Christmas 2023
It’s nearly the new year! I have been thinking about goals for 2024, and they mostly center around reading and creating. I’m always striving to beat the previous years’ book count (I definitely succeeded this year!) but I’m also inspired to fill more blog posts with the fun happenings in this stage of life with a toddler. But before we look ahead, let’s wrap up 2023! Pour your coffee, and go ahead and spike it – it’s a holiday weekend after all!
Christmas this year was unique to us because we celebrated in our own home! Up until now, we’ve always gone to my parent’s house and spent the night on Christmas Eve. They only live 15 minutes away, so it’s no roadtrip. But it’s nice to wake up on Christmas morning, stay in jammies, pour our coffees and slowly open stockings while the cinnamon rolls bake.
That changes with a little one. Now we need to stay in our own home so that Christmas morning starts with her waking up to presents under her tree! Here’s a 5 minute vlog of Christmas with Brynnley before I get into our gifts & recipes!
It’s honestly a Christmas miracle that Zeb was even home for Christmas Eve & Christmas Day! As a commercial airline pilot, his work schedule is dictated by seniority with the company. The newer the pilot, the crappier the schedule. We have definitely had our fair share of years where he worked nearly every weekend, holiday and birthday and it seems like we are finally turning a corner where he’s built up enough seniority to earn a few of the trips he bids for! He was home this year for all of the holiday festivities which is so deserved for ALL of us after last year’s travel nightmare that had us post-poning Brynnley’s 1st Christmas until December 27th.
My parents, who go by Gigi and Pop Pop for Brynnley, arrived right after we all woke up at got ourselves ready. Well, not too ready since we stayed in our matching plaid jammies until after breakfast.
Brynnley greeted my dad as he walked in with an arm-load full of presents and exclaimed “WOW! SOOO MANY!” in her cute little toddler voice. Her animated reactions are my favorite! She says things like “I Yuv It!” and “Thank You Mommy!” which is just the sweetest thing to hear.
Holiday Eats
The night before, I washed and cut some fruit for a fruit salad. I copied a Pinterest idea and portioned everyone’s fruit salad out into waffle cones to look like an overflowing cornecopia with a dallop of Cool Whip. My mom was on pancake duty, making baby-size pancakes for miniature stacks that we topped with whip cream and an upside-down strawberry to look like a Santa hat. A new recipe I tried this year was for Cracked Out Hashbrown Casserole. In a glass pan, I combined pre-cooked hashbrowns, chopped up pre-cooked bacon, 4 beaten eggs, a cup of shredded cheese, milk, and a ranch seasoning packet (the secret ingredient) and baked for an hour. I think this recipe will be a keeper!
Dinner was simple, since it was just Zeb, Brynnley and I. I made a green salad and yummy roasted sweet potato rounds with lots of herbs. We got a preseasoned pork loin to smoke on the Traeger and we were all too full for dessert!
Toddler Gifts
Brynnley is 22-months, and her birthday is at the end of February. I had a fun time shopping for her this year, combining a little bit of what she needed (new shoes & some snow mittens) with new toys that would hopefully provide MONTHS of entertainment. If you have a toddler around the same age that you’re shopping for, here are a couple gift ideas:
- Little Tikes Trampoline: I got this on Black Friday Sale after keeping my eye on it for a few months. Winter is so cold here in Idaho that we don’t get our daily walks in like we do spring through fall, so I thought this toddler trampoline would be a great active outlet for the little one when we are stuck inside and need to burn some energy! So far Brynnley loves it, but hasn’t quite yet learned to jump where her feet leave the ground haha.
- 6-sided Wooden Puzzle: Brynnley needs a challenge because she easily memorizes the simple baby puzzles. This one looks challenging enough for her not to be able to memorize it any time soon!
- Bluetooth Headphones: Brynnley has a little Kids Fire Tablet that we use for long drives or when we’re at a restaurant with friends and want to be able to enjoy the food and conversation ourselves! Ain’t no shame in some screen time over here! We look at it as a tool. So far, Brynnley has been content watching Cocomelon without sound when we’re in public, but when I saw these adorable toddler wireless over-the-ear headphones, I knew they’d come in handy for her.
- Duck Slide Bath Toy: We make bath time last as long as possible after dinner, and her same stackable cups were getting a little boring. This cute slide suction cups to the side of the tub and allows little ducks to flow down, hopefully providing hours of bathtime play.
