Moore Minutes

Friday, December 23, 2011

Merry Christmas to All 2011: last minutes preparations and holiday blessings

The whole big-little world is busy with last minute holiday preparations for our one day of magic. The unity is exciting and comforting. Lots of food to prepare and packages to wrap!

...these are a few of my favorite things!

We don't put out presents until the big day.

It's all a surprise for the boys.

These gifts are Christmas Eve gifts

and are the only gifts they get to see before Christmas morning!

Brown paper bags and yarn have been my "go to" this year.

I found these adorable elf printable tags!

The little elf helpers are so charming and just cute.

(*note: I cannot locate the source for these tags and I feel terrible. If anyone knows where to print these, pretty please let me know so I can add a link! Thank you)

Our home is full of anticipation.

We have wide-eyed boys just like Christmases past...

There are light attitudes and excited voices for the celebrated finale to our year.

My 11 year old, Cameron, wrote a beautiful poem this month. The boys were sending some Christmas love to one of my dearest friends and Cameron somehow wrote this poem in 15 minutes for her. He is AMAZING. I am just so proud of him and had to share! :) I didn't edit it or touch it. I love it so much.

It's Christmas Time

There's a scent in the air,

Houses are appearing so fair,

It's Christmas time!

It's kind of cold,

The wind appears bold,

But it's Christmas time!

People, in any form,

Are trying to keep warm

It's Christmas time!

We're thinking of others,

Moms, Dads, brothers,

It's Christmas time!

Giving our friends something

they'll like,

Even if we can't make a it a bike,

For it's Christmas time!

Even after all's been sold,

And decor is in fold,

We have memories to hold,

And friends which still exist.

-C. Moore

age 11

It makes me smile every time I read it. And it is also the Christmas sentiments that I want to share with each of you this year. Thank you for reading and for commenting always.

I truly appreciate each one of you!

Have a magical Christmas,

from our home to yours.

Aspen 2011

"I bring you good tidings of great joy"
"For unto you is born this day...a Savior which is Christ the Lord."

This post is linked to: Simply Sweet Home Inspired Room HomeStories Mantels, Holiday Home Link Parties TLC, Under the Table & Dreamin, Think Pink Sundays, Seasonal Sundays, Met Monday, Making the World Cuter, Tuesday Tutorials and Tips, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Tip Junkie, Get Your Craft On, DIY Design, Works for Me Wednesday, Blue Cricket Design, Transformation Thursday, House of H, Tablescape Thursday, Show off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff, Show and Share Day, Foodie Friday, Frugal Friday, I'm Lovin It, Tickled Pink, Friday Flair, Design Dazzle, Be Different Act Normal, Funky Junk Interiors, Weekend Wrap Up DIY by Design

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Our kickoff to the holidays vacation to Aspen, Colorado!

This is a three part blog series. Please see PART 2 and PART 3 for more of our snowy adventures!

Our family took a "kickoff to Christmas" mini vacation to Aspen, Colorado, the first weekend of December. We had an incredible time and the atmosphere there instantly covered us all with the happy holiday spirit. We had snowball fights, trudged through the new snow, went shopping, ice skating, hot chocolate and fire place stops, and even a sleigh ride!

Shopping is my first love. I try to be a good person and like other stuff better but shopping always wins. Lucky me, my super cool husband loves shopping too (Thank you God). Christmas and window shopping the streets of Aspen is dreamy!

Every gorgeous building,

every stone street,

and every corner

was decked for Christmas.

The buildings in Aspen are

a postcard of history

and an art canvas for today.

The storefront windows were just stunning.

I didn't photograph all of them

but each window created a
dramatic and extravagant holiday scene.

Inside of this store was an antique safe.

The sales lady explained the fascinating history of it

to our family and we were captivated.

Little shoppers

As we were shopping

we spotted some GIANT mountain dogs.

Huge and intriguing!

We treated our patient little shoppers

to a small bite of sugar in the candy store.

My four boys SURPRISED me

with a BEFORE (!!!) Christmas gift.

Lucky Mama.

Kotah getting warmed up by a store's fireplace.

We took a warm winter lunch break

at cozy Little Annie's Eating house.

We enjoyed hot soup, baskets of popcorn,

and Shirly Temples for the boys.

Every table was set with red and white check cloths

and candlesticks.

Back to shopping!

I also wanted us to visit the renowned Little Nell Hotel for a hot chocolate break in their lounge. Sooo, we paid over $30 for 3 cups of hot chocolate (crazy big gasp)! Welcome to Aspen.

It was "special" hot chocolate though.

The chef adapted the recipe from a restaurant in Vienna, and uses their fine chocolate.

