Snapshots of Christmas Week

Christmas week was a busy week, but a fun filled week!

Because Christmas was on a Friday this year, we had a full week off school to get things done & also to relax!

The week of Christmas I hosted my Favorite Things Party!

Here is a sneak peak of some of the printables I worked on for the party:

I threw a Favorite Things Party in 2011 and I am glad I threw one again this year!

 I will do a full post on the party. It was so fun.

 We finally got around to seeing Santa.....no tears this year from Luke or any of my kids.

The streak has ended. Sigh.  You can see our streak of crying Santa pics {HERE}

The kids LOVED Santa. Kate asked for a family sized trampoline, Claire asked for a snow globe & Luke asked for a firetruck.

We spent a lot of Christmas Week in our pj's....doing puzzles:

Baking treats for family & friends:

Playing games (my girls love Clue!)

We watched tons of Hallmark Christmas movies & I did some reading!

I also wrapped presents...

 This is a wrapping trick I learned from one of my friends...It's genius! I wrapped each kid's presents in a certain wrapping paper. I didn't put tags on the presents. I put the presents under the tree. The kids didn't know which presents were for who until Christmas morning. I am doing this from now on!!

On Christmas Eve Eve our tradition is to go to dinner and look at Christmas lights. Luke had a fever, so Kevin stayed home with him and I took the girls on a dinner date to continue our tradition. 

On Christmas Eve we went to church & after church we headed to my parents to open presents. Complete chaos!

 Me & my sisters:

 Then we headed home to get ready for Santa:

 The big Santa gift we got our kids this year was a family size trampoline...we knew it would take 2-3 hours to set up, so my older sister came over at 10pm on Christmas Eve to help us set it up.

 We were so excited we got it set up without the kids seeing us!! I was so excited for Christmas morning!

Looks like Santa came...

 Their reaction in the morning seeing the trampoline was EPIC. 

We got it on video...it was so awesome.

 Christmas morning with young kids is magical.

 Luke didn't even want to open any of his presents...he just wanted to play with this car garage Santa brought him:

 Then we headed back to my parents for brunch. I made my Monkey Bread {Recipe HERE}

 And, we had bacon, sausage, eggs, hashbrowns...yum!

That afternoon we headed to Kevin's sister's house for Christmas dinner. My nephew got a hooverboard. We all had fun trying it out:

We had Prime Rib for dinner:

 We played Tripoly for hours.....LOVE this game. It was my first time playing. I'm obsessed.

 The next day (the 26th) we headed to Kevin's parents house for Larson Family Christmas.

These are the faces of 2 exhausted parents who have had 3 days of Christmas & a Lukey who was up all night coughing:

Thankfully, we had Kevin's dad's famous gin fizzes to keep us going ;)

It was another fun filled Larson Christmas filled with stockings, presents, more Tripoly & awesome family time.

On the 27th we packed up Christmas....I was really sad to see it go....this has been a really fun Christmas season for our family.  Usually I pack it all up on the 26th, but this year I packed it up on the 27th and I got a little teary eyed packing it up.

 There you have it....a snapshot of Christmas 2015!

Also, we aren't doing the What's Up Wednesday Link Up for December. 
The next What's Up Wednesday link up will be January 27th! 

 +++++++++++++++

Just a Reminder! 

I will be placing a BULK order of the amazing Rodan + Fields Eye Cream this weekend!

This eye cream sells out a few times each year, so get it now if you want to try it out!

Have bags under your eyes from Christmas stress, lack of sleep & having your kids out of school for 2 weeks?

Our  Multi-Function Eye Cream combines powerful peptides to minimize the appearance of crow’s-feet, helps reduce the appearance of both puffiness and dark under eye circles while special optical diffusers noticeably brighten the eye area.

For my bulk order, you can get it with my discount and it will only cost you $58 and I will cover your tax & shipping!

One jar lasts me at least 4-5 months.

Let me know if you want to order one! Leave a comment with your email or email me: melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

Peanut Butter Buckeyes

One of my favorite things about Christmas Break is making Christmas cookies & goodies to deliver to friends, family & neighbors. 

The girls and I make 5-6 types of cookies each year. 

This year, I added Peanut Butter Buckeyes to our cookies that we make. 

My girls love anything peanut butter & chocolate.

Here is what you need:

-1 stick of butter

-2 cups of powdered sugar

-1 cup of chocolate chips

- 1 cup of Peanut Butter (I am so excited about Skippy's baking cups!!! They come in a 4 pack & our 1/2 cups. So perfect for baking)

In a bowl, mix together peanut butter and butter.

Gradually stir in powdered sugar.

Shape mixture into balls. Don't make them too big. This makes 35-40 peanut butter balls.

Place the peanut butte balls on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Stick a toothpick in each one.

Place in the freezer for at least an hour.

In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips.

You may need to add 1 tablespoon of Crisco/Vegetable oil.

After peanut butter balls are frozen, dip them into the chocolate. My girls helped me with this...they don't like them too chocolately, so we dipped them about 1/2 way.

If you like a lot of chocolate you can dip them all way.

Place the peanut butter balls back on the cookie sheet (I smooth over the toothpick hole)

Put them in the fridge for an hour.

