Merry Christmas to all!

I want to wish all of you a very merry Christmas!

I spent my Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) at Matiti's house. It was great, since it was just next door.

We had a whole roasted lechon made in the caja china.

My brother, Angel, and my cousin, Marc, had pig duties. They did a great job, it was delicious.

It was a great night spent with friends and family. And, of course, my partner-in-crime, Abuela.

Christmas morning we had brunch here at my house. Mom put out quite a spread.

After we pigged out, it was time to open gifts.

We had a great morning and then it was time to just relax and enjoy the rest of day.

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas surrounded by friends and family, food and fun.

Decking the halls

It's finally December and Thanksgiving is done, so it was officially time to get busy decking the halls this weekend.

First, I had to deck out the Christmas tree. I went with red and gold balls and red ribbons. I also added some gold leaves and red icicles.

Then I it was time to put up our village. The village seems to keep growing and growing, but I think I may have to cut it off now, cause I have run out of places to plug them all in.

Then I prettied up the dining room table with a Christmas tablecloth and one of Mom's stuffed christmas trees, and I can't forget the snowman salt and pepper shakers.

I put the nativity set and a garland in the front entrance.

This nativity is new to us this year. It was my dear Tia Erenia's set, and after her passing last year her granddaughter brought it to us. Grandma wanted to put this one up, so I placed it right as you walk in.

I wanted to make the other side of the house festive too, so I hung wreaths on the bedroom doors.

And finally, a few wreaths on the outside doors too.

It's finally starting to feel like Christmas around here. Now, I'm just hoping for a few more days of chillier weather to make it really feel Christmas-y.

Noche Buena 2011

Noche Buena (Christmas Eve) is when the big dinner is for my family. And it's the typical Cuban/Puerto Rican feast: lechon, congris, yuca, pasteles, pan y ensalada (that's roast pork, black beans and rice--cooked together, yucca, Puerto Rican tamales, bread and salad).

My godfather, Patiti, was doing the pig this year. It was still cooking up in the caja china when we got there. The caja china is a roaster, were you put the pig on a tray and then cover the box and top it with charcoal. This makes a kind of oven and you can roast a whole pork with no problem. Plus it comes out so delicious. While Mr. Piggie kept on cooking, we sat and chatted with the family enjoying some cocktails... some even included my Cranberry-Orange Infused Vokda.

Mom & Pop

Abuela & Me

Tia Erenia & Abuela

waiting for pig time

Finally the pig was ready and it was time to get him out of the box. My brother, Angel, and cousin, Marc, helped Patiti get the pig out and then carve it up. It looked so delicious.

Here's a hint if you're ever at a pig roast. Just go take pics of the pig being taken out and you can sneak a taste when the cooks sneak a taste too. It was super hot, but really yummy.

Inside the house in the kitchen, Mom was peeling up some pasteles she had made. Then the rest of the food made it out to the food table and it was time to eat.

Such a great spread! It also included my Mom's famous mojito (not the drink, but the condiment), to pour all over the yuca and the pork. 

After dinner we had some shots of coquito. Coquito is kind of like Puerto Rican egg nog but coconut-y and with lots of rum. You take it in small shot form, not a big cup like egg nog. (Sorry I don't have pics of it!)

It was another great Noche Buena with family and delicious food.

How was everyone else's Christmas? I hope you all ate well, enjoyed your family and had fun with your presents from Santa!

Handmade Christmas gifts

Now a year couldn't go by without me making some gifts for the season. So this past Sunday, after I dropped off Grandma at her Christmas sisters brunch, I got busy and got to making my handmade goodies.

I used to make cookies for all of my friends and co-workers every year. But my boss makes these amazing cookies that he's famous for, so I had to switch it up. After making cake pops at the  Handmade Miami cake pop crafter-noon we had earlier this year, I though they would make a great gift for my co-workers. So I baked off a chocolate cake and got down to business.

I was browsing Bakerella's site and the Christmas cake pops she had were so cute! I was gonna try to make the reindeer ones, but I forgot to buy the red candies for the noses, so I made the santa hats instead. Once I got the hang of it it wasn't that hard. The worst part was the dipping. After I was all done, I found out that I should've thinned out the candy melts with some shortening. Oh well, maybe next time. I made about 15 santa hats and got over the triple dipping it required, so then I just made round cake pops. I made a full batch, which is about 55 (I got 57, but had a few cake pop casualties along the way).

I wrapped up the cake pops and attached a cute little tag and handed them out at work. Everyone went crazy for them. And how cute do they look?

