Happy New Year!!! In order to celebrate, let's first rewind a bit. 

I actually went home for Christmas this year, something I needed way more than I thought I did. I reconnected with old friends, said goodbye to my sweet dog, and finalized some future life goals. Overall it was a fantastic week of no responsibility that ended with new boots, a heavier suitcase than I arrived with and actually looking forward to a new year. I left for home, however, on Christmas day. I work in retail, so try not to act so surprised. Alternatively, I am taking pity certificates for the 2:40am shuttle pick-up. 

I left my poor, falling apart, six year old laptop at home, which means I couldn't do the Christmas post I wanted to on time. (I also had grand plans to get it done before I left but sleep and making an extra Christmas present for my brother took priority.) Not too big a loss, however, since most people still have their decorations up and it gives me a chance to introduce you to my favourite ornament, which now sits in our tree at home every year. 

You see, I have this habit of picking things up and playing with them, then leaving them in inappropriate places. One year, after a round of baking with my mom, I picked up this bag of spent chocolate chips and took it to our reading chair, where I proceeded to tie it in a bow (which is really just a knot). I was really impressed with that bow. So I fluffed it up and stuck it in the tree. I was waiting to see if my mom would notice it, upon which I assumed she would throw it away and that would be the end of that little joke. And she did notice. But she didn't throw it away. She kept it on the tree for the rest of Christmas. Now, that's cute, you might think. A small child making an ornament out of trash and the mom keeping it. Yeah, except this small child was in college at the time. And what do you know? It's made an appearance on the tree every year since then. I'll probably inherit it along with the 1,000,000 other ornaments Mom owns. But that's ok. Maybe by then I will have figured out how to decorate an entire tree with repurposed baking trash. 

I thought I'd share these little guys with you too. I can't remember how long we've had them or where they came from, but it seems like they would be easy enough to make. It's just cinnamon sticks and a little paint. If you felt intrepid enough I'm sure you could find a way to make them 100% edible too. They would make really cute swirlers for holiday cider or mulled wine. 

This was one of the decorations we put up at The Gin Palace. I used scrapbooking scissors that had different edges on them to make it a little bit more frilly. It took me less than an hour to do this strand, which stretches along most of three walls in our kitchen. 

And this was our little Christmas tree! All of my roommates went home for the holidays too, but we needed our own festivities. None of us felt like buying a real tree, since we were just going to leave and then have to throw it away; luckily my Gramie had sent me this little purple guy for Halloween, so we just repurposed it. Not quite Christmas colours, but cute! 

So here's to you and yours, a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or whatever! And Happy New Year!

Remember when we were kids and a gingerbread house meant a milk carton covered in graham crackers? I'm quite a bit older than I was the last time I tried to make one (high school, actually) and my technique has improved quite a bit since then. 


Granted, this was a kit, so I didn't have to try and bake my own gingerbread or try to get crackers the right size without breaking them along the seams. Still, getting the frosting to do exactly what you want it to is difficult no matter what age you are or how ready-made your house comes.  

I actually got to make this for work so hundreds of people get to admire it every day, instead of just me and the cats. Although the likelihood of a small child ruining it by pulling off the candy is about the same as the cats knocking it over trying to get a taste. 

Merry Christmas to all!!!!