Advent Calendar: How to Make One

I love an Advent calendar.  This year I decided our nieces were old enough to "get" it so I made them (and our nephew) Advent calendars that had stockings of fun for each day.

Before I get into the nitty gritty, let me first say, that Mr. and I got this Advent calendar from our home away from home, David's Tea:

It is a new tea every day.  It is fab.

Now that that is over with, let's move on to "How to Make an Advent Calendar".

If you aren't aware, there are 24 gifts in an Advent calendar.  One is opened each day starting on December 1 and ending December 24. 

1.  Make a stocking template.  

I made two, one for a really small stocking and one for a slightly bigger one.  I did these free hand, cut them out of computer paper and used them as you would a pattern.  I did 17 small stockings and 7 slightly bigger ones for each calendar.

When you're making your template, remember to leave extra area to account for the seam.

2.  Cut out all of your stockings.  You will need enough material for 24 outer stockings and 24 liners.

Remember when cutting to flip the pattern for half of the stockings so you don't end up with all fronts of your stockings and no backs.

This was the most time-consuming part because I was making two of these.  So that is 48 stockings * 2 outsides * 2 liners = 192 stockings.  Yikes!  Fortunately, Mr. stepped it up and helped me on this.

I used Christmasy material I got from Etsy as the outside.  It was just regular cotton.  And I used white flannel for the linings.

3.  Cut ribbon a few inches long to make the loops for the stockings to hang from.  Melt the ends to prevent fraying.  Pin these loops to the right side of the liner stocking which faces right so that your stockings hang facing right and the loop is in the back.  

Make sure to account for the side seam so, assuming about a 5/8 inch seam, put the loop about an inch from the left.  Check that your ribbon has enough length for both the loop and for about a 1/2 inch to hang unseen in the stocking seam.

Here is a visual:

4.  Match the lining of each side of the stocking to its outside piece so that they are right sides together.

Pin across the top of the stocking.

5. Sew across the top.

I did about a 5/8 inch seam here.  Really this is all free-hand and home-made, so I didn't try to get every stocking exactly the same because that would be madness.

6. Trim the excess fabric across the top.  DON'T cut the ribbon.  It will hang out of the seam as you can see in the pic below.

I left about 1/4 inch seam.


7. Open up the stockings.  Pin right sides together.  Flannel to flannel.  Cotton to cotton.

8. Sew around the entire circumference of the stocking leaving about 2 inches unsewn.

I chose to leave the open part on the bottom of the flannel lining where it wouldn't be seen.


9.  Trim the seams and excess string.

Again, I only left a tiny amount of the seam because I wanted to reduce bulk.

10.  Flip the stocking through the hole so that the right side is out.

11.  Hand sew the hole shut.


12.  Push the flannel into the cotton so you have stocking #1.  Now repeat 23 times.


13.  When all your stockings are completed, make the long string to hang them from.

Start far enough in where you will have enough slack to hang up the calendar (a couple of feet maybe) and pin pieces of ribbon around 6-7 inches in length to the string, centering them.  They should be more or less evenly spaced.

Leave the same amount of string at the final end as the first end after all 24 are pinned.  Cut and melt the ends to prevent fraying.

Be careful about your string twisting.

I used 1/4 inch ric rac but you could really use whatever you want.

14.  Sew the ribbon to the ric rac.


15.  Hot glue your numbers to the ribbon/ string to hide the stitches.

I bought these bingo numbers off of Amazon.  I painted the raised edges white so they would stand out.

16.  Tie all of your stockings to the calendar by putting the ribbons through each loop and knotting.

17.  Fill with delights!  Then hang!

Voila!

(These are attached to the chairs for a 15 minute photo session.  If these were in my house permanently, I would have found somewhere better.  LOL)

End of Lent Preparations...

Our Christmas Cards...

Were scratch and sniff...  Did anyone notice?

Mr. said people would get it and that I didn't have to make a note on the cards...  That people would see the one from Yankee Candle...

