31 Holiday Tradtion Ideas

I thought this post from last year could use a little bump. There are a lot of ideas in it to make this Holiday season extra special. Hope you enjoy it.


31 Holiday Tradition Ideas

I'll be back with new ideas soon!

{ Memory Jar }

Remember this?

It was one of my first posts of 2012.

I got the idea from, of course, Pinterest. It seemed like such an awesome idea.

I did one and the Bean (aka, sentimental hoarder, he'll be on the show one day) did his own.

Little did we know what all would happen in 2012.

 A trip to Disney? We had no clue.

Meeting one of our favorite authors & YouTube stars? You're kidding?!

Monthly "game nights" weren't even in the plan at the beginning of 2012. We managed to get in 10 of them though! I even posted about a few.

My long planned for, much talked about Harry Potter party, would it happen this year?

Yeah, yeah it did!

Speaking of Harry Potter, we finally made it to the Wizarding World!

It's kinda crazy what all you can stuff into a jar. The rule here was, once in, not out until Jan 1, 2013.

So, we'd forgotten about some things. A fortune cookie fortune from our January game night, the Valentines I made in February, Mardi Gras beads from our Murder Mystery Party in February, Finger Lights from the Bean's birthday bash in May, and so much more!

It really was a lot of fun to go through. We're shopping for our new jar today!

Bring on 2013!

This was a really fun new tradition. We take our Christmas decor down a few days after Christmas, but we leave up the tree, which we swap over to a New Year's Eve Tree. 

So, we didn't have much in the way of taking down decorations, but putting the tree away is always the saddest part. A pick me up, after it was away, and everything was back to normal, was to open our jars and relive the year in memories.

Here are a few photos.

My jar stuffed with 2012 moments and memories

The Bean reading the "Nerdfighter Note" we found in a John Green book
(John Green fans leave notes in his books)

Piles of memories. Here you can see "Pensive Memories" from my Harry Potter party (the plastic diamonds), Mardi Gras
beads from our Murder Mystery party, finger light from the Bean's birthday, Magic Kingdom guide map, there is also a ticket from when we saw "A Day in Pompeii", Valentines, movie stubs, the ER bracelet from when I cut my foot open by dropping a dish on it on Valentine's Day, Ren Faire map, items from assorted game nights, Wizarding World Map & tickets, Magic Kingdom tickets, and so, so, so much more!

Here you can see a playbill from the Bean's Summer Drama Troupe, his induction to the National Honor Society, and a lot of the other stuff I already named off .

I can't wait until I have a shelf full of these jars.

Can you imagine how much fun THAT will be going back through?

*

Love, cupcakes, and memories be yours in 2013,

Tina

{ Striped Delight Dessert }

Years and years and.. uh.. years ago, when I was first married, I had the brilliant idea of putting together a Family Cookbook. Both sides of my family submitted recipes, which we then typed together, printed, copied, and then bound put into inexpensive folders & handed out. My mother in law and mom did most of the typing. I didn't have a computer then or even a typewriter! GASP. I can't find the date anywhere in my book, (it's since been put in a nicer binder)  but I believe it was 1994 or 1995. Holy moley.. time, it flies.

This book, while time consuming, really has come in handy over the years. I've often gone to it for family favorites, like, Grammy's Pancakes, Aunt Diana's Corn Casserole, Mom's Homemade Noodles,

Grammy's Strawberry Pie, and much more. The recipe I'm sharing today, and my next, also came from this book.

So, if you are looking for a unique and inexpensive Christmas gift, think of doing something like this. It'd be much easier with today's technology. I wish we'd had the ability to have them printed up in actual hardbound books like they sell at Winkflash, Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc. That'd be an AWESOME gift.

