Christmas Traditions (Tender Tennessee Christmas!)

(This is a barn in Tennessee... no I didn't take the picture...but isn't it pretty?)



I'm so excited to be going home to Tennessee for Christmas! This is the first Christmas that I haven't had the huge stress of finals. It feels so much nicer this way. I'm also really excited because my whole family will be together for Christmas for the first time in like 5 years! Because of siblings getting married and switching off going to their in-laws house and brothers being on missions, etc. But we're all finally coming together again this year (including two wonderful sister-in-laws and two super cute nephews!) The house is going to be so full and it's not that big of a house. We think it will be more fun if no one goes to a hotel though so I volunteered to sleep in a closet. :) (It's the same thing as a room right? Four walls and a door. Besides, I'll be sleeping on a mattress! Don't judge...) What can I say? I just need my privacy and I don't feel like sleeping on a couch in a house where some people wake up at 5am every morning and others will be staying up til 1am. Anyway... not sure why I'm even talking about the sleeping situation right now...
What I really wanted to talk about was some of my favorite Christmas traditions that my family has.

1. Ding dong ditch the doorbell!!! Starting when we were pretty little, my parents would load us all up in the car and we would take treats, food, or other little presents to people in our church or neighborhood. We would sneak up to the house and leave the treat on their doorstep, ring the doorbell or knock, and run for our lives! It was thrilling to say the least. But as I got older, I realized how cool it was that my family did that. It taught me the importance of giving to others who might not have anything for Christmas. Or at least a fun treat for someone who might be lonely. My family never had much money as I was growing up and they had 8 children. We didn't get as many presents as all of our friends did (but then again, none of our friends had 8 kids!) but my parents still thought it was important to give to others in the true spirit of Christmas.

2. Christmas pillowcases. One year for Christmas, my aunt Julia gave us all home-made pillow cases. Everyone had a different Christmas design or pattern. (I have mine on my pillow right now. It has pine needles and cute angels. Hey, I was 11 when I got it and it was perfectly age appropriate!) It was just really nice to actually all receive individual gifts and fun to compare everyone's pillowcases. (Daniel's has the goofiest looking reindeer I've ever seen. And my parents pillowcases match. Aw!)

3. FHE Christmas Tree (that rhymes!). Every year my family would wait until the Monday after Thanksgiving and we would put up the Christmas tree and decorate it for Family Home Evening. It was probably harder decorating the tree with all of us 8 children fighting and arguing, but it was nice that we all did it together. Plus, no boring FHE lesson!!!

4. Country Cookin'. It came to my attention while I was at BYU that no one knew what sausage balls were! They are a Christmas tradition in my family. (And apparently also a southern thing). Basically you just take Bisquick, sausage, and sharp cheddar cheese, mix it all together, roll it into balls, and stick it in the oven. They are so delicious!!! (And I don't even really like sausage that much). We have them every Christmas morning.

5. Boiled Custard vs Egg Nog. This one's kind of random but... We all like egg nog in my family. We start drinking it as soon as it's on the shelves. But my dad really likes Boiled Custard. (If you don't know what it is, chances are it's because you aren't from the south). Basically it tastes like melted vanilla ice cream. I don't like it. But every time I see it, it just makes me think of my dad. :)

6. Grandmother's house for Christmas Eve. I've been to my Grandmother Georgia's house every Christmas Eve of my life. Except for the year it was really icy and snowy so we went on Christmas Day but I'm not counting that... It's always fun to catch up with my dad's side of the family and drink Jason's Christmas punch. We always do a dirty Santa for the adults too. (Where you draw numbers and then you can steal someone else's opened present if you want or pick an unopened present). We have a nice big dinner and then fireworks afterward. I love Grandmother's house. :)

Those are the main traditions that come to mind. On Christmas Eve I'm always too excited to sleep because I'm thinking about how fun Christmas morning will be so it takes me a while to fall asleep. (Yes, even now as a 25 year old...) Sometimes I walk out into the living room at night and just stare at the Christmas tree all lit up. It's something I've been doing since I can remember. One of my earliest memories is of getting up in the middle of the night with my blankie and going and sitting on the couch and just staring at the Christmas tree. It's a wonderful time to reflect and just feel at peace knowing my whole family is there snoring and sleeping and that Christmas is here. Then of course everyone always wakes up early on Christmas morning to open presents. We pick one person (usually the youngest if they can read) to hand out presents and we just open them as we go.