Seems he was wrong (surprisingly)...  Sigh sigh...

Merry Christmas!

Thoughts for the Holidays

I have been super busy this month and my holiday blogging didn't really happen but here are some thoughts from the past few weeks (like a mini-blog each):

-Zoo Lights would be better if people left their kids and monster strollers at home.  Actually, if everyone but us stayed home as well.

-Why does the purchaser of an ornament at Macy’s have to be the one to return the item?  What if it was a gift?

-Why are my snickerdoodles transparent?

-My battery operated lights are not holding up in the rain.

-Why, after testing the lights, then spending the time to hang then, don’t they work?

-If you are charging us $5 for a Christmas Market, there better be more there than a guy selling random hats.

-I love you Amazon.   In particular, the $2.99 sale you had on Gone Girl.

-When Christmas shopping and walking to and from the store, do not do what we like to call “Pull a Coach” which is purchase a heavy item that you have to lug all over and kill your arms.  Explanation: A couple years ago for Christmas, Coach and Feisty got me a marble pastry board.  It weighs a billion pounds and Coach had to lug said item across the city and on the commuter rail.  LOL

-After years of making your own cards, do not send store bought ones.  People will complain.

-Yes, it’s another orphaned child, lawyer is bad, Christmas movie.

Zoo Lights!!!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Ornaments

I died when I saw these at Target and of course had to scoop them up:

Happy Halloween!

Happy Easter!

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!

Mr. claims to be 100% Irish and is big on St. Patrick's Day or at least bigger than me whose only Irishness is her name.

So with that in mind, I had been planning to make Irish stew today but with 80 degree temps, forget it.  To celebrate the holiday, I told Mr. that we could have two treats instead.  If you'll recall for Lent, Mr. and I gave up treats during the week (having only one treat on Saturday) which is a major sacrifice, not as big as giving them up altogether but we are only human.  So two treats makes the day twice as special.

We got our first treat earlier today at our dealer:

It is yellow cake with chocolate icing.  Yum.  Word is it is supposed to serve four but it will just serve us two later on tonight when we have our teas.

One treat bought and one to go, we headed to what I had been looking forward to eating for weeks.  The Mint Oreo Blizzard, special of the month at Dairy Queen.  I kept saying I would wait until St. Patrick's Day to get one because they are green and fit in with holiday fun.  

After lunch, we headed over to DQ to wait in line for 15 minutes as we looked at all of the mint Oreo ads around the store and outside of it to finally get to the head of the line.   I could barely contain my excitement when:

Mr.: We would like two Mint Oreo Blizzards.

Girl working: We don't have mint.

WHAT THE *&()@#*()!(@)#!)*@#*(@!#(*@#!*@!*#(*(@#!*)*(@#!*)(#@!*@#!*?

Needless to say I was not pleased.  They could have at least put it on their signs that they were out or, I don't know, not put them up. I am tempted to write to DQ and complain.  They get a lot of our money and frankly this is unacceptable.

I didn't want some non-festive substitute so we spit on DQ and went in search of another green ice cream sensation.  

Ruling out Baskin Robbins mint chocolate chip because BR was slightly out of our way (like a block), we decided to try another ice cream parlor making our way through waves of people with ensembles of green, some of whom could have been passed out in the gutter.  It was 1PM.

Ice cream shop 2 had no green ice cream.   Damn.

Not giving up, we went to the grocery store and got Ben and Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream. 

Now, I had made the assumption that any mint ice cream would be green.  But alas:

Big sigh...

I ate it anyways as I put to bed my dream of a green treat on St. P's Day. 

The only saving grace was that I was able to eat it out of a green bowl.  

Actually that is a lie, it was Ben and Jerry's ice cream so I would have eaten it and licked the bowl clean regardless of the color.

Birthday Recap

Yesterday I entered my mid-30s.  : (

Mr. and I celebrated with just us (per usual).