While my cake balls were chilling, I had time to make some cranberry orange vodka for my friends. I can't take credit for this, it's all Martha. The recipe is so easy. I made two batches and was able to fill the two smaller and one larger bottle. You just have to do this with a few days of advance notice of when you're gifting it, because it needs at least 3 days (the more the better) to infuse.

So those are this year's handmade gifts (so far at least). Are any of you handmaking any gifts this year?

Holiday gift guide

Yeah this may be kinda late, but after seeing all of the gift guides out there, I had to share my own!

So here are some holiday gift ideas (that are reasonably priced):

For your Mom:
This is what my mom asked Santa for this year. And from what I've heard its awesome. Why not get your mom the book and the movie?

The Help (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

$24.99 on Amazon

For your Dad (or Pop, like I call my dad):
Ok, so all these gift guides tell you to get your dad golf accessories or ties or tools. This stuff doesn't work with my dad. He doesn't golf, has no use for more ties and has every tool known to man. But Pop loves history stuff, especially anything about "the War" (that's WWII). He has this book and really loves it.

The Pacific by Hugh Ambrose

$15.35 on Amazon

For your brother:
I have two brothers. Two people that I always have a helluva time shopping for. They are musicians, but they have every musical instrument and gadget known to man. But how about this awesome gadget wallet? It even has a pick pocket. They can keep all their stuff together with this.

Nerd Herder gadget wallet

$29.00 on rockitbot on Etsy

For your grandma:
My grandma loves puzzles, she does about one a week. And they can't be too easy or she just won't like it. This one is pretty and at 1000 pieces, it should keep her busy for a while... well, at least a week.

La Grande Jatte 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle

$15.98 on Amazon

For the little boys in your life:
Who doesn't love Legos? This starter kit is pefect for any little guy to start building.

LEGO Bricks & More My First LEGO Set

$15.99 at Toys R Us

For the baby girls in your life:
Every girl needs a pair of Mary Janes and just cause you're a baby shouldn't mean you shouldn't look fashionable too. Aren't these too adorable for words?

Mary Janes Crochet Baby Shoes

$12.50 on Naptime Stitches on Etsy

For your BFF:
My BFF can't get enough notebooks, pens and pencils. Why not get her a pretty notebook she wouldn't get herself?

Crewel Embroidery Fabric Covered Journal

$19.95 on Barnes & Noble

NOTE: To my family and friends that may be reading this. These may or may not be the gifts I have gotten for you. Any similarity to gifts past or present is purely coincidental.

I hope you have all at least started your shopping for this holiday season. And if you haven't I hope my gift guide gave you some ideas to get started.

Five Faves: My favorite Christmas movies

I've decided to share some of my favorites, my five faves. Here's the first list, my five fave Christmas movies.

There are so many Chrismas movies on now, that I had to share some of my favorites. These are the movies that it just wouldn't be Christmas without for me. So here in no particular order are my five faves.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966)
It isn't really the holidays to me until I see the Grinch on TV. I just love everything about this holiday special. The Grinch is awesome, I love the Whos in Whoville, but my favorite has to be the Grinch's dog. Poor little guy had to pull that heavy sleigh! But the Grinch's heart growing at the end is sure to warm anyone's heart. Christmas isn't about the presents or the tree it's about sharing and being with family.

Scrooged (1988)
No Christmas movie list would be complete without a Christmas Carol interpretation, and this one with Bill Murray is my favorite. Scrooged is Bill Murray at the top of his game (post-Ghostbusters, yet waaay before his comeback). He is hilariously cruel as Frank Cross, the TV exec who is Scrooge to the core. The supporting cast is awesome too. The ghosts of Christmas past and present are great and Bobcat Goldthwait as a disgrunteled ex-employee is just hilarious. By the end he learns the true meaning of Christmas, but there are plenty of laughs on your way there.

Home Alone (1990)
Kevin McCallister is left home alone when his family flies to France for the holidays and he's left home alone. Since he's all alone, he watched movies he's not allowed to (old-school black and white gangster flicks) and orders pizza. He runs around and has fun. He has to defend his house when he realizes two burglars are preparing to rob it. Kevin misses his family though, especially at Christmas. When Kevin rigs the house to defend against the robbers it's awesome. Any kid dreams of setting up traps like that. p.s. If you can watch this with my mom, please do. It makes her laugh hysterically!

