Christmas Countdown {student style}

One of my favorite Christmas activities was a "12 days of Christmas" countdown that my family did for Pete and I one year. They gave us a big box full of small gifts with numbers on them and each day we got to open one of the presents. The gifts were so cute and creative, correlating well with the days of the week. For example, on Friday night we got popcorn and a movie, on Monday night we opened a talk from a General Authority and packets of hot chocolate (for FHE). It really made that childhood "magic" of Christmas come back into my somewhat adult life and ever since that Christmas, Pete and I have wanted to do it for someone else. When my friend Marie (who's hubby is in school with mine) told me about a similar idea she was doing for her husband--- a "4 Days of Finals" countdown---I couldn't help but catch the countdown bug and copy her :) 

This week was finals week, so each day for four days, I put a little gift/treat on Pete's desk...sometimes it would be there when he woke up in the morning, sometimes it made its appearance in the middle of the day...I had to keep him on his toes, ya know? All in all, it was super fun for me to surprise Pete with some of his favorite treats, and I hope it was a nice boost for him during a tough week.

Garden Lights, Holiday Nights

There are few things more magical than bunches of twinkling Christmas lights. 

We witnessed our first lights of the season at the Atlanta Botanical Garden and, for the first time this fall, I actually missed cold, winter weather. It would have been fun to bundle up in scarves, coats, and hats and see the lights amid the snow. As it was, we were nearly overdressed in our single layer, long-sleeve shirts. Don't get me wrong...I'm not complaining. Every morning before running I check the weather outside and the weather at home and I'm grateful that where I'm at, it's usually warm enough to run in a T-shirt (and it's December! This truly boggles my mind!). I'm growing more and more nervous about going west in a few days to a 20 degree temperature drop and what that's going to do to the great running routine I've got going. On the other hand, it will be nice to truly enjoy this hot chocolate season and maybe even a white Christmas :)

Hey Santa...

Emery meeting Santa for the first time:

First, she checks him out (or maybe she's just looking for some face in all that white fluff)

Then she looks at me wide-eyed as if to say, "Mom, who is this guy?"

Next, she looked at him again and that cute little hand (aka "iron gripper") went straight for the beard.

 Not sure if tugging Santa's beard is going to win her "nice" points down the road or not, 

but I guess we'll find out :) 

Too bad we didn't get a picture of that part.

In other news, the Ward Christmas Party (which I've been working on for the past few weeks) is now over and the only thing separating me from home are 5 days and a lot of cleaning and packing. 

Oh, and 2,222 miles. 

Gee, I'm far from home.

No-bakes

Call them cookies, gorilla poops, or a waste of good ingredients (to each their own, Grandpa B!), these gooey messes of chocolate are near and dear to my heart. Around our little Hoyt household, we simply call them no-bakes, because, quite honestly, they never make it to the "cookie" stage. Pete and I have whittled the recipe down to a perfect 2 servings---1/4 pinch of salt and all---and we simply mix 'em up and sit on the couch eating them out of the pan, with spoons. I associate these cookies with Peter because I don't think I've eaten them alone since being married. They go great with with pajamas, either laughter or tears, and always good chats.

I once calculated the cals on these things, but I'll save you from that information. My advice: use low-fat milk and reduced fat peanut butter if you like, but don't lighten up anything else. I've found if you focus on the gobs of oats you dump in, rather than all the sugar and fat, you can almost convince yourself that these are heart-healthy. Goodluck :)

No-bakes for Two
2 Tbsp. milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. baking cocoa
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 pinch of salt (whatever that is)
2 Tbsp. peanut butter
3/4 cup oats

Mix first four ingredients over medium heat in saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, salt, and peanut butter. Mix in oats. Ingest. (Or you can drop them by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let them sit for a bit).