I wish I could take a picture of smell, captured it in all of its’ scrumptiousness, and post it right here for you to enjoy. Since technology hasn’t quite gotten there yet, this will have to do:

Let’s play with our imaginations…take a deep inhale through your nose just like pilates breathing, and put yourself in my kitchen!!

If your mouth is now watering, continue scrolling…

There is just nothing like the smell of cinnamon baking away in the oven. These beauties pretty much smell like a lazy Saturday morning with coffee in hand.

*The recipe for the rugelach pinwheels is adapted from MS, and made with crescent roll dough. Note: I’ve made the homemade dough too, an it dances in your mouth!

alabamas got their very own sprinkles cupcakes!

called “roll tide red velvet” “longhorn vanilla”

now, this doesn’t make me an ROLL TIDE fan, but pretty snazzy nevertheless! 

Oh the glorious season of Christmas!! I adore every single moment of December. The fun-filled activities, reasons for craftiness, decorations, wrapping, baking, loving, giving, eating, and reason for the season: Jesus Christ. Yesterday, I really got to thinking about what has made Christmas at our home so very special over the years. Taking a moment of reflection is encouraged, we find ourselves moving rapidly from on moment to the next, sometimes forgetting to enjoy the moment we are in NOW. So much time and energy goes into preparing for _______(fill in the blank), and in the blink of an eye we are on the the next thing. This tree for me captures LOTS of those special moments that passed quickly by, but  represent the memories that will last forever. The clutter of the “kids tree” is VERY representative of the clutter of memories that coming pouring back out of the storage zone of my brain when I look at all the special ornaments:

Beaver Creek ski trip, gondola rides in Venice, Tarzan on Broadway, the MET at Christmas, mom’s childhood Christmas’ in New Jersey, sororities, kindergarden at Holy Trinity, my baby sister, ballet, my brother’s first solo flight in a plane, graduations, birthdays, weddings, family, life, trips, tiny fingerprints, macaroni art presents for Mom, and I could go on for days…

Tears fill my eyes (happy tears) as I reflect on how richly blessed I feel. For my family, our Christmas is filled with faith

joy,

and lots of yummy treats. These treats are a product of last weeks football cupcakes. They were such a hit, my sister called me this week and put in an order for her friends PJ+Christmas Party tonight! She requested something festive. As of 6:30 this morning I was in the kitchen making these:

I am more than happy to accept your orders to…that is if you are local! And while they baked in the over, I enjoyed coffee, the Today Show, and working on a project (gift) for two special people…

For now I will wrap up this post!! Happy Friday!