- Bath Tub Markers: These are a hit in our house! They color the side of the tub and wipe clean easily. These were a stocking stuffer.
- Around-The-Farm Sound Book: So far this book has been a Christmas favorite for Brynnley who sits and pushes all of the animal sound buttons for quite some time each day!
Other Christmas Goodies
I picked out a couple of items for Zeb that he didn’t specifically ask for, like a portable mini crockpot that he could take on his trips with him to heat up his lunches and dinners. Did you know that not all hotel rooms have microwaves?! I find that so hard to believe nowadays but it’s pretty common for him to have a room without, and we try to meal prep and pack him food to avoid eating out every night.
He also got a few tools he requested, some new ties to replace his outdated bright purple ones, a TheraGun massager, and a tactical bag.
Having Brynnley makes picking out presents for my parents easier – they love being grandparents and there are so many cute items out there to make Gigi-and-Pop-Pop-Life more fun! We knew they like tracking height and growth so we got a custom wooden height board from Etsy, plus a digital picture from and some kids art shadow box frames.
Zeb totally surprised me with something that hadn’t been on my radar this year – a Cricut Maker! If you haven’t heard of them, they are a craft machine that can cut out any digital image or text you can dream up on your computer or phone. They cut many materials, like vinyl, iron-on, and even wood. They can create cut-outs that adhere to mugs, clothing, wooden boards, you name it. If you’ve ever custom ordered something on Etsy, it was probably made with a Cricut! I’m excited to learn more about how it works and start crafting a few homemade projects.
Christmas Season Celebrations
No post-Christmas blues here, I think we are ready to get our house back to normal and welcome 2024. We got to celebrate Christmas all month long! Our first Christmas party was on December 1st for the Idaho Aviation Association. The following weekend, my parents hosted their annual Christmas Party/Soup Cook-Off and this year it was themed “A Griswold Christmas” where we all dressed as characters from the classic movie Christmas Vacation. No one shared what their costume would be beforehand, so it was pretty surprising when my parents opened their door wearing the exact same outfits as Zeb and I. I don’t mean similar – I mean we purchased identical products on Amazon to both dress as Todd and Margot, the neighbors.
We had a classic Cousin Eddy in his white robe, his wife Catherine Mary from the department store, Aunt Bethany and Uncle Lewis, and then a bunch of Christmas Vacation-themed shirts including Brynnley’s. It was so much fun and there was so much delicious soups, chilis and stews to sample for dinner!
2023 Blog Post
Tomorrow I’m typing up a 2023 recap post here to wrap up the year with some photos and memories I hadn’t gotten around to sharing.
See you then!
-Kenz
Favorite Things Parties + 50 Favorite Things Gift Ideas!
Have you been invited to a Favorite Things party? The first time I heard of them was about 4 years ago, and I have hosted my own every year since! I love the concept, and it’s always so fun to see the random and unique items everyone brings.
I’ll explain what exactly a Favorite Things party is, and then I’ve created a list of dozens of ideas if you need a little inspiration. There are a few Favorite Things gift guides out there that I peeked at before my very first Favorite Things party, but they have all seemed so boring and generic. I was able to come up with some different clever and unique options that I can’t use all of them myself, so hopefully they are helpful to you!
What is a Favorite Things party?
The concept is that you have a girls get together, with a gift exchange activity. Everyone is going to bring 3 of something that is one of their current favorite things – could be something for the kitchen, self-care, a gadget, food or beverage….anything! But you’ll want to set a price limit per item. I’ve gone to a party with a $5 per item limit, and that was a little too limiting. I feel like $15 is the sweet spot, but of course it’s totally up to the group you’re with!
1. Each girl brings her 3 items (all the same thing, but fine if they are in different colors or patterns).
2. When the gift exchange begins, everyone is assigned a number starting with 1.
3. Use small pieces of paper to write out each person’s number three times onto separate papers, and put them all into a hat or box. (So if you have 10 girls, you will have 30 pieces of paper – three separate papers for each number.)
4. Choose someone to start! They will explain their gift and why it’s their “favorite thing.” Then they will pull out three pieces of paper from the hat or box, and the ladies assigned to those numbers get to take that item home! You can’t pull the same number twice for the same item, and obviously you don’t want to pull your own number.
5. After everyone has shared and gifted their favorite things, every girl there will be going home with three totally different gifts!
