Presents are fun to get but more fun to give!

This is my present to you...a gift guide!  Now you can pick something below to give to me because really it's much more fun to give than to receive.  And I had a lot of fun putting this list together...I promise.

For the Woman in Your Life Who Prefers One of Her Boobs Over the Other

(hopefully it's her left one)

 

This shirt from J.Crew is perfect to show off your favorite boob as long as your favorite is your left boob.  The "broach" sits perfectly at nipple height and acts almost like pasties that Playboy models wear to parties, except this is for the Amish Playboy model.  J.Crew really went out of there way to help bedazzle an area that otherwise never gets any notice and I think we should all applaud them for this.

For the Bruce Jenner Wannabe or Just the Regular RC Nerd in Your Life

About 5 years ago I made Tom watch a "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" episode with me.  BIG Mistake.  Bruce Jenner (the Dad for those of you who don't keep up with the Kardashians) is big into RC Helicopters.  Tom decided they looked awesome.  Jokingly for Christmas that year I bought him a cheap RC Helicopter.  BIGGER Mistake.  He now has an entire fleet and is looking into renting space at a private hanger.  His brothers also are / have gotten into RC crap as have his friends.  The wives are all really happy with Tom and glad their husbands are his friend.  Anyway, if you want to get your husband / boyfriend / brother something they will love get them some sort of RC Helicopter, Plane, Car, or Boat.  Here is a website that sells a lot of it: http://www.hobbyzone.com/

For Anyone In Your Life Except a Baby...I Don't Think Babies Should Get This Gift

A massage.  And no I do not mean a crappy coupon that you make that says, "I will give you a massage".  I mean get them a massage from a professional.  Pretty much any spa or massage place will do gift cards.  Trust me, people like massages.

For A New Mom or Anyone Who Looks Tired

Marc Jacobs Remedy Concealer Pen is amazeballs.  Dark Puffy Circles will disappear with this miracle pen.  You will never know someone has been up all night with a screaming baby or a snoring husband if they use this.

For the Cat Lady or Just Anyone Really Who Likes To Be Warm and Cozy

Whenever TV shows depict cat ladies I feel like they are always dressed in robes covered in cat hair.  Well, I've found the perfect robe to get covered in cat hair for your Cat Lady friend.  OR I've found the perfect warm and cozy robe for anyone.  Whatever your gift giving need might be...I'm here to help :)  Seriously though, I got a Target gift card for my birthday and spent it on this robe.  It's the perfect length, has pockets, and is warm and fuzzy.  It's perfect to throw over my pj's to let the dogs out or just put on over my clothes when I'm cold.  It's like a Snuggie that opens in front rather than in back.  But better cuz it's not stupid.

For Your Favorite Blogger (HINT HINT) or Techy

The new Kindle Fire HDX.  This tablet is pretty awesome and definitely topping my list of stuff I want but won't get.  Yes it's an e-reader, but it's so much more too.  Check it out if you're in the market for a tablet.  I've only played around with it at Best Buy, but it seems pretty sweet.

For Your Favorite Yogi (person who does yoga not the bear) Or Gym Rat

Tom is the hardest person ever to buy shoes for.  He wears size 14 and his feet are pretty flat and wide.  So when he finds a pair of shoes that work and are comfortable we buy multiple pairs in multiple colors.  Most recently he was in the market for a new pair of tennis shoes.  We did a bunch of online research and decided on these.  When they arrived he put them on and was amazed at how comfortable they were.  They did not need to be broken in, and fit great.  He got the grey / blue ones and they look really nice in person.  He keeps talking about how comfortable they are, so you should probably get them for someone.

Emily, my brother's girlfriend, is a Sales Manager / Rep. for Phat Buddha.  It's a yoga clothing company based out of New York City.  The clothing is awesome and I highly recommend it.  She gave me a few samples to try and I have been living in the leggings.  The ones pictured above are my favorite.  Check out their website https://phatbuddhawear.com/ or email Emily directly at Emily@phatbuddhawear.com and she will help you get the right product.  Seriously YOU NEED THESE LEGGINGS!

