For the holidays, we decided to try focus more on experiences this year, instead of things. The other kids went to The Langham Hotel to decorate a gingerbread house, so we went to Eastern Standard Kitchen to decorate one! At $185, this was a pricier event, but we had a whole banquette to ourselves, and I love the food here. The gingerbread house was fully assembled, and we were one of the first people to arrive. There were a lot of dates to choose from, and multiple seatings, which was nice. I recommend getting there early.

Candy decorations for the gingerbread house seemed to be a bit of an afterthought. While colored sprinkles and crushed candy canes are fun, they made a mess all over the table. We were given two ramekins to get toppings, which were communal, and that kind of “yucks me out” these days, especially with kids, my own included. I understand not wanting to waste, but for that price tag, I wanted my own toppings at my table. I literally overheard other moms saying, “let’s just grab all the toppings we can and just bring everything to our table”. No one wants to be stressed out about not having enough candy for their gingerbread house lady (eye roll).

With some good team work, this was our final creation! I would have loved to have had a better box to put it in to take home – the bankers box was a little hard to get the house in to…and out of when we got home.

But the best part was that while the kids were designing their masterpiece, I was able to enjoy some delicious steak frites – and my all time favorite fries. Perfectly thin, crunchy on the outside, salty on the inside…*chef’s kiss. Overall, a wonderful way to spend the afternoon with the kids.

Eastern Standard Kitchen

775 Beason Street, Boston, MA

https://www.easternstandardboston.com/

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This year for the holidays, we decided to focus more on experiences over “things”. We decided to take our kids to the Langham Hotel again for their Gingerbread House event for the second year in a row. We paired up one big and one little, which we weren’t sure how it was going to go, but turned out great once it was clear when big sister said, “this is going to be great, you can do the back!”

Ticket prices went up this year to $170, but the ticket included a pre made gingerbread house (for up to two children) and a Paddington themed diner set. Here is what I liked about this event, you had your own space, your own supplies, and a box that fit your house. There were plenty of staff members walking around available to help you with anything you needed. Pastry Chef Kerry Levesque and her team really make this event special. Throw in a complimentary hot chocolate bar and pictures with Santa, and you have yourself a magical afternoon.

The Langham Boston is located at 250 Franklin Street, Boston MA

Follow them on Instagram

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Happy New Year!! What are you looking forward to as we start fresh? We are looking forward to more fun, more experiences, more living in the moment!

We didnt even try to make it until midnight this year. It had been a long day. We pulled our confetti poppers early (and how cute are these by the way?!?!) and were in bed, and asleep!!, early!

The next day we were up and ready to bake cookies with colorful sprinkles (and who can pick just one kind!) for our friends and a special teacher who happens to have a New Year’s day birthday! Hot tip (!!) if you have a child graduating this year, buy all the New Year goods on sale and use them for graduation parties in May!

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This was an especially long holiday break – what felt like 30,303.948.505,404,980 days long. We didn’t go away and only had a few day things planned. Keep it simple. That’s what I kept telling myself. So on the one hand, vacation went by very quickly, but on the other hand, the days dragged on.

In the theme of keeping it simple, I wanted to show you our awesome console table, that we actually go a while ago, but just dressed up for the holidays. It’s from a company called Vinna Home and Kitchen and they have these amazing modern console tables. They can make your table in any number of stain colors and any variety of sizes. Home delivery was white glove and we couldn’t have been more satisfied with the customer service. We bought two to run the length of our couch.

With all the baking that I did this year for friends and teachers etc. I didn’t make cookies for Santa – we outsourced. Thanks Cookie Monstah for the assist! We left Santa with options!

Their Burlington location is a breeze to get to, and they have a great selection. I loved that they asked me when I was ordering if I wanted to put the peanut butter cookies in a separate box (even though I didn’t have allergies, I’m not sure I would have even thought of it if I were getting these as gifts – which I did get one box for friends as long as I was here!) And how cute is the artwork on the box by Elissa Surabian?!?! She is a local chalkboard artist, you may have seen her work around town!

Speaking of friends, for my best gal pals and neighbors, I picked up some of our favorite cookies. It’s a tradition that I get them gingerbread girls or boys from The Gingerbread Construction Co. and for a little glam I picked up these cute holiday gift sets by Essie.

In an effort to make alllll of the Christmas magic happen in such a short amount of time – here is a look at everyone’s “stockings”. We tried to do fewer presents this year, and more “experiences”. For example, we paired each big with a little and they got to go into the city to do a fun gingerbread house decorating event. One pair went to the Langham Hotel and one pair went to Eastern Standard Kitchen. Stay tuned to see how much fun we had there in another post.

Back to our “stockings”. We use Sea Bags bucket bags instead of a traditional stocking. I think it started from our apartment days when we didn’t actually have a mantel, but can’t actually remember. I feel like every year the ante is “upped” and just because it fits in a stocking doesn’t mean it should go in a stocking I mean, when I was a kid, it was like candy and toothbrushes, and now I look, and I am totally guilty of this, I’m putting in $30 Owala water bottles (insert eye roll). I mean, but at least they don’t leak in the kid’s backpacks, right?

So for the big we got an Owala, a fun Stanley key chain/ornament whatever, a gold bubble necklace from Anthropologie, books for her Yoto Box, a cute Caboodles kit because it reminded me of my childhood, and a Squishmallow mystery bag.

For the youngest we picked up a Bluey brush, a Squishmallow surprise mystery bag, some holiday nail stickers, a Yoto story, some fun glow in the dark bandaids from Welly, Squishmallow hair claws, a monogram necklace and some fun ooly metallic pens.

For our oldest, we picked out various boxes of sports cards, a bunch of new Yoto stories, some Burt’s Bees lip balm, and an autographed version of the new book, The Bletchley Riddle, by Ruta Sepetys.

Dad was pretty straightforward, a few bags of his favorite coffee beans, a new razor, and some hair putty. Things are almost as fun when you are a dad as when you are a mom…..almost.

And finally, for the other little, we picked up an Owala with a boot, a new Pokemon book and a little sweet treat. Not pictured were a few Beyblades that came in last minute!

Remember when this blog was about food?! Right, me too. Stopped in to Lola’s pre-Christmas week to get one of their amazing chocolate chip ricotta pies. Not going to lie, I also picked up some frozen meals to give as gifts. We all have that one “uncle” who can’t cook and gets take out every night of the week (oh, wait, that’s just us?) and we figured a weeks worth of home (just not my home) cooked meals would be a great way to start his new year off right! I picked up a few for us to throw in the freezer as well, because let’s be honest, after a huge ramp up and all the Christmas magic we moms are making, once Christmas is over, come December 26th, I know that at least I don’t want to do ANY cooking!

Since we were home all vacation, we picked up quite a few friend’s mail. One of those perks was that they brought us home treats from their travels – and these beauties were some of the favorites from Standard Baking Company in Portland, ME.

Since I was baking so many cookies this year, I thought that maybe some people would be feeling like they were getting too many cookies this season (I mean, personally I NEVER feel that way….but maybe some people do). I figured I would try making cookie dough for friends. This way, they could make cookies when it was convenient for them. They could pull them out of the freezer and make one or make them all. So I found this great easy recipe by Melissa, from Design, Eat, Repeat and made her Freezer Cookie Dough. Super big hit. Some friends made them right away, some waited to make fresh cookies on Christmas, and some saved for later! I have made so many batches since, and keep them in my freezer – I grab when the kids are running out the door to play dates and I have nothing to bring – and it has saved the day in many instances! Here is the best part, you melt the butter, so no mixer required! Customize for the holidays using holiday m&m’s or even try and use that left over holiday candy as mix ins!

By the time I got around to making these cupcakes I don’t want to even tell you how many sticks of butter I had gone through already… but had to change things up from making so many cookies! I pick up sprinkles from every place I go – I even got these cute sugar snowflakes from Market Basket!

I love homemade gifts. I love seeing what people choose to give, or what their strong suits are. I love the thought and care that goes into something home made.Peppermint chocolate was a popular choice this year, which is totally up my alley. 10/10.

Our other neighbor brought us these adorable candy cane cookies and hot cocoa cookies, complete with full sized marshmallows. I applaud anything that you have to make two colors of dough for…I’m a strictly one bowl or it’s too much work kind of gal!

One friend brought us TWO boxes of cookies, maybe because we have so many people in our family Don’t see me complaining though! The chocolate s’mores cookies were #1 with the kids. I think the exact quote was, “the marshmallows are perfectly cooked” and “we should invite them over for s’mores one time”.I mean, that was perfect because that distracted them from the other cookies haha. Anything with jelly is A+ in my book, but also, cut out cookies impress me, because, again, that extra step goes a long way! Extra points for the fancy divider in the box, way above and beyond.

Teacher gifts were basically Girl Scout cookies this year, but to the extra special ones, we gave a little something more, and I’m not talking about the corny puns. But we couldn’t just give a gift card, so these cute treasure boxes we had from Bullseye’s Playground at Target filled with Lindt chocolate, a gift card and a tag saying, “you’re a treasure” were just enough to brighten a few days! Top off with a classic ribbon and a little sparkle.

I do also love a good Chex Mix, and this year was no different. Made a large batch, although had to do it solo this year, Isabelle was not around to do the bag shaking! Silly easy to make and a crowd favorite. Put in a cute tin or tie up with a pretty bow in a cellophane bag and you have a great little holiday treat.

