Christmas Morning Scones - YUM!

If you are looking for an alternative to the typical cinnamon buns on Christmas morning, look no further! I have the best and easiest recipe for scones ever. These things are awesome. And they will completely impress your family, after all, who makes scones from scratch? Surprisingly, the ingredients are few and the steps easy.

I got this recipe at a cooking class I took at a Viking cooking store many years ago. My mother in law gave me this class as a Christmas present about 4 years ago. The class was fantastic. When you arrived, they served you coffee and fresh fruit, they cleaned your cooking stations and washed your dishes while you cooked, and basically waited on you while you enjoyed your day and learned some new tricks in the kitchen. I totally recommend the experience!

Anyway, my favorite recipe from that day was the one for scones. I had always stayed away for scones thinking of them as dry, but these are not at all. I have also added different things to them - chocolate chips, blue berries, candied orange peel, cranberries. You just throw into the batter whatever you want to punch up the favor.

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch cubes and chilled
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon heavy cream

Preheat oven to 425F

Place flour, baking powder, salt and 3 tablespoons of sugar in a bowl or food processor. (I don't have a food processor, so I do the mixing here with a fork).

Pulse several times to combine everything (or mix it with your fork)

Add butter to mixture, scattering it throughout.

Pulse 12 to 15 times, getting the mixture to resemble coarse meal.

If you are using a fork, kind of cut the butter into the mixture, breaking it up slightly and mixing it. It takes about 5-10 minutes to do this by hand, just keep going, it works. You want the consistency to be a bit ragged and coarse.

Toss in whatever you are adding (chocolate chips are my favorite). You probably only need about 1 cup of this. Eyeball this and add more if it looks like it isn't mixed throughout.

Transfer to a mixing bowl if you were using a food processor.

Add 1 cup of heavy cream and continue to stir with a fork until it forms a shaggy dough.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it until the dough comes together. This is like playing with play dough and mixing all the colors together, use the palms of your hands to press through the dough. Be careful if you added berries to not crush them too badly.

Pat the dough into about an 8 inch circle about 2 inches thick.

Cut the dough into 8 wedges like a pizza and place on an untreated baking sheet, placing them slightly apart. You could also cut the dough into cute little shapes if you really wanted to all out!

Whisk together 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon heavy cream, brush over tops of scones.

Bake until tops are golden brown and firm, about 12-15 minutes.

Cool for about 10 minutes before serving.

It seems like a lot of steps as I type it, but seriously it is easy and totally uncomplicated. And it will impress your family, because I mean really, homemade scones!?

I have made the dough the night before too and just let it warm up a bit before putting it into the oven on Christmas morning. I also brushed the sugar mixture on the scones in the morning, I wasn't sure how that would do in the fridge over night. It would probably work, but why chance it.

Christmas Morning Traditions

Last year, a dear friend had an ongoing deliberation with her husband regarding the wrapping of Christmas presents for their young children.  Her family traveled a distance for the holiday and her parents just couldn't transport the gifts and wrap everything, so nothing was ever wrapped.  Barbie was out playing in the Dream House, sweaters were folded under the tree, etc.  Her husband balked at this idea, coming from a home where everything was wrapped.

I shared with her that my family was kind of a hybrid, clothes was always in boxes and wrapped and big toys were out for us to play with.  Although I only remember a few toys ever being out like a bike or a cradle for my Cabbage Patch dolls. What I do remember is the actual unwrapping of presents and that my parents used to make us each go one at a time which meant it took forever!!  I just wanted to tear into everything, but my mom insisted that she see our reaction to every present, even if she knew we were unwrapping underwear. 

Over the last few weeks, my facebook friends have pondered this same dilemma; wrap or don't wrap your kids presents.  As I think about it, I totally understand why my mom wanted us each to take our turns opening everything.  If she was going to shop and wrap for us 3 kids, she was going to get some simple joy out us opening everything. 

Besides the prolonged unwrapping, my parents also tortured us Christmas morning.  We were not allowed to wake them up and go downstairs until 7am.   We also all had to be up together with robes and slippers on (my brother slept in footed PJs for years to skip the need for slippers and "save time" that morning), with our hair and teeth brushed, and had gone to the bathroom, then we could wake up mom and dad.  That's when the real torture began.

My parents both had to get out of bed, go to the bathroom, brush their teeth and hair, put in contacts, and find robes and slippers.  Then we could move to the top of the stairs.  The suspense was always killing me at this point, I was bursting out my skin.  But of course, we couldn't just go downstairs yet, nope.  Coffee had to be made, tree lights turned on, camcorder set up.  My dad did these things while my mom sat with us at the top of the stairs.  We always jockeyed for good positioning going down the stairs and I only remember getting to go first one year when I was on crutches.  Finally, my dad would call up and announce that we could come on downstairs and see what Santa left us. 

I know this drove me crazy as a little girl, but it was fun and it completely added to the experience. My sister and brother and I laughed and giggled together on those mornings and now jokingly complain as grown-ups as we remember how slow Dad was. 

