Merry Christmas to All!

To each and every one of you...Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

The Weather Followed Me

So while I was watching the satellite TV on the plane yesterday I happened upon some BC news where they kept talking about the snow storm that had hit the lower mainland and Vancouver Island. I knew there was snow in Nanaimo because I had talked to my Mom, but when I had checked with a friend in Victoria on Thursday it hadn't snowed here so I assumed the news wasn't talking about Victoria.

Oooops, you know what assuming does!!

When my plane had a touchdown in Edmonton I had a window of opportunity to use my cell phone, so I called my girlfriend here to find out the scoop and sure enough a little blizzard had blown through the southern island and Victoria got about 10cm of snow overnight. Oh yippee. Didn't I just leave that stuff? Minus 6 here yesterday (un-freaking-heard of) with lots of icy wind and disgusting slushy roads. Victoria is just so unprepared for snow. It's been 36 hours and some of the main roads are still a mess.

Oh well.

If only I had actually packed snow-appropriate footwear. Gah.

At least I'm happily seeing my friends and have a cozy place to stay and work. The snow is supposed to stay all week and the below zero weather has no plans to leave town. Hopefully it stays at bay and the highway is clear for Mom to pick me up next Monday.

Tis the Season to be Starbucked?

To keep up with the "corporate whoring" at Christmas I picked up a new Starbucks Christmas tree ornament today. There are two new ones...so I'm sure I'll be picking up the other one any day now! (and yes I know I shouldn't be buying myself these things this close to Christmas, but I can't risk the chance that no one will buy them for me and then they'll be sold out!)

Today's newbie:

Today's newbie on the tree:

Ornaments from years past on our tree this year:

The snow globe one really must be protected by the miracle of the corporate whore because all of my other snow globes were broken when we moved across the country (too cold, liquids froze and busted the glass) but it was the only one to survive the trip!

Holiday Time

There is always so much last minute stuff to get done before a trip, and I'm realizing that there is even more when you have to travel home for Christmas! My to-do list is going to keep me busy all day tomorrow...good thing I have to get up to take DBF to the airport for the crack of dawn anyway. I'll have time to pump myself full of coffee and then get to it....before a good night's sleep so I can catch my crack of dawn flight on Sunday.

DBF is off to Winnipeg to see his little boy for Christmas. His little man actually turns 5...time flies...a few days before Christmas so he gets to a lot of celebrating. It's a bit rough that we don't spend Christmas Day together, but I can only imagine that the smile on his boy's face while tearing through prezzies on Christmas morning makes it all undeniably worthwhile.

I will be heading home to Victoria and Nanaimo to see my lovely friends and family. Spending the first week in Victoria catching up with friends (and still working via laptop!), then up to Nanaimo to Mom's house through Christmas, with one last day in Victoria before my return flight home.

DBF and I are both flying home on the 29th. We make an effort to spend New Year's Eve together since Christmas is a toughy logistically. I have a red-eye flight so don't actually get home until the morning of the 30th, but the time difference buggers me up anyway so I'm going to be tired no matter what.

The great part is that we get an "extra Christmas" when we get home. Since we don't have Christmas Day together, we get to exchange gifties and carry on the Christmas festivities for ourselves. Who doesn't love an extended Christmas?!

Let it Snow!

...but only as long as my sweet DBF is home to do the shoveling!

Yup, all remnants of the big snow dump from a couple of weeks ago were gone. You would never have knowed it had snowed at all. Then last night while we slept, another few inches (6?) fell. We awoke to a Winter wonderland.

Which normally would have me cursing about shoveling...but not today! DBF made short work of it, and even dug out the car to go buy coffee. Yaaaiiieeeee! I would have been here suffering with tea and a sore shoulder and turning the air blue with my angry muttering.

(FYI: It's not that I don't like the snow...I actually do...but I hate the shoveling...mostly because I suck at it!)

I took this lovely photo from the bedroom window and cozy in my hoodie and slippers while DBF toiled away in the driveway:

Oh Christmas Tree

DBF got home on Friday...finally! Yaaaaieeeee!

I had waited for him to return so we could decorate our Christmas tree as this is one of his favorite Christmas traditions. We decided to buy a bunch of new decorations this year so we'd have something to call "ours", as opposed to "his stuff" and "her stuff" mashed together trying to make a semblence of something cohesive. So Saturday morning we set out to do just that...get our new decorations.

