I love spending Christmas Eve with the Rakes side of Nick's family. I swear Mema and Poppa Rakes are everything Nick and I aspire to be when we are older... minus the cigarettes and flashing colored christmas lights, though I wholeheartedly cherish those little details about them too.

Mema is so cute in her green velvet two-piece ensemble and wobbles around all liquoured up in her kitty slippers and Poppa is very laid back and gentle yet ready to give someone a piece of his mind when it comes to the well-being of his family. Their home is full of traditions and storytelling and the same songs year after year... lots of warmth and sausage balls and two big ole mismatched broken in recliners to boot!

Oooh, my heart is just so happy right now, my soul truly needed a night like tonight and I pray my deepest prayer that God continue's to change and mold my heart and send more light and love through the remainder of his Son's birthday. After so many weeks of trials and fights and being upset and crying and things breaking apart, I finally recieved my christmas miracle in the form of a Statler brothers song. The greatest christmas present, is something you can't buy....

Merry Christmas to you and yours <3

Reindeer Munch

  
Materials:

Sugar
Oatmeal
Festive Sprinkles
Glitter
Jar or ziplock baggies
Measuring Cups
Fabric or tissue paper
Ribbon, Yarn, or string

Haley is 2 and there aren't too many Christmas crafts she can completely engage in, so when I saw this recipe for "reindeer food" I was pretty excited. It involves three things Haley loves: playing with her food, transfering objects from bucket to bucket, and "hepping mommy" (helping). I wanted this to be a bit more budget friendly, so I skipped out on the sprinkles, and although we had glitter, I just felt like it's a safer treat for the birds and rabbits this way! :)

She enjoyed it so much that a complete melt-down followed completion of the project as I had to get her and Cameron ready to go to Mema's. She is keeping the girls tonight and tomorrow so I can get all caught up on my Etsy orders and because a demanding two year old and a determined 6 month old don't quite let a momma get much done! Praise God for understanding customers, willing grandparents, and for all the design opportunities he has sent my way.

Sprinkle on the lawn at night
The moon will make it sparkle bright
As Santa's reindeer fly and roam
This will guide them to your home.

Christmas Eve can't come soon enough! ;)

Christmas Tree Pizza

  

Maybe I didn't realize our Christmas tree was lacking a stump until after we stuck it in the oven

...and maybe Haley was more interested in playing with and eating the dough than decorating it with pepperonis and peppers

...and maybe there should be a law against wearing an apple shirt while wearing a cherry apron

...and maybe you're staring at your screen thinking, "that is supposed to resemble a christmas tree?!"

but all maybes aside, christmas tree pizza is absolutely delicious even when thrown together by a less than determined 2 year old and everyone ought to give it a try!

Oh, maybe next year Haley will be more enthralled by the whole pizza making and decorating process, but if not, I can already tell that Cameron is shaping out to be quite the pizza enthusiast...

I can't wait to see their little pizza skills improve from year to year as their pizza eating skills seem to be inherent.