Saturday, December 25, 2010

The 2010 Christmas Holiday Season


Merry Christmas!
The Christmas holiday came in a flash! Even being 7-8 months pregnant and busy with baby preperations, I manged to squeeze a lot of my favorite holiday activities in this month. Here are a few of my holiday activities....

Handmade Christmas Cards
My girlfriends and I have been making handmade Christmas cards for the nursing home for a few years. We get together for an afternoon and bring out all of our scrapbooking and craft supplies. We cranked out aprox 80 cards this year!

The Cookie Exchange
I hosted my 2nd cookie exchange for 10 of my close friends. We each had to make 6 dozen cookies. I am always nervous to try out new cookie recipes for occasions like this so I stuck to a cookie that's always been a hit, I made the Cranberry Pistachio Mexican Wedding Cake Cookie.
Here is the completed tray of cookies after the exchange. Cookies featured this year were: Peppermint Cocoa Kiss Cookies, Triple Ginger (using crystalized ginger, fresh ginger, and powdered ginger), Red Velvet Cookies, with Cream Cheese Icing, Potato Chip Cookies, Lemon Volcanos, Oatmeal Cinnamon, Butterfinger, Snickerdoodles, Pecan Triangles, and Noels. All so good!
Stocking Stuffers
I have a huge family and a lot of cousins. We usually draw names and do a secret Santa gift exchange, but I also like to give each cousin a little stocking stuffer. This year I have sweet treats packed in paper cones for the guys, and a pair of gloves for the girls. I love how these turned out. Simple cuteness!

Well, I am off to celebrate Christmas with the family. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I am looking forward to sharing another year with my blogger friends!

4 comments:

cheeky rose said...

Love the idea of a secret santa, as I too have a large family

Cosmic said...

Love secret santa and your crafty circle!

Happy New Year to you both!

xoxox

Abacaxi & Hortelã said...

Wowh Hillary, you've certainly been a very busy & crafty bee! It all turnt out really lovely! Congrats!
Hope your Christmas was full of love & joy & I wish you a wonderful 2011!
Bisous from Versailles, Chantal

Hillary said...

Thanks so much everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and Happy New Year!

xoxo,
Hillary