• Celebrate - Holidays - Uncategorized

    Pineapp-O-Lantern: A Tropic’alloween Treat

    Who says you can only make a Jack-O-Lantern out of a pumpkin?  Not me!  Allow me to introduce you to a frightfully fun Halloween treat that makes a great presentation when serving a fruit plate, or fruit and cheese platter or even an awesome Halloween breakfast! I’m calling it a Pineapp-O-Lantern: A Tropic’alloween Treat! It’s basically the same process as carving a Jack-O-Lantern, so I wont bore you with an in-depth how-to, but I will share some tips. I went the traditional route – cutting the top to make the ‘lid’ of the Jack-O-Lantern and then scooping out the contents, but I’ll definitely be…

  • Celebrate - Holidays

    Are you an Easter Feaster?

    Are you a Easter Feaster? Did you have an Easter Feast? We did! It is my sincerest hope that nothing I ever post on this blog ever comes across as bragging in any way. It is my wish that that the only thing this blog does is spread joy and serve as a reminder to celebrate every moment. I can clearly recall past Easters where life had not been so kind and we could not fit an Easter Feast into the budget or I had simply lost the ability to celebrate or appreciate much of anything — we just skipped…

  • Decorating - Food - Holidays

    St Patricks Day – Potato Soup

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day! With an Irish name like Hickey, people kind of expect us to celebrate good ole St. Patty’s Day. After discovering that the ‘traditional’ St. Patrick’s Day dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage may NOT even be a traditional Irish dish, we decided to explore the alternatives.

  • Celebrate - Decorating - Food - Holidays

    Mardi Gras Celebration – King Cake

    Happy Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras Celebration! I have to admit, I have never tasted King Cake. I don’t know what makes a King Cake good or bad.  I do know that I wanted a festive treat for Mardi Gras and King Cake is one of the most festive looking Mardi Gras treats around. Please look away now if you are from New Orleans, or have tasted the real King Cake, because I have made a quickie version of a King Cake-like treat that probably pales in comparison to the real thing. It’s a giant cinnamon bun twisted/ braided into…

  • Celebrate - Holidays

    Holiday Candy Hacks

    Creative Holiday Candy hack! Catch the after Christmas sales for red and green mixed chocolates like M&M’s and Hershey Kisses.Sort the candies by color and store them away (so you won’t be tempted to eat them!).Now you have both Valentine’s Day AND St. Patrick’s day covered! You are covering two holidays at once, and your holiday chocolate needs through mid-March while getting deep discounts from after Christmas Sales. ‘True Love Kisses’ and red M&M’s for your sweetheart on Valentine’s Day. ‘Kiss-Me-I’m-Irish Kisses’ and green M&M’s for the leprechauns on St. Patrick’s Day.

  • Celebrate - Holidays

    Be My Valentine Charlie Brown

    Did you watch? I may not be the biggest fan of the ‘ole melancholy melon head Charlie Brown — or his very odd dog pal Snoopy — or the insensitive pack of bullies who make Charlie Brown’s life so miserable, but something about those cartoons and the focus on each individual holiday has an undeniably cozy, nostalgic feel.  Plus, it gives me another ‘event’ to plan out and make special, as a sort of practice run for each holiday.  So despite the fact that there are no little ones here to enjoy a cartoon, we are usually tuned in for all of the holiday specials.  So here is what…

  • Celebrate - Food - Holidays

    Valentines Day Pancakes

    What better way to start your Valentine’s Day than with some pink chocolate chip pancakes with whipped cream on top and fresh strawberry hearts on the side? We actually made these Valentine’s Day Pancakes – ON Valentines Day!  Trust me, this is a small miracle, as we tend to PLAN a lot of things that never really make it into reality, or make it on their own unique time table, usually after the holiday,  but this time  – voila! Pink Pancakes! I’d be lying if I said that this blog and the need for content and quality pictures wasn’t a HUGE motivator for getting…

  • Celebrate - Holidays

    Valentines Day Celebration

      Wow, these winter holidays seem to be one after another with very little time between! We get to enjoy the Valentines decorations until the 14th but then Mardi Gras and Chinese New Year are right after – only days apart on February 17th and 19th! So little time to plan, prepare and decorate! Anyway, back to Valentines Day – the decorations are up and the house is looking a bit like a cupid sanctuary. We went with a white Battenburg lace tablecloth over a red tablecloth, so the red peeks through all the openwork in the lace. There are…

  • Decorating - Food - Holidays - Recipe

    Groundhog Day Celebration

    Happy Groundhog day!   This year is the first time we are attempting to ‘celebrate’ Groundhog day. So here we go! To start with, we made Coco Krispy Groundhogs! It’s just the standard Rice Krispy Treat recipe only we swapped out Rice Krispies for Coco Krispies so that our groundhogs would be brown. Here’s the recipe: —————————————— INGREDIENTS 3 tablespoons butter 1 package (10 oz., about 40) Marshmallows OR 4 cups Miniature Marshmallows 6 cups Coco Krispy Rice cereal DIRECTIONS 1. In large saucepan melt butter over low heat. Add marshmallows and stir until completely melted. Remove from heat.  2.…

  • Decorating - Holidays

    Holiday Home Tour 2014 – Better Late than never!

    As I mentioned in a previous post, home renovations and stressful events had delayed the start of our holiday decorating until mid-to-late December.We’ve got our Evie Bird home now after a nearly 4 month hospital stay. Though most people have taken down their Christmas decorations by now, we’ve extended the season a bit so that she can enjoy that home-for-the-holidays feel a bit before we move on to the next holiday.So, though it’s late for a holiday home tour, we’re on our own holiday schedule this year and it’s still Christmas at our house!With the snow coming down for Winter Storm…