I don't know about you, but I love Christmas, more than any other season in the year. Not so much for anything else but the simple comfort of spending undisturbed time with my family and experiencing the joy of the season in their company.
Brendy and I both enjoy sprucing up our homes to usher in the festive season, so we decided to share with you two ways that you can make this Christmas special, in the comforts of your home, with the people you love. You'd probably be surprised at how these simple activities can make this festive season feel more like it, and more importantly, how fun they can be when done together with your loved ones!
Christmas is always more fun with Christmas decorations
And as Brendy and I found, Christmas decorations don't necessarily need to be fancy, store-purchased stuff(that lose their usefulness once Christmas and the season is over) You can simply make them on your own with craft materials that you already own. Think: construction papers, scotch tape, thread, markers. Yes, that's about it!
Brendy and I put together our very own Christmas chain, hand-made without any printouts from the Internet(something that Brendy is especially proud of, if I may add) Handmade things always look pretty, no matter how you look at them. I was skeptical at first but after this experience of making our Christmas decorations by hand, I concede that I have been pleasantly surprised.
Our Christmas chain was pretty simple, consisting of an angel, some stars, a Christmas tree, candycane and gingerbread man that we drew by hand(more of Brendy really. She is the more artistic one between the two of us when it comes to drawing at least)
If you were wondering how to make the cone shapes of the angel and the Christmas tree, simply half your construction paper, and form a cone shape with it. Try to ensure that the cone is entirely enclosed at the top. After that is done, tape the two sides of the construction paper and proceed to cut away the excess paper to form a perfectly shaped cone.
Christmas wouldn't be the same without comforting breakfast/food.And easy, homemade comfort food almost always means some good pancakes!
Brendy and I made some a Carrot Cake Pancake Stack and can we just say that you should probably note down the recipe below because it was the absolute bomb.
Our stack was absolutely scrumptious-warm,fluffy pancakes slathered with layers of whipping cream, with crunchy carrot and pecan bits and vanilla accenting each bite; every bit worthy of being Christmas day food.
My mum, a huge carrot cake fan, said that it tasted so much like the cake itself, without half as much of the sinful stuff that goes into the actual carrot cake. She too loved the fluffy texture of the pancakes and how the pancake stack felt light with each bite despite the full flavors of the ingredients. Have we whet your appetite yet? Here is the recipe we used for our special Christmas pancake stack!
YIELD: 8 pancakes
PREP TIME: about 10 minutes
COOK TIME: 10 minutes
INGREDIENTS
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/3 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon(this really is based on your own preference. Brend and I love cinnamon so we added a lot of it in when we made it!)
- 1/3 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cups buttermilk
- *TIP: Instead of getting buttermilk from stores, Brendy shared with me that a good substitute would be to add vinegar to milk. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes before using it.
- 1/6 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/8 cup butter, melted
- *TIP: A good substitute for this would be to use oil. We used Olive oil for ours.
- 1 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1-2 teaspoons vanilla extract(based on your preference)
- 2/3 cups finely grated carrots (about 1 lb.)
- 1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
- 1/4 cup chopped golden raisins
- For the cream, you could simply use cool whip like we did(we purchased a non-fat version) or you could make your own cream cheese filling by simply creaming mascarpone cheese, sugar, and whipping cream.
- DIRECTIONS
- Stir together first 5 ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk together buttermilk and next 4 ingredients in another bowl. Gradually stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture just until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in carrots and next 2 ingredients. Pour about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake onto a hot buttered griddle or large nonstick skillet. Cook 3 to 4 minutes or until tops are covered with bubbles and edges look dry and cooked. Turn and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until done. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet, and keep warm in a 200° oven up to 30 minutes. Serve with Mascarpone Cream.
*TIP: you could definitely add more cream to make the layers between your stack more defined. But Brend and I didn't do that this time around because we aren't huge fans of cream despite the light non-fat version we used for this recipe.
- Recipe Adapted from Carrot Cake Pancakes by Southern Living
We really hope you enjoyed this post, and you try out the fun ideas we shared with you today.
(Please tell us what you think of them if you do try them out!) More importantly, Bren and I hope that you have the most blessed Christmas with your family and loved ones!
Before we go, we just want to say thank you again for stopping by to read the blog and for all the kind words of encouragement and support you have been giving us since we started a little over 2 weeks ago! We truly are thankful for every one of you and we can't wait for you to see what we have coming next in the next few days and with the new year around the corner. Till then, have an amazing day of good fun and good company (and good food to boot!)
Photo credits to Brendy, myself and my Mum
Love,
Mandy