For the Caffiene Addict Sweet Tooth Alcoholic

Rum Chata found at your local liquor store is the best thing since Lucky Charms started selling the marshmallows separately.  It's like Bailey's but 100 times better.  You can drink it on ice, add it to a milk shake, or put it in a hot cup of cocoa or coffee.  The cocoa pictured above was given to me for my birthday last year and is far and away the best hot cocoa I've ever had.  The coffee pictured is also some of the best home brewed coffee I've ever had.  Even my parents thought the coffee was amazing when they visited and they are coffee snobs so you know it's good.

For the Person Who Has 1 Million TV Channels and Still Thinks There is Nothing on TV

Get them a Netflix Subscription and an Internet TV box.  If they can't find something on one of their million channels or on Netflix they are annoying.  This should solve all their problems.  I don't know much about the Internet TV boxes other than they exist.  I know a lot about Netflix...probably too much if we're being honest.

For the Rich Gamer

The Xbox One is the item topping Tom's list of wants that he won't get.  A.) because it's impossible to get your hands on, and B.) because we're not rich.  This video game console it like $500!  But if you're rich and have sneaky ways of getting your hands on things that are impossible to find this is the gift for you to give.  Whoever you give it to will love it, I promise.

For the Poor Gamer

Battlefield 4 is apparently supposed to be an awesome game.  I obviously don't know anything about it, but I've heard from a trustworthy source.  It looks like you can get it for any of the video game consoles too.  Don't get it for your children though.  Just to download this picture I had to enter my birthday.  I was a little concerned as to what I might find after I clicked enter.

So that's it!  My 2013 gift guide.  Now go spend money $$$$$$$  You're welcome :)

XO XO,

Molly

P.S. I am not working for or gaining anything by telling you to buy these products.  However, if you work for any of these companies and want to pay me for promoting your products I am happy to oblige.

Holidays in the Traditional Happiness House

Holidays in the Traditional Happiness house are quite well...traditional.

We I set up a Christmas Tree

We have fires in the fireplace and listen to Christmas Music

 

We go to church on Christmas Eve

We open presents and wear what we've opened immediately

Even the dogs get presents mailed to them

This year the dogs got extra special presents from their Grandma and Grandpa.  Grandma and Grandpa Mullin gave them special treats, and Grandma and Grandpa Langwith sent them new Holiday collars.

They especially loved sniffing each others collars.

Now Addie girl got a sweet green and white fuzzy collar, but poor Rocky boy got a collar with jingle bells on it.  The bells were not quiet to say the least, and poor Rocky kept trying to get away from all the noise.  Little did he know he couldn't!  Every slight movement he made they jingled.  He even got Addie to try and bite the collar off, but with no success.  Needless to say we didn't make him wear it very often, except when people were coming over or to terrorize the poor guy :)

A close up of the jingle jangle collar.

Luckily Tom went to a staff Christmas party where they exchange white elephant gifts and got this bad boy:

Yes that is a blow up moose/deer head.

Which has nice antlers for the loud collar to hang on.  The dogs have a love / hate relationship with the deer/moose.

Addie is a bit braver than Rocky, who wouldn't go near the thing, but did do a lot of growling from far away :)

Overall we had a lovely, very relaxing holiday and hope you did too.

XO XO,

Sad that the Holidays are over Molly

The Smells of the Holidays

Many of you have been asking what I baked this holiday season, and many of you who got to eat what I baked have been asking for the recipes.  So this post is for you!  None of these recipes are gluten free or healthy, but all of these recipes are delicious!  To get to each recipe click on the name of the recipe or item.

The first thing I made were cookie/brownie things which you saw here as a baking failure.  Although they didn't look pretty they did taste pretty.

Cookie Brownie Bites

At a recent staff meeting I got off topic (surprise surprise) and started asking if anyone knew how to make those cream cheese mints you get at weddings or bridal showers.  I tried to bribe my friend Rick to get his wife to make some, but he didn't come through for me, so I learned how to make my own.

Cream Cheese Mints

While shopping at my local co-op I found shelled pistachios and dried cranberries on sale in bulk, and was reminded of a cookie recipe I pinned on pinterest that I wanted to try. 

Cran-Pistachio Cookies

These have been given wonderful reviews from everyone who's tried them...not trying to toot my own horn, just sayin' :)

Tom's extended family usually gets together sometime around Christmas and this year we did it potluck style.  Of course I signed up to bring dessert 1.) because I love to bake and 2.) because I wanted to make sure there would be dessert.  The way I see it, when you do potluck style you better bring something you know you want to be there just in case no one else does.

