Christmas Party Planning

So, I’ve already missed four days of VeganMofo. I guess that’s ok, considering I knew I wouldn’t post every day anyway. I think I only did 17 days last year. So I’m hoping I can still up that to about 20 this month. I was working on a paper Friday and Saturday, and I just didn’t have anything to post about before that.  But enough of my excuses! I’m planning a Christmas party!

My awesome Christmas party diagram.

I think I just decided to confine my party to one room so that I’m not running all over the place and having to decorate everything. I like this idea, I’m just worried about seating. So that’s something I have to figure out. But here’s some of the details I’m planning so far:

Guests

8-10 people, max.

Food/Drink

2-3 types of cookies (gingerbread, and two others I’m not sure of right now)
2-3 types of savory snacks (I’m thinking vegetable crudites with dip, party mix*, and popcorn)
Hot chocolate kept warm in a thermos pitcher
Holiday punch

*Be sure to use vegan Worcestershire sauce!

Entertainment

Christmas movies (Some of the following: The Santa Clause, Ernest Saves Christmas, Home Alone, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, A Charlie Brown Christmas…Probably one movie and a few shorts)
Christmas-themed pictionary
Secret Santa

Atmosphere

Holiday music while movies aren’t playing
A fire going in the fireplace
Christmas tree and lit mantle

Favors

Homemade cinnamon ornaments (I still have one of these from when I was a kid and it still smells amazing!)

And that’s all I have so far. I really don’t think I need to do much more planning except deciding exactly which cookies I want to make and figuring out the seating. I’m pretty happy with my little Christmas party right now. I just need to keep that guest list short so I can enjoy it

Now I should probably plan my Thanksgiving menu.. haha.

- Andrea

Catching up with Christmas (pt. 2)

On Christmas Eve, I went to my grandmother’s house for an hour or so before I had to leave for work. I made a holiday punch:

This had 1 jug of Hawaiian Punch (fruit punch), 1 small bottle of Ginger Ale, 1 can of Apple-Pear-Passion Fruit concentrate, sliced oranges, and plenty of ice. It was amazzzing! Best punch I’ve ever made!

I was too busy doing other things, so the punch was all I made. Or maybe I made that mac-n-”cheese”.. I don’t remember. Either way, it was nice to have other people cook my holiday meals for once

We had dressing (which was awesome), sweet potato casserole with a candied pecan topping, Field Roast Celebration Roast, green bean caserole, and macaroni and cheese.

I didn’t like the Celebration Roast. It’s too grainy.

Oh, wait! I made some Snowball Cookies, too. I just forgot about them.. haha. They’re my favorites!

After work, I went to Jon’s mom’s house for her Christmas party. Jon made us a Christmas-colored stir-fry with red and green bell peppers, Gardein beefless tips, and brown rice. It was good!

My sister sent home some goodies for us, too:

Vegan holiday goodies tray!

She made lemon bars, cranberry bread, candied pecans, and pumpkin (maple?) cookies. I can’t remember exactly what they were, but those cookies were SO FREAKIN’ GOOD.

On Christmas morning, I got up at 5:00 to open my presents. Jon came over at 6:00 and we exchanged gifts.

My Christmas decorations.

Presents!

I started making breakfast around 6:30 or so and finished around 9:00. My sister and her boyfriend came over for breakfast and to exchange gifts around that time, as well.

"Sausage" and "Cheese" Biscuits

Breakfast Potatoes with Peppers and Onions

Scrambled Tofu

Glazed Cinnamon Rolls

Gingerbread Muffins

And that’s that! For lunch, Jon made us Tofurky sandwiches to take to his dad’s family gathering. When we got back that night, we ate a bunch of leftovers from the day before and played a ridiculously long game of Scrabble. I was tired, so I got cranky and made everyone leave so I could go to sleep. Fun times!

Food-related presents I received: Red, scalloped casserole dishes; tealight chaffing dishes; two red and white scalloped dessert pedastals; Cuisinart ice cream maker; and extra mini trifle dishes.

I hope you all had a good holiday season!

Catching up with Christmas (pt. 1)

Ok, so the holidays made me totally neglect my blog. Sorry about that. I just haven’t really been in the blogging mood lately. But I’m back! First I’m going to catch up with what I didn’t post for Christmas and New Year’s, then I’ll get to what I’ll be doing for Valentine’s Day.

A few weeks before Christmas, me and my boyfriend had a fun night filled with cookies, cartoons, and puzzles.

Chocolate Chip Cookies from Vegan with a Vengance

We did a puzzle of Mickey and Minnie Mouse ice skating. We watched Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman throughout the night, as well. I also drew Jon a picture, and then he drew his own version of it. Let’s compare:

Which do you think is better?

A few days before Christmas, me and Jon went to a Palisade’s Park in Oneonta, AL, to see the Christmas lights.

You'd think he'd be a little happier, sitting next to Santa and all.

Like me!

 

The day before Christmas Eve, I started on my gift baskets:

I also bought a fireplace DVD to enjoy during the holidays!

Favorite basket.

This was my favorite basket. It had a green and red-striped mug, peanut brittle, a candy cane, chocolate truffles, peppermint coffee, pancake mix for two, chocolate-gingerbread cookies, and a cinnamon-scented candle. This went to Jon’s grandparents.

Finished baskets!

Up next: Christmas Eve, Christmas, and New Year’s Eve!

Christmas Morning Breakfast (2008)

Christmas is a special day.. Because Christmas is the only day of the year I make cinnamon rolls! After opening presents at 5 am, there’s not really much else left to do that early other than make a huge breakfast, watch the sun come up, and enjoy the rest of the holiday. So that’s what I do.

