Weekly Menu November 10

Source: winterswanderer

This week we have: 

Lion House Wassail

Weeknight Chicken Pot Pie

Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake

For today, Nov 10...

Outside my window... The very first few tiny snowflakes of the season are falling!! Barely here and there, but they're falling! It's snowing!! Five hours ahead of the weather prediction, but who can really expect snow to fall exactly on time, right? Weather is so crazy. This morning the boys and I were walking to school under 54 degree blue skies, I was wishing I hadn't worn a long-sleeve shirt, we soaked in the last few hours of Fall... Now it has dropped 20 degrees, blustering and sprinkling bits of snow, and I'm about to whip up a pot of soup and a warm holiday drink. Winter is here! At least for this week..

Source: B Comme Bon

I am thankful... for craft stores, early Christmas sales, bargains and finds and the PERFECT indoor wreath. I'm thankful for a brain full of festive recipes, a family who will eat them, my parents finding the perfect house so quickly!! I'm thankful for sweaters and scarves and boys who love to walk, for pinecones and snowflakes and dark brown sugar... and butter!

I am thinking... I've been pouting about missing out on Fall this year, so when I saw the snow and freezing temperatures looming in the forecast, I wasn't ready to let go of my golden leaves and 60 degrees yet! But after shopping for Christmas lights and decorations, planning some holiday baking, and the Geologist's executive decision that this will be the year we put up both our old fake tree AND a freshly-cut Rocky Mountain Christmas tree, I'm getting into the holiday spirit! Besides, we got to pick out a slew of half-off tree ornaments for the second tree, and I got to pick the theme, and it's hard not to get excited with all that burgundy, gold, and white woodsy-ness just waiting to be hung tonight! Our ten-year collection of family ornaments will go on the real tree upstairs, whenever we venture up into the woods to cut it down.  

Around the house... Our Christmas lights are up!! After nine years in apartments, all we had for our house last year was one string of twinkling snowflake lights. We love those snowflakes, but they're starting to burn out and only span the garage door. For the first time ever, our whole front roofline has lights! Red and white, with three giant snowflakes in the windows. LOVE!! And thank goodness some genius has finally started making warm white LED lights, those blue-white ones give me the creeps. They aren't quite as warm as the old classics, but they'll do. And I won't have to buy new ones every year. Grr. I've been collecting bits and pieces of indoor holiday decor, and our house feels so festive this year!! I love Christmas decorations!!

I am looking forward to... Thanksgiving! The first time since The Geologist and I were married that my whole family will be in the same house for Thanksgiving! My brother and sister-in-law will fly down from Portland, Kate is coming home from BYU, Sarah will drive up from Colorado Springs, and my parents will still be living in my basement, but just barely. It's time to start planning food! I've never cooked a big turkey before, just little ones for our little four-person family, so that will be an adventure. Those two kitchens of mine will seriously come in handy! Mom will be around to help and Dad will probably comandeer the mashed potatoes... He is the one who taught me the ways of the mashed potato, after all! It will be so much fun, I can't wait to be a full-blown hostess!

One of my favorite things... My new wreath!!! I am absolutely crazy about this little wreath I found at Michaels, I knew I had to have it, whether the Geologist liked it or not. Lucky for me, he does! And it was half price, always a plus! It perfectly embodies my Christmas style, mossy and woodsy with touches of red and sprinkles of sparkle. It just happens to match my Faceless Santa perfectly! Faceless Santa sounds kinda creepy, but it's just a custom-made Santa figure from Alaska. I picked out every detail, from the bells to the fur to the little red birds sitting on his arms, and I adore him! And now he has a matching wreath. :)

A peek into my day... After walking the boys to school, (well, halfway. It's too far, so we drive halfway, park, and walk from there. So worth it!) I went shopping for new tree lights and the finishing touches to our decor. At that point the sky was grey and the wind was freezing, so I got the grocery shopping done early and came home to blog for you lovely people! Bracken is hiding from me, she was a dingbat on her walk and I was cranky at her. By the way, the spaces between the snow-bits are shrinking, and I believe we officially have a snow flurry! Thank goodness I don't have to go back out except to pick up children. Let the coziness commence!

In the kitchen... This week is all about cozy food!! I'm giving you two re-posts of seriously cozy favorites, and the coziest drink ever. Seriously, it gives classic hot chocolate a run for its money! Pots of soup and big skillets full of noodles, plus cold weather seriously makes me want to bake. Hence the cake, because you can't tell me that sticky toffee pudding cake doesn't sound homey and warm and scrumptious. I'll just live in comfy socks and soft sweaters, filling my house with yummy smells!

Try your own Daybook! Get ideas here!