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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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.

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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.

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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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