Miscellaneous Monday – A Very Hygge Holiday Highlights
Happy Monday everyone! I hope everyone had a happy and productive weekend and that you also found a few moments to get comfy with a book or a movie, a cozy blanket, and your favorite drink.
We’ve come to the end of our Very Hygge Holiday event, and it was so fun learning more about everyone and seeing some gorgeous layouts as well. Today, I thought I’d recap some of the fun we’ve had in the forum over the last few weeks and highlight some of my favorite responses to the daily Hygge challenges. Here we go!
Dec. 12 – Breathe (Hosted by Janelle)
The challenge: Take a picture of one thing that gives you new breath each day. Then scrap your photo and share it!
Dec. 13 – Story (Hosted by Loni)
The challenge: Talk about BOOKS! Share your favorite titles read in 2018; Did you get as much reading done this year as you had hoped to?; What does your TBR Book List look like for 2019?
According to Goodreads, I read 162 books in 2018, although I probably didn’t finish at least 60 of those. I track them all in Goodreads whether I finish them or not, but mark the unfinished ones as “one-stars.” This was a combination of both ebooks and audio. Some of my favorites were:Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas (audio)
Jock Row by Sara Ney (ebook)
Getting Schooled by Emma Chase (audio)
Brooklynaire by Sarina Bowen (audio)
Ghosts of the Shadow Market stories by Cassandra Clare (audio)I am looking forward to:
Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare
Overnight Sensation by Sarina Bowen
Jock Rule by Sara Ney
Unzipped by Lauren Blakely
Devil’s Daughter by Lisa Kleypas
Dec. 14 – Sip (Hosted by Rebecca)
The challenge: Scrap a new layout using about your favorite beverage.
Dec. 15 – Hold (Hosted by Jacinda)
The challenge: Create a journal heavy layout of a special memory.
Dec. 16 – Cozy (Hosted by Judie)
The challenge: Create a layout that is piled on with clusters of elements.
Dec. 17 – Savor (Hosted by Krista)
The challenge: Write about a favorite dish/recipe/memory. Share your thoughts here or share the recipe!
Cinnamon French Toast Bake – Sooo yummy!
Ingredients:
1/4 cup melted butter
2 cans (12.4 oz each) Pillsbury® refrigerated cinnamon rolls with icing
5 eggs
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup maple syrupInstructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Melt butter and pour on ungreased 13×9 inch glass dish. Separate cans of dough into 16 rolls reserving the icing for later use. Cut each roll into 8 pieces and add to buttered baking dish.
Beat eggs in medium bowl. Add cream, cinnamon and vanilla and beat until well blended. Pour over cut pieces of cinnamon roll pieces.
Sprinkle with pecans and drizzle 3/4 cup syrup over the top.
Bake at 375 for 20 to 28 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool 15 minutes.
Remove the covers from icing and microwave on medium or 50% power for 10 to 15 seconds. (Should be thin enough to drizzle.)
Drizzle icing over the top.
Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Serve with syrup if desired. Yum!This is very sweet and rich. Just a head’s up! You can leave off the pecans (or only do half with them) if someone doesn’t like nuts.
Dec. 18 – Happy (Hosted by Lydia)
The challenge: Share a little bit about what makes you happy (brings you peace, joy, and love) during the holidays.
My happiness comes from a few things; family, my creativity, and quiet time.
I love seeing my family, having our Christmas parties at this time of year fills me with joy, although this year was bittersweet with Mom being gone nearly 7 months now. We made it joyful though, while remembering and honoring her.
When I am feeling the mojo, with scrapping and now with crocheting also, it brings me peace. It’s exciting to see things that my hands and my mind have brought to life, and to give these things to others. Definitely one of my ‘happies.’
Quiet time is important to me. When I spend too much time with others, having to be social with colleagues, or even in the midst of family for a long period, I need to get away, close the door, curl up with a book or to just close my eyes. Snuggling with my honey for those quiet times is the very best, but even just by myself, it calms me.
There are so many sights and sounds that bring me joy at this time of the year. But one of my favorites is all the lights. I love driving around and at night and seeing the lights on people’s home. When our girls were little, we’d drive around looking at the lights and the girls would ooh and ahh. It was so sweet. I love that memory.