Speaking of gift giving, one of my go to gifts I love to give people with kids is a gingerbread cookie making kit. Wilson Farms sells these plain cookies on packs of 2, and icing in fun colors. I pick up bright colored candy and add to a fun basket, throw in some tissue or paper shred and VIOLA! Simple and fun holiday gift for the whole family that will get them a whole 5 minutes of peace. OK, maybe 3. And yes, that is the viral CVS nutcracker in the background that I got 40% off with a coupon

No holiday would be complete without a stop to Clear Flour Bread. I used to live in Brookline and have really good memories of all the delicious things they had during the holidays (and all the delicious smells). So we lucked out one day, when the weather was not too cold and the line was not too long, and picked up these delicious treats. Not shown are the four loaves of bread we also bought

And to end this post, a look at what we did for our holiday cookie box. We went very kid friendly this year. Although my son’s friend told me that he was very upset that I did not put the Pillsbury slice and bake Christmas tree cookies in the box. Way to keep me humble my friend, and on my toes. I’ll keep that in mind for next year! So getting back to this year.

Chocolate M&M Cookies by Cooking with Karli

Sparkling Shortbread Cookies by E2 Bakes Brooklyn

Holiday colored Rice Krispie Treats

Sugar Cookies drizzled with chocolate and dressed up with holiday sprinkles

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Happy New Year! We kicked off 2025 with a bang! We decided to celebrate with some fun party gear made with found items! Grab some sun glasses (you know you have a billion of them hanging around from swag bags from birthday parties), headbands (or holiday headwear), pipe cleaners, beads, acrylic jewels, pom poms, and anything else you like!

Wrap the pipe cleaners tightly around the headband (and twist to secure), or secure onto sunglasses with hot glue. Add beads, twist into fun shapes, wrap around cookie cutters to make stars or other shapes, add acrylic gems to the ends! Hot glue pom poms to headband to cover up the base, and try to keep the pipe cleaners light or they will droop and sag. Go wild with your imagination, the sky is the limit!

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How to gain ten pounds in a month Give me all things peppermint! Trader Joe’s makes their Hold the Cone in a limited holiday peppermint flavor, Crescent Ridge offers their peppermint stick Holiday Cridgewich ice cream sandwiches, New City Micro Creamery offers holiday peppermint stick ice cream pies and Trombetta’s also offers a peppermint stick ice cream pie!

Hot chocolate bombs, love them or hate them? Personally, don’t love them, but the kids adore them. One of these days I think I will try my hand at make our own, they look easy enough to make…

Right now we are in to the cutest beaded necklaces. Found these on Etsy, how fun are those glitter Mickey beads?

I love a good dessert board. Are they even a thing anymore? Samplers will always be a thing in my book! This fun holiday themed dessert board is perfect for a hot cocoa themed night in. Some marshmallows, some dippers, mug toppers, and crunchy cookies to put your cocoa over the top.

I also love a good shelfie. Here are some of our favorite holiday reads:

Twas the Night Before Christmas, Illustrated by Mr. Boddington

5 More Sleeps ‘Til Christmas By Jimmy Fallon a fun rhyming book counting down the sleeps until Santa’s arrival.

Together by Heather Stricker A story of a boy who visits Santa, and tells him that instead of presents, he wants to spend time with his family, and enjoy their family traditions.

Christmas baking is in full swing – cupcakes are top on the list. Let’s get out all the different sprinkles and have at it!

One of my kid’s favorite things of the season is my childhood neighbor makes these reindeer brownies and delivers them to us every year. They gobble them up!

And no baking season would be complete without sprinle cookies. Made with massive amounts of butter and cream cheese, these are melt in your mouth delicious with just a hint of almond flavor. They have the right amount of crunch on the outside and yet remind me of a childhood bakery. What are some of your fondest holiday baking memories?

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I think that when I had my first child I had these holiday visions of the perfect gingerbread house – beautiful icing, rainbow colors, gumdrop roof, peppermint walkway. And then I had my third child and reality set in that frosting ends up EVERYWHERE, its a sticky mess, there are globs and blobs, someone ends up crying (probably me) and the house ends up falling apart halfway through and the kids could care less after minute 5.

So here are my best tips for a clean (if that’s your thing) and stress free (if you even get stressed out about these things) or less stressful, holiday gingerbread experience. First, go ahead and buy that pre assembled gingerbread house. no one is looking and no one is judging. You can get it here. Sure, you can buy more expensive ones, but this is worth every penny. And if anyone is looking THAT closely, you don’t want to be their friend anyway. Another tip, go ahead and buy one that you have to assemble and HOT GLUE GUN that house together, because, let’s be honest, NO ONE eats a gingerbread house that their kids have decorated. I mean those kids have licked their fingers and probably sneezed on it one or six times, you’re putting that out on your holiday table and then throwing that baby out come January 1st.