I'd love to hear about anyone else's Christmas traditions if you care to tell me. :) I can't believe I'll be home in a week!!! I'm so excited to be home for the holidays. Because "a tender Tennessee Christmas, is the only Christmas for me!" Amy Grant anyone?

Cupcake Wars

Want a cupcake? You know you do!


A couple of months ago I set out on a self-imposed journey to discover the best cupcake D.C. had to offer. There are A TON of cupcake places here. Basically we have the same amount of cupcakes in D.C. as Provo has frozen yogurt joints. (Which is more than you really need). So every weekend I would try a new cupcake place. Or my boss Stacey would bring me home a cupcake from her work. Let me tell you she brought me several (like 5 or 6) cupcakes. It was awesome. Thanks Stacey! So that helped a lot in my important study of cupcakes. I finally tried all the places that I wanted to try (but probably not even close to all of them). Here is the top five starting from my lowest to highest rating.

#5. The Sweet Lobby- This little cupcake place is right by Eastern Market and probably shouldn't have even been in the running. But it's right by where I live so of course I had to try it out. The verdict- too dry. If the cupcake isn't going to be nice and moist (ew I hate that word...) then what's the point of eating it?

#4. Hello Cupcake- This shop is on the same street (barrack row) as The Sweet Lobby so it's also very accessible to me. These cupcakes were good. But they were just "alright". Also the staff were not friendly at all. I think if you're gonna serve cupcakes you have to be really perky. Cupcakes=happiness.

#3. Sprinkles- This place is SO GOOD! But compared to a couple of other places I had to give it third place. Also the cupcakes remind of something besides cupcakes. (I have a dirty mind, so sue me!)

#2. Baked and Wired- Okay, I considered tying these for first. They're amazing!!!! And huge!!! And moist (cringe).

(Our cupcakes from Baked and Wired. Mine was called Rainpoops and Unicorns or something... Ashley's was called the chocolate cupcake of doom. Aptly named).
And there is no huge line to wait in to get them. (At least when we went). And some of the cupcakes names have swear words in them. (One cupcake is called Pretty Bitchin'). Awesome. But the reason I made it second is....

#1. Georgetown Cupcakes- I tried these first. I will always be loyal to Georgetown Cupcakes. They are heavenly. The perfect amount of sweetness and frosting. TONS of amazing flavors. People love these cupcakes so much they wait in huge lines like these.

If you haven't seen it, this shop also has it's own t.v. show on TLC called D.C. Cupcakes. The show= not that great. The cupcakes themselves however= heaven!
Our array of Georgetown Cupcakes. (Yes we each got two!)

This is how Georgetown Cupcakes really make me feel:

That's right. Deliriously happy (or high?).

Georgetown Cupcakes also make me forget all my manners and I just start sampling everyone else's cupcakes.

GC (Gergetown Cupcakes) are so good I eat two cupcakes at one time. Using one hand.

But as you can see, I really enjoy Baked and Wired too!

Ashley enjoyed being doomed by chocolate.

Mark fell in love with his red velvet cupcake.

Well, if you ever come to visit D.C. and want to try some cupcakes, I would recommend going to Georgetown Cupcakes AND Baked and Wired. They're both in Georgetown and only a couple of blocks away from each other. And it's a good thing I don't live right next to these shops! I am going to Georgetown tomorrow night to eat at Serendipity though. (Yes like the movie Serendipity!) They recently built one here in D.C. I'll try to resist getting cupcakes but I will probably end up trying the famous frozen hot chocolate!

Thanks to Ashley for all the pictures!