Christmas Vacation

My little seester and her hubby came up from Orlando to spend a few days before Christmas with us in our new home! To maximize our mini vacation, I created a detailed agenda for the weekend…

Friday: After a few festive cocktails at home, we headed to the Epicentre for a big dinner at Vida Cantina. I should also mention this was a weekend full of “photo bombing” each other. The creeper to the left is Lindsey’s hubby.

After dinner we met up with Mel and Travis at Mortimers for way too many shots and vodka redbulls. The agenda stopped there, but we somehow ended the night with table service at Suite…

Saturday: I made a big breakfast before we headed Uptown to go ice skating! 

Afterwards we ate lunch at Cabo Fish Taco, followed by a long winter nap on the couch while Elf played on repeat.

Saturday evening we set the table and enjoyed a few Hot Caramel Pear Ciders and some appetizers.

A few days before they arrived, Lindsey and Ryan surprised us with a delivery of Omaha Steaks...

 So for dinner I cooked restaurant style steaks, parmesan-roasted green beans and balsamic roasted red potatoes!

After dinner we exchanged prezzies and sipped on some bubbly.

  Our evening ended with a Christmas movie marathon, the perfect ending to a busy day.

Sunday: I made eggs, potatoes and pancakes for breakfast before Lindsey and Ryan hit the road. 

After L&R left, we packed up and headed to Winston-Salem to spend Christmas with Matt's family! 

Christmas Eve: We sipped on spiked eggnog from official "Christmas Vacation" moose mugs.

Charlie continued to wear his festive Christmas bandana

 Christmas Day: We spent time with family, ate a lot and opened all our gifts!

Everyone got matching beach chairs and towels!

Hope you all had a very merry Christmas!

Hot Caramel Pear Cider

Consider leaving Santa a Hot Caramel Pear Cider cocktail tonight…

Hot Caramel Apple Cider

64 ounces Trader Joe’s Pear Cinnamon Cider

12-14 ounces Smirnoff Caramel Vodka

2 tablespoon cinnamon

½ cup sugar

Mix pear cider and caramel vodka in a large pot. Heat over medium-low, stirring occasionally until liquid just begins to steam. Meanwhile, mix cinnamon and sugar together and rim your mugs or glasses with the mixture. Pour cider into your rimmed glasses, serve and enjoy!

Note: do not over heat or else the alcohol will burn off.

Yields 6-8 mugs of cider

Merry Christmas friends! xo

Marble Fudge Bars

With back to back to back Christmas parties to attend this week I needed to bake a seriously large batch of something that would hold up well throughout the week. After an unsuccessful pin search, I went through my recipe history and stumbled upon my cookie exchange post from last year. One of my friends brought unbelievably tasty Marble Fudge Bars. Not only does the recipe call for 5 simple ingredients, there is no baking required! Yippee! 

 Marble Fudge Bars

1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 bag butterscotch chips

1 cup peanut butter

1 bag mini marshmallows

1 cup lightly salted peanuts

Pour peanut butter, butterscotch and semi-sweet chips in a bowl and microwave for 5 minutes. Mix in nuts and let cool {approximately 15 minutes}. Combine marshmallows and stir well. Pour into a 9x13 dish and refrigerate {2 hours minimum}. When ready to serve, cut into very small squares.

As I mentioned, these hold up really well if you keep them in the fridge. One batch lasted me 3 parties!

Do you have a quick and tasty Christmas party recipe?