Now that my boys are 1 and 3, I'm starting to think that we might be able to start torturing them this year.  They won't fully get it this year, especially the little one, but it might fun to start the tradition early and see what kind of fun we can create for our own kids. 

Were your Christmas mornings like this or do you have another fun tradition that we can start?

Dining Room Centerpieces - Do you set the table?

I always struggle with my dining room table centerpiece.  Not sure what happens here, but it never turns out the way I want it to look.  Maybe its because the ones I see in magazines have fully set tables which makes everything look better.  I am not setting my table for a meal that is not happening.  My kids will have that silverware all over the house, the napkins on their heads, and the plates outside.  I don't even want to think about what would happen to my Waterford wine glasses! AH!!!  This means, I need to dress up a table without the full dressings and just be happy with it.



Last year in my 7 or 8 week post baby bliss, I made a centerpiece using a large round silver tray, a cake plate, tiny poinsettias, candles and a few Christmas balls.  It worked for last year, everything that got decorated last year worked just because I had a 2 year old and a newborn.  I tried the same arrangement this year and it just didn't work at all.  It was down right blah.  Case in point below: 

Its okay but not the idea of holiday wonderment that I really would love to evoke.  I started looking for fresh ideas and found beautiful inspiration everywhere, but again these tables were all set, making everything come together so much better --- do people really do this in real homes???

I think my favorite idea (read into it: somewhat doable idea), came from Sweet Something Designs.  I love the use of the lantern and the greens. Its simple and elegant and also warms the space up.  It totally destroys my poor excuse for a centerpiece.  

I set out shopping yesterday hoping to find a great lantern and greens to create my own similar look.  I found a lantern at Pier 1 for only $15 which seemed like a deal since I saw others for lots more.  And then I headed to Michael's for the greens.  You would think that people were giving crafty stuff away to every kid in the world this Christmas.  That place was a mad house.  Shelves were empty, wreath embellishment were thrown on the ground, and there was even a baby crying at the cash register --- it was basically Armageddon.  Wives were even there with their husbands - I could not pay my husband to go into that store, let alone to venture in when madness is happening.   

I didn't find exactly what I wanted but I figured that I just need to shop earlier next year to really get what I want and this year would just have to be a practice year on the centerpiece.  Here is how it turned out:

I still had the tiny poinsettias and didn't want to waste them so I threw them in and I had Christmas balls there from the previous centerpiece so they got added too.  I don't think this is my best work by a long shot, but at least it beats what was happening there.  I'll keep tweaking it for the next week or so before I decide if I like it or not, but so far its okay. 

Christmas Gifts

I was having a hard time with gifts for my boys this year.  They are 3 and 1 and just had birthdays so our house is still full of "new" toys.  Also, my oldest isn't really a toy kid.  He loves to play with tools and scrap pieces of wood and build with blocks of which we have tons already!  My youngest has all of his older brother's toys and is still a little young to play with toys.  He does like trucks and cars and trains, but our house is totally overrun with them already.

So, I was obviously in a rut.  I started asking some friends and received great ideas.  My husband also reminded me how much our kids love to be outside and that anything for outside made sense to him.

After consideration here are some of the things our boys are getting:
1. Sleds!!!  We have an infant sled, but now that I have a three year old, a real sled is needed!  Just remember, please put helmets on your kids when they go sledding just like you would if they were skiing or riding a bike.  Helmets are super warm, the kid can't rip them off, and they are a huge safety plus especially if you have a little boy who has already gone over the side of the driveway in a Cozy Coupe and got stitches like I do.





2. Anything to keep them quiet in the car during our long ride to Vermont for a family ski trip.  I got Sammy a lap desk for the car so that he could play with little toys and also color in addition to watching movies. And while Tommy might be a bit young to sit and watch TV, I'll do just about anything to keep him happy on a long trip so we have a dual screen DVD player.  I'm hoping he will actually watch and fall asleep to the Lion King, sleeping blissfully for several hours (that will never happen). 

3. Educational toys. I also wanted a few easy, non-mommy involved educational toys for Sammy.  He is learning so much at preschool and really does like to do a lot of this type of thing independently.  We have had flash cards in the past but they always ended up all over the place and not really serving their purpose.  Then I saw these on Amazon that came on a ring so you couldn't loose one.  I can already picture him flipping through these by himself and talking to each card. The best part is that you can either buy them through Amazon or buy cheaper cards yourself and put them on ring of your own.


4. Our biggest purchase this Christmas will be a Kindle Fire.  It would be redundant if I repeated why we are buying this expensive product for our 3 year old, so I will just send you over to Mommy Breakdown for the comparison of tablets for young ones.  Lauren has a done a great job breaking it down both by cost and by function.

Good luck shopping. Try not to go crazy.  Make lists and try to really think about what people want, need and will use -- all hard things to figure out!

Rain, Rain, Go Away or else.....

I will never be able to walk in our playroom again!  The boys dumped everything today with the exception of one box of blocks that was hidden and a few games.  Otherwise, everything else went on the floor.  I guess its a game to them that I just don't understand!  All I could think of was that someone (me) would have to sort through everything to make sure the legos, the mega blocks, the wooden blocks, etc were all back in the right containers later this evening ready to be dumped once again tomorrow......

