Hot Cocoa Bar

One of my favorite holiday traditions is setting up my annual hot cocoa bar. I first started in 2013 after getting the idea from a blogger I followed, so this year marks its 4th appearance. Back in 2013, I mentioned that we're not much of hot cocoa fans and that's still the case. Although we do enjoy a nice steaming mug while setting up the Christmas tree. However, I like being able to offer a seasonal beverage to guests when they visit amidst all the holiday activities.

My hot cocoa bar has evolved over the years (As has my photography...at least I hope!) and I think I like it more this year than any other year. Half of the Black Friday shopping I did was at Anthropologie stocking up on festive goodies for the bar. (The other half was Christmas PJs at J.Crew, to be honest.) I truly cannot wait to enjoy some hot cocoa by the fire and Christmas tree (but not a Christmas tree on fire!) in our matching monogramed mugs with my boyfriend. I'm sure we'll be watching The Holiday, our favorite Christmas film.

Monogram Mug | Mitten Shakers | Gingerbread Snowflakes | Marshmallow Snowflakes | Fair Isle Ball Garland | Reindeer | Tray (Similar)

Deck the Mantle

I'm not usually one to "skip Thanksgiving", but without plans until the evening before, I decided to spend my Thanksgiving Eve decorating for Christmas (and baking gingerbread). Over the last few years, I've accumulated quite the Christmas decoration collection and even just getting the boxes out of the closet brings me so much joy! I generally spend my down time in my room, but during the holidays when the house is decorated, you can find me in the living room by the fire! I've been counting down to Christmas for months (because my boyfriend is visiting for 2 weeks over the holidays), so finally being able to decorate for Christmas has been quite exciting. Needless to say, I went a bit crazier than normal and actually let Christmas seep out into other areas of the house, not just the living room.

Birds | Stockings | Nativity Scene | Merry Christmas Banner | Red Beaded Garland | Holly Spray

December 2016 Goals

{ S P I R I T U A L }

November 2016: Set up a plan for K2 and put together the necessary materials. 2/2

December 2016: Go to church every weekend this month.

{ F I N A N C I A L }

November 2016: Get my credit card's outstanding balance under $1,000. 0/2

December 2016: Get my credit card's outstanding balance under $1,000.

{ R E L A T I O N A L }

November 2016: N/A

December 2016: Have an Elf-inspired date night while Luke is visiting.

{ S O C I A L }

November 2016: Do something nice for a friend. 1/2

December 2016: Plan a gathering with friends.

{ M E N T A L }

November 2016: Finish a book. 2/2

December 2016: Read before bed 3 nights a week instead of watching TV.

{ P H Y S I C A L }

November 2016: Finish the See Your Strong Challenge with 25 points. 0/2

December 2016: Do 30 minutes of activity (according to my Fitbit) 3 days a week.

{ P E R S O N A L }

November 2016: Only get Starbucks once a week. 0/2

December 2016: Only get Starbucks twice a week.

{ P R O F E S S I O N A L }

November 2016: Be at the desk 30 minutes before every class starts. 2/2

December 2016: Change my attitude.

My 25 Days of Christmas Films

There was one glorious year when somehow ABC Family was included in my family's very basic cable plan. That was the year I got introduced to 25 Days of Christmas and my life was forever changed. Of course we all know that some of the films they show in their annual Christmas film marathon aren't even Christmas films. Don't get me wrong, I'll take any excuse to dive headfirst into the Wizarding World of Harry Potter (Is that trademarked?), but those are hardly Christmas films! So last year I make a list of all the Christmas films I try to watch every year, ranging from classics to current to cheesy. Whether I'm frosting holiday cookies or curled up by the fire place, it's a nice way to spend a December evening.

