'Tis the Season...

...To be baking!

Although Christmas is fast approaching and I have yet to complete my Christmas shopping, I thought I would share some of the cookies I have been working on.

Tomorrow I shall put down the rolling pin temporarily to hit the mall.

And the winner is...

Thank you to everyone who participated in the cookie giveaway.

The box of 6 snowflake Gingerbread cookies goes to...

Leah.

Congratulations Leah!  Please message me your address and I will get them in the mail to you.

Happy Saturday everyone!

I'll make you Banana Pancakes

"We've got everything we need right here and everything we need is enough"  Jack Johnson

Almost every Sunday my husband gets up early and makes Buttermilk Banana Pancakes for the family.  


I'm not talking about pancakes from a box. He actually pulls out the recipe book and makes them from scratch. 


I watch, and belt out the lyrics to Jack Johnson's "Banana Pancakes" as he cooks.


I love Sundays!


This past Sunday we tried something a little different.  


I found a wonderful product called Grainstorm which we had to try.  You see, Christmas shopping proves difficult for me some years, as inevitably I find something that I love (and must have), or a new, intriguing product I need to sample.

Who doesn't love getting packages in the mail?!

This year was no different.  


Now, never having tried the product before, my husband {Mike} and I decided we had better try the pancake mix first to make sure we weren't giving away a terrible product.

I love the packaging... So simple yet beautiful!
The perfect stocking stuffer!

We tried the buttermilk pancake recipe found on their
website

I made these, that's why they aren't round and pretty

Were these ever good!


Let me just say that my husband is not a fan of whole wheat/whole grain anything.  He will eat it, but will always say "it just isn't white bread".  


So, I was a little concerned with his reaction to these.


I watched as he took his first bite.  His eyebrows raised.  He took another bite... and I thought... well, here it comes.. the white bread comment...  but he surprised me with a "Wow! Now those are way better than I had imagined them to be".  


That was pretty much is way of saying they were awesome!


So for those of you at Grainstorm my hats off to you as Mike even went as far as saying we should be buying more!

Don't forget to enter your name into the cookie giveaway.  Click here for your chance to win (don't forget to leave your name).  Contest ends tomorrow night at midnight. 

Good Luck!

Run, Run, as fast as you can...

Every December I make a list.

A very extensive, unreasonable list of things I would to like to accomplish before Christmas Day...

Items such as making a Gingerbread house and decorating cookies for every single person I know.   Oh, and  making my own Christmas cards and chocolate truffles.

Perhaps, I could learn how to sew in time to make gifts for the entire family.

Oh, how I would love to see the look on my Brother's face after seeing his shirt made by me... Did I mention I can't even sew a button?!

And the list grows and grows...

And grows...

Now, for my friends wondering why they have never received a Christmas card in the mail or a single cookie delivered to them, it's because I said I make a list...

Before I know it, December 25 has arrived and I haven't accomplished nearly what I had planned.

In my perfect world, December would have 62 days, not 31.

A Simple Gingerbread Man

Given that I am on maternity leave this year and my work schedule wasn't a concern, I began my list a little earlier... and although I have managed to decorate many cookies, I know that by December 24th I will still be running to the store looking for last minute Christmas gifts.

But I will worry about that on the 24th...

So, this year, I thought I would try something new.  A little giveaway...  

So here it is... A chance to win 6 Gingerbread snowflake cookies.  It may not seem like much, but hey, I only have 3 followers so your chances are pretty good.  :)

To enter simply leave a comment on this blog post.  To double your chances, add a second comment to my facebook page telling me you are entering the cookie contest!

Contest closes on Friday December 17th at midnight, and will be chosen by Random.org

Good Luck.
(Due to Shipping regulations, contest open to Canadian and Americans only)

"... you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!"

O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

Christmas...

Undeniably, My favorite time of the year!

The sweet aroma of gingerbread baking in the oven and the lingering smell of Christmas trees left in the car after a trip to the tree farm.

Christmas carols being sung by a little girl named Amelia and the sheer excitement in her eyes as she informs us that Santa will be bringing her "blue" stickers this year.

It's truly beautiful!

This morning we decided it would be the perfect day to go out and pick our own Christmas tree.  A new experience for our family, as in previous years we would simply dash out to the local greenhouse.

 It was a little overwhelming and became rather difficult to find the "perfect" tree as they all started to look alike. 

But we did it... we finally found "our" tree.  Perhaps not so perfect, but hey, neither are we.

My "Engineer" Husband took all necessary measures to secure the tree to the roof of my car

All necessary measures...

... including securing the doors shut!

 Yep, that's right...I wasn't kidding...  

But, I'm happy to report, he did a great job and the tree made it home sweet home!