Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from sunny California!

Some of My Favorite Christmas Things

With Christmas two weeks away, things are starting to get Festive around here. Each year, the special things I enjoy about the season seem to remain consistent. 

1. Decorating with lights is the best way to make a small apartment feel magical. What other time of the year is it appropriate to drape our homes with twinkling bulbs?  Don't say Halloween.  Not acceptable. Because of my curious and ultra-naughty felines, it was necessary to forgo a tree, but my solution for decorating includes lots of white lights and spiraling paper snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. It may look a tad like an elementary school, but it makes me smile.

2.  Baked Goods also make me smile. Thanksgiving to New Years is the best time possible to bake up a storm and indulge in each creation. During the summer, baked goods are not so fitting when your kitchen is hot, your appetite is down and let's face it, you have a figure to maintain. At Christmas, I say indulge. We all need warmth, sweetness and love in the form of a gingerbread cookie or snowman cupcake. My new mixer was gifted in the absolute best season.

3. Christmas cards are so fun. I can never choose just one design. This year I went with three, and I had a blast sending them out. I also love receiving cards and got some great ones this month. When I get mail, it lights up my day (pathetic?) and around Christmastime, mail is abundant.

4. Christmas music can never be overdone. I listen to it on my commute. I listen to it while I work. I make Chasen listen to it in the car. My favorite songs tend to be traditional hymns from church, mainly because they remind me why Christmas exists in the first place, and they tend to bring to surface the feelings of Christmas anticipation and nostalgia from my childhood. Below is a rendition of one of my favorite Christmas hymns by Sufjan Stevens.

5.  I love when the weather gets chilly just in time for Christmas. Feel free to remind me of this statement after the New Year when I am completely over winter, but currently, my walk to work bundled with mittens, a scarf and fluffy jacket only feels festive and appropriate.  The city is flocked in decorations, my iPod brings cheer to my heart, and hot tea is sure to greet me at my destination.

In the Kitchen Lately...

I made an awesome salad last week using a combination of recipes. The majority of the recipe can be found here. I didn't have many leafy greens, but I substituted some iceberg lettuce.  Acorn squash was sliced and roasted with asparagus to top the lettuce, and for the last 5 minutes of oven time, I warmed mounds of goat cheese rolled in bread crumbs and thyme. A last minute addition of warmed walnuts toasted with brown sugar took away some of the bitterness from the tangy dressing. The dressing was a tad strong, and if I make this again, I will probably hold off on some of he balsamic and red-wine vinegar for more mustard and olive oil, but it did add a ton of zest to the flavorless lettuce. 

Over the weekend, we revisited our go to theme:  Mexican night.  Chase grilled some chicken and flour and corn tortillas, and I made some guac and rice and beans to go with the usual toppings.  Yum.

Homemade cinnamon buns go the extra mile to get me out of bed on a Sunday morning.