12 Dates of Christmas
Cheesy
A story that follows Kate, a young woman who after a horrible blind date on Christmas Eve, wakes up to find she is re-living that same day and date all over again.
Starring: Amy Smart, Mark-Paul Gosselaar
{Available on Netflix}

Christmas Cupid
Cheesy
Sloane is a beautiful, stylish woman on the fast track to success in her public relations firm when a starlet client, Caitlin, dies. Caitlin immediately becomes Sloane's own personal "Jacob Marley" (the Christmas Carol ghost) ushering in the spirits of Christmas past, present, and future - all in the guises of Sloane's former boyfriends. Sloane finds out first hand that her unethical ways and workaholic habits need to change and that reuniting with one of the past lovers whom she jilted may be the answer for a happy-ever-after life.
Starring: Christina Millian, Ashley Benson, Chad Michael Murray
{Available on Freeform Online}

A Christmas Story
Classic
In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
Starring: Melinda Dilon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley

Christmas with the Kranks
Current
With their daughter away, the Kranks decide to skip Christmas altogether until she decides to come home, causing an uproar when they have to celebrate the holiday at the last minute.
Starring: Tim Allen, Jamie Lee Curtis
{Available on Netflix}

Desperately Seeking Santa
Cheesy
Jennifer, a young, ambitious executive running promotions at a failing Boston mall comes up with a genius promotional gimmick to save her workplace and position herself for advancement: hold a "Hunky Santa" contest to replace the old Mall Santa. David, a local man trying to save his family's pizzeria, ultimately wins the contest and sparks fly between him and Jennifer. However, complications ensue when it comes to light that the company Jennifer works for is the same one trying to run David's family out of business.
Starring: Nick Zano, Laura Vandervoort
{Available on Freeform Online}

Elf
Current
After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity.
Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan

The Family Stone
Current
An uptight, conservative businesswoman accompanies her boyfriend to his eccentric and outgoing family's annual Christmas celebration and finds that she's a fish out of water in their free-spirited way of life.
Starring: Sarah Jessica Parker, Diane Keaton, Rachel McAdams

The Holiday
Current
Two women troubled with guy-problems swap homes in each other's countries, where they each meet a local guy and fall in love.
Starring: Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet
{Available on Freeform Online}

Holiday in Handcuffs
Cheesy
A struggling artist working as waitress kidnaps one of her customers to bring home and meet her parents at Christmas.
Starring: Melissa Joan Hart, Mario Lopez
{Available on Freeform Online}

Holidaze
Cheesy
A corporate workaholic wakes up in an alternate universe, married to her childhood sweetheart.
Starring: Jennie Garth, Cameron Mathison

How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Classic
On the outskirts of Whoville, there lives a green, revenge-seeking Grinch who plans on ruining the Christmas holiday for all of the citizens of the town.
Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen

I'll Be Home for Christmas
Cheesy
A college student experiences difficulty in getting home for Christmas after being hazed by his friends. While struggling to get home in time for Christmas, he learns quite a bit about himself and the true meaning of the holiday.
Starring: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel

Jack Frost
Classic
A father, who can't keep his promises, dies in a car accident. One year later, he returns as a snowman, who has the final chance to put things right with his son before he is gone forever.
Starring: Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston

Jingle All the Way
Classic
A father vows to get his son a Turbo Man action figure for Christmas, however, every store is sold out of them, and he must travel all over town and compete with everybody else in order to find one.
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sinbad

Last Holiday
Current
Upon learning of a terminal illness, a shy woman (Queen Latifah) decides to sell off all her possessions and live it up at a posh European hotel.
Starring: Queen Latifah, LL Cool J
{Available on Netflix}

Love Actually
Current
Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
Starring: Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson
{Available on Netflix}

The Night Before
Current
On Christmas eve, three lifelong friends spend the night in New York City looking for the Holy Grail of Christmas parties.
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, Anthony Mackie

Santa Baby
Cheesy
Mary Class is a highly successful business executive - who just happens to be the daughter of Santa Claus. But when her father falls ill, Mary returns to the North Pole and the life she left behind to take over for her dad and implement her innovative ideas for running Christmas.
Starring: Jenny McCarthy
{Available on Freeform Online}

Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe
Cheesy
Santa's in the midst of a "late-life" crisis--he's tired of the responsibilities of the job and he's ready to let his business-minded daughter, Mary, take over. Mary feels torn between the family business, running her own high stakes firm in New York City, and balancing a relationship with Luke. The situation gets even more stressful when Teri, a mysterious and ambitious new-comer to the Pole, decides that she wants to be the new Santa.
Starring: Jenny McCarthy
{Available on Freeform Online}

The Santa Clause
Classic
When a man inadvertently kills Santa on Christmas Eve, he finds himself magically recruited to take his place.
Starring: Tim Allen

