Boxing day.

I can't think of a better way to celebrate Boxing Day than to box up a copy of Erin Bried's new book How to Sew a Button for the winner of my bloggy giveaway.

A gigantic thank you to everyone who left a comment on my giveaway post. Erin picked a winner from among the comments. She mentioned many goodies (there were a LOT of great ones!), but in her words:

"For the winner, I finally settled on the advice from (drum roll please) S. Bear Bergman's Nana: 'Fortune favors the well-prepared.' It's just plain great advice."

Congratulations to S. Bear Bergman's Nana for doling out such sage advice! All of the comments left here were amazing so on New Year's Day I'll link to all of them to inspire you for 2010. And a huge "thank you!" to Erin for making this giveaway possible.


I've been absent this week, which has has been a whirlwind of activity: Snow storms, and cookies, and Christmas (and very spotty internet access) -- oh MY!

That snow storm that hit the Jersey Shore was a doozy. Thanks to Mike and his incredible vitamin intake, our house, my car, and the neighbors on either side got shoveled out (he still can't lift his arms much higher than his waist, granted, but all for a good cause).


Imagine my surprise when 13 intrepid souls (re: mommies trapped with small children) burrowed their ways out of their homes and over to my apartment for our annual cookie exchange this past Sunday. Northern New Jersey didn't get hit with as much snow as the shorehouse did, so travel was a bit easier. The ladies really hit it out of the park with their baking projects this year.




My co-host Karen painted her seven dozen shimmery silver stars (and promised she'll never do that again):


And Tory, baker of the spritz, was determined to get to the party no matter what since she finally baked a cookie she was proud of (they were delish, but her previous contributions have been, too. No matter what she says.).


I used my "new" $3 punch bowl with great success! Thanks to the comments left on my punch bowl post, I had some inspiration. Mrs. Magpie suggested freezing juice in a bundt pan to create an ice ring that wouldn't water down the punch. Fabulous! I couldn't find my bundt pan (I think I have one?) so I simply froze the juice in ice cube trays. That won kudos from the cookie crew so thanks for the hot (cold) tip, Mrs. M! I also floated slices of blood oranges, and the festive red fruit added a pop to my conconction. And it truly was a concoction. I totally improvised but it was yummy. I meant to take a picture, but by the time I remembered, it looked like this:

I also meant to take a picture of Karen's amazing and beautiful baked brie, but again I was a bit late. Here's what it looks like when it's totally decimated:


If nothing else I guess you can see that a good time was had by all.

Mid-week we happily found out that our Christmas table for six would have to be set for 12 (!), so we shopped a little more, and took photos a little less. I barely got the food on the table. I did manage to take a picture of Maggie, who wisely figured out which gift under the tree was for her:


Today I actually spent most of the (rainy, nasty) day boxing up stuff. And in the midst of doing so found a box of ornaments that should have been on my tree. Ugh. Resolution: Get my act together (as best as someone like me possibly can) in 2010.

I hope everyone is having an amazing holiday season. I can't believe another year is drawing to a close, and I can't believe how many people have become a part of my life here on these here cyberpages. From the bottom of my heart, thank you for stopping by. You are all a part of my extended family (I know it may sound corny, but I mean it) and know that my Christmas was merrier because of you.

From the shorehouse to your house, thank you for an amazing year.