It's December already! Becca actually just ran out of her room and said, "Did you know it's December? Because... I just found out." A lot happened this past weekend. We pulled out the Christmas decorations, put up the tree, decorated the house, made cinnamon ornaments, made a snowman, did some crafts, saw Frozen, bought the Frozen soundtrack, memorized the Frozen soundtrack, continue to sing the Frozen songs everyday, all day, Advent AND a new church year started, and I just finished making our Light 'Em Up advent calendar!
(Check out the Piano Guys rendition of Angels We Have Heard On High! It is beautiful and so neat how they do it!)
(Before)
(Note from Emma)
cat
mat
rat
eat
emma francis 6
(After)
Sarah, Emma, and I made cinnamon ornaments while we were waiting to decorate the tree. They were so easy, so fun, so pretty, and smell SO good!
All you need:
1 Cup of Applesauce
1 Cup of Cinnamon
Glitter (optional, but it shouldn't be)
Mix all of the ingredients together.
Put dough on wax paper and then put another sheet of wax paper on top and roll out until thin.
Choose your cookie cutters and then proceed to cut out the ornaments.
Use a drinking straw to poke a hole on the top of the ornament so you can put a string through to hang it on the tree.
Place the cut out ornaments on a wax paper lined baking sheet.
Place in the oven at 200 degrees for 2-3 hours or until firm.
This is the Pumpkin Pie recipe I used for Thanksgiving that I never shared. It was the best pumpkin pie I ever tasted, I definitely recommend that you make one!
Classic Pumpkin Pie
Ingredients
1 disk pie dough (plus 1 disk, if decorating)
All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg (but if you just don't happen to carry actual nutmeg nuts, ground nutmeg works just fine. :) )
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
Directions
Roll out the dough into a 12-inch round on a lightly floured surface. Ease into a 9-inch pie plate. Fold the overhanging dough under itself and crimp the edges with your fingers. Pierce the bottom and sides all over with a fork. Chill at least 1 hour or overnight. (Unless you are using packaged pie crust, then you can bake it and just let it cool off a bit before you put the filling inside.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the chilled dough with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Transfer to the oven and bake until the edges are golden, 20-25 minutes. (Unless using packaged crust, follow the box instructions.) Remove the foil and weights and continue baking until the crust is golden all over, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.
Make the filling: Gently whish the pumpkin, cream, granulated sugar, 2 eggs, the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt (do not overmix). Beat the remaining egg and brush on the crust edge; sprinkle with coarse sugar. Pout the filling into the crust and bake until set around the edges, 50 minutes to 1 hour (the middle will still jiggle slightly). Transfer to a rack; let cook completely.
I only took about 50 pictures of my beautiful pumpkin pie, but they are unfortunately not on this computer. But I do have a picture of the snowman that Emma and I made! ...From the day after when it's nose, eyes, buttons, and mouth fell off. But this is actually the first snowman I've ever made (I don't have any idea how that happened) and it was so much fun. Did you know that if you make a small ball, and then roll it on the ground, it really does get bigger and bigger? It's not just in movies? It's real life!
I've also finished our Giving Plate!
The Giving Plate
This plate shall have no owner, for it's journey never ends,
it travels in a circle of our family and friends. It carries love from home to home for everyone to share. The food that's placed upon it was made with love and care. So please enjoy what's on the plate then fill it up again, then pass it on and the love holds on to your family and friends.
It was so easy to make, and it's a gift that keeps on giving, all year long!
What you need:
1 white plate. (the cheaper the better)
1 Sharpie of any color, but the darker the better
To Make:
Make sure there is no oil on the plate, this prevents the Sharpie from staying on the plate after it's baked. You can use rubbing alcohol to rub it off, but if you just bought it it should be fine.
Write the message. You can even pick a quote to write on the backside too! I put a Mother Teresa quote and the year. Which is 2013 in case you forgot.
After you've finished writing, put your plate in the oven. After placing your plate in the oven, turn it on to 200 F. By putting the plate in before you heat up the oven, it prevents cracking. After the oven has finished pre-heating, set a timer for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off. LEAVE THE PLATE IN THE OVEN UNTIL COMPLETELY COOL TO PREVENT CRACKING! Once completely cool, take the plate out and rub it with a wet cloth. If the marker stays on, good job! Then comes the real test. Put it in the dishwasher. If the marker still stays on, you have a winner! If not, try again!
When we went Black Friday shopping, we went to Michaels, where they had a crazy sale on canvases. So I have made some Christmas canvases!
My favorite
I ran out of space with the L. But that is indeed an L.
Tomorrow we start our Light 'Em Up Advent calendar and Kristi (Our Elf On the Shelf) comes back! We accidentally missed a few days. But that's ok.
Each day we will open a new bag, and there will be a random act of kindness to perform inside. We will do it together and we will do it with joy, the only way things should be done! And it is my hope that we will all continue to practice these random acts of kindness throughout the year, spreading light wherever we go. "Being kind isn't always easy or convenient. But it has the potential to change everything." (-Cap Watkins)
Check back soon for more! Happy December!
Rachel Merry