Same with decorating cookies. You can spend your time in the kitchen making the tasty home made cookies that are super cute and time consuming to cut out and frost, when really, all your kid wants to do it throw some candy on it, lick their fingers (maybe eat 2 cookies) and then you throw the rest out. Maybe your kids could eat more cookies, mine PROBABLY could, but I’m not sticking around or willing to find out.

I mean, do you really want to see their behavior after they eat all this candy?!?! hahaha. So maybe make. one good batch of cutout, frosted cookies, and fake the rest! It’s ok to take some short cuts during this crazy holiday season. And if a complete store bought cookie package is too much, but a pre made cookie dough and roll it out and cut those. Perfect compromise. What is your best holiday shortcut?

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Looking for a fun and easy craft for the kids? Try making these cute holiday pretzel wreaths with the kids? They are no bake, and take less than 5 minutes to assemble! Cover your work surface with parchment paper and line up your circle of pretzels. Melt your melting chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 30 second intervals. Mix together until smooth. When completely melted and smooth you can transfer to a pastry bag or even a Ziplock bag, cut off the tip with a scissor, and squeeze a ring of chocolate around the top of the pretzel ring. Sprinkle with any kind of sprinkles you desire, I topped mine with Cadbury mini eggs too! Viola! fun and festive wreaths! Make one plain layer without sprinkles and add a second layer on top if you want a heartier wreath, as shown above. These would also be fun with edible glitter or sanding sugars!

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With the holiday season fast approaching, I thought I would recap some fun winter activities, including a trip to the Ice Castles in New Hampshire. While the trip could definitely be done in a day, we decided to go overnight and stay at the Omni Mount Washington Hotel to make a fun girls weekend of it! Located in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, a popular ski destination, the Omni Mount Washington is a luxury hotel, constructed in the early 1900’s. Once thought to be the inspiration for the hotel in the popular Stephen King novel and movie, The Shining, both King and the hotel have denied such rumors.

The hotel is quite charming. You can choose to stay in the historic hotel or the Omni Bretton Arms Inn (and use all of the hotel amenities). In the winter, guests can ski, tube, snowshoe, take a scenic gondola ride or even take a sleigh ride. We took a private, 30 minute sleigh ride, for a little over $100, plus tip. Worth every penny.

After the sleigh ride we grabbed a pizza in town at Celli’s, at the recommendation of our sleigh driver actually, but make sure to call ahead if you’re planning on dropping in on a weekend, it gets busy. Good pizza, family friendly for sure!

The ice castles were fun! I can see why people like going at night, but with littles, we wanted to go during the day. It was crowded, and with all the people, I wanted to be able to see and keep track of everyone. There were lots of people there taking photos for Instagram and plenty of places to make it look like you were there without the crowds. I’m sure when it got dark and they lit up with fun colored lights, it would have been beautiful! A good idea to wear boots and snow pants.

Tickets are timed entry, and adults are around $31 for 12+ and $23 for children 4-11. Group tickets and off peak hours are cheaper. Make sure to leave enough time to get from the parking lot to the gate. There is a quarter mile walking path through the forest that is lit up by colorful globes, crawl tunnels and ice slides for the young (and young at heart), and sleigh rides (additional cost and tickets needed). The line for the sleigh rides was long, we were glad that we had booked a private one at the hotel.

After a day out in the cold, we were happy to get back to our room and order some dessert room service!

Such a special treat to sit in a hotel robe and eat sweets in bed!

The next morning we woke up and took the hotel shuttle to the mountain to take the scenic gondola ride. Highly recommend. The gondola is open from 9am – 3:30pm, and tickets are around $30. After returning to the hotel, we spent the morning relaxing at the pool and playing at the arcade before heading home.

Omni Mount Washington Hotel

310 Mount Washington Hotel Road, Bretton Woods, New Hampshire

https://www.omnihotels.com/hotels/bretton-woods-mount-washington/

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We decided to have all the kids from our neighborhood over to decorate gingerbread houses for the holidays.

We have a LOT of kids in our neighborhood, so, in the interest of keeping things simple and stress free, I picked up pre-made gingerbread houses from Target. If you didn’t want to spend this much money, another easy option would be to hot glue the houses together ahead of time. Let’s be honest, most kids aren’t going to eat the actual houses anyway, so trying to assemble the houses with frosting is just going to frustrate you!

I like to pick up disposable muffin tins and put candy in them and spread all around the table. This way, the kids can grab them easily, and there is enough to go around. I pick up candy everywhere – but the dollar store is generally a good option – rainbow belts, gumdrops, smarties, peppermints, candy canes, etc. I picked up frosting from the market for the kids to spread on with plastic utensils and places like Wilson Farm sells fun premade colored frosting in piping bags! Market Basket has sugar candy novelties and colored icing as well, along with bulk sprinkles in the bakery.

Check out how fun these houses turned out! A good time was had by all!

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