It is also made with fresh, homemade marshmallows and whip cream.

Divine.
Pure Luxury.

Giant mugs,

little sippers

This may have been some of my favorite moments of the vacation.

We all just relaxed for awhile in the Little Nell's lounge talking and hanging out.

{Thank you Chris for always giving your family forever memories}

We ended our day with ice skating!

The ice staking rink was absolutely beautiful with the

twinkling white lights.

Truly picture perfect.

But it was sooooo cold!

Cameron

Christopher

And we saw a lot of this...

Cameron

Kotah

We warmed up to a late night dinner in their burger shack.

The next day was for the boys! No more shopping. Santa and his reindeer did a quick touchdown in Basalt during our visit. The boys lined up with their little lists.

Cameron had socks on his list for Santa!??!

After whispering their Christmas wishes to the jolly old elf,

we joined in with the small town community celebration

in Basalt with cookies and festivities.

There were firepits scattered throughout the park

for people to roast hot dogs and make s'mores.

Christmas carols

and mountain Christmas trees...

Back in Aspen, we drove the quiet neighborhoods. We admired the beautiful homes and their holiday lights. We noticed a trend there was to light up the homes with spotlights instead of traditional Christmas lights. Then, the traditional Christmas lights were adoring every tree in the yards instead. It was so lovely.

On our last night, we gathered together for the annual tree lighting. Aspen's tree at the Sardy House is rumored to be the biggest living lit Christmas tree. Over $250,000 was invested in preparing the tree's lights! Umm wow. The tree has over 100,000 lights that are programmed to change colors, giving us all a spectacular show!

As the small crowd waited for the lights to be lit by a 4 time snowboard Olympian, we sang carols and huddled close.

Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance as well! It really appeared as if he had just touched down in his sleigh as he belted out loudly for all to hear: "ho, ho, ho...Merry Christmas!".

The moments were magical.

A small choir sang Handel's Messiah and it was breathtaking.

At this moment of Handel's Messiah, I actually felt as if I was just thrown right into the scene of a Christmas card perfect movie scene!

My heart was singing.

This was THE Holiday Experience! It was surreal and I will remember it for always.

I'm thankful of my little family of 5

who share these experiences with me.

I encourage YOU to seek out the season's magic.

Make it. Find it. Create it.

Wherever you are.

Next year, JUST before the Christmas season hits,

prepare a mini getaway to a place nearby

that will transport your family to live some holiday magic.

This is a three part blog series. Please see PART 2 and PART 3 for more of our snowy adventures!

Aspen on Dwellable

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Ideas for the best morning of the year: Christmas Breakfast!

cranberry sugars

Christmas morning breakfast is the Grand Entrance to the best day of the year. It's that ONE morning of the year where the magic in the air takes us away from the everyday and into a storybook.

All my boys enjoying a Christmas morning breakfast

at my parent's home on a Christmas past.

Making breakfast special on Christmas morning is one of my loves.

Traditions are often used for this meal! We have a tradition of homemade cinnamon rolls with homemade cream cheese frosting on this breakfast. A lot of people share this tradition! I make them a day or two in advance and freeze until Christmas.

Another Christmas breakfast tradition I started when I got married

was taping hidden lotto tickets under our breakfast plates

for everyone to scratch off when they clean their plate.

Peek-a-boo!

lotto tickets waiting to be taped underneath breakfast plates

My mom prepares an egg casserole for Christmas morning.

It makes the house smell divine and is a super start to our day.

Serving breakfast casseroles is also a tradition that a lot of people share!

I found a gem on Pinterest with a resource of 34 Christmas breakfast casseroles!

...HERE.

Those are just a handful of our Christmas breakfast traditions.

I would LOVE to know some of yours!

Now I have some new ideas as you sit down to the table...

We had a December breakfast last week that

I think would be IDEAL for Christmas morning.

These baby crustless tarts were

dotted with RED & GREEN for the holiday.

Red Peppadews and green onions

I recently discovered Peppadew peppers at our local grocery store's fresh pepper and olive bar. They are from South Africa and have a mildly sweet flavor. These peppers are often served as appetizers, stuffed with goat cheese. I wanted to use them in our egg tarts to add some holiday color to our meal.

I made crustless tarts, but you can easily prepare them with a thin bottom crust as well. Mix 1 cup skim milk into 5-6 beaten eggs. Add chopped green onions, chopped Peppadew peppers, shredded Havarti cheese, a few drops of Green Tabasco, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Bake at 375 F until eggs are firm throughout.

Tarts are an excellent option for Christmas morning breakfast because they can be served at room temperature so you can prepare them ahead and save time in the kitchen on the best morning of the year!