- Happy Holidays!
- Did You Know?
- Letters to Santa
- Beer Lovers
- Cookie Exchange
- Recipe of the Month
- Real Estate News
- Winter Wreaths
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Every year I tell myself that next year it is going to be quieter and I will have more time to just relax and enjoy the holiday season. To date, I have been wrong every year ;) However, as chaotic as this season can be, I am so happy. Life is good and there is so much for which I am grateful. I want to take a moment to wish all of you the best holiday season yet. Enjoy every moment!
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Approximately 30-35 million real (living) Christmas trees are sold each year in the USA.
Now that is a lot of sap..... :)
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Attention parents, grandparents and friends with little ones! Please read the below to have your kiddos sent a letter from Santa!
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Here is link to these pages in PDF form:
If you have questions, please let me know! This may give the kids some motivation to be good the rest of the Christmas season ;)
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For all you beer lovers out there, Black Friday was a BIG day. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout is now for sale...if you can still find any. We had to get up early Black Friday to make sure we got some before they ran out. They will only sell each customer a small amount 2-4 bottles due to demand. For this reason we had to go to two places (BevMo and Total Wines) to get as many as we possibly could ;) There was a line when Total Wines opened of people waiting to buy it. My husband absolutely loves it! The brewery calls it " a liquid as dark and dense as a black hole". If you like dark beer, you have got to try it! Get out there and buy it quick before it is sold out!
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Cookie Exchange parties are a wonderful way to get together with friends over the holidays! It's a great way to visit and catch-up and a wonderful time for your friends to show off their baking skills with fabulous, festive cookies. Add some wine to this party and you are all set! A friend of mine makes the most amazing molasses cookies. It's reason enough to throw a party!
Another reason I love cookie exchange parties is it puts everyone in the holiday spirit. Whether you throw the party of go to a friends house, you get to enjoy holiday decorations, music and the wonderful smell of the holiday season!
If you haven't gone to or thrown one before, do it this year. I guarantee it will be fun! Ask everyone to bring 5 dozen cookies (or less if that is too much for everyone), as well as a container to take home their cookies. Then you can set-up all the cookies around the table and everyone gets to choose a mixture of 5 dozen cookies to take home!
Happy Baking!!
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I love peppermint kisses and white chocolate so these cookies are right up my alley! Plus they look super cute and are perfect for any cookie exchange or class/work holiday party!
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Peppermint Kiss Thumbprint Cookies
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Prep: 25 mins
Cook: 12 mins
Total: 37 mins
Author: Tiffany
Serves: 18-20
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 2¼ cups flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
for the chocolate
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 4 tablespoons heavy cream
- red food coloring
- one bag peppermint Hershey kisses, unwrapped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Lightly spray a baking sheet with cooking spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl cream together butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Mix in egg yolks, vanilla, and almond extract. In another, medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until all ingredients are incorporated. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart. Use your thumb, or the end of a wooden spoon to make a well in the top if each dough ball.
- Bake cookies 10-12 minutes. Remove and allow to cool 5 minutes before carefully removing from pan and allowing to finish cooling. When cookies are cool enough to touch, gently press down the center of the cookie to re-form the well.
- In a microwave safe bowl, combine chocolate chips and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stirring every 20 seconds until all chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Reserve ¼ cup of the chocolate and set aside. Add 3-6 drops (according to preference of color) of red food coloring to the large portion of chocolate and mix until smooth and even in coloring. Fill each cookie well with about 1 teaspoon of red chocolate. Spoon reserved white chocolate into a small ziplock bag. Seal the bag and snip off a TINY bit of one bottom corner. Drizzle the white chocolate onto the cookies in any pattern you like. Gently press one peppermint kiss candy into the center of each cookie. Allow to cool completely and let chocolate set 1 hour (or you can stick them in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to speed up the process!). Optional: sprinkle cooled cookies with granulated white sugar for a fun and fancy look!
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New Report Reveals Bay Area home prices won't roll back anytime soon
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If you are a first time homebuyer and waiting for the market to drop in order to buy, you may be waiting awhile according to the UCLA Anderson Forecast. There isn't a lot of available land and builders would need to build many more houses before there will be a drop in prices.
"Researchers found a 20% increase in the current level of home building would be needed to achieve even a 10% drop in prices. This means the East Bay would need 199,000 new homes. That would take 14-36 years to complete at the current pace"
Of course, nobody has a crystal ball and things happen, but it is good to keep up with the current market watch.
If you are looking to buy your first home or move within the Bay Area, call me and we will put together a game plan on how to attack this market!
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I love to add a wreath to our front door during the Christmas season. It just adds a little festive flare! Some years I like to buy a real wreath to hang up so that I can smell it's lovely fresh scent every time I leave the house. Other years, I just want to buy a fake, decorative wreath that I know will last all season.
If you end up going the real wreath route, great. You can get them at any Christmas tree lot, Costco, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.
If you decide to go the fake wreath route, below are some spectacular wreaths I found online that you can enjoy for years to come!!
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