Christmas Breakfast Went Off Without a Hitch!
Paul and I have been celebrating the Christmas Holiday with our friends and family for three years now, and this year was by far the biggest! We had more people and more food than ever before (over 30 mouths to feed)!
I'm honestly not sure how the Christmas Breakfast tradition got started, I think it may have started as a friend gift exchange where we decided to include breakfast and then slowly but surely it grew bigger and better each year! I remember the first year we did it, the stove only had one eye that was working and we were miracle workers getting everything knocked out.
This year we had a mix of new and old friends as well as family! And it certainly went off without a hitch! Check out some pics from the festivities!
We had a total of 10 different breakfast casseroles! A mix of different egg casseroles, a couple hashbrown casseroles and a couple Apple Cinnamon French Toast Casseroles, not to mention all the other great fixing like bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy, corn-beef hash, our favorite cheesy grits, fruit, and mimosa for everyone!
We all enjoyed the great food and the happy Christmas cheer and atmosphere. And of course the Christmas Breakfast wasn't complete without the White Elephant game! Luckily this year people were nice and didn't steal too much, and everyone seemingly left satisfied!
What a fun day we had! All of our friends and family got to take home some homemade ornaments, compliments of Desi, Elaine and myself! Everyone was excited about that!
After everyone left, Paul and I totally crashed! But all the work that went into this Christmas Breakfast was well worth it! Thank you to all of those who came and we look forward to another gathering next year! Merry Christmas EVERYONE!
Our Family Santa Pictures!
Paul, in coordination with Elaine, planned this year's Annual Family Santa Shoot, and of course we couldn't miss out on getting pictures with Santa. We had the privileged of getting pictures with Santa last year, and our dog Chunk has a blast!
So naturally, we have to make a tradition out of it and we got some great shots with Santa for 2011! We had a lot of fun and Chunk really enjoyed visiting with Santa too!
Check it out!
To get more information about the Santa Shoot, go to SantaShoot.com or you can contact Paul or Elaine by clicking on their names!
I LOVE Christmas and I LOVE Scrabble - Why not Marry them?
I love crafts and they are especially fun during the holidays! When I came across these DIY scrabble ornaments, I had to make them this year! I love Scrabble and playing it with friends and family on Words with Friends, so it was a logical idea for a cute ornament to give to friends, family and more on gifts or just because!
This is what you need to make these fun ornaments!
Supplies:
- wooden Scrabble trays and tiles
**I purchased this Scrabble Me set and was able to make 8 ornaments from it - ribbon, cut into 5-6″ lengths
- pencil
- miter or hand saw
- white glue
Directions:
To start, decide on the words/names you’ll be making. I did a mix of last names (friends and family) and short holiday words like "Joy", "Elf" and "Hope." Lay these out on your wooden trays, pairing the words to make the most of the trays. Line the letters up to the outside edges and mark the tray on the inside edge of each word with a pencil.
Remove the letters and cut the trays with a miter saw. This is the most involved part... so be prepared to put in a little man power with the saw! I also sanded the edges a little to make sure the ends were smooth.
Put a small amount of white glue in the center of the tray, stick the ends of the ribbon onto the glue in the center. Add additional glue along the tray and begin to stick the tiles on the tray. Let sit to dry, best to let sit overnight before hanging.
You should try it out yourself! They are super cute! Check them out on 101 Days of Christmas - Christmas Your Way.
It's Snowing On My Blog!!!
Baby's It's Cold Outside... Tis the Season... Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow! hehehe How Fun, it's Snowing on My Blog!
Thankful for Turkey Noodle Soup!
Everything these days seems to be GO GREEN and I have also adapted this methodology in just about everything I do. From the Wal-Mart plastic bags, to the empty soup cans and milk cartons. What about left-over food items? Well I am always combining left overs in the fridge to make custom casseroles and this years Thanksgiving turkey carcass was no exception. One thing I have been doing more of recently in the kitchen is my homemade chicken soup. I really feel like I have perfected the recipe and decided to use the leftover turkey carcass just for this application. Here is my personal home-made recipe for you. It literally is the best home-made turkey soup I have ever had. You can make this same soup using a rotisserie chicken carcass should you choose.
Before you go to bed take your turkey or chicken carcass and remove any meat you can get off the bones and put those aside with your other leftover turkey meat. This is good for turkey or chicken sandwiches you can eat while making this soup. The entire process can be up to 24 hours so you will get hungry along the way. Place the carcass in the crock pot and fill the pot about an inch from the top with chicken broth. Make sure the entire carcass is submerged in the liquid. Leave for the night to cook on low heat and covered.
The next day you will get a large bowl big enough to hold all the liquid from the crock pot. Use a strainer to pour the liquid into the bowl and catch-all the meat and bones. When this cools you will have to go through the strainer to pick out the meat and put back into the crock pot with the liquid while tossing the bones into the trash. Cut up 2 bundles of celery into your size of preference and toss into crock pot. Cut up 4 small/medium-sized onions (white and yellow) and toss these into the mix. Cut up a quarter of a cabbage and toss that into the mix too. Personally I like to get the vegetables smaller so they mix well together. I like tasting a bit of everything in every bite. Add a can of Original Rotel and some salt and pepper to taste and slow cook for another 4-6 hours.
Pick up a pasta of your preference and add this to the mix. I used gluten-free rice noodles because not only are they good for you, contain no wheat but they also do not soften up in the soup like flour noodles. You must be careful here though because if you cook it too long they can turn to mush and ruin your soup. Test the noodles often. Once the noodles have reached an "Al dente" feel and taste turn the crock-pot or stove off and move the soup to a cool. While the soup cools the noodles will soften up even more but not too much.
