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Christmas with Jackie
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Sugar Cookies Ingredients 1 c butter 1 tsp vanilla 1 egg 1.5 c powdered sugar 2.5 c flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp cream of tartar Directions 1. Mix together first 3 wet ingredients 2. Sift together last 4 dry ingredients 3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients 4. Chill in refridgerator for at least 1 hour 5. Roll out on floured surface and cut with cookie cutters or scoop into balls 6. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until golden 7. Top with your favorite frosting, glaze, or sprinkles
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Polish Wigilia The Wigilia is the traditional Polish Christmas Eve celebration. It is a meal full of traditions and family. We wait for the youngest guest to see a star to begin eating, set an extra place for baby Jesus, and enjoy a meatless meal with plenty of pierogis!
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Holiday Wrapping I love to wrap gifts! It can be a lot all at once. so I use it as a fun and festive evening at home. I put on my favorite Christmas pajamas, a holiday movie, get takeout, and wrap all my gifts. This helps it to feel like a fun event opposed to a chore. While wrapping I suggest you use unique accents and hang tags. A personalized doodle, vintage ornament, or statement ribbon bow can quickly elevate the simplest of gifts.
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Downtown Cary Lights Downtown Cary transforms at the holidays! The expansive light displays, the Gifting Trees along Academy Street, and the beautiful tree at the park. I love a getting a hot chocolate from Esteamed, walking through downtown, and ending the night with pizza in an igloo at Di Fara! This reminds me of one of our favorite family Elon University traditions of luminaries on campus (in the picture above)!
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Christmas with Megan
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Mom’s Egg Nog Ingredients 2 very large mixing bowls 2 quarts heavy cream 2 quarts Half & Half 2 cups sugar ½ cup cognac 2 cups light rum 1 dozen large eggs Nutmeg (to taste) Bowl 1 Separate yolks from whites — reserve whites in Bowl 2. Beat yolks to fluffy lemon-yellow. SLOWLY mix in 1 cup sugar. SLOWLY mix in 1 quart heavy cream. SLOWLY add rum and cognac. Sprinkle in nutmeg. SLOWLY mix in 1 quart Half & Half. REFRIGERATE while working on egg whites. Bowl 2 Beat egg whites until almost stiff. SLOWLY mix in 1 cup sugar. SLOWLY fold ½ of egg-white mixture into the yolk mixture. SLOWLY add the last quart of heavy cream. SLOWLY fold the remaining egg-white mixture. SLOWLY add the last quart of Half & Half. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
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Christmas Eve Movies Every Christmas Eve my family spends a cozy night in watching classic Christmas movies. It is a highlight of my holiday season. My favorite each year is White Christmas.
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Take Notes All year long, I keep an ongoing note on my phone where I jot down gift ideas for all of my loved ones. This makes it so much easier to shop for the holiday season (especially for the hard-to-gift family members...they know who they are) and it helps me remember what I’ve purchased in years past!
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Parent’s House There is something special about spending time at home during the holidays. I love slowing down and being intentional about my time with loved ones, making sure I spend time at the house I grew up in.
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Christmas with Heather
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recipe
Zserbo Cakes For the cake 4 c flour 250 g room temperature butter 4 tbs caster sugar 1 tbs vanilla extract 1 tsp baking soda 1 pinch of salt 1 egg yolk 0.5 c sour cream 0.2 c milk 1 tsp dried yeast
For the filling 300 grams ground walnuts 200 grams powdered sugar 1 tbs vanilla extract 500 ml apricot jam For the chocolate top 120 g dark chocolate 2 tbsp sunflower oil
1. Crumble the flour and soft butter together, add the sugar, salt, bicarbonate of soda, dried yeast and combine. 2. Make a well in the middle, add the egg yolk sour cream and milk, work it into a smooth dough. 3. Divide into 3 even balls and let them rest for 15 minutes 4. Line a baking sheet with grease proof paper, and preheat oven to 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4) 5. Using a rolling-pin, roll the first dough ball into a thin square shape (as much as possible) on a lightly floured surface. It has to be quite thin, 2-3 mm (- 1/3 of a pencil). 6. Lay the first sheet onto the baking tray (I roll the sheet onto the well floured rolling pin then unravel on the tray), spread the apricot jam generously. For easy application might need to warm the jam up in the microwave, usually only need a couple of seconds. 7. Once the jam is on sprinkle with half of the walnut and icing/powdered sugar mixture 8. Roll out the second sheet, place it onto the first and proceed as before, cover with the jam then the sugary walnut. 9. Finally roll out the third and top layer and place it on. Tap it down gently, lightly prick with the fork all over and cook for 25-30 min on 180°C (350°F, gas mark 4). Keep an eye on it, cover with tin foil if it’s trying to get too brown, should have a light biscuit colour. 10. Take out the oven and let it cool completely 11. For the chocolate top, melt about 120 gram dark chocolate in a glass bowl over a pan over simmering water. I used 52% chocolate here. 12. Once the chocolate is melted add about 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil, depends on your chocolate too how much you need (olive oil is not good for this). You will get a shiny smooth manageable melted chocolate. Pour it onto the middle of the cake and spread it around right over the edges either with a wide blade knife dipped in water or just by tilting the tray around with the cake, the chocolate should be runny enough to cover it evenly. 13. Let it cool and cut it into slices. These are smallish delicate cakes, 5cm x 3cm (~2″x1″) in size. From the above quantity I got exactly 50 nice pieces plus some side trimmings which I had to eat straight away for testing purposes.
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Christmas Tree Day Every year, the day after Thanksgiving, our family comes together for one of my favorite traditions. We bundle up and head to the local Christmas tree lot, laughing and talking as we search for the perfect tree. Once we’re home, Dad trims it and sets it in place, and the whole house starts to feel warmer. After a cozy, festive dinner, we decorate the tree together and finish by placing the nativity scene on the mantle—my favorite part of all. It’s a simple tradition, but it fills our home, and my heart, with the sweetest start to the Christmas season.
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Gift Planning I love to keep a list of the things my favorite people gravitate toward throughout the year—it helps me gift thoughtfully and intentionally. Sometimes it’s an item in their current favorite color, an accessory for a new hobby they’ve picked up, or something they mention loving in passing. Noting those little details makes gifting so much more meaningful—and a lot more fun— because it truly comes from the heart.
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Mike’s Farm We love visiting Mike’s Farm each year with my cousins and grandparents for the Festival of Lights Hayride. The crisp night air and the twinkling lights are enough to put even Scrooge in a festive, cheerful mood. And after the ride, we head into the restaurant to enjoy the most delicious comfort food, surrounded by family and all the cozy energy of the season.