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Christmas looked a lot different this year for a lot of us. I enjoyed the slow, lazy days at home in our jammies. It was nice not rushing off to be anywhere, and really soaking in our cozy home, all our decor, Christmas movies, good food, and letting Zoe just play with all her new stuff and not worrying about the mess everywhere. But I couldn’t help but think about how we should have been at Chris’s parents on Christmas Eve. Or that I should have cooked a Christmas dinner for my mom and sister and crew the weekend before. Or on Christmas Day, I kept thinking that usually Chris’s parents came over to see what all Zoe got, and then that evening we always went back to their house to see his brother and nieces that would come in from out of town that night.

This year I had an outdoor driveway Christmas with my mom, sister and two nephews the Saturday before. Laura and Sheff came over a few days before Christmas for a driveway Christmas party as well. It was only my second time seeing Laura in person all year. (The other time being when we celebrated Christmas, Zoe’s birthday and her birthday in January.) A damn shame, since we used to do lunch together weekly. Chris’s parents and sister dropped gifts for Zoe in our garage on Christmas Eve. We ended up doing Facetime calls with them while she opened her presents so they could see her.

Usually we have cinnamon rolls Christmas morning, but we made them Christmas Eve instead.

It was a real struggle to get Zoe to bed that night. She wanted to play with all her new stuff, and we got a late start on baking chocolate chip cookies for Santa. Because apparently Santa has to have chocolate chip cookies and not sugar cookies, according to Chris. Zoe was also really upset that she had to saw goodbye to Jerry. She went to bed sobbing, actually.

After all that, I came down to start laying out all the presents. It was a real chore to dig them out from all their hiding places. Some were out for Zoe to see for months and she had no clue. How am I going to swing this when she is older and more suspicious, I will never know! Also, I noticed that all the Santa cookies and milk had disappeared already. And I got none….interesting how that worked.

Christmas morning I was up early getting our breakfast stuff prepared. We had sausage pinwheels and hash browns, and the pinwheels have to sit in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting and baking. We waited and waited for Zoe to finally wake up around 7:30. She was shaking with excitement, upset that we told her she wasn’t allowed to come out of her room until we came and got her.

We played all day with all our new toys. Several rounds of Zingo, which is super fun! Even Chris and I have really enjoyed playing it. Zoe is a sore loser though, we need to work on that big time! I didn’t realize she was so competitive!

Chris had a blast (LOL!) putting together this LOL house. I think it was worth it in the end to see how excited Zoe was to play with it. It has an elevator, a pool, hot tub, flushing toilet, huge closet/makeup room, rooftop deck. Everything a little girl could want. Even a working lamp and disco ball!

Chris has been obsessed with Fuser for Xbox. You are basically a DJ spinning music for a Tomorrowland type of event. Since Chris was an actual DJ for years, he is like the master of this game and has been having so much fun with it. He has it hooked up to the projector downstairs for the full effect.

Our Christmas dinner menu was turkey breast, gravy, ham, macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole and green beans. We had plenty of sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter snowballs and pizzelles for dessert. I also am carrying on my mom’s tradition of buying an assorted box of chocolates for Christmas every year. Zoe and Chris both seemed to enjoy that!

That evening, we snuggled in for some more Christmas movies and called it a day. Of course, some of our new friends had to accompany our movie party. And took up most of the couch.

Also needed to document my annual peppermint milkshake from Chick Fila!!!! I dont care how much sugar and calories is in this thing. It is pure Christmas magic and I must have one every year no matter what.

And that is a wrap on Christmas 2020. While I enjoyed all of the time with Chris and Zoe, I missed our family and friends and I really REALLY hope that next Christmas looks more normal. But this year we were healthy and safe in our home, and that is all one can really ask for in 2020, am I right?

For some reason, my posts are not showing up on Bloglovin anymore. 2020. Can’t catch a break! Anyways, we are here for reading….so let’s go!