We started the day with Mr. letting me drink my morning giant tea without complaining that I was taking too long and not getting the day started. While I finished this off, he ran out to do errands so I didn't have to go.  Yeah!

When Mr. returned, I got to open my presents.  (Early this year!  I usually have to wait until after dinner.)

Mr. showered me with lots of gifts so either he wants something big like a baby or  I have been an A+ wife this year.  I am hoping for the second.

Mr. doesn't really go for surprise presents and I usually give enough hints so there is no need.  But, this year he got me some surprises such as this marble rolling pin because he thought it was something a baker like me might like.  He was right:

I was also pumped to learn that after YEARS of hinting Mr. got me this scarf from Restoration Hardware.  Yes!

It's cashmere.  :D

My mother-in-law (and father-in-law) who I think might be the only person to read this blog (Hi Marie!) got me these luggage tags:

LOL!  Perfect!

After rolling around in my presents for awhile, we went skating (ice not roller).  Here we are doing our trick moves respectively:

We are excellent skaters.

Sidenote:  Why we picked the spot with the worst background for these pics I don't know.  The rink is actually in a nice area.  I swear.

The rink wasn't crowded so we got right on and went to town.  It also helped that it was nice and sunny, not too cold.  The only things of note about skating was that a couple was getting their engagement pics done so they were making a scene and we did not fall.  Hooray!

Then, we went to dinner at our favorite spot and came home and had teas and cake.  Mr. went all out and ordered a cake from the bakery we patronize weekly.  (Next time I buy a house my must have is a bakery within walking distance.)

We don't have a "4" so Mr. put 4 individual candles to the right of the "3".


We finished off the night watching the Ides of March (review to come maybe) which reinforced why I don't like politics and which my hair lady had recommended during my cut and color this week.

Thanks to everyone for their birthday wishes!

The Number One Reason...

This is not the most wonderful time of the year for Mr.

Every year Mr. spends an exorbitant amount of time with me in Joann's for both holidays and regular days. I usually limit these excursions to once every other month or so until the holiday season when we are there about once a week.

These trips usually involve him following me around with a basket while I throw things we do not need into it, hours spent in the ribbon (decor, baking, gift wrapping, frame, knitting, fabric, thread, button, vase, paper, paint, pastel) aisle trying to figure out what would look great in our house and what crafts I want to do, and lastly a ridiculous amount of time spent waiting in the line that always stretches around the store.

Unless it is well past lunch time and he feels like I am starving him, he rarely complains even though I know he hates these trips with a passion.

But that is what makes Mr. Mr. and why I married him.  That and he likes to cook and clean.

Me vs. The Convection Oven Round 2

So I decided to give the convection oven another shot this weekend taking the tips I acquired last week into consideration and I had much better results.

Check out the puff on these snickerdoodles:

And these sugar cookies:

The only problem is that our oven has decided it doesn’t want to maintain temperature (translation: the oven is telling me it is 350 degrees but it is really 284 degrees) no matter if I use convection or radiant heat.  I told you it's a love-hate relationship.  So we have a repairman coming out to look at it the week after Christmas.  Nothing is ever easy.

Some of my cookies may not be award-winning due to glitch but I have learned that my audience isn't too particular as long as there is a lot sugar involved.

Hershey's Secret Kiss Cookies

I usually make some standard cookies every year with a new one thrown in.  This year, though, I was going to forego the new recipe because I just didn’t have it in me until I saw the recipe for Hershey's Secret Kiss Cookies (see note below) on the back of a Hershey's Kisses bag.

I LOVE Hershey's Kisses and Kiss cookies (to the rest of the world peanut butter blossoms) are one of my favorites so I thought this could be good.

I couldn't find the recipe online but this is a similar cookie.  The only differences being the name, the use of original Kisses, and no almonds or almond extract.

