Domestic Fashionista: Christmas Recipe

Today is a cool day because Ashley over at Domestic Fashionista and I are swapping recipes! Ashley's was one of the first "home" blogs I started reading regularly, and she doesn't disappoint.


She's got a fabulous, mouth-watering pie recipe to share here, and I sent an easy (yet highly addictive!) Christmas candy recipe to her blog for the day. (Check it out here) Hope you'll leave both of us some comment love today in the Christmas spirit! 


Take it away, Ashley!
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During the holiday baking season, I try to use this time as an opportunity to try new dessert recipes. Though the traditional holiday desserts are delicious, it is fun to mix it up and give your guests something new to try.

This year I tried a new recipe for a banana blueberry cheesecake. It is amazing!

First, bake your pie crust. I used a store bought one and fluted the edges.

Unfortunately when it baked it did not stay up. Any advice to keeping it stand up? No worries...it still tastes delicious nonetheless.

Layer the bottom of the pie crust with sliced bananas.
Mix together softened cream cheese (the 1/3 less fat is just as delicious but a little more guilt free--the nonfat kind does not taste as good though), Cool Whip, powdered sugar, and lemon juice.

Cover your bananas with the cream cheese mixture.


Top it all with a can of blueberry pie filling. Refrigerate until ready to serve. This can be made a few days in advance.

Shortly before serving or on the day of, top with whipped cream.

Easy...delicious...and definitely a crowd pleaser. Enjoy!

Banana Blueberry Cream Cheese Pie

1 pastry crust

2 bananas

8 oz cream cheese, softened

8 oz Cool Whip

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 can blueberry pie filling

Bake crust according to directions. Line bottom of crust with sliced bananas. Combine cream cheese and Cool Whip. Add powdered sugar and lemon juice. Top with pie filling. Chill about an hour before serving. Top with whipped cream.

Thank you for having me, Amanda! It is always fun to share new and easy recipes with one another! For yummy treats, projects, and day-to-day home life, please visit me at Domestic Fashionista!

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Thanks again, Ashley! 


I hope the start to your Christmas week is jolly, readers! I have another recipe to share with you this week, as well as a few other fun posts. Happy Monday!

What's Wrong With This Picture?

A little Christmas funny for you today...can you tell me what's wrong with this photo?

If you guessed "cat in the tree," you would be correct!

I thought this would be a great way to introduce you to my mom's newest addition, Elizabeth Bennet.

Mr. Darcy, my mom's evil cat, is overjoyed to have another cat around because this means that he has twice the food to gorge himself on now.

Thankfully, other than her proclivity for Christmas tree climbing, Elizabeth Bennet is quite social and a good little kitty. I pray that Mr. Darcy's bad manners do not rub off on her. I don't think my leg can handle any more scars.

Hope your weekend has gone well. We got a couple of Christmasy errands run and a little laundry folded. I STILL need to address Christmas cards...tell me it's not too late!

Come back tomorrow for a fun recipe swap with Domestic Fashionista!

Refocus

"The best laid plans of mice and men

Often go awry."

-Robert Burns

Burns certainly knew what he was talking about...I don't suppose there's much difference between the scheming we do in 2010 versus our ancestors in the 18th century.

I've been doing a lot of scheming this month. Plans for making Christmas gifts, baking, shopping, partying, blogging, and more. My latest plan was to make it to the last MOPS meeting of the year yesterday, drop my kids in the nursery, and sit and enjoy some fellowship time (and brunch!) with some other moms.

Then it snowed.

In my area of Virginia, we have a lot of "transplants" from other parts of the country. Possibly other parts of the country that are not accustomed to seeing snow. The appearance of cold white stuff on the roads and streets is enough to cause panic, grocery runs, and cars plowing into mailboxes. I was disappointed that my MOPS meeting was cancelled, but not particularly motivated to venture out onto the streets and risking the lives of my children to make it to Target.

So we stayed home, ate the donut holes I'd meant to take to the meeting, and watched several Christmas movies. Even the dogs cuddled up with us.

Adding a mocha into the mix made it even better.

I wonder sometimes about Mary. About what her plans were before she found out she'd be carrying the Son of God. I suppose that God's plan for us is even better than what we'd hoped for, right?

Instead of wondering if my readers have all gone on vacation, what I should write about next, when I'll make that last shopping trip, how I'll get those cookies baked, I think I'll refocus--make sure I'm enjoying this next week or so of holiday bliss with my family. I have some fun things scheduled to share with you next week, but I won't be worrying about how many comments come in, who linked up to what, if I need to find another advertiser, blah blah blah.

I'll take a cue from Mary and do my best to cherish what God has for us.

"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart." -Luke 2:19

Linked to Imparting Grace

Christmas Traditions

Mistletoe, shiny wrapping paper, freshly iced cookies, the occasional snow...there's not much I don't love about Christmas. Every year after Thanksgiving, I brave the rickety attic stairs and pull down boxes to deck the halls of the T home.

