Caring for My Chaos

 Merry Christmas from my family to yours! I hope every one of you have a fabulous day and that Santa was good to you.  Give your loved ones lots of love and cherish the time with them!

Who doesn't love Christmas cookies? I'm going to be making a batch of these today for my book club's Christmas party this week. Of course, I'll be making extra to be eaten by us too!

**This is a sponsored post.** Are you looking for stocking stuffers? Go to  Soapcreek ! This is hands down the best smelling soap I've ever smelled! They sent me Pumpkin Pie and Doodle confiscated it! They make all their soaps with natural ingredients and essential oils and sustainable methods. All crafted by hand! This soap has pumpkin puree and cinnamon in it. It smells amazing and leaves your skin soft and clean. They have many flavors to choose from and more than just soaps! I think this would be perfect for a Christmas gift! Go check out their website!

I came up with this little cutie when I was looking online for a little Christmas ornament to make a couple years ago. I took a little bit from here and there and then threw in my own spin on things and came up with this pattern which you can do in under half an hour. I made 6 of these and by the last one I had it done in 15 minutes. I attached the little jingle bells to them and little red bows. Won't that be cute? I made them for a couple of people for Christmas over the years. I think they are darling! Ch 8, sl st to form a ring. Ch 3, 2 dc, ch 1 *3 dc, ch 1* repeat from * 4 more times, sl st to join to top of ch 3. Turn work. Ch 3, 2 dc in ch 1 sp, *ch 3, 3 dc in ch 1 sp* repeat from * around, sl st to join top of ch 3 Turn work. Ch 3, 6 dc in ch 3 sp, *sc in middle dc of previous row, 7 dc in ch 3 sp* repeat from * around, sl st to top of ch 3. Ch 25, sl st to first ch to form hanger. Fasten off. And that's it! Easy peasy!

It's November 1!!! You know what that means, right? It's officially the holiday season! This is my hands down favorite time of the year. I live for Christmas. I have been scouring Goodwills all year for Christmas decorations, I have my Pinterest full of recipe ideas. I am that person. I have no shame in it either. I just hung up my Thanksgiving flag outside and I got all the fixins from the dollar store to do my holiday wreath. I think Hubby is sick of me coming up with present ideas already. Who's with me on this? Do you wait all year for November 1? When do you put your decorations up? We usually wait until the Friday after Thanksgiving but some years, I can't wait that long. And with our new house this year, I'll get to go all out like I wanted to last year but didn't have time. Note to self, never move at Thanksgiving again. I would not recommend it to anyone. I have so many plans this year. I can't wait!!!

Even though we were late getting the decorations up this year due to the move, I was still ready to take them down by the day after Christmas!

Whether it's white where you are or green, like in Virginia, my family and I wish you and yours a very merry Christmas! I hope Santa is good to you! I'm going to be sipping egg nog next to a warm fire my lovely husband is going to build tonight using a coffee log! (I can't wait to see what that smells like!) Give all your loved ones extra love and hugs and enjoy the day! Merry Christmas!

This is a stock photo of what I made. These kind of wreaths can cost you a lot of money and I make mine every year for a couple bucks. This is the one from a couple years ago that I had a pic of that had been in storage so it's a little squished. I take them apart and do something different every year. This year, with moving, I just haven't had time. I didn't even get to do my grape vine wreath one! These are very easy and you can get most of what you need from the dollar store or use what you have around the house!  Here's what you will need- 1 wire hanger Duct tape 1 pack of garland, whatever color you want (The more garland, the fluffier your wreath will be!) 1 bow Whatever little decorations you want to put around the wreath Pack of wire ornament hooks Now, first thing you're going to do is undo the wire hanger. This can be tricky. I have found that using a pair of my husband's pliers work the best. When you have it taken apart, you then nee...