Last year’s Christmas morning breakfast consisted of The following:

"Sausage" and "Cheese" Biscuits

I used this recipe for the biscuits, Gimme Lean “sausage”, and Toffuti American “cheese”

Scrambled Tofu

Recipe adapted from Vegan with a Vegeance.

Cheesy Hashbrowns

Shredded potatoes, fried in a skillet with shredded Follow Your Heart cheddar, salt, and pepper.

Cinnamon Rolls

I’ve used this recipe for the past few years, and it gets better every time! There are some other awesome-sounding recipes that would be great for holidays on her blog, so check it out!

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This year I’m thinking about letting go of the cinnamon rolls. I really want to make gingerbread muffins. And if I make muffins, I don’t want to make cinnamon rolls. So I’m trying to figure out what to do. Knowing me, I’ll probably end up making both.. So I don’t know what I’m trying to decide on one for.

I’m also thinking about doing “ham” and “cheese” biscuits this year. Or maybe I’ll have both “ham” and “sausage”. Eh.. I just don’t know I’m still thinking about it.

But there will be scrambled tofu!

I’ve also decided to forget about the hot cocoa mix for my gift baskets. Now I’m debating on wheter or not to include a pancake mix. I’m also debating between regular pancake mix and  gingerbread pancake mix. But I’m already making Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies. So it might be weird to include two gingerbread items.

Do I put too much thought into this?

Oh well. Tomorrow is the big day for cooking! I’m making peanut brittle, chocolate truffles, and the chocolate gingerbread cookies. I kind of want to make sugar cookies, but I’m not sure if I will. Only time will tell.

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I am going to have a ridiculously hectic holiday this year. On Christmas Eve, I’m going to my grandmother’s at 10:30 in the morning for our holiday party. Around 12:00, I have to leave for work. I’ll probably be there until 7:00, and then I’ll be stopping by Jon’s mom’s house for their Christmas party. Hopefully I’ll be on my way home by 8:30 and can spend some time with my mom before getting into bed.

On Christmas Day, I’ll be getting up at 4 or 5 AM to see what Santa brought me. After I open my presents, I’ll be starting on breakfast. Jon will probably be here around 6:30 or so. Breakfast will be around 8:00. Around 12:00, I’ll be going to Jon’s house so that I can go with him and his dad to their family Christmas party, about an hour away. Then I’ll probably be home around 6:00.

Ridiculous.

At least I get to sleep in the next day!

I hope you all have wonderful holidays

- Andrea

Christmas Gift Basket Planning

In my last post, I was talking about what I wanted to include in my gift baskets this year. Well, I’ve narrowed things down a bit for now. Tonight I attempted some Christmas shopping and, in the process, found some components of my gifts baskets:

Gift Basket Planning

Basket: $1, Mug: $1, Plastic Canister: $1, Scented Candle: $1, Christmas Tree Gift Bags: $.25/each. So my gift baskets come to $4.25/each so far. I still need to pick up some some plastic baggies, but I think I’m pretty much set.

Here’s what I’ve decided to include (so far):

Hot Cocoa Mix, with instructions and a Candy Cane for a stir stick
Scented Holiday Candle (vanilla, cranberry, and cinnamon)
Homemade Peanut Brittle
Chocolate Truffles, rolled in various toppings
Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

Then I’m going to wrap it all up in a plastic gift basket bag and tie it up with a pretty, red ribbon.

And that’s all I have so far. I’m still in the planning process, but I already like this a lot better than giving away tins filled with mis-matched cookies and candies! I still want to add some kind of dip mix, but I don’t know if I’m going to.

I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping, so I’m finally starting to feel better about the whole holiday season. I hate buying presents, but I do like giving them.

Happy holidays!

- Andrea

Decking the Halls + Waking to a Winter Wonderland

Last night I finally got out my Christmas onrmants and decorations to accompany my lonely tree. My cats seemed very interested in the tree once it was lit up. They all took turns rubbing their faces on it and sitting underneath it, on the tree skirt. It was adorable, as you can see

Christmas Kitty

I don’t like “pretty” Christmas trees. I like fun, happy, sentimental trees. So my Christmas ornaments consist of cartoon and movie characters, as well as ornaments made by me as a child. I also throw in some red, gold, and green balls to fill in the empty space. I watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas (live action) while I decorated the tree.

Christmas ornaments

After I decorated my tree, I layed down on the couch and listened to Christmas music for about an hour. Then I went to bed and paged through an awesome book I checked out from the library earlier that day called The Spirit of Christmas: Gifts from the Kitchen.

This isn’t a vegan cookbook, but there are so many awesome ideas! I normally give out tins of the same cookies and candies, with some variation from year to year. But this year I wanted to do something different. I wanted to make little gift baskets filled with the best of the best cookies, along with some truffles and other chocolate candies. I also wanted to include small bags of homemade peanut brittle, and some hot chocolate mix. I’m also considering small loaves of holiday breads and/or dry soup mixes. I obviously won’t have the time or money to do all of these things, but that’s what I’m considering. I’m trying to narrow everything down right now.

After I woke up this morning, I watch Sandra Lee’s Semi-Homemade Holiday special on the Food Network.  She had some really cute packaging ideas for homemade food gifts.

When I finally walked out of my room, I was shocked to see that it had snowed during the night!

Peeking outside the window!

So I put on a jacket and some fuzzy slippers and went outside to take pictures of the pretty snow!

Looking down the street.

It normally doesn’t snow in Alabama until at least January. So it was nice to wake up to a winter wonderland this close to Christmas!

Holly berries.

I’m trying to work on my Christmas acitvity calendar right now, so I’m going to get back to that!

Happy Holiday!

- Andrea