I keep them in sealed tight container in the fridge.

These are so yummy. They are one of my girls favorite treats!

Here are some other treats we made this week:

 Ultimate Ginger Cookies // Candy Cane Kisses // Snickerdoodles // Peanut Butter Ritizies// Christmas Monster Cookies 

Disclosure: This post was written as part of my participation in the Hormel Foods Extended Family Blogger Program. While Hormel Foods provides me material and necessary resources to complete various activities, the thoughts and statements in this post are my own.

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas filled with family, friends & good food!

Five on Friday, Favorites + A Printable

Happy Friday!!! 

I have FIVE Favorites today & a free printable!

Today was the last Friday of school & now it's Christmas Break!!!

This was me all week:

#thestruggleisreal

Memes & Someecards are my favorite...these ones are just so true:

 

{ONE}

Full House was my FAVORITE as a kid! 

I am WAY too excited about Fuller House.

I may or may not have teared up when I saw the trailer last night.

Being born & raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I especially love this show because it is based in SF. Earlier this year, we played "tourist" in SF and checked out the Full House house.

(The house has been repainted since the show last aired 20 years ago in 1995, it is much darker now!)

 Full House was my FAVORITE show growing up. One of the reasons it was my favorite show is because it was based in San Francisco and because it was a family of 3 girls, just like me & my sisters. I can't WAIT for the Fuller House show that is coming out in February! So excited!

{TWO}

Rodan + Fields Eye Cream is my Favorite!

I know that some of you missed out on my last bulk order, so I am going to place ANOTHER bulk order on December 31st!

I started using the eye cream right after Luke was born and WOW, it got rid of the bags under my eyes that I had from lack of sleep with a newborn. 

Our  Multi-Function Eye Cream combines powerful peptides to minimize the appearance of crow’s-feet, helps reduce the appearance of both puffiness and dark under eye circles while special optical diffusers noticeably brighten the eye area.

Ophthalmologist tested, this formula is ideal for maintaining the delicate skin around the eyes.  

This brave consultant only used the eye cream on one eye for 3 weeks!

It's less puffy & she doesn't have bags under that eye!

I will be placing a BULK order of our amazing eye cream December 31st.
For my bulk order, you can get it with my discount and it will only cost you $58 and I will cover your tax & shipping!
One jar lasts me at least 4-5 months.
Let me know if you want to order one! Leave a comment with your email or email me: melissa_larson17@yahoo.com

{THREE}

San Francisco during Christmas is my favorite...I love seeing all the decorations!

My sister's work has a Christmas party in SF every year at the Embarcaderro Ice Skating Rink...they shut it down just for the clients. It's so fun. San Francisco's Christmas decorations are so pretty this year:

{FOUR}

Random Acts of Kindness are my favorite....especially during the Holiday Season.

Yesterday I posted about Blessing Bags. 

You can read the full post about them {HERE}

Last night we headed to San Francisco for my sister's work party & we brought our blessing bags to hand out to the homeless. I was so incredibly proud of my girls, they were more excited about handing out the blessing bags than they were to go ice skating.  I told them that I would hand the bags out, but Claire insisted that she be the one to hand it to them. They weren't scared of the homeless people they saw & they were brave and handed them the blessing bag with a smile on their faces & wished them a Merry Christmas. All of the people were so incredibly thankful and one of them said  "I never get Christmas presents, this is so exciting! God Bless You!" 

 

I highly encourage you to make these bags....they truly bless people!

Another Random Act of Kindness that I started doing this year is taping this note to my front door along with Starbucks Gift Cards.

 I don't know about you, but I do 99% of my Christmas shopping online. This is what I have taped on our front door as a way to say thank you to our fed ex, ups & usps workers who are working so hard this time of year:

I posted that photo on Instagram & one of my friends texted me asking if I could email her the graphic that I made, so I decided to just make it a printable for all of you as well! 

 You can sign or write in your own last name :)

{To download, Click so the image pops up in a new window, Right Click, Then Save & Print!}

We had 2 packages delivered today & 2 gift cards were taken. I was so excited!

 

{FIVE} 

This base coat & top coat are my new favorite!!!

You can get them {HERE}

I have been searching high and low for a top coat that helps with chipping. 

I have finally found one!!! 

I have used steps 1 & 3 the past 2 weeks and my nails don't chip for 5-6 days!

You don't need to use the Step 2 polish...I have used other brands and it still works great.

I will be using step 1 & 3 from now on, no matte what polish I use! 

So happy to have found something that works! Yay!

So, there you have it...5 of my favorites!

I hope you have a wonderful Winter Break.

This is me right now...

{Love these pj bottoms! If you are tall like me...5'9, they are long enough!!! YES! And, super cozy flannel. Get them HERE}

If you need me this weekend, I'll be here in my pj's...staring at my Christmas tree, drinking wine (or coffee) enjoying the rain falling outside, listening to Christmas music or watching Hallmark Christmas movies. Can I get an amen for no plans this weekend & 2 weeks off school? I have a house cleaner come once a month & she came today, so my house is clean for at least a few hours!Merry Christmas, indeed!

 Hope you have a great weekend!