111/365 Truffles

I used to love making Christmas baskets for our family members, but this year I decided to do truffles instead.


This one was my absolute favourite (white chocolate centers coated in crushed, candied pecans).  It turned out to be one of those confections that makes me feel truly sorry for anyone allergic to nuts.  My husband voted for the white centers coated in white chocolate, and Gabrielle was fairly indifferent (she'll take any type of chocolate whenever she can get it).

These are so yummy and very easy to make (they also make great Christmas gifts).  I made five different types but they were all adapted from this recipe.

110/365 Christmas Experiment

When I first saw this chocolate covered Christmas tree in a cafe in the mall, I knew I wanted to try and make my own.  It doesn't look quite like the one in the mall, which was at least a foot high, straight as an arrow, covered in perfectly smooth chocolate, and complete with little white icing icicles.  Even though it's not perfect, it was still very fun to make.  I think it might just become a new Christmas tradition around here.

Instructions for making your own chocolate covered Christmas tree:

1. Bake a bunch of star shaped sugar cookies of various sizes

2. Melt at least 400 grams of milk chocolate on the stove in double broiler (or stainless steel bowl over a pot of hot water

3. Wait for the chocolate to cool a bit and dip the cookies in the melted chocolate

4. After the chocolate on the cookies have firmed a little, stack the cookies from largest to smallest, alternating the points of the stars

5. Decorate with different types of M&Ms.

108/365 Visit With Santa

Our visit with Santa yesterday didn't go quite as planned.  By the time Santa came back from his break and our turn came around, it was a little too close to nap time and she was already getting droopy eyed.

Gabrielle waiting in line with Gran to see Santa

I thought some introductions might help, so I sat down beside Santa myself, with her on my lap.  She took one look at him and burst into tears.  A hug from Gran usually helps, and she was able to work some magic yesterday as well.  Gran's lap was a much better place to observe Santa from.

She even warmed up to him a little bit by the end and got a candy cane for being such a "good girl"  (anyone who gives her food usually gets into her good books eventually).

Apparently Gran behaved herself very nicely as well, because she got a candy cane too.

It wasn't quite what I had in mind, but at least she got to see Santa.

This week's Small Style:

Blouse: Thrifted and gifted from Gran

Jumper: Gymboree

Shoes: Maggie and Zoe

107/365 Oh Christmas Tree

We finally got our Christmas tree up and (almost) decorated today!

And here's a quick Christmas self-portrait, just for fun.

106/365 Countdown to Christmas

Christmas has been sneaking up on us this year.  I'm surrounded by all the familiar signs of Christmas the minute I step out my door, but I'm ashamed to say that we have yet to put up a single decoration inside our home.  I do have some fun Christmas projects in mind that I'm dying to try however, so the next two weeks are going to be very busy.

Even though we haven't been quite on the ball this year, we have been attempting to prepare Gabrielle for the occasion.  She has been completely enthralled with all her new (to her) Christmas stories, although the one below has definitely become a favourite.  She loves looking for Mitzi the cat on every page.



And of course the story wouldn't be complete without a kiss....

and a hug for Mitzi at the end.

105/365 Missing The Moments

I've been missing a lot of moments lately in the name of bad lighting, a boring day, or a dirty face. Somewhere along the way I've become a little too concerned with attempting to make every shot better than the one before and I've forgotten that the whole purpose of this project is to document our every day.

Our every day now includes a lot of time spent like this...

In this case, it means, "Mom, I want to see the baby on the camera" , but other common evening requests include cuddles, stories, cookies, milk, a Muppets DVD, and skyping with Oma. She is definitely learning how to exert her will but the good part is that she's using more and more words, and less grunting, pointing, whining and other lazy baby language to express herself (which makes it so hard to resist when she asks for a cookie, even though requests like that come all day long!).

104/365 Absent

I had to put this project on hold for a while this week because my little babe has been sick.  It started with a runny nose, and then turned into a fever and cough.  She's okay now but it's been quite a week!  We can't complain too much since this is only the second illness she's had since birth (more than a runny nose) but still, I'm so glad it's over.

Today we ventured out to the mall to have a date with Oma and begin our Christmas shopping.  There was pizza and gelato and lots of hugs and kisses from Oma.  I love that she's still young enough that I can take her shopping for her own Christmas presents, and know that she'll forget about them by Christmas.  Apparently it was all too much fun for her because she passed out in the car on the way home within about 5 seconds.