The Holiday (2006)
I didn't discover this movie until I caught it on cable by chance, but it has quickly become one of my favorites. Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz (she's my only issue with the movie) trade houses for the holidays to try to escape from their breakups and lives for a while. The life switch is great for both of them Kate's character ends up in Los Angeles and meets Jack Black. Shockingly Jack Black is adorable and charming in this role. Cameron's character ends up in England with Jude Law. 'Nuff said. This movie is just so cute and enchanting and has the feel of those old movies. Definitely check this one out.

Love Actually (2003)
This was billed as the "ultimate romantic comedy" and it is, but it is also my ultimate Christmas movie. It's 9 different storylines (that all connect somehow) all about love at Christmas (though not necessarily because of Christmas. I love all of the stories (though not the Keira Knightly one too much). Bill Nighy is awesome as the aging rocker trying to make a Christmas comeback, and the guy wanting to go to America to get a girl is hilarious too. By the end you're sure to get teary and feel all warm and fuzzy inside. There is a story in here for everyone, so if you haven't seen it, you should.

Now there are a few honorable mentions that just missed the five faves list:

Die Hard (1988)
Hanz Gruber taking over the office building while your wife's Christmas party is going on? John McClane to the rescue. And Bruce Willis has to walk on glass, barefoot. Awesome action movie, and Christmas-y to boot. Yippe ki-yay mother f*cker!

White Christmas (1954)
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and a young svelte Rosemary Clooney are putting on an act to help save a failing Vermont inn. Of course love happens in the process too. This isn't where the song originated (that was the movie, Holiday Inn--also a great movie), but you'll hear it here too.

Those are my favorites for Christmastime. What are your favorite Christmas movies?

Christmas-time is here

And now my house has its halls fulled decked!

I changed it up a bit this year and borrowed my mom's white Christmas tree. Yes I'm a fake tree person, with my allergies I can't imagine how I'd feel with that pine scent in my house for a month. I'd also like to say that whoever decided to make pre-lit trees is a genius. How I hate stringing the lights, but these pre-lit trees are so easy!

Here's my tree all done! I used all red balls and green ribbons. (BTW, my red riding hood cape is the tree skirt!) I think it came out pretty good. It was nice to change it up this year with the white tree. The tree has multicolored lights, so it looks pretty when it's all lit up.

My next decoration was the village. This village takes over the living room coffee table. We have 15 assorted houses. They are all different brands and slightly different scales, but we make them work. Grandma loves having the village out. She actually wants to get some more houses.

I also threw up some garland on the gate that separates the dining and living rooms. I added a few red bows to go with my red decorations on the tree. On the side table there is also a vase that I filled with all of the red poinsettias that we had. I think it's a great way to make a normal vase a little more christmas-y.

The Nativity that we have is too big to put under the tree, so we put it in the foyer. I hang up a pretty garland around the mirror and use the table for the nativity. I also string some lights in the garland and use the rest to give the Nativity some light. It looks so pretty when you walk into the house.

All that's left now is to put the Christmas tablecloth on the table and we're good to go all season. I love having the house all done up. I dread the time it takes, but always love it once it's done. Plus, between Mom, Grandma and I we have so many decorations that we can really change up the look.

Have you put up your Christmas/holiday decorations yet? Do you have a look you go for?

J is for Jolly

I LOVE Christmas! And this year I did make some gifts, but opted not to make all of them just to save my own sanity.

This year I planned ahead and had all of my gift ready to go with a full week before christmas. I even managed to finish up the gifts I was making before leaving to Noche Buena dinner on the 24th. That was a HUGE accomplishment for me! Especially, since I was having some overnight guests that night. Somehow it all managed to get done, the house cleaned, the gifts wrapped and me all cute.

Here's me and Abuela on Noche Buena (Christmas Eve). Abuela makes the best pork for Christmas. And it was as delicious as ever this year. A plate of rice and beans and pork and I was set. If I can only have one thing for Christmas, it would definitely be Abuela pork. Though nothing can replace Abuelo's whole pork cooked in the "Caja China." It was an all day event for him to get the pork cooked, but man was it worth it. Needless to say, for me, it's just not Christmas without pork.

Here's my Christmas tree. I got a new pre-lit tree this year and it's the best. Not having to deal with putting on the lights just made it so much faster. I tend to get allergies, so a real tree is out of the question in my house, plus I'm sure the animals would just have too much fun with a real tree. I definitely have a red, green and silver theme to my decor, but I do put up some special ornaments that we've collected over the years. This year's special edition, was the Starship Enterprise (yes from Star Trek). It even lights up. I put it prominently on the tree, cause it was just too cute.

We had a great Christmas this year, and I hope you all had a great holiday too, no matter what you celebrate! And may 2009 bring you lots of luck and joy, health and happiness!