Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year

A Merry Christmas from our family to yours! This is the time year to enjoy with family and friends.

I wanted to share this recipe with you that I know I will serve this Christmas Eve to my family.

EGGNOG HOT CHOCOLATE

1/2 cup milk
3-1/2 oz (100g) dark chocolate, chopped, or more to taste
2 cups (500 ml) eggnog
Cognac, brandy (optional), to taste
1/2 cup (125 ml) whipping cream, whipped
Ground cinnamon for sprinkling

In medium saucepan over medium-low heat, warm milk and chocolate, stirring until very smooth. Gradually whisk in eggnog. Add cognac or brandy, if using. Cook 5 minutes or until warmed.

Divide among 8 small glasses. Top each serving with whipped cream, of desired. Sprinkle with cinnamon, Makes 8 small servicngs.

More New Hair Accessories

I added more pontail holders to our Etsy site.

Always swing by for new items.

Our accessories make great loot bag items for little girls!

Just a quick note that blanket orders will resume on January 3, 2010. We have removed our custom blankets due to the Christmas holidays.

We are finishing up our current orders for Christmas.

Last Minute Shopping

Christmas delivery cut off for all hair accessories and ready made items is Sunday night December 12, 2010.

Enter code readymadeforxmas to receive your discount.

We just posted new items.

Christmas Eve Dinner

I've been nominated by my family to host Christmas Eve dinner. Christmas Eve is a big deal for us Italians. We eat fish for dinner. That's the problem. I'm not a good cook and to top it off I don't know how to cook fish. Whatever, it's not like I'm not under any stress. We're trying to get all the Christmas blanket orders out in time, try to finish off my Christmas shopping and bake all my cookies. Now I'm nominated as host of this year's Christmas Eve dinner. I know my parents and inlaws are getting older so I guess I have to accept the fact. To make things easier, my family has agreed to pitch in to have our dinner catered in by a local restaurant to make things easier for me. I just have to make the desserts and side dishes which my mom has agreed to help. My guests started off as 7 adults and 3 children it has now grown to 12 adults and 6 children. The more the merrier I guess.

There's an italian saying which goes like this: "Natale con I tuoi; Pasqua conchi vuoi," which means "Christmas with your family; Easter with whomever you wish.

Homemade Granola

This recipe is so simple to make. My husband loves eating it for breakfast. I love sprinkling it into my greek vanilla yorgurt for snack. Here's the recipe:

3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp cinnamon
3 cups old-fashioned oats
2 cups chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups large unsweetened coconut flakes

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. I combined all ingredients into a bowl. Stir until combined. Spread the mixture onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake stirring every 20 minutes. Bake until golden brown 50-55 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.

I store my granola in a glass jar. You can wrap a raffia bow around the jar and present this delicious granola as a hostess gift! So easy!

Ready Made Items

Come in and take a peek in our Etsy store. We have ready made items that are ready to ship.

Some of our ready made items are on sale so swing by and take a look. Enter code readymadeforxmas and receive 15% off our ready made products~!

Say Your Piece

I found this cute little store on Etsy. When we receive a new baby into our family I always gift the little one with a personalized ornament at Christmas.

Eileen the owner of Say Your Piece was so sweet and patient with me. She created a beautiful ornament for my nephew Luca to celebrate and remember his first Christmas. Vist her cute shop at www.sayyourpiece.etsy.com

Christmas Gift Ideas for Men

Men are so hard to buy for. It's so hard to find something unique and special for a guy. I surfed through Etsy and found some fantastic gifts for men.

The steampunk flask is from Steampunk Trunk on Etsy

The switchplate will make a great secret Santa gift or stocking stuffer is from Dandee and the amazing shaving kit (which I know my dad will love this) is from Orange Fuzz Boutique

Homemade Panettone

I don't know if you know this but I love to bake. Every year I make homemade panettone to give out as gifts. Panettone is a sweet bread beaded with candied peel and raisins that Italians make at Christmas time.

Nothing beats homemade fresh panettone.

