Creating Lasting Traditions

Hey Everyone!

On Friday, after I had gotten off work, I decided to make some gluten free, vegan pumpkin muffins.

I have been wanting Pumpkin food for the better part of the month.

Yesterday afternoon, I made a batch of homemade chili, which is fitting for the cook crisp days we have been having.

I also helped my mom make a batch of chocolate chip cookies as well as a batch of chocolate crinkle cookies, which are like brownie cookies.

Yesterday morning, I had to go to an all store meeting at work. Over the course of last week, our Christmas fixtures were set. Our holiday theme / motive is “creating lasting traditions”. Over the time I have worked for the company I am at, as well as other times, I have been slowly building up my Christmas decorations and Christmas tree ornaments collection. I have been adding things as I find things I like. This is the third holiday season I will have been with the company, so I have seen the ornaments for three holiday seasons now. Many of the ornaments are the same, and each subsequent season, has only brought out a few new ornaments. Many of the ones I have liked & bought from work, are the woodland creatures / Nordic / Scandinavian themed ornaments. The deer / reindeer has been a consistent through the three seasons. What is also interesting, is that Scentsy had brought out a holiday warmer with a similar looking deer a year or two ago, which I snapped up, since it fit in with what is starting to be my “Christmas theme”.

When the whole topic of “making lasting traditions” came up at work yesterday, I got thinking about the types of traditions I would want to make, if and when I have a family of my own. Many of which are simple, and won’t cost a lot of money. Things like making Christmas Cookies, and going and visiting some of the elderly, and bringing them some Christmas cheer, and watching “The Polar Express”, while drinking hot chocolate, and coming and visiting my family (as I don’t intend to stay in the Portland metro area), and do things like going to Peacock Lane, and the Christmas event at my parents church. I want to make the Christmas season “magical” for my kids, as well as teach them that Christmas is not about the gifts (even though they are nice), but about the birth of Jesus, and sharing God’s love with others.

Making Hot Cocoa by the Gallon

Hey Everyone!

Each evening this weekend, I have helped make hot cocoa by the gallon for an event that drew over 5,000 people over the course of the weekend.

We were using the professional (1.75 lb) size bags of Nestle Hot Cocoa mix. We were making batches in large pots on the stove with 3 – 4 bags and the appropriate amount of water for each bag of mix in each batch. So each pot made 3.75 to 5 gallons of hot cocoa.

Over the course of the weekend, 170 gallons of hot cocoa was made. We only had a batch plus a bit left over.

When you are making hot cocoa for such a large crowd, seeing individual serving size packets is weird. Over the course of 3 nights we used 10 cases plus 2 bags from an 11th case of the 1.5 – 1.75 pound bags of cocoa.

There were a few times each evening where I left the kitchen to take a pot of hot cocoa out to the service line, but for the most part I stayed in the safety of the nice quiet kitchen where there weren’t so many people.

As far as timing goes, I definitely hit it right to see a few friends and family who had come, most of whom I haven’t seen in months or even years.

Preparing for Christmas

Hey Everyone!

I am one of those people who waits until after Thanksgiving to decorate. That doesn’t mean that I don’t start preparing for it earlier.

This year, beings that I have been working Retail, in a store that carries Christmas Decorations, I have been inundated with Christmas Decorations for the past month and a half. I have also been slowly working on purchasing the decorations I have liked over the past month or so.

This year, at work, one of the main themes for our decorations this year is “Nordic Lodge”. Beings as it has taken up more than 3 fixtures on Center of Floor, it is a pretty big deal. There have been a few decorations that I have seen every time I have gone to work that I loved, so I have picked them up.

Autumn and Christmas are my two favorite times of year to really decorate for the season. I love decorating this time of year and make where I am living look festive. When I was in college, I didn’t care so much about my first apartment, as it was kind of a crappy apartment, that never felt like my. My second apartment while in college, from the time I first walked into it, felt like home, and I decorated it a lot more.

I definitely want to decorate more when I get my own place again, and make it feel homey and cozy.

Yesterday, the newest Holiday Scentsy Warmer I had ordered (as well as some bars and a holiday brick) arrived. I got the winter stag Warmer, as well as 3 bars of lavender white Balsam and a brick of Silver Bells. One of my favorite scent combos this time of year is Very Merry Cranberry and Silver Bells. On its own the very merry cranberry is a bit to sweet and a bit too much for me. The Silver Bells helps tone it down and add in a light minty, cold & crisp mix to it, which I love.

It definitely struck me yesterday when I had pulled the warmer out of the box to see it in person that the side of the reindeer has a bit of the Nordic pattern similar to what some of the ornaments I had bought at work have on them.

December Scentsy Haul

Hey Everyone! 

Today I got the last of the Scentsy products I had ordered in the month of December. 

Beings that Scentsy had brought out the scents of the season, I had bought a sample pack, then ordered more of the scents I liked. 

I had ordered 5 poinsettia pine bars, 4 eggnog bars and 1 St. Nickerdoodle. I gave my mom one of the poinsettia pine bars since she liked the scent. 

When I had first heard about Scentsy about a year and a half ago, I never would have thought that a year and a half later I would be a consultant. I was a customer for a year, and the only 2 reasons I joined Scentsy as a consultant versus staying a customer was because I wanted to be able to buy the testers and get money back on what I bought. As of writing this, I am not really in it to make it more than what it is, something I love and for the testers and what commission I do get. If you want Scentsy, I’d be happy if you bought it from me, but I am not out to bug people to buy it. I buy it because I like it. 

I, personally am scent sensitive and an picky about what scents I do use. I found that most of the holiday scents have too much of the cinnamon fragrance or too much of the fake Christmas tree scents in them and are too strong for me. When I found Poinsettia Pine (scents of the season) and the lavender white balsam (November scent of the month), I found two additional Christmas favorites, in addition to Silver Bells. 

The latest Scentsy fragrances are getting me excited for the new spring & summer catalog which will be available for order March 1st. I am totally interested in seeing what warmers Scentsy comes out with for the summer, as I am looking for a cute beach warmer for the summer or a cute summer warmer period. The spring/summer catalog also has several amazing clean scents that are also fairly light and aren’t overly sweet or floraly. I really love the fresh, clean but not overly strong scents like coconut lemongrass (which is an all year round scent), white tea and cactus, as well as sun kissed citrus. 

Of the Bring Back My Bar scents that are out this month, Ocean, Inner Peace, and Coffee Tree are My top 3 faves. Ocean and inner peace follow in the clean scents, and I just like the way that the coffee ones smell. I had ordered a bunch of Perk Me Up the last time they had been released.