Make sense? Feel free to leave a comment and I can clarify, or share any of your own tips if you’ve done this type of gift exchange before!
I have been to a birthday party that had a Favorite Things theme, which was fun because the birthday girl didn’t necessarily want everyone to bring her a present so it really was a gift for everyone. My annual Favorite Things parties have become a Christmastime tradition! For three years now, I set up a hot chocolate bar, a dessert charcuterie board, some appetizers and wine, and my girlfriends over. It’s always such a different mix of favorite things and gifts and always so fun to come away with new things to try!
Here are some ideas for every price point if you’re hosting or attending your own Favorite Things party:
$5 per Item
- Artsy bookmarks: if your group has readers in it, I always love cutesy or unique bookmarks and they make so many different styles now! Like these magnetic ones, which you could break out into three separate gifts.
- Garden seed packets: flower seeds are inexpensive enough that you could group a few together in a little bundle as a gift, or find a cute (inexpensive!) pair of garden gloves to pair with them.
- Makeup removing towelettes: This is what I brought to my first-ever Favorite Things party, a pack of Burt’s Bees make-up removing wipes. They are great to keep in your nightstand should you ever have a night where you feel too lazy to get up and properly wash your face…it’s better than nothing!
- Olipop sodas/kombuchas: here’s a great excuse to get your friends to try a healthier fun drink that they might not otherwise splurge on! These better-for-you soda and sparkling drinks are priced so that you can give two per person if you’re in the $5 gift range, like this root beer alternative!
- Spa headband: It’s just more fun to wash your face with a huge terrycloth bow on your head! You could even pair it with an inexpensive face mask pack.
- Silicone muffin pan liners: kitchen gadgets are always a fun Favorite Things item, and these are on the more inexpensive side.
- Diamond-painting kit: this was my Favorite Things gift for my 2023 party! They come with everything you need for a simple at-home craft/project that’s easy to do while binging a show or listening to a podcast and they range in price from $5-15. The two linked here are $5.
- Disposable air fryer liners: Everyone has an air fryer nowadays, right?! We LOVE our air fryer but don’t want to clean it every time I put in some tater tots. I like using these large disposable liners for easy clean-up. (They are quite thin, so I usually use 2-3 at a time.)
- Mini-bottle cocktail kit: This can be a cute little gift – find a cocktail glass at the Dollar Tree, and add a mini bottle of liquor plus a mix-in for a cocktail kit! You can do a mini vodka, a can of ginger beer & a lime for a mojito. Or a mini Bailey’s and hot cocoa packets in a coffee mug!
- Spa socks: I don’t think I’ve ever been to a favorite things party where fuzzy socks weren’t involved. They are a universally loved item, especially good if you don’t know the group too well and aren’t sure about their specific interests! Everyone likes socks!
$10 per Item:
- Pretty Pastel Highlighters: These highlighters are so beautiful and come in packs of 16 colors that aren’t obnoxious! I would love to receive these!
- Silicone Air Fryer Liner: In my previous category, I included some disposable air fryer liners for easy cleanup. This is slightly higher cost but a reusable version of the product that still cuts down on clean-up time if you’re a frequent air fryer user like I am!
- Lightsaber Chopsticks: this is a fun novelty item that your friends surely don’t already have!
- At-Home Manicure: This was one of the favorite things I received at my 2022 party. Press-on nails have come a long way, and these look as good as a salon manicure!
- Belt Bag: These have become trendy this year, and this $11 version looks just as good as LuluLemon!
- Burt’s Bees Moisturizing Kit: This $10 pack comes with 5 different products – lotion, chapstick, cleansing cream, foot cream, and hand salve. Perfect for wintertime!
- Scarf: Since you don’t know who exactly will be receiving your gifts, this is a great one-size-fits-all accessory item. I purchased this scarf for some girlfriends this year :)
- Kitchen Gadgets: There are so many fun unique gadgets in this price range: a pineapple cutter/corer, olive oil spray mister, ground meat masher, clip-on strainer for pots, and a heat sealer for plastic bags!
- Candles: a classic gift. For gifts, I like the make sure the fragrances are pretty neutral and clean smelling rather than strong food or floral scents. This is a good one!
- Diamond painting kit: I had some cheaper options in the previous $5 category, but here are two that I really like that are $10 – mountainscape & succulants.
