These big, fluffy, homemade cinnamon rolls have been a part of our Christmas morning for years and years.

The dough is made in your bread machine, which makes it super easy!

There are just a couple more days until Christmas! This morning, as I sit by the light of the Christmas tree, with presents wrapped (ahead of time, which NEVER happens) I can’t help but feel so grateful for all of the blessings in my life. Our family is healthy, our friends are plenty, and life is just really, really good right now.

I love Christmas, for a multitude of reasons, but mostly because it is a season full of traditions. I love all of the traditions we have developed around Christmas within my own family, like these homemade cinnamon rolls. The traditions have become so important to my kids as well. Like Nick and I, they look forward to the traditions we’ve created as much as we do. It really warms my heart so much….

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I have a confession to make…I haven’t started my Christmas shopping yet. Not one single gift has been purchased. As of when I’m writing this post, I have 13 days to get all of my shopping done, wrapped, and under the tree. Eeeeeks!

I just want to sit around eating Christmas candy, snuggled under blankets, reading books or watching movies. I don’t want to shop. Do you want to come do all my Christmas shopping for me? Please? If you do I’ll make a batch of this Angel Food Christmas Candy for you. Deal?…

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The other day I had one of those mornings… you know, where everything seems to go wrong before the day has even really started? Yes, one of THOSE mornings. Leah pulled out a gallon of milk from the fridge and along with it came crashing down a huge glass jar of pickles. Glass shards, pickles and pickle juice went everywhere. Kelly forgot to have me sign a form for school she needed “right now” because her ride was waiting for her. Jacob was texting me asking me to bring his science book and homework up to school because he accidentally forgot it. And Ella… will Ella was just being a moody 8 year old. All this and I hadn’t even had my morning coffee yet!

I don’t love my morning coffee for the caffeine boost. I love it because my morning coffee means I had some morning me time with my favorite hot beverage. The time with my cup of coffee is never rushed…it’s my ritualistic, slowed down, plan, reflect, and dream time. When I don’t get that time in the morning and have a day like I did above, I immediately want a do-over!…

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“Mom, how did whoever developed the English language come up with the word “crunchy”?”, my 13 year old asked.

We had just sat down to dinner as a family and this question launched a whole series of other questions from my kids. As we crunched on our tacos, we all began to guess how the word crunchy came about. Was it from the sound crunching on something makes in your mouth? Did someone just think crunchy was a fun word and it happened to be the next word in queue to use?

It was random and silly and exactly the kind of family dinner I love most! I feel like so often we get caught up in talking about the hum-drum of the day, that it’s nice to laugh and be silly instead. …

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Am I late to the party on this one? We eat Turkey at Christmas and Thanksgiving, but I’m not sure everyone does that. Maybe you all are just strictly Thanksgiving Turkey eaters? Well, if so, I’m sorry to be sharing this Turkey Stuffing Sandwich recipe so late in the game, but bookmark it for next year.

I first had these Turkey Stuffing sandwiches when my mother-in-law made them for me after Jacob (my oldest) was born. He was born soon after Christmas and we had leftover turkey on hand. Those of you who have newborns know how famished you are that first week. Well, I was famished and my mother-in-law brought this delicious sandwich in on King’s Hawaiian rolls and I became the biggest fan, ever. …

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I am the youngest of 5 kids, which I thought until recently made me a little more sensitive to Leah’s plight as the baby of the family. Let’s face it…we all know that many times the family baby is the one treated a tad more special and given a little more leniency.

I’m here to tell you that it’s because by the time the baby of the family comes around, the parents are simply tired and worn out. So yes, I say yes to Leah way more often than I may have Jacob because it’s just easier. I would have freaked out if Jacob didn’t have 3 healthy square meals a day… and may or may not turn a blind eye when Leah grabs a bag of chips out of the pantry for breakfast. Sometimes it’s just easier.

The hard part about being the baby of the family is that often times, traditions, celebrations, and more are way less than they were for the first or even subsequent children. For example, we went every single year to breakfast with Santa when Jacob was younger. Leah, in her precious 5 years, has had breakfast with Santa one time. All together now…”poor baby of the family”….

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I was really proud of myself over the Thanksgiving break because even though I was out of town at my brother’s house, I tracked down a Weight Watchers meeting and went to it.

I kind of wish I wouldn’t have now because, friends… I was UP 5.6 pounds this week! Yes. My very first week I was down 5.6 pounds, then down an additional 1.6 pounds week 2 and on week 3 (the meeting after Thanksgiving) I was up 5.6 pounds. It was kind of crazy that I was up the exact same amount I was so excited about losing that first week. Ugh. This is going to be such a long, hard journey, isn’t it?

I know exactly what I did wrong. I only went to the gym 2 days last week and I didn’t track a single bite I put into my mouth. Instead, I ate with wild abandon as one should on Thanksgiving, right? It’s too bad my sister-in-law is such a great cook. I’m going to blame all 5.6 pounds on her 🙂 …

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The holiday season, especially, seems to be prime time for sharing family recipes. Loved ones gather together, over food, and before the end of the day someone is saying “Those were so good! Can I have the recipe?”

My late Aunt Dee used to bring the best cookies to our holiday celebrations. They were round sugar cookies with a thin, white icing and decorated with green leaves and red hot holly berries. We all loved them, but my sister Kathy was the biggest fan. Every holiday she would ask my Aunt for the recipe and every holiday my Aunt would deny her request, saying “It’s a secret family recipe”….

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