This recipe is from my Sister in Law, Dorothy. She always called it Striped Delight. I've heard it called several things like "Better Than Robert Redford", Eclair Dessert", but most prominent on the internet is the name "Better Than S#x". Yes, I'm a grown up. Yes, I just bleeped out that word. I do not want to show up in any questionable web-searches. LOL. For that reason, I'm sticking with Dorothy's name for it... Striped Delight.

I've never found her EXACT recipe though, but ones very close.

Now, let me tell you a little story. I made this to have tonight when my mother-in-law & grandmother-in-law came over for a little weenie roast (it's somethin' we country folk do, ya know). We'd just gotten everything down to our fire pit, when Luna, our 4 year old Jack Russell decided to go on the lam. 

We searched, yelled, posted to neighbors on Facebook, drove around, yelled, searched more. For over an hour. We'd finally given up and decided if she was going to come back, she'd come back, but there was no way we could find her in the acres and acres and acres of 8 foot tall corn that surround us.

And then, just when we'd given up.. there she was. 

Guess who's never allowed outside the fence again? Yeah, this girl:

So, sorry if the finished dessert photos aren't quite up to par. This little mutt had us all in a tizzy!

Back to the dessert, eh?

Here's what you'll need:

Striped Delight Dessert

Crust:

1 sleeve of Graham Crackers

1/3 Cup Butter, melted

1/4 Cup Sugar

2nd Layer:

1- 8oz Block of Cream Cheese (1/3 less fat & fat free will work, but will result in a softer set)

1 Cup Cool Whip (thawed)

1/4 Cup Sugar

2 Tablespoons Milk

3rd Layer:

2 Small Boxes (4 serving size) Chocolate Pudding, Instant

3 Cups Milk (2% or Vitamin D)

4th Layer:

Remaining Cool Whip

Finely crush graham crackers

Add sugar

Then add melted butter. Mix throughly, and press into a 9x13 dish.

 Chill the crust for 15 minutes.

Prep the 2nd layer by adding cream cheese 1/4 cup sugar & 2 Tablespoons milk to the mixer. Beat until well mixed. Then fold in 1 cup of thawed Cool Whip.

When this is done, it will be thick and delicious. Seriously, try not to eat it ALL.

Spread over chilled crust. Be careful, because your crust may want to peel up a bit.

You'll see crumbs in my layer.

 The third layer is 2 small boxes of instant chocolate pudding & 3 cups of 2% or vitamin D milk.

Beat together until thick (should be a bit thicker than regular 'quick set' method puddings due to using less milk), then spread over the cream cheese layer.

 Just before serving, add the rest of the cool whip to the top. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, toffee bits, drizzled caramel topping, coconut flakes, grated chocolate... the sky is the limit! My guys are kinda boring, so I just did chocolate chips.

Some people can do perfect lovely layers... I am not one of those. Here are my messy  layers

Messy, but delicious.

Did I mention delicious?

Great dessert for a crowd, so perfect for get togethers, pot lucks (do y'all call them pot lucks or carry in dinners?), Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, picnics, etc!

Easy, quick, cheap. Yay.

Enjoy!

Tina

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{ Layered Drinks }

I saw these drinks a long time ago. I want to say it was on a TV show, but I could totes be wrong.

I know, I'm just as shocked as you are, but it's been known to happen a time or two (or a thousand).

They are SO cool. Iknowright?

Easy and so much fun.

And yes, that is a jar. I love jars for drinks. This tall, skinny jar is from my favorite olives.

Mmmm... I love those things a big gooey lot. So much love.

But enough about those little green gems, on to the drinks!

All ya need is this: 

• Clear glasses- the taller, the better (or jars if you like)

• Ice, and lots of it

• drinks with differing sugar contents

You can use more than three, but these were what I had in the house at the time.

Just check the sugar grams on the label.


For these I used:

• Mt Dew - 46 grams of sugar (YOWTCH!)

• V8 Splash- 18 grams of sugar

• Propel- 0 grams of sugar 

The Propel is pretty much clear, so I added a dash of blue food coloring.

