Boston Blinks & an evening downtown

Wednesday night, we met some friends in Boston to see the new lights show at Faneuil Hall, Boston Blinks!

Since we don't get into Boston often enough anymore, Travis and I headed downtown a few hours early so we could wander around for a while.  We started at Boston Common and saw the first tree of the evening, which was a gift from Nova Scotia (thanks Canada!).  There was also a tree in front of the State House (you can kind of see it in the distance there).

Our pretty church, Park Street!

Then we wandered over to Government Center, where we decided to take a carriage ride!  (Travis and I love being tourists in our city.)  The horse was super sweet and was all dressed up for Christmas.

After the ride, we were significantly windblown and frozen, so we did a little shopping.  (Basically, we went in every store we saw...even if we weren't interested in what they were selling...because they had heat.)  Then we met our friends Ann, Terence, and Jerin for dinner and the lights show.

Dinner was at Durgin Park, an authentic tavern-style Boston restaurant serving New England staples and comfort food.  Their shepherd's pie is fantastic (3 of the 5 of use got that), but I think the real winner was Travis' corned beef and cabbage.  SO good.



Then for the lights!!  There were lights everywhere - over 350,000 LED on two massive Christmas trees, wrapping around the trees lining the cobblestone walkways, and outlining the buildings.  Then, every 30 minutes (or so they say, since nothing happened at 8pm...) the lights put on a show to the Pops performing the Hallelujah Chorus.

Faneuil Hall

We thought that tree was big until we saw was was waiting for us on the other side of Quincy Market.

If you're interested in seeing Boston Blinks, you have until January 1, 2013!  The show runs nightly from 4:30  to 9pm (7pm on Sundays) and is definitely worth a trip downtown!  Check out their website for more information.

Christmas Pumpkins

I have this thing with pumpkins.  I hate throwing them out before they have rotted - it just feels wrong to me! Once in college, my pumpkin was still perfectly fine at Christmas, so I put painted a face on it, glued a beard to it, and topped it with a Santa hat.  When Valentines Day rolled around, my little pumpkin was still going strong, so I gathered the neighborhood children, and we painted red, pink, and white hearts on it.  Who said pumpkins were just for fall?  :)

This year, our pumpkins are still viable gourds, so I decided to get a little creative with them, once again.  

They are super simple to make.  All you need is red and white paint and a paintbrush!  Paint all your pumpkins red first, and let them dry.

Toby didn't like that I was on the porch and he couldn't get to me!

Once the red paint is dry, I put a festive "Ho" on each one!

I think it makes a nice little addition to our porch.

Now that you've seen the outside, check out the Christmas decorations inside!

Christmas Decorations

Travis and I finally finished decorating the inside of our apartment last night, once I made a last minute trip to Target for some command strips to hang our stockings.  Our landlords are a little crazy about holes in things - they tried to tell us that we couldn't put ANY holes in the walls when we moved in (which we didn't listen to), so we decided to at least not drill into the mantle.  :)  Command hooks have become our best friend!

Since I'm allergic to Christmas trees, we aren't able to pick our perfect tree from a tree lot/farm.  We DO, however, have an amazing pre-lit tree that was given to us as a wedding present from the FBC Smithfield church staff!  What an awesome wedding gift, huh?

I've been collecting Christmas ornaments since I was in college.  Everywhere we go...anything that was important...we have to have an ornament from it.  Because of this, we have a LOT of ornaments.  It makes it a lot of fun unpacking and decorating the tree each year though - we get to relive the memories each time!

And my favorite picture of the evening...

The above bride & groom snowmen were a gift from Jenny (my mom-in-law) at one of our wedding showers.  So cute!

Our mantle has changed a lot over the years - this year's my favorite so far.  The ornaments were a great deal from Crate & Barrel - we happened upon one of their stores going out of business a few years ago and got each of them for $3 instead of $20!

This mantle has taught me the importance of buying nice things.  The garland on this mantle was a hand-me-down from my mom, who used it for years.  Travis and I have been using it for 6 years now, and it still looks as good as new!  Target garland won't do that (we have some of that outside...trust me!). It's even nicer when you don't have to buy those nice things. :)

Trees and angels in the windows

My Willow Tree nativity

Toby eventually gave up on trying to help, and decided to hang out on his upside down bed.

Even the duck gets a bow at Christmas!

The funny Christmas dachshund our old landlords gave us hangs out on top of the TV.

I'm finishing up a project outside - outdoor decoration pictures will come soon!

Cake Decorating How-To: Buttercream Christmas Wreaths

After spending a lot of time during the last few days decorating for Christmas, I was in the mood to do some holiday baking.  Tonight, I opted for cupcakes decorated in 2 wreath styles!  The first was a holly wreath and the second a fir wreath.  To make these, you'll need:

Baked cupcakes (duh)
Buttercream Icing (white, red, green)
2 piping bags with couplers
Small leaf tip
Small round tip
Small grass tip
Round red sprinkles (optional)

Once your cupcakes cool, ice the tops with a thin layer of white icing.

Mix and fill a piping bag with green icing (see this blog about coloring icing).  Using a leaf tip, pipe small leaves around the outside edge of your cupcake.

Then make a second layer of leaves inside the first...

...and then a third.

Mix and fill a piping bag with red icing.  Using a small round tip, pipe a bow on the top of your wreath.  Then pipe little red balls (in threes!) throughout the green.  You can also use round red sprinkles (what I did here). 

Now for the second wreath:

Change the tip on your bag of green icing to a small grass tip.  You'll need to practice with this tip, as it takes a few squeezes to get the hang of the "grassy look".

To use this tip, hold your bag just above the surface of your cupcake/practice area and squeeze.  Pull your hand away from the surface quickly.  As you do this, stop squeezing the bag, so you form "longer" grass.  If you don't move away "quickly enough", your grass will look like a lego (blob at the bottom with tiny dots on top).  Always practice before you "mess up" a cupcake - you'll get it!

Once you've mastered the tip, pipe a circle around the edge of your cupcake.  Then pipe one more layer of "grass" inside the first.  Then fill in gaps or funny looking spots in your wreath so it's nice and full!

Then layer in some holly - replace the grass tip with your leaf tip and pipe a few groups of small leaves around the wreath.

Then, using your red icing bag and the small round tip, pipe a red bow on the top and little berries in the center of each leaf group.  You can also use round red sprinkles for the berries (what I did here).

Happy Cupcaking!