It's become tradition for T to begrudgingly drag our fresh tree inside and divide his attention between watching ESPN and me battling strands of lights in an epic struggle to illuminate the front window of our home. Although I am wildly annoyed by T's amusement, I still look forward to decorating the tree and fighting over whether or not his hideous Big Bird Head Ornament (a childhood gift) deserves a place of honor at the front and center of the tree.

I am quite sure it is now also tradition for our neighbors to watch me through the large window, balancing precariously on a metal folding chair, shouting in frustration as the fifth set of lights on top of the tree refuses to light up. I bet they sit and watch smugly with their cocoa and laugh at that crazy chick across the street.

That's the funny thing about traditions...while they may be amusing or outlandish to others, they are something our own families look forward to as we welcome in the holiday season. Some of you have been kind enough to share the traditions you hold near and dear to your hearts at this month's Dishing It! party, and today I thought I'd share a few of my own.

Spending time with family and friends is something we all look forward to at Christmastime. Even though it means some extra cleaning, T and I enjoy inviting both of our families over for a Christmas Eve dessert buffet. We attend church as a family, and then rush home to get the food out. Dessert is less work than dinner for 20, and now that children are in the picture, we've turned it into a potluck.

Who couldn't resist hot chocolate and a cookie (or two or three) on Christmas Eve?

We all have things to keep us busy at home in December. We crank the Christmas tunes all month long, and I always find a way to fit in a viewing of A Christmas Story, which is my favorite Christmas movie. It was a favorite of my dad's as well, and I have fond memories of watching it with my own family when I was growing up. T and I usually watch it together on Christmas Eve and I go to bed with a smile on my face, picturing Ralphie Parker and a Red Ryder with a "compass and a stock and this thing which tells time."

I'd be lying if I said I don't get excited about opening gifts on the 25th. T likes the pressure of waiting until the last minute to shop for stocking stuffers, and he usually forces my sister to go out shopping with him so I don't end up with a stocking full of batteries or screw drivers or something hideous like that.

My favorite part is sitting in the living room by the tree on Christmas morning, watching the girls' faces as they come through the door and see the gifts that "Santa" left under the tree. After opening stockings in the other room, they usually forget about a whole room of presents!

In honor of God's ultimate Gift to us, His Son, we take some time each year to choose small gifts to fill a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child. I love that my girls take the time to think about the way children in other countries live and to get excited about blessing others.

Remember that no matter how simple, traditions foster warm memories that your family will treasure for years to come. I hope you'll come join the party and share some of the things that makes Christmas special for your family.

Dishing It! Party (Share Your Christmas Traditions)

Welcome to the December edition of my Dishing It! party. I'll be sharing about some of my own Christmas traditions later in the week, so today is all about you.

I planned this party as a way for bloggers to not only share a little bit about themselves, but also to make an effort to get to know some of the other wonderful people out there in Blogland. New bloggers and seasoned pros are all welcome!

A Few Guidelines for Linking Up with Me:

1. Please include a link back to me somewhere within your own post. OR, you can just include my party button (code is below).
Whichever you prefer. It's just plain nice manners to link back to the hostess. (Or leave her a nice comment) Think of it as your holiday Hostess Gift to me. {wink}

2. Check to see that your link posted successfully. Leave me a comment with your link if your post won't go up after a few tries. I can get you linked up!

3. MINGLE. A party is not a party unless you visit! Please take a few minutes to visit at least one or two other links on the list and leave a thoughtful, genuine comment. It is totally okay if you need a day or two, but I'd like for each participant to visit at least one or two of the other blogs by the end of the week. I think that's a doable request.

If you're new here and missed the party info., here it is one more time:

Please feel free to use this as a question and answer post, or use it as a loose guide to write your post however you like. Add or omit any questions you like, and feel free to embellish with photos!

~Do you have any specific traditions that your family looks forward to each Christmas?

~Is your tree real or fake?

~Do you have any favorite ornaments?

~What's your favorite Christmas treat?

~Best Christmas gift you ever received?

~Coolest crafty thing you made or home decor thing you tried this Christmas season?

~Your favorite Christmas movie?

~Most difficult person you have to buy for?

~What's the number one thing on your kids'/husband's/wife's/significant other's list this year?

~If Santa could bring you one big surprise this year, what would you want it to be?

Here's the code for the cutesy party button. I'd love it if you'd add it to your post.

<a href="http://www.serenitynow4amanda.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Photobucket" src="http://i523.photobucket.com/albums/w351/laurenjh04/Custom%20Designs/Amanda/150dish.png" /></a><br/>

Hope you'll share with us! The party is open for new links until 10 pm (ET) on Friday.





I'm looking forward to reading more about how your family celebrates Christmas.

Empire State of Mind (Girls' Trip to NYC!)

"In New York,

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

There's nothing that you can't do.

Now you're in New York,

These streets will make you feel brand new,

The lights will inspire you.

Let's hear it for New York, New York, New York..."

The 4th annual I {Heart} New York girls' trip almost didn't happen this year, but perseverance, Tylenol, dedication, and maybe a small muscle relaxer came through.