Ingredients:Turkey Carcass
Extra Leftover Turkey Meat
Celery
Onions
Original Rotel
Salt & Pepper
Gluten-Free Rice Noodles
I hope this soup will blow your mind as it did my own. It's a great way to use the left over turkey carcass and you will make so much of this you will have leftovers for days that do not get old. Also, this soup is a very healthy option, low in calories so you can eat it all week and not worry about gaining a pound. In fact you just may lose some weight!
To make it even thicker and healthier, cut up more cabbage and toss it in. I always find cabbage to be a good soup filler! If you have any questions feel free to call Paul comment!
Thanksgiving Holiday in PCB!
Paul's parent's have some awesome condos right on the beach in Panama City Beach Florida, and we have the privilege of using them on various occasions, and Thanksgiving was no exception!
Paul and I headed down after work Wednesday, to sleep in, relax and prepare our bodies for an amazing Thanksgiving Dinner at the Boat Yard. It was pretty awesome as they prepare a family style dining experience for Thanksgiving where you get a 26 lbs Turkey, and all the traditional Thanksgiving Dinner dressings, of mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, dressing, veggies, green bean casserole, and my favorite cranberry sauce! And of course they topped the meal off with some pumpkin pie! It was a great time, and they even had live music (a local saxophonist).
Also, on a very impressive note, they pack up the turkey carcass, turkey and any left-overs, so you can take it home and eat it for the rest of the week! How cool is that?? We actually took the carcass home, and Paul is making up some delicious Turkey Soup! YUMMM!
While that was the main highlight of the weekend, there was some more fun to be had! Following dinner, we all of course went back to the condos to chill, nap and let the turkey tryptophan wear off. Once we were able to get the energy back on, we decided to head over to the movies and were totally entertained by the movie Hugo in 3D, and while I believe it is geared for children, it was actually a very good movie, one I would totally watch again! It has a very intriguing and elaborate story line, and is good for the whole family! Of course I think it could be a bit much for children under five or 6.
Thanksgiving Day wasn't over yet, we headed back to the condo to hang out and wait for Midnight so that we could take part in the Black Friday fun, starting at 12AM!
Elizabeth (my sister-in-law) and I decided we were going to hit up some stores in Pier Park in PCB. Target was open at 12AM Friday, we decided that was going to be our first and "main" stop. This was the first time that Elizabeth had gone out for Black Friday, and I think she may actually do it again in the future. Of course it really is one of those thing that you need to do advance research on, as there seems to be either very specific deals in places like Target, and smaller stores have what you would be surprised to find, like 40% EVERYTHING!
When we got to Target, there was a line to get in, but by the time we walked to the front, the line had dissipated and we were headed in! We found a good amount of deals and were seeing people everywhere with LCD TVs in their carts. We weren't really looking for anything specific, so we got a mix of good deals and just stuff we had to have. And while we thought we would only be out for about an hour or so, I think we actually spent almost 2 hours in Target alone! We roamed around and as we were in the midst of our shopping spree, we noticed a line building around the entire store! It was INSANE. Ironically, we continued browsing, and by the time we were ready to check out, the lines were gone. Either time flies when you're having fun, or those Target checkers were moving in super speed! CRAZY!
Once we left Target, we moved on to some of the other shops in Pier Park, and were very excited to find that American Eagle was doing 40% off your entire purchase! YEAH! These are the times that we find more stuff for ourselves than others... but we did accomplish a good bit of Christmas Shopping too! ;) Other stops included Bath & Body Works, New York & Co., and Nike! Elizabeth and I were shocked when we finally got back to the car at 4:15AM! The couple of hours we thought we would spend out, turned into 4 hours of shopping... It was so fun!
The rest of the weekend continued with more fun, shopping (Paul's Mom really knows how to scope out the consignment shops!), eating great PCB Seafood (Bayou on the Beach and the Captain's Table), a Boat Parade and Festival (the 25th Anniversary in Downtown Panama City Beach), and just good old family fun!
Santa's Back! Get Your Santa Pictures with Our Favorite Santa
Last year we did a photo shoot with Santa (at our house) and he's back again this year! I'm definitely planning to get some family shots (Paul, Chunk and myself... the cats aren't really into pictures).
Chunk really enjoyed getting his picture taken with Santa, and I know he will be excited to visit with him again this year! Check out some of the great shots we got last year!
Paul is working with the REAL Santa Claus and they've got some great packages for your holiday photos! And if you just want to give your kids a great Santa experience, it's totally FREE! The only cost you would incur is if you want to walk away with photos. Either the sitting fee cost (for those that choose to bring your own camera) or you can buy photos, discs and holiday cards.
The atmosphere will be warm and cozy at the festive Perdue Mansion with great holiday sounds and complimentary Milk and Cookies! Oh YEAH!
Definitely check out the details at SantaShoot.com or contact Paul directly at 770-316-2812 or [email protected]
Also you can check Paul's photography out at PaulPerdue.com!
The Annual Perdue Halloween Party Returns... hehehe
Since I've known Paul, he's prided himself on throwing fun filled Halloween Parties. Last year we missed it as we had a lot going on and were actually traveling, but the Annual Halloween Party has been re-instated and I think it was a hit! There were a lot of awesome costumes, from Cleopatra, to Quagmire to Sponge Bob!
This was Paul and my first Halloween as a married couple, so we decided to do something fun! We were Barney and Betty Rubble from the Flintsone's! All of our friends had wanted us to do this costume for years, and we finally gave in. And we even were about to find something that suited Chunk - He was our little Chunkasaurous!
Check out some of our fun pics! This is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are more at the gallery link below... Next time you should consider coming out!
Check out the full gallery here!
