REASONS I SMILE

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

This is the Christmas card we sent out this year, designed by the amazing Karli from Party Paper. When I can, I'm really trying to spend my money on small businesses instead of the big guy, this was a perfect opportunity. She designs the cutest stuff and was so great to work with. I can't wait to throw a party or have some other reason to use her design skills! Check her out!

Holiday Celebrations

We took our annual trip to Delaware in early December. Mandy and Andy made the drive up with us this year and to visit Dogfish Head. We also had an amazing dinner at Po'Boys Creole. If you are ever in Milton, DE you should check it out.

We hit lots of traffic on 95 near DC because a car caught fire

Little man in his Christmas tie

Andy, Mandy + the bump, Trey & me

The next weekend we headed to the beach for the Weeks Family Christmas lunch.

And one night we had friends over for our holiday dinner. We didn't do a regular Christmas meal since we would be eating all of that food again in a few days but did make some Christmas cookies... they didn't turn out as well as I had hoped but they tasted good :)

Brownie Oreo Chocolate Trifle

I found this recipe on pinterest and it was such a hit! It was slightly time consuming though, as you have to bake the brownies ahead of time, let them cool and then cut them for the bottom layer. And you should let it sit for maybe a day before serving - so keep all of that in mind before making!

What You Need:
1 box of fudge brownies (I prefer Betty Crocker supreme fudge) + box requirements to make
1 bar (8 oz) of cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of butter, softened
3 cups of milk (to make pudding)
2 small packages of instant fudge chocolate pudding
16 oz tub of Cool Whip
8 oz tub of Cool Whip
1 box of oreos, crushed

What You Do:
Prepare brownies as directed on box
Let brownies cool
Cut into bite sized pieces (don't use the hard edge pieces)

Blend together cream cheese, butter and powdered sugar (use a large bowl because everything will be mixed together with this)

In a separate bowl blend pudding mix and milk

Add pudding to cream cheese mixture and mix well.

Fold in 12 oz of cool whip (*sidenote: original recipe called for a 12 oz tub of cool whip, I couldn't find a tub that size + used the extra for the topping of the trifle)

Begin layers: you will use 1/2 the brownies on the bottom of the dish, followed by half of the pudding-cream cheese mixture, then half of the crushed oreos and then the half of the cool whip. Repeat this using the other half of the supplies, it will make a total of 8 layers. Save a little bit of crushed oreos to garnish the top.

Chill in the fridge until serving. Best if made the night before or the morning before serving so that it can sit and the cookies can soften.

Holiday House Tour

In case you haven't noticed, I love love love Christmas decorations. I love to sit in my living room with only the tree lights on at night. I have a little bit of Christmas in almost every room of the house.

Our bedroom

Downstairs bathroom

Going up the stairs

My new NCSU tree in Trey's office.

The red lights don't show up well in the picture, it isn't that pink in real life!

The wreath I made years ago is still surviving

Thanksgiving in Valle Crucis

This year Trey and I took off the day before Thanksgiving to be able to head on up to the mountains and relax with family.

Our holiday included a lot of family time, playing dogs, amazingly warm weather, fires, food and beer.

As usual we went and choose our own tree, just down the road from their cabin. About 9 feet tall for only $40.

Dain built this building for their firewood.

Wednesday night we cooked a low country boil over the fire!

Izzy has not been allowed to jump on the couch for a couple of months as she has had an inflamed disc in her neck, when she managed to sneak up she was pretty and excited and was not going anywhere.