Hello all and Happy Friday! It’s the Final countdown to Christmas!
Are your cookies baked and presents wrapped? I am ready for Christmas and now it’s just about enjoying the next few days with family and loved ones. I love this time of year, everyone in my family is home for the next few weeks and between work, it will be nice to have some time to spend together.
I have one final Christmas round-up of Friday Favorites. Today, I’m linking up with Erika and Andrea for a very festive edition of Friday Favorites.
Here’s what I’m loving this week:
Red Lipstick-I’m not a big, bright and bold lipstick person, but I do tend to wear it around the holidays. I have been wearing and loving red lipstick this time of year. I like to use it as a pop of color to break up a solid outfit, like a black dress. I also like wearing a red lipstick with my red coat that I got at Old Navy last year. I break it out around Christmas and Valentine’s Day for a fun pop of color. My go-to color is from CoverGirl. It’s long-lasting and doesn’t smudge. Two wins in my book!
Gingerbread recipe– I have been doing a lot of baking and trying new recipes. I tried my first Gingerbread loaf recipe, and it was a success. I like gingerbread in small doses and this loaf had the perfect mix of warm spices and flavor. I may have overfilled the pan a bit, but besides that, the loaf was delicious. I found the recipe on Pinterest, that’s my go-to for coming up with ideas for recipes. Here’s the recipe if you want to try it for yourself.
Popcorn Bar– I talked about my popcorn bar in my post on Wednesday but wanted to share more about it today. A popcorn bar is such a fun and festive way to elevate your movie night or holiday part. Here’s how to do it, pop your favorite popcorn and then put out your favorite seasonings or add your own flavors. For our popcorn bar, we popped a big batch of popcorn and then divided it up. We did some chocolate sea salt (melt chocolate and drizzle over and add salt and let it harden), we also did a movie theater flavoring, we did a regular batch (some salt and then butter) and then my personal favorite, kettle corn (this was the hardest to make, I found a recipe on Pinterest that includes using sugar and oil, it wasn’t hard to make but it requires constant attention). You can choose to add your favorites seasonings and flavors or candies like mints, marshmallows or chocolate chips to add some fun to your next movie night or holiday get together.
Best Christmas Ever– I kept getting ads for Best Christmas Ever on Netflix and decided to give it a go and I am so glad I did. It’s all about a woman who through unexpected circumstances spends Christmas with a fellow friend from college who she is envious of due to her picture-perfect life. However, as the two women spend more time together, not everything is a perfect as it seems. This was a light-hearted movie that’s great for families, but there were a few mature scenes. Overall, it gets 5 stars from me.
Winter Stroll– I’m rounding this Friday Favorites up with Winter Stroll by Elin Hilderbrand. It’s the second book out of a five-book series. It follows the story of a large, interconnected family through Christmas year after year. When I picked up this book from the library, I didn’t realize it was the second book out of five, it took me a moment to get caught up with the characters, but once I did, I really enjoyed it and got immersed in it. It takes place over one weekend in Nantucket for the traditional island Stroll. There’s lots of Nantucket references and so much Christmas and holiday descriptions. This was a great book to get in the Christmas spirit, just make sure you start with the first book, haha!
That’s a look into the final week before Christmas for me. A lot of holiday cheer and final preps too. My gifts are mailed and everything is wrapped, now it’s time to relax and celebrate the holidays. I hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas.