THANKSGIVING WEEKEND + THE BEGINNING OF OUR HOLIDAY SEASON

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and your bellies are as full as ours with lots of yummy food! We spent Thanksgiving at our church serving dinner for our community which we enjoy very much!

Once Thanksgiving is over, I will usually spend the next two days sitting down taking advantage of Black Friday sales via my internet and couch!  I spend two days working hard and we reap the benefits of being able to stay on a nice budget for our family of six.  So thankful!

A Black Friday shopping day must-have this year was my white chocolate mocha coffee!  It was so dang good!

White Chocolate Mocha
1 1/4 cups strong brewed coffee
1/4 cup milk (I use unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
3-5 TBS white chocolate chips (depending on how sweet you want yours)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
whipped cream (for serving)

Instructions:
1.  Combine coffee, milk, and white chocolate chips in a small saucepan.  Bring to a simmer over medium high heat.  Whisking constantly, simmer for 1-2 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

2.  Pour into a large mug, and top with whipped cream.  Serve immediately.

Another favorite drink (coffee of course) we came across and tweaked to our liking is an iced coffee.  Another delicious treat!

Hattie’s Iced Coffee

• 4-6 ice cubes in a mason jar
• 1 1/2 TBS maple syrup
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• Cold brew
• Milk of choice
• Chocolate Syrup

Instructions:
Fill halfway with cold brew (recipe below).  Add maple syrup, vanilla extract and pinch of salt. Fill the rest of the way with milk of your choice (we use unsweetened vanilla almond milk) and drizzle chocolate syrup. I use a homemade recipe from my friend Tesley! (I’ll share that below.) Put mason jar lid on and shake until well blended.  Take lid off and enjoy!

Homemade Chocolate Syrup

• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Whisk everything (except vanilla) in a saucepan until smooth. Boil 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly. Remove from head and add vanilla. Let cool. Transfer to a container.

Cold Brew Recipe
Put 1 cup of finely ground coffee grounds into a pitcher.  Stir, and let sit on the counter for 24 hours.  Yes.  Leave it on the counter.  Don’t touch it.

After 24 hours, strain the coffee mixture with a cheesecloth into a bowl.  Squeeze to get all the liquid out.  Pour the cold brew into a pitcher and leave in your fridge to use as needed.

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To welcome the holiday season, the Friday after Thanksgiving, the kids always open a gift.  It’s usually pajamas and a new movie.  This year the kids got reindeer jammies and “The Incredible’s 2”!

Our oldest son was home from college and we love when the whole gang is home together so much.  We watched “The Incredible’s 2”,  played some board games and ate tons of junk food.  Our family loves Notre Dame so we made a bunch of snacks to watch Saturday’s game against USC!  Notre Dame won woo hoo!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is when I begin the Christmas decoration process!  We love doing this so much!  I absolutely adore creating memories for my family.  And of course, no decoration process would be complete without a bunch of Christmas music!  I have so many Christmas music favs I had to go 80’s-cassette-tape-style and have a side A and a side B.

You’re welcome.

Transforming my home into a winter wonderland makes my heart and soul so happy.  We enjoy the entire month of December to the fullest!  Our holiday calendar is the highlight of our year.  

My favorite Christmas piece is my wooden nativity scene that is made from the wood of olive trees in the Holy Land.  Yes, it really is carved from the wood of olive trees!  I bought this from Proverbs 31 a couple years ago and I’m super protective over it.

We end Thanksgiving weekend with one more gift, a Christmas puzzle!  We will start on this once December is here and we will work on it in the evenings while we drink holiday drinks and watch a ton of Christmas movies.  The holidays are here friends!  xoxo