Note: I threw out the actual Hershey's Kisses bag because I had transcribed the recipe into a book my aunt got me.  Unfortunately I tend to abbreviate and leave things out because I only write down the recipe as I like it (aka It called for nuts. I left them out because no way would I put nuts in a baked good as you my faithful readers should already know.)  The point is that if Hershey ever decides to publish this recipe on their website, the name and particulars may be slightly off from what I am putting here.


Moving on to the baking...

The actual dough was pretty easy to whip up.  There was a lack of egg which surprised me but I went with it.

When I formed the dough around each Kiss (time-consuming but not hard), I tried to keep the amount low. I tend to make cookies much bigger than the recipe calls for and it usually causes an issue with the timing and I wanted to get these right because I was putting them into the convection oven.

The recipe said to use 36 kisses.  I ended up needing about 50. So I guess I could have been less stingy with the dough on each one.

I figured these cookies wouldn’t spread so I was able to put them pretty close together on the cookie sheets and I baked them all in one go. Yeah!

The recipe says to wait until the cookies are set but not brown. I took them out at the specified amount of time and figured if they were raw, there was no egg in them so at least we wouldn’t get salmonella.

When they came out of the oven, they looked like little ghosts:

 
And I became concerned because this was not how they were pictured and they had got a bit browned.

But, between moving the cookies to the rack and rolling them in powdered sugar, they lost their brown edges.

And voila!:

Inside:

Saturday when I made these, I wasn’t impressed. They were OK but eh. However, they got better with age and I was popping these like there was no tomorrow on Sunday before they made their way into the freezer.

Final verdict:  They are worth a shot.  I think these could actually be pretty good with some of the other kinds of Kisses they have out there.  So maybe I will venture out next time.

Christmas Buys

In a major fit of uncharacteristic self-restraint, I only splurged on two semi-pricey holiday decor items this season.

I am excited for them so I thought I would share with you.

I really wanted this silver bell wreath from Williams-Sonoma last Christmas and was waiting for it to go on sale but it never did because it sold out too quickly.  This year I snapped it up ASAP.  I have to say it does look pretty good on our green door.  IMO at least.  Plus it is "greener" than the normal pine wreath I usually get because it can be reused every year.  Of course the pine wreath always gets recycled into mulch by the city but eh, go with me here.

Every year I buy live trees to put in our "yard".  And yes, I use the term loosely but what you see below combined with some grass that is between the sidewalk and the street equals our yard.  Anyways, we don't have an electrical socket out there and I wanted to do some lighted trees.  My Aunt Greeney suggested these battery operated trees from QVC.  I bought two three foot and two two foot trees.

The battery operated lights are on a timer.  So they go on about 5 and then turn off automatically at 11.  (No maintenance from me!)  My one concern was that the batteries would not last.  But, we turned them on the first weekend in December and they are still going strong.  The lights also have a solar setting (stay on when it's dark, off when it's light) and just an on/off.  All three settings (battery, solar, on/off) can be steady or twinkling.

The trees can be used either indoors or outdoors and come with both a stand for inside and a stake for outside.  I staked them into the ground and so far the pumpkin-bandits have not touched them.  I think they look real unless you get up in their grill.  

If you can't tell I am quite happy with these.  My neighbor even told me they looked good.  They are also "green" because I can reuse them next Christmas and they are economical because they cost the same as the real trees I buy every year and then throw out at the end of winter.  We had a little snow on Saturday which you can see if you look hard enough:

On the First Day of Christmas My True Love Asked of Me . . .

In honor of the upcoming holidays, I've composed this post to describe a Christmas tradition in our household. The annual not- so-subtle gift hinting from Mrs.

The Twelve Days of Hint-mas

Day 1 (December 10th)

[Getting dressed before work] Ugh, my blue turtleneck sweater is starting to fade. I might have to look for a new one. (A subtle Christmas gift hint?)

Day 2 (December 11th)

[Looking through JCrew catalog] Ooh, I like this blue turtleneck sweater. I might have to put this on my Christmas list.

Day 3 (December 12th)

I could really use a new blue turtleneck sweater. Hopefully Santa will bring me one for Christmas.

