Happy Holiday Ideas

I hope your Thanksgiving left you with a warm heart and happy tummy! We had a full week with multiple celebrations!

I appreciate the traditional Thanksgiving menu. Yet, I understand people’s liking changes from year to year. I throughly enjoyed the turkey and stuffing (it’smy favorite)! I love pecan pie and have never made it! I truly appreciate it, but if I learn to make it, that means I have a whole pie at home to contend with. I mean, tempt me! It will call my name and wear me down: I’m better off eating one piece a holiday at someone else’s house!

Our Michigan crew was in town. We all gathered at my daughter-in-love’s parents’ house! I was in charge of Appetizers for 20+ people.

With more holidays ahead, my recipes might be helpful for you. I decided on a cold appetizer, hot appetizer, and room temp appetizer. We had about a 30 minute drive, so I didn’t want too much to keep warm.

All three apps worked out well and were yummy! If you have an appetizer assignment this holiday season, these had great reviews!

Room Temp Appetizer … Seasoned Nuts

Click on the photo for the recipe.

Cold Appetizer … Pimento Cheese-ball

I have made pimento cheese for years, but this was the first time in a cheese ball style! Of course, I made it into a Turkey shape like the pic. I thought the kids would like it … they liked the bacon too! You could sub tricolor peppers for the feathers, for more color. I did NOT put Googly eyes on? I just used a wedge of red pepper for the neck and head. I liked it.

Click on the pic for the recipe!

Hot Appetizer … Crab Dip

Being raised in Md, seafood was part of a lot of holidays; especially crab! Mom made Crab Soup for a lot of family gatherings, which were usually not on the exact day of the holiday. For nostalgia’s sake, I wanted a crab component, and crab dip was a great alternative, which we have had many times. This recipe had great reviews from our holiday crowd too. I served it with baguette slices and several kinds of crackers.

Click on pic for the recipe!

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We celebrated Christmas with our Michigan family. They’ll head to Disney for Christmas. Most of their gift is an excursion at Disney; they will open it there. Instead of an advent calendar, I got parental permission to prepare a “Countdown to Disney” bag instead. They have a little gift to open every day until they leave for Disney. Almost all of them are classic Mickey and Minnie things. Some gifts are edible and consumable and others are practical like t-shirt, baseball cap, socks, small backpack, water bottle, etc. I had a lot of fun getting these bags ready. I’m pretty sure they’ll have fun opening them and add a bit of building excitement to their Disney Christmas.

You could adapt this idea to many things and themes. You could also make it smaller and do a “12 Days of Christmas” bag with a smaller number of gifts. Playdoh, stickers, coloring books, books, tattoos, Pez dispenser, small flashlight, colored pens, pencils, hair accessories for girls, an ornament, chapstick, balloons, lollipop, drinking straw, etc.

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We had another BIG celebration this past weekend, our Granddaughter‘s First Birthday, on her actual birthday! It was so nice to celebrate here! Her precious little four-tooth-smile will melt steel in a flash!!

She wasn’t sure about the cake. But, she liked the song and clapped appropriately! She is the sweetest little snuggle; the dimple her smile creates… a heart-grabber!

Happy Birthday Beautiful Indie!!! 💖💖💖

Do you have a favorite food or celebration from this Thanksgiving?

Share it with us!

A Full Heart,