Ginger Bars

This is not my own picture...I forgot to take a picture of these, so this comes from the link.  Although mine did look this beautiful :)  AND, these were probably my favorite thing of the entire holiday season.

I also brought spiced nuts to the family party.  The link is to the recipe I went off of, but I didn't follow it exactly.  There were Vegan's there that I wanted to be able to enjoy the nuts.  I also used pistachios (left over from the cookies above).  The picture is a few cups of them in a holiday baggie I took to some neighbors.

Sugared Pecans

My mom and I loooove caramels.  Especially the squishy, sticky, homemade kind.  I'd seen a bunch of recipes on pinterest for caramels and decided to give it a try.

7 minute microwave caramels

I should have cut them smaller because they were very rich, but very delicious.

Have you been to Starbucks lately?  Have you seen or tried the Cranberry Bliss Bars?  Well let me just tell you they are amazing, so when I saw a copycat recipe for them I just had to make them.  They are a bit time consuming, but worth it.  Again I used the extra dried cranberries from the cookies above, and should have cut them smaller because they are dense.  Also if I make them again I will use a larger pan to make the crust thinner.

Cranberry Bliss Bars

In the fall I bought a bunch of Libby Pumpkin when it was on sale because I thought I would have to make a pie or two.  When I didn't I ended up with a bunch of extra cans of Libby Pumpkin and wasn't sure what to do with them.  I clicked through a few boards on pinterest and found some pumpkin cupcakes with cinnamon cream cheese frosting that looked divine.

Spiced Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese frosting

I also packaged some of these up for our neighbors.

And there you have it!  I would definitely make all of these recipes again.  Although I would try and give more away rather than eat them!

XO XO,

Fat & Happy Molly

Rewrite: Fa La La La La

I feel like I cheated myself and you.  I can write a better Christmas Memories post than what I gave here.  See normally I write my posts at work where I have tons of time to think about what I want to write, but last week work was sooo busy I didn't have time.  So I had to write the post at home with dogs barking, husbands cleaning, and oven timers dinging.  Needless to say, I basically typed a few sentences and threw some pictures on to make it cute and clicked publish.  I can do better.  Sorry to my family who I cheated, we really had some wonderfully strict traditions that got completely short changed.  Hopefully this captures how it really was a little bit better.  If you'd like a soundtrack to go along with this post click here!

Twas the night

Before Christmas

When all through the farm-house

Not a creature was stirring

Not even a...well...I was, cause you see I was sick.  I probably ate too many pieces of pie or too many of Aunt Carole's sticky buns.

The stockings sheets and blankets all hung

around the house with care

In hopes That no children

would see what was there

The children were nestled

All safe in their bed, floor, sleeping bags, couch, wherever there was room really (god-forbid the creepy bear rug in grandma & grandpa's basement)

While visions of sugarplums

Danced in their heads

And grandma in her kerchief

And grandpa snoring away, 

Had just settled down

For a long winters nap

When all of a sudden

There arose such a grumble

I sprang from my bed

To run to the bathroom (uh-oh!)

Away to the bathroom

I flew like a flash

Tore open the door

And threw up the toilet seat

As I walked back to bed

rubbing my aching head

I heard a faint noise 

Not snoring, or breathing

Or any such thing.

When what To my wandering ears

Should hear

But a jingle & jangle

coming from near

I closed my eyes tight

to concentrate with all my might

And heard it again...

jingle, jangle, jingle

And got a little tingle

Could it be???

Could it be Santa?

As I fell back to sleep

I didn't make a peep

I would wait until morning

To see if anyone else heard it.

Ok we're done with the rhyming for now.

When my eyes finally popped open in the morning, I quickly asked Ben & Sarah (of course they were already awake) if they'd heard anything.  A jingle or a jangle???  They looked at me kind of crazy and both said, "No".  I ran to find my Dad, and he too said, "No".  It had only been me. I was the only one who heard Santa.

We gathered around the table (all 18 of us if my math and memory serve me right) where a grapefruit with a cherry awaited each of us.  We ate and ate, the kids eating quickly and the adults eating as slow as possible.  We had sticky buns, eggs, sausage patties, bacon, toast, juice, and the dreaded coffee.

See, the rule in the Cornwell house was (and still is) that no one was allowed to open presents, let alone see the presents until after Christmas breakfast.  