$15-$20 per Item
- Cookbooks: At my 2022 Favorite Things party, I gifted Half Baked Harvest cookbooks because I LOVE her recipes and food photography. But I also (of course) love this Gilmore Girls official cookbook, and another beautiful option is Graze, a small bites and charcuterie cookbook!
- Cookbook holder: I love these kitchen counter cookbook-holders that keep your page open to whatever recipe you’re working on!
- Corkcicle Wine Chiller: I’m a white wine girl, and sometimes you don’t have enough time to get a bottle to chill for company! Here’s a cute wine chiller that I have bought for gifts for hostess friends.
- Veggie Chopper: this is an awesome time-saving kitchen gadget for dicing veggies!
- Board Games: My current FAVORITE is called Chik-a-Pig!
- Lumify Eye Drops: these went viral on social media, because they noticeable brighten and whiten your eyes instantly!
- Pepper Spray/Personal Safety Alarm: I always carry a pepper spray in my diaper bag and stroller, and a personal alarm on my car keys. Better to have them and not need them!
- A Year of Cozy hardcover book: I love this beautiful coffee table book full of great reminders!
- Super Food Powders: I have both these superfood reds and superfood greens powders that I add to smoothies every day for some extra vitamins and nutrients!
- Cactus Spa Tealight Candles: these are adorable tealights that would add a spa-quality to your bathtub or nightstand!
- Bathtub Headrest: speaking of spa, I’ve never been a big bath-taker because I don’t find it particularly comfy! I feel like when I lean back, I slink down too far otherwise I have to sit straight up. Then I discovered this cushion that suctions to the bathtub and it’s a game-changer!
- Deep-tissue Massage Gun: These little guys are just around $20 bucks now, and come in pink and black!
I haven’t seen a Favorite Things party set a price limit above $20, but if you are looking for items in a higher category then let me know in the comments and I’ll put together another list with some great options!
I’m excited to hear if you picked any of these items for your own Favorite Things party, or what other clever ideas you’ve seen!
This year I had nine of my girlfriends over to my house. Some are fellow pilot wives, some are in my book club, a couple from my neighborhood and a couple from previous jobs. It’s so fun to get all of your friends together at your house, and we all left our babies and toddlers with our husbands for a true Mom’s Night Off. :)
P.S. I love keeping my blog ad-free so that you can enjoy a clutter-free reading experience! If you’d like to support my blog, please consider grabbing a Strong Like My Coffee mug from my small online boutique. Each mug is handmade by me in Idaho, includes the wooden topper & gold spoon, and ships within 5 business days. :)
SHOP HERE
XOXO Kenz
Camping With A Toddler: Ponderosa State Park in McCall, Idaho
We love our home state Idaho, and try to explore as much as we can. There are still SO MANY areas that we have yet to cover, but continue to make plans to experience soon! One of the easiest mountain getaway destinations from the Boise area is McCall, Idaho. It’s a two-ish hour drive north, it’s got a large lake in the center of town, and it’s a charming tourist destination!
We go to McCall often, but this was our first time tent-camping there. Luckily the Ponderosa State Park is so close to the downtown shopping area that it could easily turn into a glamping situation, if needed. Since we were bringing our 18-month old daughter, we kept expectations pretty low but still planned on cooking all of our food over the campfire.
We ended up with a campsite that had full electrical hook-ups for RVs and it was very spacious. There was also a water spicket which came in extremely handy for constantly cleaning off my dirt-lovin’ toddler!
This camping trip was during my husband’s 37th birthday. We towed his fishing boat up, brought a picnic basket, and planned to enjoy the lake and family time for 3 days and 2 nights. It was a successful camping trip! We all had a great time, no one got any injuries (which required helicopter-level hovering over Brynnley), and we made super tasty meals with our campware every day :) I’m going to share the camping meals we loved below!
I started off setting us up for success by preparing the first night’s dinner before we even left home. Knowing we had a 2+ hour drive, tent set-up, and a toddler to entertain, I wanted to take one task off our plate (haha no pun intended) for that night and have dinner pretty ready to just place on the fire. Campfire Nachos!
I cut a few russet potatoes into thin rounds. I greased a disposable foil tray, and spread the potatoes out in a couple layers on the bottom of the tray. I cooked up some ground beef with basic seasonings and topped the potatoes with it. I added a can of diced tomatoes and green chiles, black beans, diced purple onion and diced green pepper. Then shredded cheese. I covered it with foil, and once Zeb got the fire going it cooked for about an hour on the grates. We just let it go until the potatoes were nice and soft! I had brought some pico de gallo and guacamole for toppings, and this was such an easy and yummy dinner to eat together at our campsite picnic table!
