Merry Christmas!!!!!

Well Christmas is finally here, I was able to take this past month off from Gecko Quilts (which is one of the perks of owning your own business ;0) ). I have been enjoying my time with my DH and our kids getting the house ready for this weekend. It is bittersweet...all month long you prepare, anticipate, dream and then the time is finally here and well it will soon be over :0(

I am already thinking that this week all of the decorations will be taken down, packed away until next year...it's a little sad, Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I have wonderful memories of childhood Christmas' of past with my Grandma J (as host) then my Aunt Nancy taking over the reigns...my Polish roots are my traditions I hold dear to my heart this time of year. Especially since it has been 14 Christmas' since I was last with all of my side of the family on Christmas Eve (thats what happens when you move to the other side of the country...near the husband's family and we are the only one that hosts all of the holidays). I am here in AZ but my heart is back in the midwest this weekend...wishing for a white christmas. When I was little (before I had to drive in it) I always wished for snow on Christmas Eve, it was like the cherry on top of a perfect day.

So I am wishing all of you a blessed Merry Christmas that is filled with all the warmth and love that this time of year brings. May your memories of past Christmas' only be over shadowed by even more special ones yet to come.

I will be back to work on Jan. 9th 2012 

Twas the Week Before Christmas...

and all through the house, I've been scrubbing and cleaning this big house.

Wrapping presents, watching Christmas classics on TV and finishing up the cookie trays!

First you need lots of sprinkles, and doo-dads...

Then you need some gingerbread cookies, some sugar cookies.

Of course it is always more fun when there is little helpers...Sara,

Olivia,

and Rachel! My oldest daughter was working so she couldn't help and my 17 yr old son, well...he just likes to eat the cookies.  

Here are some of the sugar cookies we decorated.

some more

and still more-

ummmm, in my defense...I had to taste the gingerbread boy cookie before I put them on the trays (I LOVE GINGERBREAD COOKIES!!)   

I made enough cookies for 15 small trays and 4 large trays that were delivered to some of our friends and neighbors, DH's work, daughter's work and 2 schools. 

a close up of one of the small trays.

and this is how they got wrapped up before delivery. Each year the amount of trays keep growing as the word spreads about these trays. I have gone through over 50 lbs of flour this month with pierogi and cookie making...I love the holidays!

Tis the Season!

Been making the most of my vacation time :0)

We put up 3 trees this years, the formal tree which is shown here, the kids family tree in the family room, and then MIL's tree in the territ (?) area upstairs.

We have hung the stockings with care (Jo is my MIL)Chris is the DH, then me and followed by the kids in birth order. Do you see the quilt hanging on the back wall...it's a temporary place keeper until I finish the one that will be hanging there...hopefully in January, don't want to go back to a bare wall. 

We added some new decor to the outside this year...

here...

and here. I have big plans for future years of decorating this area but the budget doesn't allow for it to happen all at once...it will be a work in progress ;0)

Then I made this flannel Grinch quilt for DH (he loves the Grinch) and this is the only quilt he would allow me to make him, ever!

Then it was on to some holiday cooking/baking... I am Polish and I embrace all of the wonderful foods my Grandma J has passed onto me (BTW she is alive and well at 95 and still enjoys doing all of the baking/cooking around the holidays with my Aunt Nancy in the midwest).

First off you can't be a true Polish woman without having a well stock pantry.. the back wall is stocked full of all the baking ingredients I will use this holiday season, it will all be gone by the time I am finished ;0) Although this may seem impressive to some of you, it doesn't hold a candle to my Grandma J's pantry... she has a full wall in her basement with shelving floor to ceiling stocked full of stuff, hidden behind a curtain to keep the dust at bay. 

These are waiting to be par boiled..aren't they cute? Like little pillows!

First up is pierogies...my 2 older daughters and I made 24 dozen, we made 12 doz of the traditional potato and cheese flavored, 6 dozen of the potato/cheese/jalapeno flavored, and 6 dozen of a Mexican bean flavored one. Yes I know the last 2 aren't traditional Polish but when you live in the southwest sometimes flavors tend to mix ;0) 

And of course what type of Polish woman would I be if I didn't taste a few to make sure they were worthy to be put on our holiday table and given away to close friends...so had to fry a few up with butter/oil and onions...ummmm they were delish!

Rachel hiding from the camera cause she was with out make up and didn't have her hair done. 

and of course Vicki taking a break. Pierogi day at my house is very labor intensive it is done one day a year and I need to make enough to serve for Christmas Eve and Easter as well as having extra to give away.It takes us the whole day from start to finish.   

The following day we tackled Kolacky (polish cookie). I use my grandmas J's "Ice Cream Kolacky" recipe and yes it uses real ice cream in the ingredients. The pierogi recipe I use is a combination of my grandmas', my aunt Nancy's and some tweaking I did...so I guess you can say it is my own now.

I have alot more baking to do, some flannel PJ's to make for my twins and some Christmas shopping to finish and wrap and try to squeeze in some classic holiday movies here and there. Will try to pop in here and update on my progress...time to tackle the massive cookie baking for my cookie trays, this year I think we are up to 16-20 large cookie trays. Will post a pic of what that looks like right before we deliver them.