Then add your ice, allll the way to the top. 

Pour in your heaviest (aka most sugary) drink.

Mt Dew for me

Then pour in your second heaviest drink, the V8 Spalsh in my case, slowly, and through the ice.

Here is another I did with a tiny bit of the 2nd liquid it in so you can see the separation

I've found it's easiest to pour from something with a spout. I used a measuring cup.

Then, pour in your lightest drink (Propel here), again, slowly, and through the ice. You can add a little more ice before adding the last color if you need too. Make sure it's all the way to the top.

As I said, you can add more layers, just make sure each color has a significant sugar difference and ending with the 0 sugar drink. 

This drink has 100% Bean approval. He may have drank 2 of them.

These are great for summer get togethers, parties, holidays, or.. just whenev, ya know.

The Bean thinks I should make these for our Harry Potter party next month. I think I might could do that.

  Potions anyone?

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

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{ Cheesy Ranch Potato Wedges }

Lemme just tell ya, people are obsessed with Ranch.

Ranch flavoring that is. I don't think most of America is going out and purchasing thousands of acres and hiring Cowboys.

But ... I could be wrong.

Ranch Dressings, Ranch Chips, Ranch Croutons, Ranch Crackers, Ranch, Ranch, Ranch.
Go to a restaurant and listen to people order dressing. I'm betting a good 75% order Ranch.
I order Vinaigrette. Coloring inside the lines was never my strong suit.

Oh, Hidden Valley, did you KNOW you were creating an obsession?

I think you did.

I host monthly Game Nights here. Mostly, it's teenagers. Shockingly, I'm ok with this. I like these teenagers.

I made these taters up for said Game Night (this month's theme was "I Mustache You A Question").

Here's your line up:

Cheesy Ranch Potato Wedges
8 potatoes, scrubbed clean

1 teaspoon seasoning salt

1 teaspoon garlic

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/3 cup oil

salt, pepper

1 to 2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

1-16 oz container Sour Cream

1 packet Ranch Dressing Mix

3/4 cup Milk
Bacon, fried and chopped or Real Bacon Bits
Green Onion (if desired)

These take a while to bake, but they are so easy.

First, scrub up some taters. I did 8 - this is a rather large recipe.

Chop them into wedges, then toss them in 1/3 cup oil.

Mix up 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 teaspoon seasoned salt. 

Toss in a little regular salt and black pepper.

You can add other seasonings if you like too!

Place wedges on baking sheet lined with parchment (or foil) and sprinkle seasonings over them.

Sprinkle with a bit of dried parsley too (optional)

Bake at 400 F for about 45 minutes or until tender.

While those are baking, make your Ranch Sauce. In a bowl, mix together a 16 oz container of Sour Cream, a Packet of Ranch Dressing Mix, and 3/4 cup milk. Put in fridge until potatoes are done.

When tender, remove potatoes from oven and top with hobgobs of cheese (1-2 cups).

 Return to oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted and gooey.

Remove from oven, and top with Ranch sauce.
Pour it all on. Well, pour on at  least 1/2 of it, and save the rest for dipping.

We wouldn't want a ranchless potato. Oh the humanity!

Sprinkle on bacon & green onion, if desired
(no green onion here, not because I don't like it, but because I didn't possess it at the time)

 mmmm... ranchy and gooey

My niece (who is 18) took the leftovers home. All of them. And there were a lot.

Did I mention this is a BIG recipe?

So yummy.

Want. Now.

Have. None.

Sad. Tina.

Credit: this recipe is based off of this one from Oh So Delicioso

{ Carrot Strawberries? }

Yeah, that's what I said.

Carrot. Strawberries.

Now, Dear Internets, let me tell you a story.

I'm sad.

You see, I thought I'd invented these! I was standing at the kitchen counter washing berries while contemplating if I was smarts enough to come up with a new Easter post, when WHAMO, idea.