The Santa Clause 2
Current
Scott Calvin has been a humble Santa Claus for nearly ten years, but it might come to an end if he doesn't find a Mrs. Claus.
Starring: Tim Allen

The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
Current
Santa, aka Scott Calvin, is faced with double-duty: how to keep his new family happy, and how to stop Jack Frost from taking over Christmas.
Starring: Tim Allen, Martin Short

Snowglobe
Cheesy
A young woman discovers a Christmas-themed dreamworld inside a magical snowglobe.
Starring: Christina Millian
{Available on Freeform Online}

A Very Murray Christmas
Current
Bill Murray worries no one will show up to his TV show due to a terrible snowstorm in New York City.
Starring: Bill Murray
{Available on Netflix}

White Christmas
Classic
A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.
Starring: Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney
{Available on Netflix}

You'll notice that missing from my list is probably the two most famous Christmas films of all: It's A Wonderful Life and Miracle on 34th Street {Available on Netflix}. To be honest, I don't know that I've actually seen either film in its entirety in one sitting. Can you believe it?

I'm really looking forward to Office Christmas Party coming out on December 9th, by the way.

Gingerbread

One of my favorite holiday treats is cake-like gingerbread. I try to make it every year in December. This year I made it the night before Thanksgiving to replace my usual Thanksgiving Eve tradition of making a pie while watching Elf (in my elf shirt.)

1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 egg
1 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9 inch square pan. 

In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the egg, and mix in the molasses. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture. Stir in the hot water. Pour into the prepared pan. 

Bake 60 minutes in the preheated oven, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving. Cut into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of Peppermint ice cream.

I reheat it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to make it both warm and moist.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

One of my favorite fall recipes are the Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies that I've been making since 2013. I originally borrowed the recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction with some minor tweaks, but now, three years later, I've made some more tweaks. So here are my favorite Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies 2.0, back and better than ever!

2 cups + 1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin allspice

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons vanilla whey protein powder
1 and 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup dark molasses
1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.

In a large bowl, toss the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and protein powder together.  Fold in the oats. Set aside.

Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium size bowl.  Whisk in the molasses, brown sugar, and granulated sugar.  Once combined, whisk in the egg.  Add the pumpkin and vanilla and whisk until thick and combined completely. Pour into dry ingredients and gently mix.  The dough will be very thick, heavy, and sticky,  Keep mixing until just combined, no more.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets.  About 2 or 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie. Slightly flatten the help the cookies spread in the oven.  Do not flatten completely.  If desired, press a few of chocolate chips onto the top of the cookie dough balls for looks.

Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes until very lightly browned on the edges, and still appearing soft in the centers.  (My cookies always take 14 minutes.)  Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets. The cookies' flavor is best on day 2. Cookies remain fresh and soft stored in an airtight container for 10 days.

I've always put in more spices into this recipe, so I thought I'd record it. Recently, I've been putting in less sugar and chocolate chips. (I don't like as many chocolate chips because they can be overbearing with the chewy pumpkin cookie goodness! I also added protein powder and you couldn't even tell!

England :: Day 7

Saturday, May 21st

I woke up at 6:00AM on our last morning in London to head out to explore the city. I knew I wanted to visit Notting Hill and I asked one of the people I met in Birmingham for some other tips. So I took my little map of the tube and set off on an adventure.

[Notting Hill]

Immediately, I discovered that the city is pretty quiet that early and that there was some maintenance on the tube that day that forced me to be a little more creative in my travel plans. Still, it gave me extra time to people watch on the tube and that was very pleasant.

[More colorful doors in the alley]

I should have looked up exactly where I was going first, but I was able to just wing it and I eventually found Portobello Road, where Notting Hill's colorful houses are. People were setting up a market while I was there, but I just walked around and took it all in.

I was able to pop over to Covent Garden as well. I had no idea what exactly Covent Garden was, but it reminded me a lot of SoHo in New York. I was even able to get some macarons from Laudree!

[Covent Garden / Laudree]

I took the tube back to Euston after that, but ended up getting back about an hour early. I should have stayed out longer! We had breakfast at the hotel with Stephen and Hillary and did our final devo of the trip. That's when it really started to hit me that I'd be going home. I've felt sadness to leave a vacation before, but it was nothing like this. I felt sick to my stomach. I couldn't eat. I was afraid if I tried to speak I would start crying. It just wasn't great. Stephen said some really encouraging things about appreciating things when we got back home and I felt like he was speaking directly to me. It was a good way to officially end the trip.