Dec. 19 – Hobbies (Hosted by Keely)
The challenge: Scrap a page about why you love one of your hobbies.
Dec. 20 – Sweet (Hosted by Carrie)
The challenge: Share your favorite holiday baked goods/treats recipe.
Chocolate Walnut Fudge
1/2 C butter
1 C semisweet chocolate chips
1 teas vanilla extract
2 C sugar
1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk
10 large marshmallows
1 C chopped walnuts1. Butter an 8×8 dish
2. Place butter, chips and vanilla in mixing bowl. set aside
3. In medium saucepan over medium hear, combine sugar, milk and marshmallows. bring to a boil, stirring frequently. reduce heat to low and cook 6 minutes more, stirring constantly. remove from heat.
4. Pour marshmallow mixture over contents of mixing bowl. beat entire mixture until it thickens and loses its gloss. quickly fold in nuts and pour into prepared pan. refrigerate several hours until firm. cut into 1″ squares to serve.
Butter Cookies
10.6 oz of flour
3.5 oz of sugar
some orange peel
7 oz of butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 eggEnter gradually flour, sugar, orange zest, butter and egg in a bowl and mix the ingredients and then use the dough hook of the hand mixer. In order to make the dough smooth, it is advisable to help with the hands and to process everything into a smooth dough. For optimal consistency, let it rest wrapped in cling film for half an hour in the fridge.
Take around 30 minutes, take it out again, make a ball out of it and roll it out on the floured work surface until it’s only about 2 inches thick. Now the molds are used.
The closer you cut out the cookies, the less dough you waste. Remains can be reshaped into a ball and then rolled out to sting new cookies.
Now place all the butter biscuits on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake the biscuits at 392 ° F for about ten minutes. Then just let it cool down.
Dec. 21 – Glow (Hosted by Sarah)
The challenge: Share a layout (old or new) of your holiday lights.
Dec. 22 – Hearth (Hosted by Sherly)
The challenge: Share a photo of your favorite spot in your home.
My very favorite place in our house is the window seat in our bedroom. It looks out on the river that runs just below the house & is a great place to read, think, sip tea or coffee, or just to watch it snow. We loved the whole (very small) house but it was the window seat that sold us on it!
This is the room my husband and I hang out in the most. The kids tend to scatter to the room with the TV, but it’s in the basement and not my first choice. This is also the room most decorated for Christmas – the tree, the sofa table, and the cabinets all have Christmas decor in/on them. One of these days we’ll even move the cabinets and paint behind them. It was a rude awakening when we took the previous owner’s mirrors off the wall when the cabinets arrived to find they had not painted behind them. *sigh*
Dec. 23 – Gather Hosted by LeeAndra
The challenge: Share a few sentences about what you do when you gather together with your friends or family.
Whenever the extended family gets together, for sure we are playing board games! We are all total geeks when it comes to this type of stuff. We’re not just the normal old Scrabble and Yahtzee types, either. We play the complicated German games — the ones that have a million pieces and multiple phases and take almost as long to set up as they do to play! Our favorites are Castles of Mad King Ludwig and Istanbul. Even my younger children enjoy being part of this, though they often get bored with the activity and wander off halfway through. We’re making memories together, and someday they’ll be ready to play on their own.
Christmas is about time with family and friends. I’ve been very intentional this year not to get so stressed about everything being perfect and to just enjoy it as it comes.
We have lots of family traditions like going to Christmas Eve Church Service, baking cookies together for Santa, eating lots of yummy food for several days, playing games & cards, opening gifts slowly so everyone can see what you received and sharing joy (and treats) with others.
One of my favorite things is at bedtime on Christmas Eve, snuggling with the girls as DH reads the Christmas story from the Bible. Of course the next day, I love seeing all the smiles and hearing all the laughter as we open packages.
I’ve got a million and one things to do, but doing my best to take it all in and enjoy every moment. It will be over in a blink of an eye and 2019 will be here.
Whew!! That was a lot to take in, but it was so fun to learn so much about all of you and to see the things and people that make your lives special. Thanks so much for playing along with our Very Hygge Holiday event! And, from everyone here at SSD, have a beautiful, safe, warm, and happy holiday . . . and a wonderful New Year!!