I don't know if you know this, but strawberries have the little green leafies at the top. (That's the scientific name, look it up). Carrots? Well, by golly gosh darn, THEY have the little leafies at the top.

Hmmmmmm.... If I had some orange tinted chocolate, I'd be in bizzznezz.

Guess what! I did. Well, I had white chocolate and candy coloring, but folks, semantics.

I set to work, thinking, alas, my readers will think I'm SO clever!

They will oooooh and ahhhhhh.. and they will reply and email me, and share my blog, and Pin my things to Pinterest!

And my life will be changed....

By Carrot Berries!!!!!!!!!!!

YUS.

Ok, maybe I didn't think all that. Or maybe I did. You'll never know.

So, I berried away.

They are cute, yes. I am proud.

Clever Tina.

After finishing, I sit down to post, and think... I should consult the Google Machine.

Google says to me, "Bahahahaha... Tina, you LOSE! Someone smarter than you, prettier than you, skinnier than you, and all together better than you has already made these".

Google, I thought you were my friend, why are you so mean?

I found them in a few places, not many, but a few, this was the first Google return.

After I wiped my tears, I pulled up my big girl panties and soldiered on.

I realized, mine have sprinkles. Sprinkles always make things better, right?

I win.

So here we go.

These are very, very easy.

Make some up and stand back and wait for applause.

What, am I the only one that does that??

You can also have fun with just the white chocolate and sprinkles.

After all, isn't Easter the perfect time to dye berries?

No?

Package some of these babies up. Who wouldn't want this treat in their Easter Basket?

HOPPY EASTER!!!

(sorry, I'm lame like that)

Tina

Carrot Berries for Easter

You'll need:

Strawberries, washed and totally dry

Orange Candy Melts Or White Chocolate* tinted with Candy Coloring**

Orange sprinkles

I use white chocolate almond bark (found in most groceries)

**this must be specific for candy, like this from Wilton, regular food coloring will ruin the chocolate.

 Melt your chocolate in 30 second intervals. You may need to use a bit of oil or shortening to thin.

Dip your dried berries all the way up to the stem, add the sprinkles immediately, the chocolate will dry quickly.

Allow to fully dry.

Need more Easter ideas? Well, then I've got a treat for you!

Check out my friends at

The Ladies @ Crock Pot Ladies  
 who have whipped up Crock Pot Au Gratin Potatoes 

 Kristen @ Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
who made Strawberry Rhubarb Pie In a Jar 

Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl
who created Coconut Caramel Pie in a Jar

Gotta love those pies in a jar!

And potatoes of ANY nature are my favorite thing in the worlds.

YUM, RIGHT?

and post up your own ideas below

If you link up, be sure to link back to myself & my co-hosts.

And follow me on Facebook, eh?

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{ Leprechaun Cakes }

These leprechaun cakes will be a purfect advencha fer yew and yur wee ones to make on St. Paddy's Day!

Pin It

Ok, I can't type in an Irish accent.

It's not easy, man. You try. Seriously.
Go on now...

This is just another quicky recipe that would be big fun to make while wearin' the green tomorrow.

Like the Mint Oreo Brownie Truffles, these went in to school today for a bake sale.

Someday I will make something that actually stays in this house.

Maybe.

Easy to make- you use the same idea as the Rainbow Cake
(which would also be awesome-as a cake or as cupcakes- to celebrate St. Patrick's! Top with "Gold" (yellow) icing for the gold at the end of the rainbow).

Just whip up a white cake, then divide it out into how many shades of green you want (I only did two), leaving white as well.

Then layer into your cupcake liners, as shown in the Rainbow Cake post.

Bake according to the box, and top with some yummy green tinted buttercream icing. You can find that recipe here.

Then, take a bite... the fun is inside!

Each one is a little different, but they are all pretty!

An easy activity or a special treat for St. Pat's!

And if you are eating these, pinching is totally illegal.

Seriously.

Tina