Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

The Enticing Aromas of Christmas

You know it's officially Christmas when the smell of baking fills the air! Nothing quite like it brings back memories of Christmases past and creates the anticipation of Christmas present.

My neighbours came over Tuesday to bake tourtières, a typical French Canadian meat pie that is traditionally served during the Holidays. For me, the smell of the cinnamon, clove and allspice flavoured meat baking represents one of my oldest and and most cherished Holiday memories.

I decorate mine by adding dough cut with a cookie cutter.

This beautiful girl was supervising...

Thursday was cookies and squares baking day with my girls.

Rolling out the dough for the shortbread

Adding the condensed milk to the Puttin' on the Ritz squares

Here they are ready to go in the oven

 Here are our jumble cookies. This is a recipe from Dundurn Castle in Hamilton. 

It's a delicious nutmeg flavoured cookie.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven.

And finally, Magic Squares! Hmmm, always a hit!

And of course, the best part of all this? Christmas baking has no calories whatsoever. Zero. Nada. None. So go ahead and enjoy!

A Peek at my Christmas Decor

It's December 21st. The countdown is on, but I'm practically done! A few stocking stuffers to buy, a baking day with my girls tomorrow, some house cleaning and voilà!

I thought I'd share my Christmas decor with you. This year, I wanted a tree in the living room as we have a nice, tall window, because I love to see the lit tree at night from the outside. This one is a pre-lit fake one we got on sale last year. I decided to coordinate it with the soft blue accents in our living room, so the tree is decorated in blue, silver and cream, which creates a very soft effect.

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And on the mantel:

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I got these reindeer on sale a few years ago. I love their shape! The big bulbs I found at the grocery store, the lanterns are from Ikea. I put electric votives in them, but forgot to light them! 

The ribbon I had, and the white fabric is from Dollarama. I must explain that in Canada we have this awesome chain of dollar stores called Dollarama. It has a cult following. Even well known designers have been known to discover treasures at these stores.

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In fact, these snowflakes are from Dollarama. I pounced on them when I saw them! 

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 I used a lot of decorations from Dollarama in my tree as well as expensive ones. I'll leave you to figure out which is which!

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I got this beautiful glass ball at Bronner's in Frankenmouth, Michigan. If you don't know what Bronner's is and you love Christmas, you must go visit it, it is THE quintessential Christmas store. It is gigantic! We went in the summer and by the time we left, I was craving eggnog really badly, lol!

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Of course, all my wrapping is coordinated...

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On the chest in the front foyer, I tied these giant cinnamon sticks with a white ribbon.

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This is a little vignette I created in a cloche on the dining room sideboard:

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This ornament below is one of my favourites because it combines a couple of my obsessions. A bottle brush tree and a cloche:

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Told you I was obsessed with bottle brush trees!

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I went for simplicity on my table centrepiece. A set of Ikea candles on a brown tray and a few glittery greens: 

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The tree in the family room is real and more traditional in colour, red, cream and gold:

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Another obsession of mine, cardinals! Isn't this one so gorgeous?

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I can't wait to show you our baking creations on my next post! In the meanwhile, I hope your week is not too hectic. Take the time to carve out some peaceful moments for yourself and your family, that's what it's all about after all and it's what you will remember when all is said and done!

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