Merry Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas eve gathering last night with my family , we ate and drank , I made these meatball mini sandwiches with half a meat ball tomato sauce and brie cooked in a panini grill , yummy ...gonna make those again I made other stuff too but those little sandwiches were a big hit, our dessert buffet was pretty yummy too .

The other day I complained how I really needed a new hand mixer as mine had recently broken , I know the kitchen Aid one is really the best but often priced at $100.00 I wasn't really considering getting it but when I saw it half price and I remembered my husband saying I bake all the time and that I should just get the good one so I added it to my grocery cart, I have used it so much already for royal icing , for spinach artichoke dip and this morning for egg white for my waffles, it is great, powerful and quiet as well as light.

Sophie and I were in bed the other night watching the Food network and saw Guy you know Guy and he was at Disney land , they showed how to make a Yule Log cake , so we decided to make one too , I just used box cake and made it in my big jelly roll pan , I use it as a cookie sheet , baked it for about 10 minutes and let it cool completely and then covered it in butter creme and rolled it up using the parchment and a steady even rolling motion , then roll it in the parchment and chill for 2-3 hours , cover in more butter cream , add ganache and use fork to mix and add texture , cut off a slice of the end and place on top and then support with the butter creme by forking it up the sides , and then chill , what an easy fun cake , I swear it was easy ...

Spreading the butter creme , thanks little helper Sophie.

Voila our yule log cake ....it sure was sweet and moist and lovely but just a sliver will do .

I used the extra batter and made a few cupcakes and topped them with the extra ganache , ganache is so easy too , I hadn't made it in years , all I did was bring 1 cup of 18% cream to a boil and take off the heat and mix in a package of chocolate chips and let the cream melt the chocolate whisk a little and it was really as easy as that , I am pretty sure the other time I made it I melted the chocolate first this way was better.

I asked to start a Chamilia bracelet , like a Pandora bracelet really there are so many different kinds it was hard to decide, we got bracelets for the girls too , here is Sophie's she loves it as much as I love mine and we can add more beads as we like , I have found great bead sites on Etsy who I am really impressed with .

My hubby cleaning up after all the party and cooking messes , I feed them and he cleans up , what a guy.

One thing Sophie really wanted to for Christmas was a pair of high heel boots , I luckily had seen them too , I remember a pair of burgundy zip up heeled boots I had as a little girl too I loved them so much they always felt so special to wear. I found and got her three different pairs of heeled boots two ankle boots and these taller ones , she has been wearing them in the house all day .

As I shared before Mason loves nail polish and nail polish she received , and all other things nails too , like a nail bath , nail dryer and many many nail polishes and Konad plates.

Last night she was happy to show everyone her nail room and she even did manicures for most of the girls.

Trying on her new clothes and boots right away ...and no place to go...

I bought the girls Just dance 2 for the Wii, I didn't realize how much they wanted it until they ran right out of the room and tried it out , that's always nice to see them enjoy their gifts like that.

I got Mason some of these Konad nail plates , you will have to google that , you add polish to the plates and pick up the image on a stamp and then stamp them on your nails , well Mason does it actually , I have a lovely manicure done by Mason right now actually sparkly red polish with white delicate flowers on top, very festive. I got these at Pickering Flea Market if you are wondering.

Here is the beautiful bracelet my husband bought me , I just love it , the sales girl actually accidentaly on purpose showed me what it looked like when I was shopping for my daughters bracelet , a little mix up , not cool , but I love it regardless. "Oh and here's yours " she said , and I said "oh don't show me that , its a surprise and a gift" ......oh no !

Now this was a BIG surprise a Pinner , it used micro pins to do wood work , which leaves micro holes , no more filling and sanding , awesome huh....I got my husband a Blue Ray player which he didn't ask for nor was he expecting and he loves it along with a DVD of Fringe which he loves , its hard to surprise this guy so I am glad he likes it .

We mostly are all in our pj's well except for Sophie whi is dressed to kill , Mason is on the couch wrapped in her snuggie that her Oma gave her last night , I NEED a snuggie , it is so cozie and her's is pink , I have a prime rib in the oven and we are going to eat in the dining room , twic in one day , wow well it is Christmas after all .