Christmas Tree of Cupcakes

On a quiet evening in mid-December, Amanda and I felt inspired to make something. Poking around the pantry and fridge produced some Cool-Whip, cake mix, and gel coloring. So we made a Christmas Tree of Cupcakes. We used some Ziploc freezer bags to mix the coloring into the Cool Whip, and then we snipped off a corner so Amanda could put the pink ornaments on the cupcakes.

This can be easily adapted to any occasion: daisy, sun, heart for Valentine's Day, etc.

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Christmas was a snowy blast!

Due to a certain ten-month-old that doesn't travel well, we stayed home and had a quiet Christmas. It began with a frenzied set of feet scurrying down our stairs - sign for Mommy to get up - leading to a very contented little Panda (Amanda's nickname) sitting buried in her gifts. Our family members were quite generous in giving to our girls. { Thank you! }

We intended to drive to Idaho City for some snowy fun, but didn't make it half way before we saw a slew of cars parked near a pretty good sized hill. Everyone donned a sled/toboggan of some sort to challenge gravity, and one family even brought a truck liner to use! Hmmm. We were quite ill-prepared to be playing in snow - only Amanda had on gloves, so almost instantly my hands turned beet red. Ron managed to fish out old work gloves to wear, hah! Can you believe that a family decided to GIVE us one of their sliders? They just said, "Merry Christmas," and handed it to us. I love Idaho and its people. We didn't stay long, but we had so much fun. The best part is that it's so close to us - a mere 30 minute trip.

Look how happy Amanda looks -

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We had a lovely prime rib dinner, then headed out to see Christmas lights - a Lee Family tradition.

A near perfect Christmas. Having our out-of-town family with us would have been perfection. Perhaps next time.