[Macarons]

We went back up to our rooms to get everything together, then decided to head out for some coffee before going back to Euston Station. We had an adventure walking around a new part of the city looking for a coffee shop Rachel had found online, but the coffee drinkers said it was the best coffee they had had all week.

When we got back to our hotel, we grabbed our stuff and went to the train station. We had to take the tube the Heathrow for our flight, just before 3:00. We were quite and tired on the journey to Heathrow, but it was nice to be above-ground for so much of it and see more of the city. If I remember correctly, we didn't have too much time to lolly-gag around the airport before our flight boarded. Three of us got stuck at security, myself included. We had to grab a quick lunch and then it was basically time to board.

I wanted to stay awake for the whole flight back so I could go to sleep at a normal Colorado time. At this point I hadn't considered that I had woken up at 11:00PM on Friday in MST. But it was interesting seeing what an international flight is all about since I missed it on the way there. I couldn't believe how much service you got. I was able to watch 3 and a half movies too. (Zoolander 2, Eddie the Eagle, Spectre, and half of Deadpool) I struggled staying awake at times and I didn't love being in the center seat of the middle section, so I had to keep getting up and walking around. But all in all, it wasn't so bad. Except for the part that I was still a bit of an emotional wreck for having to come back to the States.

England :: Day 6

Friday, May 20th

We had to be at the train station on New Street to catch our train at 9:30, so we all met outside of Derrik and Abby's to catch two separate Ubers. It was a little nerve-wracking when the Uber picking up me, Connor, and JW took a while to arrive and then we had to drive through rush hour traffic. Luckily, we were thinking our train left at 9:00, but it actually left at 9:30, so we had some extra time. We grabbed breakfast before heading over to our platform and grabbing some good seats on the train.

[Platform 9 3/4]

[Checking out at Platform 9 3/4]

When we got to Euston Station in London, about two hours later, we went to the hotel down the street first to drop off our bags. We made a rough plan for the day and decided to start at King's Cross to visit Platform 9 3/4! There was a short wait for the photo-op, but it was worth it and we met some people from Texas in line. Since Rachel, Shelby, JW, and I are obsessed with Harry Potter, we also did some damage in the gift shop.

[The Ritz]

[Green Park / Canada Gate]

By the time we left King's Cross, we were all starving so we popped across the street for some sandwiches at a little shop. We tried to figure out what would make the most sense for our next stop, so we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace. We ended up walking through Green Park to Canada Gate on our way to the Palace.

[Had to do some Pure Barre "in the wild" / Christina and I got too excited about the various Snapchat filters wherever we were]

Sadly, we missed the changing of the guards, but we did see one guard start walking around (marching around?) for a few minutes. We popped into a gift shop to shop, sit, and use Wifi. We tried to figure out how to get back to Westminster City on foot. Along the way, we saw a ton of places where you could rent bikes, so we decided we would rent bikes once we got over by Big Ben and the London Eye.

[Westminster Abbey]

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go into Westminster Abbey because they had closed for their service and it was too far off for us to be able to go. So we kept walking where we had been walking on Sunday afternoon, then turned down the River Thames until we found bikes to rent.

[Back to Big Ben / Back to the Eye]

[About to set off across London]

We figured if we rode along the river we would be able to find the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. It was quite an adventure considering it was about 5:00 on Friday and we were going through a really busy part of the city. We weren't able to ride along the river for more than a few blocks, so we were just totally guessing as to where exactly we were headed. And let's not forget we were on the other side of the road!

[The Tower of London]

Eventually, we made it to the Tower of London, but parking the bikes was a whole other ordeal. It took us a while to find a station, then there were only 4 openings but we had 6 bikes. We ended up having to help a French couple rent bikes to open up 2 more spots for us.

[Tower Bridge]

By the time we got to the Tower of London, we were all pretty exhausted, but I convinced everybody to take the long way to the tube station so we could see Tower Bridge before hopping back on the tube to go to Waterloo Station.

