When you dip, I dip...we dip

We are preparing to ring in the New Year with some friends tonight. We usually all play games, laugh and talk alot and eat some really good food. Speaking of food, we are in charge of an appetizer and I knew the perfect one. I made this for Christmas and it seemed to be a big hit.

Ingredients:
2 pkg cream cheese; softened
1pkg shredded sharp cheddar cheese
about 4 Tbsp of diced red pepper
a dash or two of ground cayenne pepper
a dash of regular pepper
a dash of salt
Sliced almonds

Directions:

Dice your red pepper

Beat the cream cheese and the cheddar cheese in a small bowl.

Add the remaining ingredient, except for the nuts and mix until it is well incorporated.

At this point you can shape the mixture into a fun "cheese ball" or you can put it in a pretty bowl. For traveling purposes I put ours into a bowl. Add the almonds to the top and refrigerate for a couple hours. When ready, serve with crackers. I find that Wheat Thins are awesome with this but The Hubs likes Ritz. It could be that he doesn't care for Wheat Thins. :) Anyway try out a few options and find works best for you.

In addition to the dip, I am bringing some bubbly that I bought for our Annual Holiday Party. We never opened it so I thought what other better occassion than New Years. I'm not a champagne aficionado so I hope it is good-wish me luck! I might try to find, if I don't run out of time, some fun garnish or additions for the drink to make it a bit more festive.

Happy New Year Everyone! Thanks for a fantastic 2010 and thanks for stopping by, checking out the blog and for all your wonderful comments. This wouldn't be any fun without the support of you. Be safe tonight and I will see you in 2011!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! We pray for hope, love and most of all peace to you and all your loved ones.

A Christmas Craft

Well hello there. It's been awhile, I know and I am sorry. This year the season crept up quickly and before I knew it I was completely out of time. On top of that I had to go in for surgery on Monday morning. I am out of surgery and doing very well and I managed to spend an entire two days on the couch, sitting on my duff and doing nothing. It about killed me. ;)

So this afternoon I got up, slowly of course so not to hurt the knee, and finished up one of my Christmas crafts. Last week I spray painted this hope sign...

I picked a caramel latte color. It's a very muted and gorgeous gold. Perfect for *Sparkle and Shimmer* theme this year.

I gave it about 3 coats of paint and then let it dry for an entire day.

Then this afternoon, when I just couldn't stand sitting around for another minute, I decided to add a little sparkle to my sign.

I grabbed my Modge Podge and some white glitter. I added a bit of Modge Podge to the sign in a couple areas and then saturated it with glitter.

I love how the glitter catches the light and makes it shine. May your Holiday season be filled with Hope and Joy!

Battle of the Christmas Trees

So for many years there has been this unspoken "battle" of sorts with our Christmas trees. You may remember my post last year about the hive inducing, psychotic tree of The Hub's.

Well this year I think I have turned a new leaf. I figured if you can't beat him (and I can't!) then join him. So here is our massive 9 foot plus tree in our "sitting area". I like to say we have a sitting area but really in all honesty it's a space when you walk in that has 1 chair. :) 

See that piece of wood...curious?!?! I will get to that soon. So The Hubs has his normal ornaments he puts out year after year. I only took a couple shots to show you but they are definitely 'eclectic'.

This year since I can't beat him (and truthfully I don't want to) I decided to pick him up a few more lovelies for his tree. I found the football and the softball at Michaels for a buck! Score!

Oh yes, this was one of my purchases also...a Homer Santa scarfing down donuts. Classic! The lady behind the counter probably thought I was nuts.

Now on to the reason for the braces. You see this year, I waved my white flag and joined in on the decorating schizophrenia. Now in years past I may have had evil thoughts of the tree suddenly igniting in flames or a tornado ripping through and sucking the tree up but this year...this year I was totally on board. No evil thoughts whatsoever. Then the worse possible thing happened; once we were finished decorating and marveling at the wonderous sight, {cue loud ominous music} the tree crashed to the floor!!! Side note: I'm not sure what the deal is with the font on this one section. Crazy!

It broke several ornaments, including the beloved and coveted 8 ball. My heart sank. This was The Hubs tree and he is a man of tradition, even if it is a bit wacky at times, so I knew he was upset. We picked up the pieces, temporarily braced the tree to the wall (above pic) and put boards underneath as added support. It's a bit funky junky but it works.

I waited a few days before I set up my tree, afterall I didn't want my tree to rub it in his tree's face (metaphorically speaking since trees don't have faces). This year I decided on a **Sparkle and Shimmer** theme. Everything gold, silver, glittered or metallic.

Dollar Tree find! Two tubes for $1.00 each; can't beat that! Especially when you suffer from decorating ADD and insist on changing your "theme" every year.

I had these ornaments from a few years ago so basically free since I didn't purchase them this year :) That's perfectly acceptable logic, right?

This garland I got at the Dollar Tree last year. I bought two bundles. It's gorg! Fake and plastic but still gorg!

This garland I have had for many, many years. I never opened it and used it. I think I got it at Michaels.

The bow was from Hobby Lobby (yah! shout out to Hob Lob. I big pink puffy heart you). I had a gift card so it was FREE for me but if I paid out of pocket for it I think it would have been 50% off of $8.99. 

I love poinsettias and these I bought at Michaels for $2.99 for the bunch. I clipped off most of the stem and stuffed them into 'holes' in the tree. Below is the finished product...

The garland looks like jewelry draped on the tree. It's so beautiful, especially at night. My tree looks like it might go out dancing or to a fancy dinner...you know, if trees did that sort of thing. :)

I hope you are enjoying your seasonal decorating as much as we are.