The toughest part about camping with Brynnley right now is bedtime. She’s always been a STUBBORN sleeper, but does very well at home now with her familiar environment, white noise, and blackout curtains. We did try to get her to sleep at her normal bedtime, but the sun doesn’t set in Idaho until 10pm at this point in summer and she was NOT having it. She got to come back out and enjoy some stickers and the campfire with mom and dad a little while longer until we all just called it a night and went into the tent together. I used a box fan sound on my phone to help her stay asleep through the night with all the campground sounds around us. She woke up at 6am, two hours earlier than her usual schedule. We just rolled with it!
DAY TWO:
The best part about waking up at 6am was watching two male deer walk RIGHT through our campsite! Their antlers were fuzzy and glowing from the sunlight behind them and it was so cool! Deer are all over McCall and really acclimated to the people, so we even saw a mama and baby deer eating right next to the road and several just munching weeds in people’s front yards. They aren’t very skiddish!
One of our camping traditions that started last year is a Dutch oven coffee cake on the first morning. We have a Dutch oven cookbook with a great recipe. I was able to prep the dry mixture at home, and that way in the morning we would just need to stir in the apples, butter, egg and make the crumb topping. We cook it over hot coals and both times it has come out with the perfect coffee cake texture! Perfect with the percolated coffee.
We packed up my picnic basket and took the boat down to the boat launch not too far from the campsite. Payette Lake is one of the primary reasons McCall is such a perfect family vacation destination. It is gorgeous, and just steps away from the downtown Main Street. There’s a grassy section in front of the docks if you want to lounge and have a picnic. There is a beach area with mild waves from the boat wakes and sand for the kids to splash and play. There are public boat launches for anyone who wants to go out fishing, cruising, jet skiing, or anything else you want to do on the water! We walked down to the beach area with Brynnley in her stroller or our wagon a couple of times because it is right at the entrance of the Ponderosa State Park.
We spent a little time on the lake in Zeb’s fishing boat, which put Brynnley to sleep. It’s the first time she’s napped in my arms in a loooong time since we did sleep-training last Fall, and I loved my hour of just holding her peacefully in the mountain air on the water!
We picnicked with sandwiches, fruit, sparkling waters and some snacks on the grass and Brynnley got to play in the waves on the lake shore. Oh, and this was Zeb’s birthday! We returned to our campsite around 5pm, the perfect time for him to whip up a little birthday happy hour cocktail. He’s a gin and tonic, extra lime, guy. We also put together that night’s dinners – hobo packs.
I had precut the potatoes, bell peppers, onions, and squash into big chunks at home before we left. I packed some steak strips, foil, and seasoning. I put together four big packs to cook over the fire, planning on using one of them as the filling for some breakfast burritos the next morning.
They were very yummy, but you can’t really go wrong with hobo packs! Brynnley liked to go on lots of little walks around the campground, laughing at the silly squirrels that ran up the trees. She waved “bye!” to each one several times.
We also made popcorn over the campfire, which Zeb always has fun with. This time, I packed some popcorn butter spray & white cheddar seasoning for some extra pizzazz. I prefer the popcorn over s’mores for my evening camping treat!
The next morning, it was our third and final day! We made breakfast burritos and coffee, went for another family walk, and then started the arduous task of tearing down camp and getting everything packed up again. EVERYTHING was soooo dirty. Whether we used it or not; if it was in the campsite, it was covered in dirt. We were able to time the two hour drive home just right (for once) and Brynnley actually slept the whole way – win!
Coming home from camping means an incredible amount of dishes and laundry, but I was mostly done by the end of the night and it was worth it for a fun mountain trip with our little family of three.
I’d recommend Ponderosa State Park for camping to anyone! There are restroom facilities with showers that are kept nice, and you really can’t beat the location.
You can watch my vlog of our camping trip on my YouTube channel here:
P.S. I love keeping my blog ad-free so that you can enjoy a clutter-free reading experience! If you’d like to support my blog, please consider grabbing a Strong Like My Coffee mug from my small online boutique. Each mug is handmade by me in Idaho, includes the wooden topper & gold spoon, and ships within 5 business days. :)
SHOP HERE
XOXO Kenz