Day 4 (December 13th)

I finished my Christmas lists. I just need to determine if I’m going to put the new blue turtleneck sweater I want on the list for my family. (Translation: Should I trust that you're going to get this for me, or just specifically tell someone else exactly what I want?)

Day 5 (December 14th)

If you’re still looking for Christmas present ideas for me, I could use a new winter hat, a new wallet, and a new blue turtleneck sweater. (As we move closer to Christmas, subtlety is thrown out the window.)

Day 6 (December 15th)

[Sitting on couch after dinner] If you’re going to get me a new blue turtleneck sweater, I saw one at JCrew that I really liked. Just an idea.

Day 7 (December 16th)

[Sitting on couch after dinner] Here, I tore this page from the JCrew catalog. This is the sweater I was talking about. Just in case you’re looking for Christmas ideas.

Day 8 (December 17th)

E-mail from Mrs.:

Here’s a link to the JCrew sweater I wanted for Christmas. Size XS. Color: Ocean Surf.

Day 9 (December 18th)

I was talking with [fill in random friend or family member] about that blue turtleneck sweater I like from JCrew. She said she liked it as well and that it was on sale. I considered just buying it for myself, but I didn’t. Hopefully I’ll get it for Christmas. Just an idea, you know, if you’re still not sure what to get me.

Day 10 (December 19th)

E-mail from Mrs.:

JCrew is having a sale, 30% off and free shipping. Just in case you're looking to get me something from there. Like that blue turtleneck sweater. Sale ends tomorrow.

Day 11 (December 20th)

I really hope I get that new blue turtleneck sweater from JCrew for Christmas. Hopefully Santa’s been listening. I almost ordered it for myself today.

Day 12 (December 21st)

Can you just let me know if you bought me that blue JCrew sweater because if not, they e-mailed me a coupon and I’m going to go ahead and buy it today.

This Would Be....

Another reason why this is not the most wonderful time of the year for Mr.:

But this is the result:

And nothing makes Mr. happier than a fresh off the presses chocolate chip cookie.

Mad Men Madness

Last year, Mr. asked my family for Mad Men Season 4 on his Christmas/ b-day list.

My sister, Speechie, and her husband, Diploma, obliged.

Now, we didn’t see Speechie and Diploma over the Christmas holidays last year so Speechie was going to send us the rest our Christmas gifts as well as our b-day presents.

Important note about my family: We are not timely with presents. We will send a gift eventually but it could be a few months late. It’s not that we don’t care. It’s just that, well, we just tend to be slow on this. No one minds. We all know there will be a gift coming our way at some point. We are all adults after all and don't need something on the big day to feel special.

That being said, around last April, Mr. and I were getting anxious for our presents because there were some DVDs involved that we wanted to take on our trip to Hawaii to watch on the plane. (Yes, another thing about my family is that we usually know what the present is before we receive it. We prefer it this way. No uncomfortable surprise presents. This nugget of info will also help you to understand how I can write this post now instead of after Christmas/ Mr.’s b-day.)

I may have done some nagging and Speechie finally sent us the presents.

Two packages arrived.

I opened them.

(Side story: Last year I bought myself a shirt from Banana Republic in blue before Christmas. Mr. bought me the same shirt in purple for my birthday in January. On opening it, he said “I think you might have this shirt already.” I did but it was a different color so I kept it. When these packages arrived from my sister, the same exact shirt arrived in purple. (Too late for an exchange.) So now I have the same shirt three times over, once in blue and two times in purple. And yes, I wear them all. It is my winter uniform.)

Mad Men Season 4 was in none of these boxes. So I texted my sister asking her if it was supposed to be. She claimed it was. She claimed she put it in there.

I should also add that one of the boxes was quite beat up.

So I figured there was a 50/50 chance that it fell out of the box, was stolen by a neighborhood ruffian like that person that snatched my pumpkins, or that my sister really didn’t put it in there (she has a reputation for losing things). Time would tell.