When the year started, I set a goal of 52 books for the year. I forget what my goal was in 2019, I think it was around 75? Anyways, I don’t even think I got to 50 that year. I think a book a week when you are a full time working mom to a toddler is a lofty enough goal. As of today, I read 69 books for 2020! I know I will have the one I am currently reading finished in the next day or two, so I should close out with 70.

In a weird ass year, books were my escape and I tried to read them as much as I could. I can see scrolling through them, that I clung to fluffy romance and a lot lighter reads. Usually I am about half romance and half dark fucked up shit. 2020 was a scary enough story. So if you are looking for some William Shakespeare level reading, my list probably isn’t for you. What I can provide is some lovely love stories, and a few others that really stuck out to me that I have thought about often. This isn’t exactly the best books I read this year, but the ones I enjoyed and remember the most.

Linking up with Steph and Jana. Thanks ladies for your continued support of the reading community! It is by far the best day in blogging each month.

Romance

Shipped, If I Never Met You and Billionaire were all new to me authors in the romance department. Shipped is a debut novel that read like it was written by a pro, highly recommend. Christina Lauren is one of my favorites, and Unhoneymooners was my favorite of theirs I read this year. Tools of Engagement is the third book in a series that I started with, and went back to read the first two because I loved it so much.

Fiction

Layla is nothing like anything Colleen Hoover has ever written. It wasn’t necessarily the best book from her, but it blew my mind and I thought about it quite a lot after I finished.

I love Sally Hepworth, and The Good Sister is everything I expect in a novel from her.

Honorable Mentions

I only read a handful of nonfiction books this year. My favorite is definitely Jessica Simpson’s book. I just love her and everything she touches. I love how raw and honest she was in her book, and when she could have been awful and petty…she kept it classy.

When No One is Watching was really interesting. It took me a little while to get into, but once it grabbed me, I couldn’t stop. The pacing of the book is all sorts of off, but the actual story…wow.

I enjoyed the first two books of Elin Hilderbrand’s Paradise series and just got the third from the library and will start it later this week. I have really enjoyed this series and cant wait to see how it all wraps up.

My favorite Christmas read this year was Christina Lauren’s In a Holidaze. Though I will say I am reading The Twelve Dates of Christmas right now and quiet enjoying it. By the time I finish, it may be my favorite.

Have you read any of these books? What was your favorite from 2020?

These are easy and amazing. You only need a few ingredients and some time to chill, and you have perfection! We prefer white chocolate for these, but you could try milk or dark as well. When I make these for parties or holidays, sometimes I will get fancy and add some coordinating colored sprinkles to make them extra festive.

What You Need

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup powdered sugar

3 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 pound white confectionery coating/white chocolate (The original recipe calls for 1 pound and it makes way too much, you could double the other ingredients and make a double batch or dip pretzels or peanut butter crackers in the remainder)

What You Do

-Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

-combine peanut butter, powdered sugar and butter, mix well

-Shape into 1 inch balls and place on lined baking sheet

-Chill for 30 minutes, or until firm

-Melt white chocolate coating in a bowl following package instructions

-Dip balls and place back on parchment paper to harden

This makes about 24 balls if you make one batch. Beware that they tend to disappear quickly once people realize they are there.

Can you believe Christmas is on Friday?!?! What???? Even though this Christmas season started early for me this year, since we basically decorated the whole house the first week of November….I still feel like it went by way too fast and we didn’t do everything I wanted to do. Glad we still have a few more days left to fit some more in!

Jerry got out some ingredients to make sugar cookies Friday morning, so that was settled. After a crazy day of work, Zoe and I got to making our dough for sugar cookies. (It has to sit overnight.) I shared this recipe yesterday in a post because a lot of people messaged me saying they didn’t have a go to recipe of their own and I feel like you definitely need one! I have been making this one with my mom since I was little.

Saturday around noon, my mom and sister came over and we had an driveway Christmas visit. My sister brought the boys, and it was nice to see everyone all at once. It is the first and only time we were all together this whole year. I hate that it had to be outside and social distanced, but it was better than nothing at all. I cannot stress how over all of this I am. But now is the time more than ever to be diligent in our safety practices, as cases are out of control.

