This post is dedicated to Taylor and Katelyn, two wonderful women with whom I work and were kind enough to ask about my blog. I hope this helps Katelyn and other moms out there who are looking for Elf ideas because seriously, who ever thought adding something else to the holidays was a good idea!?

Besides my love of baking, I love painting and crafting. That includes watercolor painting and making all manner of decorations for the holidays. After living in the city for years, and not having room for my supplies, I put that part of myself away for a bit. This post is to share what we’ve been doing more recently. I hope to update it regularly with new artwork and crafts to see what you think. 

As you can tell from my other blog posts, I love baking. So holiday baking is one of my favorite activities. I get to really experiment and bust out new recipes too. Finding great recipes is tricky. There are so many blogs out there, it can be overwhelming. So this post is really designed to help you take the work out of it, because I’ve tried all these recipes with success.

Let’s be honest. Turkey doesn’t taste like much. Okay, I expect some hate here. I didn’t say I don’t like turkey. In fact, I love it but let’s be honest, like a lot of pasta and most tofu, turkey is a delivery system for better tasting stuff, like gravy and cranberry sauce. If you don’t cook it right, turkey is a gamey, dry-ass bird with no flavor. I feel like there are two methods: dry-brining/basting, or brining.

Dolores is a “ghost” I created a few years ago to continue building our outdoor Halloween decor. When I decided to make a second Dolores or Dolores V2, I figured I would name her another old fashioned name, like Gwendolyn or Gertrude. Alas, my 8 year old had an opinion, and decided we should name her Zolores. The rest is, as they say, history.

Anyone who knows me, or is one of our neighbors, knows my husband and I LOVE Halloween. Using the word “love” here. Even before we had a kiddo to celebrate with us, we had parties, decorating, visited Salem, MA and generally enjoyed Halloween. Now, with a kid, it’s even more fun. With the addition of getting costumes, trick or treating, giving out candy in a great trick or treat neighborhood, and “booing” which I didn’t know was a thing until 2020, it’s such a blast! 

Holidays are tough. We try to follow some guidelines that help us pick gifts for our little guy, and maybe they’ll help you too.