Happy New Year's Eve!!

Enjoy your final moments of 2010!

[source]

And We're Off!

Merry Christmas!!! Heading off to our family vacation in Whistler, BC. Writing this from my phone at the airport. Have a lovely holiday! Many pictures and stories to come :)

A Martin Christmas

As mentioned in a previous post, the Martin family had their 2nd annual Christmas dinner and light viewing party at me and my sister's place!  It was a lot of fun.  My sister (2.5 years older than me) pretty much did everything, from the beautiful decorations (I chipped in by creating the red banner that says "Merry Christmas"), veggie chili, a colorful salad, and warm apple cake with ice cream.  

After dinner, we, once again, crammed into my parent's SUV and took off to the neighborhood next to us (yes, we "neighbor" the ritzy area of Dallas) for some amazing Christmas light viewing.  We're getting ready to head out for a long winter vacation so we also opened some presents!  (I got an awesome cookbook that I can't wait to use.)

The food, company & laughter made for a memorable evening!  Check out the pics below of our cozy apartment during Christmas time.  (Please excuse the sorta blurry images.  They were taken with my iPhone, but I tried to doctor a few with an app.)

What diet?!

As some of you may experience at Christmas, all kinds of treats make their way into the office just in time for that so-called diet.  You've gotta move past that.  It's the holidays.  Naturally, you eat a lot.  And most the time, it's not so good for you things.

Featured in my office today, were the following goodies...

An assortment of just-out-of-the-oven cookies from Tiff's Treats

(the "congrats" is for my new position)

Delicious filled-with-holiday-spirit cupcakes (48 of them) from Sprinkles

And another box of wrapped cookie goodness from Mrs. Fields.  Oh, and candy bags and chocolates that came earlier in the week.  Yep, you bet.  It's bad, but so very good at the same time :)

Happy Friday, all, and happy eating!

Preppin' for Christmas

I have a lot going on this week in preparation for Christmas holiday/vacation, not to mention all the celebratory parties, so please excuse the lack of creativity in my posts this week :)

What are your big plans for this Christmas season?

Light 'Em Up

How many of you light up for Christmas?  Last year, my sister and I hosted a small family holiday dinner party at our place.  After the meal, all 6 of us Martins crammed into my parent's SUV for a trip around the ritzy neighborhood of Dallas to see Christmas lights.  It was amazing!  Pretty sure all of those home owners hired professionals, but how many of you out there are DIY-ers or do you hire?  What's a must outdoor decoration for Christmas?

This is a picture of one of the houses from last year.  Each jack in the box is a person from that family.  I wonder how much those cost??!

Shine On!

Looking for a holiday get up that will literally catch the eye of everyone in the room?  Look no further than Nordstrom.  Talk about ultra slim 'n shine ;)

What a Treat!

Can I tempt you with this edible cuteness?!  Check these out and more at Bright Ideas.

Oh! Christmas Tree

You've seen 'em before - the Christmas tree alternative.  I mean, heck, if you've got the skill, the creativity, or the spunk to pull it off, I say go for it!

These are my faves...

[sources: woodandwoolstool fairychav boingboing]

Gingerbread House Topper

What a darling idea for those hot holiday drinks!  A tiny gingerbread house made to perch on your coffee mug.  This creative idea comes with a tutorial so be sure to check it out!  (P.S. I just found not martha and I can't wait to dig in after this find!!)

*A fun fact (if you didn't know already): Starbucks makes what's known as a Zebra Hot Chocolate - not listed on the menu.  It's a mix of regular chocolate and white chocolate.  Supposedly it tastes better than their original hot chocolate, but it's not as sweet as a white mocha.  Can't wait to try this out!  

Christmas In A Lunch Box

No way, how cute is this holiday lunch box?!!

This creative mom included "snowballs" - popcorn with snowflake sprinkles, a snowman made out of a boiled egg with a carrot nose, and cheddar cheese mittens!  How fun!!

Trim That Tree!

How many of you have your tree up and decorated?  I must say, for those that do, I am jealous!  Since I live in an apartment and will be out of town for a good chunk of the holiday, my sister and I only have up our small table top tree with minimal ornaments... but I will say, it's cute!

No matter your tree size, it's still gotta have that Christmas style!  Check out these cute DIY ornaments.  (Click on each name for the source.)  Have any you'd like to share?

Yarn & Candy Ornaments

Puzzle Piece Ornaments

Simple Sewn Bird Ornaments

(And while you're at it, check out the super cute tree on this blog!)

Wood, Drill, & Yarn Ornaments

Peppermint Candy Wreath Ornament

Pink Christmas Ornaments

And my favorite, the Diorama Holiday Ornaments

A Christmas Carol Pop-Up

One of my all-time favorite Christmas stories is Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.  The Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, & Future and the adventures they lead Ebenezer Scrooge on, make for the most entertaining story line and the characters become so dear to you once you're engaged in the story.

When I was younger, almost every holiday season, my grandparents would purchase tickets for our family for the live performance of A Christmas Carol at the Alley Theatre in Houston.  The story is even more amazing on stage!

I was pretty thrilled to find this beautiful pop up book of the holiday tale.  I simply can't pass this up.  Both the artist, Chuck Fischer, and Bruce Foster, the paper engineer, created an amazing depiction of the story.

An Edible Christmas Present

These little treats can be found on one of my favorite food blogs, Tartelette.  It's an older post so you may have seen it around, but it came back to me, during a search, just in time for the holidays!  Why does it remind me of Christmas?  Well, don't they look like little edible presents to you? :)

Visit Tartelette and discover the delicious recipe for the Vanilla Bean Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwiches!  "On the Sweet Side of Life"