan's lap pretty much the entire time we were opening presents on christmas morning.  leko also claimed a pair of socks that ryan bought me from j.crew.  he used them as a pillow for about 20 minutes!  silly kitten.^

^he's really getting good at opening presents with his teeth!  he always has us in stitches laughing so hard.  i love this close up of him.  he looks so ferocious but really he is so innocent and sweet!^

^dinner was so good, and of course you can never have too many christmas cookies for dessert.  between us, my mom, and ryan's mom there sure were a lot of cookies!^

hope everyone had a wonderful christmas too!

love, laurie

christmas eve 2015

we had such a great time celebrating christmas this past weekend with our families!  on thursday, my parents and aunt came up to our house for christmas eve.  we exchanged presents, cooked with my mom, and ate way too many christmas cookies.  it was a wonderful christmas eve!

^for dinner, my mom made the most amazing salmon wellington.  individual phyllo dough bundles stuffed with mushroom pate, salmon, and pesto . . . yum!  she also made a delicious vegetable tartan dish.  it was all so good!^

^after dinner we enjoyed way too many cookies.  there were so many varieties between the cookies that we made and the cookies that my mom made.  my mom also made "snowball" ice cream balls which were delicious.  she mixed mini chocolate chips, nuts, and maraschino cherries into vanilla ice cream, rolled them into balls, and then covered them in coconut.  oh my goodness!^

^after dessert, we exchanged gifts with my parents.  of course leko got in on the action too.  one of the gifts on my parents' christmas list was a new mop.  as soon as we brought it home from the store, ryan went to work creatively wrapping it.  he wrapped the whole mop in brown paper and then created a head around the top of the mop to look like a reindeer.  he sure is creative!^

hope everyone had a great christmas eve too!
love, laurie

have yourself a merry little christmas

wishing everyone a very merry christmas!

love, laurie, ryan, and leko

xoxo

twas the night before christmas . . .

it's christmas eve and we're looking forward to celebrating with my family today!  the tree is decorated, the house is cleaned, the gifts are wrapped, and cookies are ready to be eaten!

here's our christmas eve cookie lineup:
- walnut thumbprint cookies with blackberry jam
- chocolate chunk cookies
- ginger molasses cookies
- snickerdoodle cookies
- peanut butter cookies
- peanut butter kiss blossoms

have a lovely christmas eve!

love, laurie

easy d.i.y. christmas place cards

we're excited to be hosting both christmas eve and christmas day at our house this year.  it's always fun to personalize your table with place cards for each of your guests.  here are a few easy christmas place card ideas that you can make yourself . . .

> mini cranberry wreaths
> rosemary sprig cards
> mini tree stump ornament name holders
> rosemary wreaths
> candy cane name holders
> reindeer cutout cards

happy decorating!

love, laurie

#bakeitforward

it's no secret that we love to bake at our house.  almost everyone we know will be baking something at some point this holiday season.  many tables and tummies will be full with lots of treats, but did you know that 1 in 5 kids struggle with hunger in the united states?  the good news is that you can help to end childhood hunger this holiday season, and you can make a difference without even having to leave your own kitchen!

all you have to do is take a photo of whatever you bake this holiday season; share it on twitter, facebook, and/or instagram with the hashtag #bakeitforward; and nominate a friend to do the same.  from now through the end of the year, food network will donate $1 to no kid hungry for each photo shared and tagged.  $1 goes a long way because $1 donated provides 10 meals!

so, join us in using the hashtag #bakeitforward on all social media baking posts between now and the end of the year to make a difference!  to learn more or to donate to the cause, visit foodnetwork.com/bakeitforward 

happy baking!

love, laurie

a little date driving around to look at christmas lights!

this weekend was a good one.  it was a real solid weekend.  it was the first time in a long time that we didn't have anywhere to be and we were able to get caught up on a majority of our to-do list.  we cleaned the house, finished christmas shopping, wrapped gifts, baked cookies for our coworkers, and even managed to relax a little too.  it was so nice.

one of our favorite things to do around the holidays is to look at christmas lights.  on sunday night after dinner, we took a break from our to-do list and hopped in the car to drive around to look at christmas lights.  we got a coffee to share, played christmas music in the car, and wore our pajamas!

some of the houses in our area really go all out, it's pretty incredible.  the weather was so nice, and traffic was not bad at all.  we ended up driving around for 2.5 hours and we really covered a lot of ground.  it was such a nice little sunday night date!

^this display is really crazy.  two neighbors combined forces to decorate their houses and their yards, both of which are completely covered in lights.  what's really neat is that you get to see the display from the front and the back since there is an alley which runs behind the houses.^

^this house and the one next to it have actually won awards for their displays.^

^all of the displays at this house are hand made, and yes . . . they do have live animals in their back yard!  two sheep and two ducks, to be exact.^

love, laurie

fun links

somehow it's already the last weekend before christmas!  we'll be spending the weekend deep cleaning our house, baking cookies for our coworkers, and wrapping the remaining gifts that we didn't wrap yet.  (i'm hoping that there will be a little bit of time for relaxing too.  fingers crossed!)

here are a few fun links that i found around the internet recently . . .

1. this 3 ingredient peanut butter chocolate swirl bark looks easy and good!

2. i didn't know these brands were making trader joe's food

3. i received this sweatshirt as an early christmas gift from a fellow dancer and let me tell you, it is so comfortable!

4. the most instagrammed location in every state

5. the reality behind instagram posts . . . this made me laugh because it's so true.

6. i want to see this movie (mainly because one of my students thinks that i look like the lead actress, which is flattering because saoirse ronan is ten years younger than me)

7. ryan and leko would both love this disco ball wreath

8. seriously fluffy cats

9. speaking of cats, baby vs. cat - hands down, cat wins.

have a wonderful weekend!

love, laurie

'tis the season for christmas shows . . . fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la

the weather has been unseasonably warm for december (in the 50s) and we haven't seen a flake of snow yet.  don't get me wrong, i'm certainly not complaining because i am not a fan of the cold weather and the snow.  this "warm" weather can continue to hang around, no problem!  however, since it's so warm, it just doesn't feel like christmas yet.

even though it doesn't actually feel like it, and it's hard to believe, christmas time is here and it's only a week away.  along with the holiday season comes show season since there are so many christmas shows/concerts to tech before the holidays.  last night i was back up in my perch in the spot light loft in the theatre working yet another holiday show.  since it doesn't feel like christmas, it was so odd to listen to all of the christmas songs that were performed.

i saw a little snowflake icon on the weather forecast for saturday, so we'll see.  maybe we'll end up with a snowflake or two for christmas after all.

love, laurie