[The Tower of London]

We met Hillary and Stephen at Waterloo Station and then walked a few blocks to dinner. We ate at Pizza Express, eating pizza in England for the umpteenth time. But it was delicious. After dinner, we split up and Stephen, Hillary, Rachel, and Shelby went back to the hotel while Connor, JW, Christina and I decided to go ride the London Eye.

[View from the bottom / River Thames]

[View from the top]

The timing ended up being perfect. We were able to get on during the sunset and we had beautiful views of the city below both in the light and after the sun went down. Christina ended up capturing a picture of me attempting to stretch out my back, but really it looks like I'm once again doing Pure Barre in London. Oh well, one can never do enough Pure Barre, I always say.

[Chair on the Eye]

[Big Ben & Parliament]

[me, Christina, Connor, JW / Back at the bottom]

Afterward, I told Christina that I wanted to take her out for one last pint while she could still drink legally. Connor and JW decided to come along as well, so we headed back down to where we had been riding bikes earlier in the day to try to find a good pub. We were walking through pretty narrow and dark alleys, but Connor and I later talked about how neither of us felt unsafe. Maybe that's naive, but it wasn't like walking through Chicago or LA or New York at night. Or even Denver, for that matter! Trying to find my way around a new city is one of my favorite things. And I love how quickly I can get some basics down. Like major streets, landmarks, directions, or big stations. But I've never felt so at ease wandering semi-aimlessly as I did in London. It was quite enjoyable.

Anyway, we finally decided on a pub and went in and had one last British pint. There was a cricket match on and we ended up talking to a handful of people, one from New Zealand, one from America, one from France, one from Wales, and a few from England. It was a lot of fun until the pub closed at 11:00. We headed back to the tube to go back to Euston Station and back to the hotel.

England :: Day 5

Thursday, May 19th

We met back at Creative Coffee for our morning devo on our last full day in Birmingham. We ended up having yet another great conversation that ended up making us late to meet Christine for brunch. She took us to a little diner called Lesley's where we got to have another English breakfast: eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, and tomatoes. We also tried black pudding before Christine would tell us what it really is.

[Selly Manor]

After breakfast, we walked back to Derrik and Abby's and Derrik took us to Cadbury World. You know those Cadbury Cream Eggs that we all love so much around Easter? They come from Birmingham! Since a tour of the factory costs a pretty penny per person, we just went into the shop and then into a free exhibit about the history of Cadbury. It was really cool. And all the types of candy and shapes of chocolate were amazing. I regret not getting a real size chocolate soccer ball. We all loaded up on sweets (I just got a chocolate orange) and then headed back to Canvas.

[Cadbury World]

We had plans that afternoon to hang out on campus with Stephen and some students. On our way to campus, we passed out the cookies we had made the day before and got to talk to a handful of students in passing. 

[University of Birmingham]

Stephen set up his slackline on their quad type area and we had fun trying it out for a while. It was interesting to see some of the students' reactions to it. I think just because I'm from CU Boulder, I assume everyone has seen slacklining by now. Some students looked quite confused and quite fascinated. I also gave it a go and fell off in quite an epic manner. It was a lot of fun. Before we went back to Canvas, we stopped at the University gift shop to get some souvenirs. Normally I'm not the type to spend money on those types of things, but there were just too many awesome things I wanted so I could always remember my week in England.

[Slacklining on campus]

[Christina on the slackline]

Canvas had their final Thursday night program that week and Christine was speaking for the last time before moving to Nottingham to open the second Canvas location. We went back to the house to help set everything up and help one of the students who was cooking everyone pad Thai.

[Canvas is a hidden gem on this street]

That night, I ended up having a really great conversation with a former Canvas student. He told me about how he found out about Canvas during his second year of uni and some more about his faith journey since then. It was really cool hearing that Canvas can accomplish exactly what they intend to in such a great way. No one is pushing their beliefs on anyone else and they're creating a really cool space for students to hang out and have community. I love that.

We celebrated Christina's 18th birthday with a cake and some faulty candles. I taught a few people how to play Hanabi, one of my favorite card games, and we had a lot of fun doing that. It was probably my favorite night in England and we ended up shutting the place down. In fact, Derrik had to kick us out. I was really sad to say goodbye to the handful of people who were left at Canvas that late. They were all who had been hanging out with us the most or who I had talked with the most and it had been so great getting to know them all.