Preparing for Christmas

I love this time of year.  It used to be the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but now since Halloween is another spectacular holiday to decorate for, I love everything from the beginning of fall through Christmas.  It's so festive; there is so much to think about and do in terms of activities, cooking, baking, and decorating.  In short, its all around awesome!

And my new love, Pinterest is completely facilitating my love of the holidays by giving me tons of ideas for DIY decorating.  My mantle is always something I look forward to decorating.  It immediately fills the rooms with holiday cheer and is also something my kids can't touch so I can put some pretty delicate things there too.  I usually do mercury glass objects and lighted garland with a few ornaments, but I am inspired this year, who knows what I might end up with!  Some of my inspirations found on Pinterest........

However, I also live in reality.  I don't have much time to be crafty with two little ones running around and honestly, I am not a craft expert.  I can do basic things, sometimes even tricky crafts, but my attention, time, and patience all run out when something gets too time consuming and/or super tricky.  I also get overwhelmed at AC Moore and Michaels - I want to buy so much and get so excited that I can't seem to figure it all out. 

So, this is what I ended up with on my mantle.  I kept the usual mercury glass, candles, and garland, but also a few things below the mantle with little stockings and mittens hung with clothes pins on ribbon.  I wanted to do more, but I was quickly reminded that even an area that I "thought" was kid proofed like the mantle really isn't when the other night I found a sensory ball whizzing at the mantle and quickly breaking an ornament.  I love boys, they very quickly bring you back to reality.  :)

All Aboard!! The 3rd Birthday Express is Here!

My oldest turned 3 last week and it still amazes me that I have a 3 year old and a 1 year old.  They are no longer babies and part of me is very sad about that.  Despite my melancholy, we had to celebrate Sammy's big day in a big way and there is nothing more exciting to a 3 year old boy then trains, lots and lots of trains!  My inspirations for this party came directly from pinterest and none of these crafts were difficult at all, I promise.

I started out with a fantastic template from Paper and Cake for the banner, signs, etc.   I got this on sale for only $10!  I never used anything from Paper and Cake before and I loved it.  I was really easy to use - I just put in Sammy's name where I wanted it and printed it out.  I didn't use all of the ideas that came from packet, but for only $10, it was worth it to me.  Here is an idea of what I did use to decorate. Please ignore my spelling mistake on All Aboard - can't believe I did that and that no one told me until I posted a few pictures on Facebook and an old college friend broke the news to me.  :(

Since Sammy and his buddies are pretty active I knew I had to have an "action" activity.  I started with just having his train table in the family room instead of his room and then I got inspired....... this is what I ended up with:

I made 12 cardboard trains for the kids to play with and I have to say they were really easy to make, just a little time consuming. 

To make them I started with a diaper box or a wine box, either worked out fine.  I sprayed painted them and let dry really well.  I cut off the flaps of the box on the bottom and then cut a hole out in at the top of the box.  I didn't remove the entire top of the box so that I had a place to put the smoke stack.  The smoke stake is a canister of oatmeal, too bad I don't eat oatmeal......I attached the smoke stack with a hot glue gun and a paper fastener.  To strap it onto the kids, I just used ribbon and paper fasteners.  I found the template for Percy's face here.  For some of the trains I added a little extra dimension with a cereal box on the front and just used the glue gun to attach it.  To decorate I used electrical tape and colored duct tape.  In the beginning of this project I was really elaborate with my decorating, that waned after about 5 trains and the duct tape won out in terms of ease and patience, but it still looked great.  I also found this website that had tons of Thomas trains that gave me lots of ideas and also reminded me that I am only a weekend crafter and not nearly as serious as some people!

As you can tell, the kids were adorable in their trains, but I have to say they didn't gravitate to them like I thought they would.  The train table was a much bigger hit as well as our other everyday toys.  But each child was sent home with their train and a red bandana and an engineers hat and many moms have told me they have been a hit at home.  But isn't it so adorable!  I wish I could have gotten a picture of everyone with their trains on, but it just wasn't going to happen.  Unfortunately, a November birthday means lots of stuffy noses and coughs, including my own little guy who barely worn his James train that day.

Asher looked fantastic as Thomas

In addition to the trains, my husband became a saint for this party.  He built us the greatest train crossing with an arm on a hinge so it would go up and down and he also put a track out on the floor of the house.  He hated doing this and found it totally unnecessary, but he still did it for me, what a tropper.

Here are some other things I used to decorate for the party.  Vintage trains across the mantle, plastic shoe boxes covered with construction paper to look like a train to hold snacks for the party,and anything else I could find.

All and all it was a great party and the kids had fun. If your little one loves trains, I'd really suggest making one of these cardboard trains. So easy to do and something they can really have a lot of fun with too.

Oops, almost forgot --- for the babies, I made little tiny trains to wear with the same concept in mind. I just used wipes boxes and only put a face and straps on them.

The cake is a post for another day. So stay tuned.....