My Baking List

I love to bake and eat sweets and these are the recipes I have been working on or will be tackling this holiday season. I have been trying to get Luke in the "mix" and have him help me as much as possible, things normally get really messy but we are having fun. I am freezing most of what I am baking and then during the week of Christmas we will pull everything out, make up some mix plates and deliver them to friends and family.

Here is what I am working on:

Peanut Butter Cheesecake Balls

This was my first time making this recipe. I tasted the cream cheese mixture before rolling the balls and decided I wanted my cheesecake a little sweeter so I added 1/2 a cup of brown sugar. Other than that, the recipe was delicious and easy to make.

Shortbread

It was my first time making shortbread as well but I was pretty pleased as to how this recipe turned out. I like my cookies on the soft side so I did not wait for them to turn brown at the edges and they were nice and moist.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I baked these cookies with Emily and Sara and Emily found this recipe. She is not a cookie person but she loved these and said they really were the best chocolate chip cookies she had ever had.

Sugar Cookies With Royal Icing

I made these cookies last year during our Baking Day, the cookies and icing were delicious so I plan on making them this week. My designs did not turn out as beautiful as the ones in the post but I did my best!

Oreo Truffles

This has become one of my go to sweets recipes because it is so easy and is always a hit at family gatherings. Again, mine do not always look as beautiful but once you take a bite, you don't mind what they look like. Sometimes I coat all of mine with regular chocolate and drizzle with white if I am feeling fancy.

I would love to know what your favourite baking recipes are?

Gift Guide Vlog Post (Contest Closed)

I love brainstorming gift ideas for my loved ones and am excited to share some with you in my most recent blog post. Grab a coffee, tea or hot chocolate and lets talk gift giving and shopping in Sarnia Lambton.

I want to help you with your Christmas shopping so I am giving away a $100 gift card to Greg's Auto Detailing, check out the contest details and links to some amazing local businesses below.

Contest Details

Enter to win a $100 gift card to Greg's Auto Detailing. Like the following Facebook pages and share the video from my Facebook page. Contest Closes Sunday December 13 at midnight.

Facebook Pages

The Book Keeper

Joan Armstrong Silpada

Shoes 144 Front

Sticks And Strings

Greg's Auto Detailing

Heather Lapier

Thanks for watching, good luck & have fun!

Christmas Book Advent Week 1

Beginning on December 1st our family started counting down to Christmas Day by opening a Christmas book and reading it together each night. Luke is a little young for this tradition as he only sits still if he is having his evening bottle but I am still enjoying the family time, even if its just Tyler and I reading the book while Luke climbs on us or plays on the floor.

The books over the last few days have reminded me of my childhood and how I use to get so excited during December (lets face it, I still get super excited). Our story time also helped me focus on the more important things that I am grateful for this time of year. Specifically we enjoyed 'The Smallest Gift Of Christmas', a story about a little boy who wants a bigger gift but realizes his family is the best gift of all. 

I love the hustle and bustle of this time of year but it wouldn't feel the same if I didn't have people to shop for, cook for or enjoy all the festive activities with. One of the greatest Christmas gifts is simply enjoying the holidays with my family.

This post is in partnership with The Book Keeper. They will be hosting a fun contest next week and to enter you simply need to share a picture of you and or your family reading a Christmas book and tag their Facebook page. Connect with them on their Facebook page to take part. I can't wait to see the photos of you and your family enjoying story time!

P.S. What is your favourite Christmas book?

Check Myself Before I Wreck Myself

We had planned on going to Sloan's Christmas Tree farm to get our tree this year as we have done for the last 3 years but a long week prior to the weekend made us second guess the day trip and we opted to stay in Sarnia to get our tree. My inner Clark Griswold so badly wanted to push us to the limit and create the "perfect family Christmas tree memories" but I listened to my husband and my gut and we stayed home.

I suggested we go to DeGroots Nurseries because I have heard good things about their trees. When we got to Degroot's, we were happy to see they were hosting the Bluewater Health Winter Wonderland Family Fun Day. There were lots of activities for the kids including a train ride,  music and even a few of Santa's reindeer. We even ended up running into our friends while we were there so Luke got to enjoy the festivities with some of his little buddies.

When it came time to pick a Christmas tree we went for a pre wrapped tree for simplicity sake. When we brought it home and unwrapped it I started to feel a little sad that we didn't go all out for our Christmas tree day. The tree wasn't fluffing out the way I had hoped it would and I was just feeling a little lost. Its so silly that an "imperfect" tree was deflating my Christmas spirit but it was.

Luke went down for a nap and I sat on the couch alone for a minute in quiet and I checked myself hard. "Heather, get it together, Christmas is not about the tree or any other fluff that comes with the holidays, you are lucky to have a tree at all."

I really do my best to keep the birth of Christ at the centre of my Christmas festivities but it can be challenging. I love everything about Christmas but just as fast as all the glitter and gold can get me excited, it can let me down even quicker.

I find when I spend time focusing on the amazing gift of Jesus's birth, I don't get let down by unattainable holiday expectations or the January blues. I want to enjoy all my Christmas traditions like the tree, movies, baking, wrapping and gift giving all the while knowing that these things are second to the true meaning of Christmas.

How do you keep grounded while enjoying all the festivities of the holidays?

xoxo
Audrey