I loooove Burgundy. Love, love, love it. It's such a rich color, and it's also a color that I personally look very good in.

When burgundy is paired with gold, it gives it even a more rich quality.

I just asked my husband (whose background is graphic design) what he thought of the four Christmas ornaments below, and he said, "Instead of being 'light and fluffy,' they're more 'deep and rich.' They would work nicely as a accent for natural wood tones."




It's no secret that we're big Disney fans, so I'd have to say that my favorite of these ornaments is the Disney Park Exclusive. It's made of matte burgundy glass with red rhinestone Mickey ear heads. Wow!

We have been luck enough to have two different Disney World trips during the Christmas season: one was last November, when we stayed off-property at a Marriott, and the other was a few years ago in December, when we stayed at the Grand Floridian (which, by the way, none of us liked as much as either Port Orleans Riverside or Caribbean Beach).

Gingerbread House at the Grand Floridian

One really fun about the Grand Floridian, however, is that they have a life-size gingerbread house in the lobby that stands 16 feet tall and features 40 window panes.

I did a little research and found that it takes roughly 400 hours of baking and is made with 700 pounds of chocolate, 600 pounds of confectioner's sugar, 35 pounds of spices, and 800 pounds of flour.

Animal Kingdom never stays open past 5:00pm, so they don't have any lighted Christmas decorations, but they do have an impressive animal-themed Christmas tree to greet you at the entrance.

One thing to keep in mind if you visit Disney World during the Christmas season -- it can be cold! Last November we all wore jeans and jackets to Illuminations at Epcot, and we were still chilly enough that I almost bought a hot chocolate just to try to keep warm.

We've never attended Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party, but I've heard it's really great. Here's a video of some highlights:

Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party -- Magic Kingdom

If you're a Disney fan, or planning a trip there, here's my other blog where I wrote about our latest Disney vacation:

Why We Love Tusker House at Animal Kingdom

Kona Cafe at Disney's Polynesian Resort

Cool Things to Buy for Your Trip to Disney World

Our Favorite Snacks at the World Showcase in Epcot

Wait! Isn't Christmas supposed to be about things like snowflakes and earmuffs and sleigh rides and drinking hot chocolate? Why are we talking about Beach-themed Christmas stockings!

Well, these four stockings make me think of my husband's family, who live in Florida near the Gulf coast. For them, starfish and flip-flops might be more appealing decor than reindeer and snowman.

They also make me think of one of my son's friends, whose family is from Australia and staying in the United States for three years. Christmas probably makes them think of warm weather and these stockings would make total sense.

I don't have any beach Christmas decor myself, but if someday I were wealthy enough to have a beach vacation house, this is totally how I would want to decorate it for December.

One of my daughters just walked in the room, and I asked her which of these four stockings she likes the best. She said she liked the ocean coral one because her favorite color is teal.





If you are, in fact, decorating your Florida home, Australian home, or vacation beach house for Christmas, you'll want to check out this video from Debi's Design Diary of how to make this lovely "Beach Ball."

DIY Seashell Christmas Ornament

I used to make these cookies every Christmas for gifts (and myself), and I would often tell people, "Here -- these are the best cookies in the world."

Interestingly, I haven't made these cookies in years, for two reasons:

1) If I make them, I will be forced to eat large amounts of them;
2) I just can't bring myself to pour an entire cup of corn syrup into something that people will ingest (maybe I should try it with honey ... or try the corn syrup alternative in the video below)

Babe Ruth Bar Cookies

(aka "The Best Cookies in the World")

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup (or honey??)

1 cup chunky peanut butter

6 cups Special K cereal

1 6-oz package butterscotch chips

1 6-oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Combine sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

2) Remove from heat, then add peanut butter and mix well.

3) Stir in cereal until evenly coated, then press the mixture into  9x13 buttered pan.

4) Cool.

5) Melt chips over double boiler, stirring to blend thoroughly.

6) Spread over the cooled mixture, let cool again, then cut into bars.


Well, look at this! Here's a video on how to make your own substitute for corn syrup.

How to Make Substitute for Corn Syrup

For us, Christmas cookies are one of the hallmarks of Christmas.

I baked Christmas cookies with my mother when I was growing up, and my children make Christmas cookies every year with me. We bake cookies, decorate cookies, give cookies as gifts, and eat cookies while we drive through neighborhoods after dark looking at Christmas lights.

Of course angels, stars, trees, and snowmen make great cookies -- and I certainly wouldn't ever complain if anybody offered me any! But if you're feeling particularly festive and creative and want something a little more unique, you could add one or more of these Wilton cookie-cutter kits to your collection.

I think my favorite kit is the one one the right. I never would have thought of making a Christmas cookie shaped like a stocking or a wreath, but what a great idea! They seem to lend themselves to a lot of decorating ideas -- you could even put someone's name or initials on the stocking cookie!

I am terrible at wrapping gifts.
Just terrible!

Either I cut waaay too much wrapping paper, or I over-cut just enough so that there's a spot on the back that's uncovered (causing me to start all over again.) My wrapping paper folds are usually crooked.

And don't even get me started on the corners!

Lately, my usual solution to this problem is to get either my husband or one of my daughters to wrap all gifts for me.

Another obvious solution which I sometimes use is -- gift bags!

Gift bags are great because
a) They require no effort or skill to wrap a gift, and you completely avoid the dreaded corners;
b) They can be reused again and again.

I found these three holiday bags, all with different themes -- candy canes, snowmen, and Disney fairies. I particularly like the snowman bags. They look like something you could use not only for gifts, but also just for toting things around during the holiday season.

If small Christmas gifts go in stockings, what do huge Christmas gifts go in?

Huge Christmas gift bags, of course!

I found these these three packs of huge Christmas gift bags on Amazon.
The pack on the right is considerably cheaper than they other two because it contains only two bags, while the other packs contain six.

The first thing I think of when I see these bags is that one or two Christmases ago my middle child saw a HUGE stuffed dog at the store that she fell in love. We managed to creatively smuggle it to the house and get it under the tree on Christmas Eve, to her delight the next morning.

In this case, it worked just fine to just Doggie sitting under the tree. But if we had a gift like that for, say, a niece or a friend's child, one of these bags would have been perfect for it.

Other than huge stuffed animals, what other types of gifts could use a huge bag like this?

* Play Kitchens
* Guitars
* Tennis Rackets or Golf Clubs
* Tricycles
* Baby walkers, Bouncy Chairs, etc

Depending on how likely you are to buy huge gifts for people anytime soon, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a pack of these handy. Then, when someone needs a huge gift, you're good to go!