Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens…

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in a white dresses with a blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens,
bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens,
brown paper packages tied up with strings,
these are a few of my favorite things.

Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudels,
door bells and sleigh bells and schnitzel with noodles.
Wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings.
these are a few of my favorite things.

Girls in white dresses with blue satin sashes,
snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes,
silver white winters that melt into springs,
these are a few of my favorite things.

When the dog bites, when the bee stings,
when I’m feeling sad,
I simply remember my favorite things,
and then I don’t feel so bad.

~My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music

{via}

I love this time of year. The smell of burning leaves, warm apple cider in a pretty mug, the brisk chill in the air and the flurries of snow that never quite make it to the ground. Some people hate it, and I get that too. Sliding all over the road, freezing your tuckus off, and shoveling so much snow that your back goes out. That sucks. But for me, the good far outweighs the bad this time of year. I’ll be the first to admit that I was seriously unhappy about moving back to The Mitten because of the cold stuff, but now that we have kids on the way and the magic of the season is starting to seep into my blood, I can’t help but have a renewed sense of holiday spirit.

My mom made Christmas so unbelievably special last year. We had a forest of trees, we baked (neon) cookies, I reminisced about the important things in life. It was probably the best Christmas I’ve ever had. I even dreamed up a Christmas card of me and my main man at the time. (Hercules, of course.) I made up a recipe for the best pot pie ever to grace my pretty little lips, too. (Thanksgiving Pot Pie… for all of your leftover needs!) I was having a really rough time last year. My boyfriend and I broke up the day after Thanksgiving, I had lost a job opportunity that was (what I thought) my dream job, and a whole parade of bad marched through my life. This year? I’m so thankful I could burst. It’s been a whirlwind. If you would have told me last year that I would be married and have two beautiful little girls on the way, I would have told you to put the joint away and get yourself to a meeting because clearly you have a problem. Nothing is perfect, of course, but 2010 was definitely nicer to me than the three previous years, that’s for sure! So this year, the holidays are just the cherry on top. Will the girls be here before they really get under way? I don’t know, but I really do hope that I can enjoy some of my favorite things this year.

Thanksgiving is a week away (!!!) so I thought I would start to compile a list of some of my favorite things! Gifts that I’ve found, recipes I love, decorations that please my eyes, etc. Since I can’t move from the couch long enough to bake something cool or to go browse the stores, I thought I’d just use my Googling skills to find some of the things I’ve seen already floating through catalogs.

Five of My Favorite Things for 2010

1. I love copper. Kettles, utensils, pots, pans, you name it. I would love to have a kitchen one day where I could have a brick inset with a stainless steel stove and appliances, shabby chic white cabinetry with glass doors to show off an array of unique water pitchers and teapots, and a place to hang a whole slew of copper. I found these from Williams Sonoma and swooned a little.

copper kitchen utensils as ornaments!

2. Homemade cranberry sauce! This isn’t a 2010 thing. This is a general holiday thing. I made this a few years ago and my good friend Kerry fell in love with it, too. Every year since then, without fail, this Turkey Day delight becomes a part of our conversation. It’s heavenly.

Cranberry Conserve by Ina Garten (photo from foodnetwork.com)

3. Personalized silver stamped jewelry. I’ve seen two sites that I just love. Nelle and Lizzy and Love Stamped My friend Kerry’s hubby was deployed to Korea about a month ago and he’ll be there for another 11 months. Her son has a poster above his bed that says Keep Calm and Carry On, which is their motto for the year. As if this isn’t sweet enough, Kerry won this awesome Veteran’s prize package and in it was a gift certificate for Love Stamped and they had a necklace with this saying on it. How perfect is that? It’s amazing how the little things can mean so much. Here are a couple of other pieces on these sites that I love:

"Because Two People" Bracelet (nelleandlizzy.com)

Jumbo Family Tree Necklace (lovestamped.com)

2 Peas in a Pod (lovestamped.com)

4. DIY Coffee Cozies! I’m not sure I can stress enough how excited I am to have a real cup of coffee again. Needless to say, I’ve been searching high and low for coffee everything. In my search I’ve found a ton of ideas for making your own coffee cozies. I’ve seen them made out of socks, yarn, cool fabrics, felt, you name it. The December issue of Parents magazine had some adorable cozies, but these Etsy corset cozies have caught and kept my eye.

Pretty In Pink Paisley Cup Cozy (click to see listing at Cozy Corset Cuff)

5. Homemade Dog Cookies! I know a lot of people with dogs, including myself, and this just seemed too cool to pass up. I found a website that had a ton of recipes for Christmas and other holidays like my favorite, Valentine’s Day!

These are supposed to be great for doggie digestion and help your pooch with his/her dragon breath. Hooray for dog mints! The author says you may omit the green food coloring and sub in spinach powder for coloring or do without it altogether. I would personally leave it in, just because it’s fun, and maybe do some red ones too! It *is* Christmas after all.

Christmas Dog Treats (photo from best-dog-treat-recipes.com)

Christmas Dog Treats

Ingredients

1½ cups whole wheat flour
1 cup unbleached flour
1/2 cup oats
1/3 cup bran
2 tablespoons dry milk
1 ½ teaspoons dry yeast
2 tablespoons spearmint leaves or 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1/2 cup applesauce
2 teaspoons green food coloring or spinach powder (to get the color desired)
7/8 cup water

Instructions

With all of my recipes, you can use a mixer with a dough hook or a bread machine. I prefer the bread machine, as it’s so much easier. If you use a mixer, simply adjust the directions for making bread with your mixer.

Place everything in the bread machine on the dough cycle.

When the dough is ready, roll it to 1/4” thick with a rolling pin.

Cut into mini dog bone shapes and bake at 250 degrees F for about an hour. Check to make sure that they don’t get too brown.

Turn off the oven and let the mini dog bones dry completely in the oven—This works best overnight.

These Christmas dog treats will keep for at least a month, so you can make them well ahead of the holidays.

Oprah’s Favorite Things episode is on tomorrow (and Monday) because she has two audiences to surprise! I can’t wait for those! As Christmas gets closer and closer, I will try to share some more of my own favorite things for the holidays.

So what are some of your favorite things?

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