A few days later, Speechie informed me that MMS4 showed up in her mailbox!

Our conjecture: The box it was in got busted. MMS4 in its original packaging from Amazon with my sister’s address on it fell out. The USPS saw it, assumed it was a different package, and sent it back to my sister. Nuts! But way to be on top of things USPS! Of course, if the package hadn’t been all broken up to begin with….

MMS4 is still at Speechie’s house

Let’s move to November of this year, Speechie e-mailed my family asking for Christmas/ b-day lists. This is what I responded:

For his birthday, [Mr.] would like you to name your first born, boy or girl, after him.

That or Mad Men season 4.

Obviously a joke.

I thought anyways.

Mr. sent his real list to everyone on 11/27.

Yesterday Speechie e-mailed me this:

Hey-
Why did you tell me to get [Mr.] mad men season 4. That is what I bought him last year and we have it sitting here to give him. I re-bought it as this years gift.

Um yeah.
So my sister, having never opened the original box from Amazon or taking the DVDs out until now, forgot she already bought season 4 and thinking my original e-mail was a real gift list just assumed she had bought another season last year, and so rebought it. I can only assume as well that she will be naming her baby after him.

In a most fitting end to all of this MMS4 drama, Mr. will be getting two copies of it this holiday season.

And no, if you are wondering, I cannot make this stuff up.

Me vs. The Convection Oven

I began my holiday baking this weekend.

I have a love-hate, mostly hate, relationship with our oven because it is very temperamental, doesn't like to preheat properly, and occasionally makes our house smell like gas.  We have had repairmen out twice to fix it but alas, we have no desire to get a new one so we stocked up on CO detectors and cross our fingers that it doesn't completely break until after we move (some day).

Recently, Matchmaker and I were discussing convection ovens because she was house-hunting.  I said we have one but never used it.  She said they were good for baking.  I said maybe I will try it out on my next bakefest.

On Sunday, I did.

Now, we have two convection options: one where you set the temperatue like a regular oven and one where you input the regular time and temp and it adjusts it to the convection time and temp.

I skimmed the instructions before starting and decided to go with the latter because it said it was the "easy" way to start using convection.

I put in 375 degrees and 8 minutes as the recipe called for.

However, the stupid oven kept beeping that it was ready at 350 degrees and telling me to check the cookies at around 4 minutes and some change.

I was getting so mad and kept turning the oven off, turning it on, then resetting it.  I did this three times and I may have yelled to Mr. once or twice about why the damn thing wouldn't work right and go to 375 degrees.

I eventually gave up and went to the first option.  Setting the oven for 375, I checked after about 5 minutes to find my cookies looking like this (kisses put in after the completion of the baking time):

Yeah.

So the next batch, I decided to check after 4 minutes and rotate the trays.  These were better but not much.

Afterwards, I decided to look up convection ovens and how to use them in my How Baking Works book.

It said (paraphrased): "Lower your temp by 25 degrees and shorten the cooking time".

Light bulb going off in my head!  Ahhhhhhh!  That is why the &*(@#&*(&*#$( oven kept telling me it was ready at 350 not 375!   Damn it!

Yes, my oven is smarter than me.

So I pulled the instructions out (again) for the oven and actually read them this time.  Yep, it says in there to lower the temp by 25 degrees and shorten the baking time.  It says this more than once.  And it may have been starred.  And bolded.

I feel dumb.

Either way,  Mr. and I decided to eat some of the burnt cookies.  They actually were pretty decent.  No burnt taste at all (nice surprise).  So I guess we will keep them and share them this holiday season.

But, (sigh), yet again, another lesson in my life to read instructions fully first. You would think I would learn at some point.

PS and quick tips: Some google searching tells me that with a convection oven you need to lower the temp by 25 degrees and the baking time by 25%.  Also, no need to rotate trays because of the constant air movement.  Good to know.

Reason #45623 This Is Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year for Mr.