Make Your Own Holiday Potpourri: Advent Day 18

Celebrating the Everyday  //  18th December 2012

One of our favorite things about the holidays are the smells of the season.  From the amazing aroma of fresh cookies baking in the oven to the the smell of a newly cut tree, the smells of the holiday season always bring a big smile to our faces.  But one of our favorite Christmas time aromas is that of cinnamon. So for Day 18 of Advent we are combining Liz’s DIY with Ryan Cooks and showing you how to create your very own Holiday Potpourri.

Making your own holiday potpourri is super easy.  Simply slice a few oranges, grab a few cinnamon sticks, and place them in a small pot.  Cover with water and add a few dashes of your favorite spices, we used nutmeg and cloves. Then bring the mixture to a simmer over low heat.  The aroma of citrus and cinnamon will slowly fill your kitchen and whole house.  The best thing is that you can be super creative with your own potpourri.  Try using apples instead of oranges, or add a dash of vanilla or a little bit of pumpkin spice.

SUPPLIES/INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 Oranges
• Cinnamon Sticks
• Ground Cloves
• Ground Nutmeg
• Any other holiday spice of your choosing
• 1 -2 Cups of Water

INSTRUCTIONS:

Cut oranges and add all ingredients to a small pot.  Heat over medium-low and bring to a slow simmer.

Light a Candle in Remembrance of Someone you Love – Advent Day 17

Gratitude  //  17th December 2012

This morning we started our day off by lighting a candle. We turned the tv off, turned the lights off, and lit a candle. We light candles often, but this one was different. I expected us to just light the candle and say a prayer and then go about our day. However, it became a rather emotional experience as we took some time to reflect, pray, and remember. On this 17^th day of the AMAZING Holiday Advent Calendar, we hope you will join us in lighting a candle in remembrance of someone you love.As we stood next to the candle with only candlelight in the room, all of a sudden our to do list escaped from our minds. The pile of laundry that we were folding and piled high on the ottoman was no longer visible… it was just Ryan and I, the candle, and God. We stood in silence for a few moments and tears just rolled down my face. They were tears of sadness and grief… but also gratitude and joy. We remembered those people in our lives who have passed (most especially PopPop and Nikki- a teammate of mine who had passed away when I was in middle school) and realized with joy how much they have truly shaped our lives. We prayed for those families who have lost someone unexpectedly during Hurricane Sandy and the Newtown School shooting last week. It takes us back to the days of Flight 800 in 1996, when 21 students and staff from our high school passed away on their way to a school field trip to France. We remember those images of people gathered and just holding onto one another. Sometimes there are no answers, just a reminder that life is incredibly precious and taking moments to come together and love is everything that we should have on our to do list!

This weekend, the candle on the advent wreath symbolizes joy. Through sadness and grief, sometimes it is hard to recognize joy. However, through reflection and remembrances of those you love, joy is certainly going to shine through! Today as you light a candle, turn the rest of the lights off and take some time in silence to recognize that joy that those who have gone before you have brought to your life and know that their joy is shining down on you every second of every day!

Send a Holiday Ornament to a Friend: Advent Calendar Day 16

Celebrating the Everyday  //  16th December 2012

This past Thursday night, during our cookie exchange date night, we also included an Ornament swap within all of the fun with our fabulous couples! It was quite an AMAZING evening for sure! On the invitation we asked everyone to bring an extra ornament and an address for a friend! We knew we would have a room full of holiday cheer and we wanted to be sure to share it with others! At the party, we had a little packaging station set up and everyone sent a little package with a lot of love and holiday cheer to a friend! This is for sure the season of giving and even a little ornament can make a HUGE impact! On Day 16 (RYAN’S BIRTHDAY!! WAHOO!) of the AMAZING Holiday Advent Calendar, we hope you will join us in sending a holiday ornament to a friend!

