Our Little Lumberjack Is A Wild One!

He's a year old now, the little man, I can't believe it! Time flies, don't blink because it will pass you by.  He is our Jaxson, Jax and Jaxy, handsome boy, the little man, sweet boy, cutie pie and we love being his Nonna and Pop.  His mommy and daddy planned his First Birthday with a Lumberjack themed party with lots of great food.  I was in charge of decorations, and a lot of buffalo check and wood decor was what I ordered up for his special day. It was an awesome day, and I am sure he had a great time with his first taste of birthday cake and all the festivities.

It was like he knew they were his party decorations and could not wait to open the box.

Nonna got a little crazy and made a wreath for the front door to greet party guests.

I baked his birthday cake and it was decorated by cousin Kristin. It was delicious!

He was waiting for everyone to get here, he's ready to party! Mommy bought him a party themed shirt to wear.

Banners....

 Banners.....

 And more banners.....

 ........Everywhere!

Wood grain and buffalo check party themed paper plates and napkins from Party City.

 I wrapped up knives and forks in the party themed napkin, put into paper bags decorated with ax stickers. Stood them up in a wooden box so they were easy to grab. I got lots of help from his Aunt GiGi.

 He's KING of the lumberjacks! High chair banner and buffalo check and fur party hat from Amazon.

 His smash cake with a campfire on top.

      

A special table for cards and gifts.

Party boy opening his gifts.

 Lantern string lights and rag garland were around his gift table. 

His party favors were s'mores in a cellophane bag with custom made lumberjack labels. I chose to use square graham crackers, instead of the regular size ones, so I didn't have to break them myself, they are perfectly sized to make the s'more bags.

Cardboard camp fire decorations are from Hobby Lobby and custom labels from Zazzle.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET BOY! Nonna and Pop love you to the moon and back!💗

Christmas Dinner Table Scape

I hope you all had wonderful holidays filled with love, family and friends.  Our Christmas Eve was spent with my daughter and her boyfriend at their home, with lots of great food, family and friends.  Christmas day was celebrated at our home surrounded by our family, and again with great food.  We started the day off with a big breakfast, and as tradition follows, it was appetizer time.  They all look forward to the appetizers and pick all day until dinner.  As the day progressed, everyone played catch up and got intenseley involved with board games.  I served a fantastic dinner of Prime Rib with Bearnaise Sauce, Sauteed Portobello Mushrooms, Au Gratin Potatoes, Roasted Green Beans and warm rolls.  I also made a Ham Glazed with Pineapple, Brown Sugar, Orange Juice and Ginger Ale (the way my mom use to make it).  Next up, Dessert - Homemade Vanilla Bean Cake with Chocolate Butter Cream Frosting, Lemon Meringue Pie and Brownies with Vanilla Ice Cream, and not to forget, all the homemade cookies and candies. Our house is an all day food fest!  Stuffed, yes we were, and if anyone went home hungry it was their own fault!

I spruced up my table scape (from the cookie party) and switched out a few things.  I set it with a pine green tablecloth, burlap and silver runner, red and silver chargers, Christmas china, red velvet ribbon, red napkins and party favors that I made up.  The party favors were little red and white striped boxes, tied with Joy, Noel and Star glitters tags, stuffed with green shred and 2 instant lottery tickets, so everyone had a little (non- food) treat when they sat down. And yes, we did have a few winners on those tickets!

Christmas Peek!

I am gearing up for my annual Christmas Cookie Baking Party (it has been affectionately called a sweat shop), so I thought I would get into the spirit by looking at some pictures of Christmas from years gone by.  These are pictures of some decorations that I have collected or made over the years.  I like to have the whole house decorated by the time the baking party rolls around.  The decorations and the Christmas music, get all of us moving and shaking to get our cookies baked.  I usually have 6 - 8 people baking hundreds and hundreds of cookies on that day in my kitchen.  Everyone contributes to the ingredients so the expense is minimal. My kitchen has double ovens so we can bake 8 sheets at a time, a time saver!  We stop just long enough to have a really nice lunch, that I prepare for everyone, and then it's back to work.  I will also say, that there may be some drinking involved while we are baking!  After we are all done, about 8-10 hours later, everyone gets to take home a huge tray loaded with a variety of Christmas cookies to share with family and friends.  This year there will be about 15 - 20 different cookies that we will need to bake, and I WILL be cracking the whip!

This is one of the cookies we made last year, flaky pastry Bow Cookies with Fruit Filling, dusted with 10X sugar.

And Chocolate Drop Cookies with Sprinkles.  These two cookies were added last year to our list.

Christmas tree up, then lit.  I love my tree.

And so does Jessie! He's keeping warm under the lights.

 The stockings were hung by the chimney with care....

 In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.    Some Santa's I have collected over the years.

 And don't ya just love a snowman! They make me happy.

My little kitchen tree is decorated with small rusty kitchen utensils and snowmen.

 Table set for Christmas Cookie Party Luncheon with silver, gold, ivory and green

Rustic Handmade Merry Christmas Banner made from stock and scrapbook paper.