Christmas Lights and Hot Chocolate Cookies

This is hands-down my favorite time of year! I love snow; I love wearing jackets, scarves, and boots; I love baking goods that make my house smell delicious; and I love looking forward to being with family! We were a little overly-excited and put our Christmas tree up about 2 weeks before Thanksgiving. In our defense, with Thanksgiving being so late and us leaving next week, we knew we only had about 2 weeks to really enjoy our decorations before leaving again. So this way, we get to enjoy our tree for a full 4 weeks :) Last year (in our tiny, tiny apartment) we didn't have any decorations, so we decided this year we HAD to get at least a tree, and we love the outcome:

 

 The tree skirt is a blanket- don't judge. One day...

 This is the new advent calendar my mom made for us! It has all different pictures of Christ on the back of each day. We love it and are so glad to add it to our bit of decorations:

 

We have already been to Temple Square twice to see the Christmas lights. It is definitely a perk of living near downtown. The first time we went with our friends, the Bevans (who we forgot to get a picture with!). Luckily it was fairly warm since it was before all the cold fronts and snowstorms blew in. Then later that week, we met up with some of my college roommates and their husbands! It was a blast, but absolutely freezing.

We have all been friends since Freshman year. I love these beautiful ladies:

 

The beautiful temple:

  

One of my closest friends, Yvonne and me:

 

And the beautiful lights! Everything is so amazing and every little tree branch is lit, which is incredible. Props to whoever does that:

 My favorite guy in the whole world:

It was cold enough to need my furry hood:

 These are some cookies my mom inspired me to bake with the leftover marshmallows from Thanksgiving. 

 They are Hot Chocolate Cookies, YUM:

 

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested (and yes, you use hot chocolate mix!)

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 packages (or 1/2 cup plus 3 Tablespoons) Hot Chocolate Mix (store-bought or homemade)
• 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 2 cups miniature marshmallows

*I also put in 1 tsp of Almond Extract (my favorite), because it just sounded so good.

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then blend in the vanilla (and almond extract if you want)

Then add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Drop dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven. Working quickly, carefully add about 5 to 7 miniature marshmallows to the top of each cookie, and gently press. Return to the oven and bake an additional 2 to 3 minutes, or until the marshmallows start to puff. Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

*I refrigerated to make the next day, and felt like the cookies didn't flatten out as much when the dough was refrigerated, so try that if they are looking a little too flat for your liking. I like mine thick and chewy!

Thanksgiving

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and are now enjoying the Christmas season, we sure are! Our Thanksgiving was spent in Colorado with my family, which was a total blast. We drove out and met them at the condo, skied a few days, ate a ton, and shopped a lot too :)

We took my nephew, Ty out to the slopes with us a few days and although he looked so cute and content, he politely said "All done" the whole way down the bunny slope. 

 

 My sisters, Ty and me:

My mom had a blast taking him up the bunny slope:

Some of the ski group:

 Isn't he the cutest?!

 

Basically, we all were like paparazzi the whole way down the bunny slope. Don't worry, I only put these few up of about the 50 I took ;) Oh, and one more of him getting off the lift with his dad (he was extremely sad to get off the "ride" and sobbed the whole way down the hill! Haha)

Before Thanksgiving dinner, we snapped a few family photos for the year. These are some of my favorite people in the world. I am blessed to have them in my life:

 

 And one with the hubs. I'm especially grateful for this guy:

 

I didn't get any pictures of Thanksgiving dinner or dessert, but we ate a ton and enjoyed spending time with our friends and neighbors, the Stephensons. 

My mom, two sisters, and I spent all of Black Friday shopping and running errands (with a Chipotle and many Peppermint Oreo breaks in between). Here we are at Target, feeling pretty exhausted (with peppermint oreos in hand...)

We got the condo all dressed up for Christmas and are so excited to be back there next week (!!!) before heading onto Kansas for Christmas with David's family. We CANNOT wait! Tis' the Season!