I also tried my hand at stencil pumpkin carving for the first time and was really happy with those results as well.
I just downloaded and printed a free template from Spirit of the Zombie Pumpkins, followed their directions using a pumpkin carving kit I bought from Walmart and voila! awesomely carved pumpkin!
Oh yeah, and October was my birthday, my brother-in-law's girlfriend's birthday and Charlie and my wedding anniversary. So not only was I busy making Halloween costumes, but I agreed to knit a Slitherin scarf for lil' bro's girlfriend and I knitted Ethan his first scarf (as part of his costume but also for this winter). The Slitherin scarf wasn't finished until November but everything else was done in time. We also had the first snow the weekend before Halloween so it worked out well that I made Mr. E a scarf!
November was all about pre-planning for Christmas as much as possible without buying into the over-commercialization of the holiday with the super early merchandising of Christmas related things. It's a couple weeks before Christmas and because everything's been out for so long already, holiday themed things are already on clearance again! Really people, really. Of course I enjoy buying them on clearance but I have no problem buying them after the holiday to enjoy next year. It's like a present for myself to enjoy next year. Oh well. Go with the flow right? Anyway, I tried planning/getting/making presents all of November while planning for a yummy dinner. I made the standard pumpkin and apple pies and tried my hand at homemade whipped cream as well this year. Everyone seemed to enjoy them so I was a happy homemaker. I decorated the tops of the pies with turkey prints (simple peace sign slits) though the effort was more for my benefit since no one else even seemed to notice. Note to self: be more over the top next year!
At the end of November, we found out that Charlie had some vacation time he had to use up. His supervisor gave him a Thursday and Friday paired up with his Saturday off for the month and had the following Monday be his day off for the next week so he had 5 days off in a row thus making us able to go visit my Mom in Missouri afterall. It's a 16 hour drive each way for only 2 1/2 days but I thought it was worth it. I got to see 2 of my best friends, one of whom hadn't met Ethan yhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifet, as well as my parents (of course) and my aunt (who had also not met him yet). It was busy and lots of driving but a vhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifery nice visit nonetheless.
We've been back for a couple days now and I had to jump into final Christmas prep right away. All my planning time post-Thanksgiving was taken up by travel prep and Bunco this month was tonight with a cookie exchange. My mother-in-law is also a member and doesn't bake so I ended up making cookies for her too. I choose to make the Pecan Butter Balls I've made before and tried my hand at shortbread for the first time. I wanted to spice it up a bit so I added vanilla chai tea to the blend and they came out really well: nice and crisp with a very subtle hint of something extra. I'm having them with a cup of the tea right now and they go really well together. For those interested, I followed this recipe. I had some difficulty since I don't have a food processor and my blender was just not cuttinghttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif it. I started with the blender until I had to add the butter, when I finally gave up and tried the old hand mixer. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifFor the last few crumbles I ended up hand kneading. It wasn't perfect but the cookies turned out well enough to be edible and I think they taste pretty good so it's still a win.
So now that the cookie exchange is out of the way, it's crank time. This weekend I need to force the husband to sit down with me and do our cards. I also need to crank out the handmade gifts. I can say I'm making a doll and a shirt for two little girls in my life. I had hoped to have time to be able to make a Norberta (although I think he would be renamed Norbert) for Ethan but I don't think I'll have the time. His first birthday is a month after Christmas though so I can do it then. I really need to get the last few presents we're buying and start putting these gifts all together. What else...if we have the time, I really want to take Ethan here, which has a village and barns all decorated up for the holidays along with a petting zoo and pretty lights. Other than that, I just need to settle on what desserts I'm making for Christmas dinner. Pumpkin pie is a must with my family so that's a given and I love my apple pie but I want to do something different. I just need to figure out what sounds good and fun to me but will actually get eaten. My mom has the Fat Witch Brownies cookbook, which really inspired me. I would like to do something out of that like the peppermint brownies but I've already been told by Mr. C that he won't eat them. My (new) family likes very simple, traditional (if sometimes borderline boring) desserts. We also have the issue that one of our good friends with whom we eat Christmas dinner was born on Dec. 25th so his parents like to bring birthday cake so he's not forgotten. So there is the issue that we end up with too much dessert. Oh darn, right?
Wow, you would think I'd be burnt out on planning and making things and overly stressed, wouldn't you? So why am I trying to squeeze in making ornaments too?
If I don't post again before January, happy holidays everyone, whatever you celebrate, and a happy new year!!