It was actually a gorgeous day, be it a little chilly. Zoe enjoyed playing with her presents outside while the rest of us chatted. After they left, we came in to ice and decorate the cookies.

Saturday night we settled in for the SEC Championship game. It was the most entertaining game we watched all year. Florida really hung in there, but we pulled out the big W.

Sunday it was cool and rainy, so we spent most of the day inside. I deep cleaned the bathrooms that were in desperate need. It is crazy that even though we are home all the time, I have less time to do household chores than I did before. How is that?

We ordered enough Tazikis to last us for lunch and dinner. After cooking breakfast, it was nice to not have to worry about meals the rest of the day. Why is so much of my time spent around meal planning, cooking and doing dishes??? It is a job in itself, and I experience major burn out from it all and want to throw in the towel often these days. I am hoping to get some new motivation in the near year.

My mom got Zoe this box of paints. The colors are absolutely gorgeous!!! They are non-toxic and washable, and so many colors to chose from. Some metallic, glitter, neon. So fun! Definitely great to pull out on a rainy day. I need to pick a few of Zoe’s pictures to frame in my office.

Most of they day, we just hung around playing with her new toys that she got from my mom and sister. We made peanut butter snowballs last night. I will be sharing the recipe tomorrow. They are one of my favorites, and always a crowd pleaser.

My fabfitfun box also arrived this past week. They gave me a code that I shared on Instagram for $15 of your first box. If you are interested, shoot me a message and I will send my code. Mac was impressed that his sweatshirt matched the pretty box.

I know the next few days are just going to fly right on by, and before we know it Christmas will be over and it will be time to take down all the décor and focus on the new year. I am trying to not have any expectations going into 2021. I don’t think that the calendar changing over on January 1st is going to magically restore anything that this year has done. I think it is going to be another unprecedented year. I truly hope that it will start to change for the better, but we have a long way to go. Have compassion and be extra understanding with others right now. We are all going through a lot. Be respectful of how others are handling the holidays and know that we are all feeling isolated and lonely to some extent. I know I tend to be depressed after Christmas in a normal year, I am not sure how I will feel next week at this time when it is all said and done. Normally we would be getting ready to go to Gatlinburg to spend the week with Chris’s family, and we obviously aren’t doing that this year. I hate it. It is another tradition and fun thing that we are going to miss out on this year. We all just need to keep focusing on the little every day joys. I have been taking it one day at a time, and I continue to do such to stay sane.

If you are taking a break this week to spend time with your families, I wish you a very merry Christmas!

Making sugar cookies with my mom is one of my favorite memories growing up. She had found the best recipe in an old cookbook, and we stuck with them every year. I get requests for the cookies from anyone who has ever had them, and I thought it would be good to share them here. After hearing from a lot of you, many don’t have a go to sugar cookie recipe and you should!!!

I am going to share my frosting recipe with you as well, because honestly, it is what makes these the BEST cookies to most people. But honestly, if frosting isn’t your thing…these taste great alone or just with few sprinkles.

What You Need

2/3 cup Butter Flavor Crisco

3/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp plus 1 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

What You Do

-Cream butter flavor Crisco, sugar, milk and vanilla in a large bowl at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Beat in egg.

-Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into creamed mixture. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. (I always leave it over night.)

-Heat oven at 375 degrees.

-Roll half the dough at a time to about 1/9 inch thickness on floured surface. Cut in desired shapes. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheet. Sprinkle with colored sugar and decors or leave plain to frost when cool.

-Bake at 375 degrees about 7 to 9 minutes. Cool slightly. remove to cooling rack.

The BEST Creamy Vanilla Frosting

This recipe makes A LOT of frosting. I usually make half a batch, but if you are going to double the cookie recipe or use it for something else, this would make enough for that.

What You Need

1/2 cup Butter Flavor Crisco

4 cups confectioners sugar

1/3 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

What You Do

Combine ingredients in bowl at low speed of electric mixer until well blended. Scrape bowl. Beat at high speed for 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy.

If you are going to color the icing, you can mix it in now.

ENJOY!!!