I spent all of Friday in complete misery, locked in some cruel vortex of sickness. I naively assumed that the headache and nausea I experienced last weekend would be the end of my holiday viral experience, but I have never been more wrong. Whatever 24 hour crud T had last week, he unwittingly passed on to me. A fabulous early Christmas gift. His constant reminders to stay in bed are what let me rest enough to work up the strength for the big Saturday trip.

My friend Christy (who joined the trip last year) picked me up at 3:20 AM...yes, you read that correctly. We drove over to the local P and R center and boarded a bus with the other NYC hopefuls.

We were giddy, we were ready.

And then I started having muscle spasms in my back as the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Seriously.

For about 30 seconds I thought that maybe I could tough it out, but the pain was reminiscent of when I used to have occassional gall bladder attacks, and those are bad. Like, "I wanna lay on the floor and I can't really breathe too good" bad. I assumed they were from spending all day Friday cooped up in bed. I spent a good 45 minutes or so standing up in the bathroom in the back of the bus, gripping the handicapped rail and laying my head on the freezing cold window, contemplating whether or not I should take one of Christy's muscle relaxers.

Common sense won out and I gratefully sank into sleep as the medicine took over.

That was the last real drama for the day. We had a Starbucks stop and careened through the Lincoln Tunnel to arrive in the Big Apple around 10 am or so.

We did a lot of shopping this year, not much sight-seeing. Sadly (read major sarcasm here), I have no pictures of me. The only one Christy shot was in front of the public library and my eyes are all squinty, although my hat was exquisite.

I'll let the pictures do most of the talking....

We always start with Macy's. I love their decor, inside and out. The classic "Miracle on 34th Street" window displays are always a crowd pleaser.

Canal Street is always a stop for us. We purchase the all day "Fun Pass" for the subway...makes traveling up and down Manhattan much easier.

Christy is the Queen of Haggling. I've never seen anything like it. We haggled and browsed and fought the crowds. We laughed our heads off at the swarm of girls fighting over the pile of "Uggs" on the sidewalk like a bunch of vultures.

Trudging about...

Outside the public library, we were treated to a street performance.

After a stop at the American Girl store for two small Christmas gifts (I swear to you that we saw more AG bags in the city than any other brand!!), we continued up Fifth Avenue to the Holy Grail of all NYC Girls' Trips:

Tiffany and Co., which rolled out their holiday finest. Christy and I wandered up from the sterling floor this year and were greeted with hot chocolate and treats on the floor where they do wedding registries.

Is it weird that I saved my napkin? It says "Tiffany and Co." on it.

The most difficult part of NYC at Christmastime is the crowds. They were the worst I've seen yet this year, and foot traffic on Fifth Avenue was at a standstill for awhile. I know how cattle must feel....

Before we knew it, our day was over and it was back to Macy's for pick-up.

Just 363 days until the next time!

I hope you'll join me for the December Dishing It! party tomorrow. We'll be sharing about our favorite Christmas traditions. You can find the details, questionnaire, and party button right here.

*Thanks to today's sponsor, Laura Jane Designs.

Christmas Decorations in My House

With The Nester, Hooked on Houses, and The CSI Project hosting Christmas Home Tours this year, I thought it might be fun to give you a peek at the T house for Christmas this year. I didn't have a lot of extra money to spend on new stuff, but I did make a few changes.

Grab a mocha, some gingerbread, and come check out my house!

Entry:
We don't have a mantel, so I use our banister and rails to hang stockings on. This year, I embellished with ribbon and some red beads I got for half off at Hobby Lobby.

Family room:
I haven't done too much in here yet other than break out some of my Nutcracker collection. The smaller ones are on top of a bookcase in the Dining room, but the larger ones stand guard at the front of the house.

Dining room:
Even though I'm a little tired of the red, it comes in handy at Christmas. I did a little shabby "Charlie Brown" tree with red and silver ornaments this year along with some items from the Silent Wonder Collection from my Blessings Unlimited shop.

Aren't the vinyl/mirror snowflakes fun? I need to go to Kohls and pick up some more....

The Addition:
I always enjoy doing this room because I get to go girlie in here. The girls' toys reside in this room, so they don't seem to notice all the extra pink and polka dot stuff.

I added a new pink wreath to the back door (bought on clearance, 90% off, after Christmas last year). I had to use a flash to get a good shot of it, but I do love the bling it adds to the back hallway.

Kitchen:
I use my Blessings Blocks in case guests aren't sure which holiday it is. {wink} We have another Charlie Brown tree in here with vintage cookie cutters, chocolate molds, and gingerbread ornaments.

Living Room:
Here's the main event...we keep our big tree in this room. T usually picks out our (real) tree the week after Thanksgiving, and they tend to "stay" pretty well until New Years. This tree is a mishmash of ornaments we've all collected: handmade, heirlooms, kitschy things I've found on trips, you name it. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I like that our tree shows off things that are special about our family...it's like our tree tells our story!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you'll come back last this week to share some of your Christmas traditions and favorites with other bloggers for this month's Dishing It! party. You can click the link or scroll back to Sunday's post to see the details.

Merry Christmas!