I bought the moulds at Golda's Kitchen .The package comes with paper moulds for the panettone and cellophane bags to wrap the bread in. Wrap them up, add some Christmas ribbon and this will make a wonderful hostess gift.

Free Shipping On All Our Christmas Bibs

Today is the last day to take advantage of our Cyber Monday Sale.

We are offering free shipping on our Christmas bibs and 15% off all hair accessories.

Take a peek in our Etsy Shop.

Our bookmarks make great stocking stuffers.

I Love Handmade and All Natural

When choosing stocking stuffers, I try to be unique and original. I would hate to open up my stocking and find generic drugstore items in my stocking! Come on Santa! Isn't everything handmade at the North Pole?

Well, I found some goodies at Lulu's Garden on Etsy.

The PMS avenger lip balm, tiredness lip balm and the Gardener's Hand Therapy made with lavender, rosemary, cammomile and geranium how cool!

Some of the gift packages are uniquely packaged all ready for gift giving.

Lulu's Garden's products are all handmade made with natural ingredients, which are a perfect fit for stocking stuffers, teacher's gifts, baby sitter gifts, the gifting possibilities are endless.

New Item In Our Store

We are having so much fun making our ponytail holders and hair clips!

The holiday season is quickly approaching and we are stocking our Etsy Store with great gift giving goodies!

We've added stylish adjustable rings that would make great holiday gifts for your child's teacher, babysitter, secret santa and for bridesmaids!

The rings are embellished with a 7/8" covered button.

And best of all the rings are only $4.50!

Teachers Gifts

It's always hard to find unique and quality gifts at an affordable price for gift giving. I found something, which I think teachers will utlize and use.

I found these beautiful personalized memo pads from Sweet Life Paper on Etsy

I made coordinating magnets to compliment the memo pads.

This is a wonderful gift that teachers will not re-sell at their yearly garage sale where they sell their numerous mugs and picture frames that they receive during the holiday season.

My Son's Birthday Brunch

My children love being with our family. They love to go on family vacations, and spending their birthday with their extended family. This year my son requested a Sunday Brunch with the "Famiglia". I had set up a beautiful buffet, of greek yogurt parfait, french toast, turkey breakfast sausages, and a delicious cremini mushroom and swiss chard quiche (visit marthastweart.com for the recipies or the current edition of her magazine).

What a success. We all ate like pigs and chatted. The finishing touch to his birthday was a delicious tiramisu ice cream cake. Yup, I made it all. Tiring but worth it.

The guests all took home expresso pound cake with two sachets of the new Via coffee from Starbucks.

Halloween

It was quite a busy day for us on Halloween. We had a birthday party early afternoon for my niece at the Funnery in Newmarket. It was quite amazing. An indoor playground for the children. There's a lounge area where the parents can relax, have refreshments while their children play. All guests at the party had to dress up. It was quite fun!

The Funnery is located at 611 Steven Court, Unit 3, Newmarket, Ontario L3Y 6Z2
(P) 905-252-1619 (F) 905-418-0242

The Funnery Play Park

After the party we hurried home and prepared ourselves for a fun night Trick or Treating. Trick or Treaters were greated at the door by my husband dressed as the Ghost Rider. The wee ones were a little scared but most of the boys thought he was really cool!

New Pillow Design Blast Off

A special request was made by little Lucas' auntie for us to make him a spaceship pillow. Lucas loves spaceships. So we made this cute pillow which we love! We have now added this design to our collection which is only available in the 16" size to accommodate the design.

Lucas you are so lucky to have a thoughtful auntie!

We are so honored to make this for you! Enjoy!

xo

Halloween Craft Ideas

Last year we hosted my nieces first birthday party. Her theme was Halloween. We created Halloween crafts that were easy, cute and everyone enjoyed (including the moms). Everyone dressed up for the occasion which was really fun too! My sister-in-law is very crafty. She purchased re-usable bags at a local dollar store and had the kids stencil their halloween bags we (they) also made fun pipe cleaner spiders!

How fun! When I was a kid we had to play pin the tail on the donkey - boring!