We even go as far as hanging sheets and blankets up to cover the entrances to the room where the unwrapped presents / stockings are.  I remember once barely touching one of the sheets and my cousin Keith telling me my presents were going to disappear if I touched the sheet.

Christmas breakfast also included reading the Christmas Story from The Bible.  Normally, either Uncle Rod or Uncle Boogie would read the story, but I do remember Annie and Ben also reading it.  Before we could even begin reading the story all the adults had to have a fresh cup of coffee.  Then in the middle someone would want more coffee, and at the end of the story the coffee pot would inevitably be empty and we would have to wait for a whole new pot to be brewed before we could line up for presents.  As kids we would literally watch each drop of coffee being made.

Finally it was time to line up.  Yes, that's right.  We had to line up from youngest to oldest to run through the sheets to find where Santa had laid our stocking.  The excitement and energy in the little farm-house was overflowing.  We would run in and tear through our stockings.  We would usually find some random nuts, socks, toothpaste and toothbrush from Santa in our stockings (it was weird how one year the toothbrushes all said Dr.'s Kinser & Langwith on them, but we didn't question it).  We then would normally have one unwrapped present laying next to our stocking from Santa.

After all the Santa gifts had been found, the task of distributing the other gifts began.  Gifts were passed out to each person, and then again youngest to oldest everyone would open one gift and everyone else would watch.  There was usually some clue written on the outside of the present that you would have to read aloud and try to guess what was inside.

For example..."to keep your tootsie's warm" would equal socks.

This would go on for hours.  Pretty much the best hours of my childhood.  

The thing about Christmas in my family was, tradition.  Even today, as an adult, I get sad if traditions aren't followed or are broken.  Because you know what???  It meant / means something, and I would be willing to bet it means something to all of you too.

During this crazy time of year, please take time to enjoy your family, reminisce about family traditions, and tell those people in your life that you love them.

But I heard him exclaim

As he drove out of sight

Happy christmas to all

And to all a goodnight

XO XO,

Merrier Molly

Fa La La La La

Growing up, there were very strict Christmas day traditions.  Often we were at my mom's parent's house (grandma & grandpa Cornwell) in Deer Creek, Illinois with EVERYONE.  To my child-like eyes it seemed like the house would bust if one more person came in.  Aunts & Uncles, Cousins, EVERYONE!  We would sleep on the floor, or God-forbid the basement on the creepy bear rug and hope to not get stepped on.  When we woke up there would be sheets and blankets hung from the ceiling to cover the room where Santa had delivered the presents.

We weren't allowed in the room until after the looongest meal of the year Christmas breakfast, after the adults had a bazillion cups of coffee (they would always have to have just one more and the coffee pot would always be empty so we'd have to wait for a whole new pot to be brewed) and after the Christmas Story was read from The Bible.  After much anticipation all the kids would line up youngest to oldest to run into the room where the presents and tree were.

Ben & I (and Uncle Larry in the top pic.) carrying on the tradition as we were older!

It was the best Christmas madness ever.  Still to this day, I don't really feel like I've had Christmas unless all traditions have been followed.

Here are some pictures of Christmases past:

 Even the dogs get in on the Christmas Dinner!

 The Christmas before I transferred to The University of Iowa!

 Decorating for Christmas for the first time in my own house (Virginia)!

 My Dad never put Christmas lights on the outside of the house because he said he didn't want to put holes in the house.  What's the first thing I do when I have a house of my own???  Lights on the outside!

 Dad & Uncle Larry preparing the Christmas Breakfast!

 You never can be quite sure what will happen on Christmas morning!  Your Dad might wear a Santa apron and your Aunt might wear a sweatshirt that says Fa La La La La!

 Grandma (My mom) gives the Dog's presents too!

 Our first official Christmas Card as a family!

 This is normal right?!?  Ben headed to a crazy Christmas party.

 Look how thrilled Tom is.  We got engaged the day before.  Should I be worried?!?

 Our very first "Charlie Brown" Christmas Tree.

 Finally a BIG tree for us!

 When my parents finally gave in and realized, "It's all about Molly!"

 My first time skiing (down the driveway!)

Tom is such an angel...isn't this just precious?!?

 Tom's famous "Kissing Cousin's Picture"

 Seriously how cute are these boys!  What happened?!?  Just kidding Paula, you know I love them all! :)

He really wanted to be a construction man when he grew up!

XO XO,

Merry Molly