I decided that since this is our first Christmas in our new house, I wanted to change some things about our usual menu. Every year, we do turkey, stuffing, potatoes, gravy, deviled eggs, pies, cheesy potatoes, ham biscuits and either broccoli casserole or mac and cheese. So, this morning, I went on Pinterest, my favorite idea finder, to find a new dessert. That's how I came across this recipe on  Yummiestfood.com . This sounds super simple, which I love. You basically make a red velvet cake, poke holes in it after baking it, drown it in vanilla pudding and then top it with whipped cream! The recipe calls for homemade whipped cream, but I think I'm going the Cool Whip route! I can not wait to try this sucker! Here's the recipe--- For the cake: 1 box red velvet cake mix (ingredients needed to make cake - eggs, oil & water) For the filling: 2 boxes 3.4 oz Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix 4 cup Milk 2 cup heavy whipping cream Green food coloring For garnish: ...

A few years back, our library made these little sacks for all the kids and I thought it was the cutest idea to do for the little ones! It's a little reindeer sack filled with glitter and oatmeal. Stapled to the top is a little paper that reads- Magical Christmas Dust This Christmas Eve sprinkle the Magical Christmas Dust on your lawn. The glitter will sparkle in the moonlight and help Santa find your house. The smell of oats will guide the reindeer! I could so see the littles standing out in the front lawn sprinkling this all over and then coming in and laying out the Christmas cookies for Santa and the carrots for the reindeer! (Yes, my kids had to put out the carrots too!) It would just add that little something extra to the magic! I miss those days! 

I have noticed that the closer we get to a holiday, it seems the ghosts come out.

Something that I started doing for Hubby at Christmas is the 12 Days of Christmas.

**I received a copy of this in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% my own** This book is just absolutely precious! I really wish I had a little one still for this book. But, I am going to keep it for the future grandkids!

Did your mom ever make the Christmas Cornflake wreaths? Mine did. I never liked the cinnamon thingys that she put on for the holly but the cookies were wonderful!

**I received product in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are 100% my own** Christmas is coming! That means you need to start finding gifts and stocking stuffers, right?

With all the holiday craziness, I know I will not be posting until after Christmas. I wanted to take a minute to wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas! I hope everyone has a wonderful time with family and friends. Enjoy the beautiful season and I hope Santa is good to you! Merry Christmas from Caring for my Chaos and the Kings'!!!!

I know I have posted this before, but Hubby enjoys it so much, I wanted to repost about it.

If you have never had this, this is a tea ring. Or English Tea Ring as it is called in my handy dandy Better Homes and Gardens cookbook from the 60's. I posted this recipe last year with a history and figured I would refresh everyone's memory.

Anyone else already started planning for Christmas? Normally, I put off my shopping until Black Friday and then most years are still picking stuff up on Christmas Eve. This year, I've already started. My best friend said that she's almost finished already! So, I know it's not just me who's doing this! I've also started planning Doodle's birthday presents next month and trying to plan her graduation next year. I'm really making a conscious decision to be proactive and not leave things till the last minute. Hubby laughed at me about the graduation since that's not until June. But, hey, we invite the ENTIRE family and a lot of them do make it so I have to plan it perfectly. I have found the key to doing this kind of planning ahead is lists. Lots and lots of lists. And don't lose them. That part is my downfall......

**Breville has no idea who I am. I received nothing for this review. I am just letting you know that Hubby bought me the coolest Christmas present that I get to play with!!** This is my Christmas present from Hubby! It's a Breville The All in One Station. It is the fanciest food processor station I have ever had. I got to play with it for the first time this morning when I made potato chips for the family. This is the coolest machine ever made. I used the slicing blade, which you can choose the width of the slices you want, anywhere from .5 mm to 6 mm. I started at the .5 and it is soooo thin! It also comes with the S blade and the reversible grater. The way it works is you have the motor seperate from the bowl so that you can also use it with the immersible blender and masher. And the masher has settings for creamy to rustic! I'm going to have so much fun with this. It also has two different size plungers so you can control any splashes.  It stores all in the station nea...