Thankfully it wasn't near as painful as we thought it might be. You know, shopping on one of the busiest shopping days of the year...with a hundred bazillion other people...after the shelves had already been seriously picked through. Not so bad, really. Whew.

We brought home our loot and decided to wait until it started to get dark before embarking on the actual decorating. DBF put together a CD of holiday tunes while I sifted through our existing ornaments to see what we could still use. Turns out a lot more of his stuff matched our new theme and a lot of mine was mismatched from too many years of collecting a lot of crap. In the end, I even ended up deciding that even though it was my turn to put my angel topper on the tree his Santa looked better. She's too silvery for the gold and red theme, so instead she earned herself a spot as a tabletop decoration.

DBF took on the task of putting the tree together (I helped fluff!) and stringing the lights (the most monotonous part) before it got dark in the room. Oh, I put on the beaded garland though (with some help as I got tangled around the base...lol). Then we put on our festive tunes, poured some wine and got to decorating. We were worried that we might not have enough new stuff, but with our new red bows the tree filled out nicely. (Now, if only my camera took decent night time shots...booo to the blurry!)

Recipe - Chocolate Toffee Bars

I had originally posted this on my other blog, but realized that it should be over here!

New addition to the Xmas baking repetoire. Warning: not healthy at all! These were super easy to make, very tasty, and would freeze like a dream.

Chocolate Toffee Bars

2 cups flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 cup pecan pieces, toasted
another 1/2 cup brown sugar
another 2/3 cup butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

-Preheat over to 350 degrees.
-Line 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper (leave edges sticking up for easy removal and cutting of squares).
-Mix flour, 1 cup brown sugar, and butter pieces until mixture resembles course crumbs. (I used my pastry cutter.) Mixture will be very dry. Press into prepared pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over the base.
-Melt remaining butter and brown sugar together in a saucepan, stirring constantly. Boil one minute. Pour over pecans.
-Bake 18-20 minutes, until topping is bubbling.
-Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let stand 3-5 minutes, then carefully spread melted chocolate to cover.
-Once pan is cool enough, cool in refrigerator until chocolate sets. (at least 2 hours but overnight is best).
-Use parchment to lift entire thing out of pan, then cut into squares.

Enjoy!

Favorite Christmas Baking?

I have a few signature treats that I tend to make every year now...my Nanaimo Bars in particular are finally starting to look and taste just like my Mom's. :) I may not make those this year though because they are hard to transport without them getting all melty and squishy. I want to make a few things that I can bring home to Victoria, as well as share with our friends here.

I'm thinking of making some kind of almond bark...I have a few interesting combinations in mind. Probably also a batch or two of butter tarts because those are easy and DBF's favorite. I usually do whipped shortbread too...so maybe a batch of that because my Mom loves it and if I pack it in a tin it will do fine in my suitcase. I want to do baskets for a few of the neighbors that have been good to me when I'm here alone so I think I'll dig out my recipes and see what strikes my fancy tonight.

What I'd like to know is if any of you have some fun ideas that you've come across or that you always do that you would like to share? I saw Carolyn had all kinds of neat stuff from her baking exchange. And I just know someone must have a great recipe for gingerbread men, or some other festive cookies/bars/balls that we should all know about.

Bring em on!

Shopping with the girls

As most of you have probably read either on my other blog or on Angie's blog, there was some girl time spent on Saturday that involved two of my favorite corporate obsessions (yes I know I have issues!)...lululemon and Starbucks.

Thanks to my girl Tiffaney's lovely birthday gift I had a lulu gift card burning a whole in my purse, so I was excited to go in and find something new. I had picked out a warm-up jacket online, but in reality it wasn't as cute or as long as I thought. That was OK though because they have these new to/from jackets that were really quite cute, long and less sporty so I can wear it for many more occasions. :)

This is the Full Medal Jacket. Cute, right?

I particularly love the high collar, the dual layer long sleeve cuffs, and the length...my tushy always gets cold. :)

I also finally got a new BPA-free water bottle. Yaaieee for chemical-free drinking at the gym! I like the new bottle design...all covered with lulu affirmations (such as "friends are more important than money." nice.)