When you are out and about finishing up your shopping, take a stroll through the holiday aisles and pick out that perfect ornament to send to a friend! Find a box at your home… likely from all of your online shopping, you probably have one, right? And fill it with fun! Use colorful tissue paper, wood shavings, or even the comics section of the Sunday paper to cushion the ornament. Be sure to leave a sweet note and seal the package with a kiss! Ship that special package off to your friend and know that you are bringing them a big smile that will last for years to come! Every time they decorate their tree… they will definitely think of you!

Host a Holiday Cookie Exchange: Advent Calendar Day 15

Celebrating the Everyday, Entertaining  //  15th December 2012

You all know how much we love cookies… especially during the holidays! Well, our love for holiday cookies has just gone to a completely different level! We hosted a holiday cookie exchange and ornament swap date night with our AMAZING couples on Thursday and I have never seen a table so beautifully full of cookies! It was filled with a lot of holiday love and that in itself is reason enough to host a Holiday Cookie Exchange! Did I mention the chance to taste 12 different kinds of cookies that are out of this world AMAZING?!!! For Day 15 of the AMAZING Life Holiday Advent Calendar, we hope to inspire you to gather the AMAZING people in your life and Host a Holiday Cookie Exchange.

Having never hosted a Cookie Exchange before, we weren’t really sure what to expect. However, we sent an invitation out and asked everyone to bring at least 36 of their favorite holiday cookies! As our friends arrived and placed their cookies out on the table, my eyes started getting bigger and bigger and my stomach started growling! ;) It was so much fun to see so many different types of cookies (only Allison and Tom and Ryan and I duplicated with our Rolo cookies! :)… but even still, you can never have too many Rolo cookies! ;) ) and see a table full of so much love!

Every cookie has a story… whether it was made in the 30 minutes prior to coming to the party because it was the easiest cookie to find on Pinterest :), or it was the all time favorite cookie of the holidays and has since become a secret family recipe! My favorite part about the evening was hearing all of those stories surrounded by some of our favorite people ever (Ryan might argue that is a close second to tasting all of the AMAZINGNESS! :) )!

Hosting a Cookie Exchange is super easy and super fun. Gather those AMAZING people in your life and invite them to bring their favorite cookies to your home! ;) Then be sure to have supplies ready for everyone to make a cookie platter to take home and enjoy with their family and friends! You will have plenty of cookies… promise! ;)

Huge thanks to our AMAZING couples (and friends) who made our Holiday Cookie Exchange everything that we had dreamed of and more… a table full of love and room full of AMAZINGNESS. You filled our hearts with so much love! THANK YOU!

(More on the Ornament Swap to come tomorrow! ;) ).

Make a Gingerbread House – Advent Calendar Day 14

Celebrating the Everyday  //  14th December 2012

Making Gingerbread houses is a tradition that we used to do every year growing up! It was always an excuse to have a fun party with friends and eat a lot of candy. However, we never actually made gingerbread… the houses were always made out of graham crackers! This year we decided to change it up and actually make gingerbread houses out of real gingerbread with the help of our friends Mason and Clara- and Sophie and Dave too!! ;) For Day 14 of our AMAZING holiday advent calendar, we hope to inspire you to make your very own Gingerbread House! (We even included downloadable blueprints to make it easy!… thanks to engineer Ryan!)

As we were gathering our supplies for our first ever gingerbread house made out of real gingerbread, I was concentrating on how we were going to make those curtains and Ryan was concentrating on the Blueprints! ;) I mentioned that I didn’t really like the part of actually constructing the house… all I wanted to do was decorate. And that was when we were reminded that Ryan and I are actually quite different! ;) Ryan is definitely the engineer and as Ryan put it… I am the “interior decorator.” ;) I must say, that makes us a really good Gingerbread House making team! ;)

And we became an even better team with the help of our friends Mason and Clara! They made it seem extra ok when we decided to join them in eating all of the candy! ;) You will even notice that we had to sacrifice part of Mason’s roof and substitute it with graham crackers! We said it was because the gingerbread did not harden enough… but actually that was a really good excuse to dip that gingerbread into the icing and eat it! ;) It is good to do taste testing, right?! ;)

Huge thanks to Sophie and Dave for letting us make a mess in their dining room while eating a lot of candy and having a ton of fun! ;) Loved every minute of it!