Yesterday afternoon I had the kiddos help me dig out the Christmas decorations and the tree. I’m so thankful that we’ve used color-coded totes (dark green for Christmas) for our seasonal decor as this makes it much easier to find the necessary items.
The kids were a little upset that we didn’t put the tree up last night but they were super excited to find some early gifts on the table this morning.
Continue reading “St. Nicholas Day 2022”
I know I haven’t posted a menu in a while but I figured I could post the one I just made up. This was made using the free printable meal planner I have HERE. You will see that we have certain things that rotate on a set schedule but we do try to keep our dinners a little varied to keep everyone happy.
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Desserts |
| Sunday 12/4 | Eggs, hash browns, sausage, English muffins | Fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans | Fruit | ||
| Monday | Cereal/Oatmeal | scrambled egg sandwiches | Steak/Sweet N Sour Meatballs, Mac N Cheese, Baked Potato | Fruit | |
| Tuesday St. Nicholas Day | Santa Pancakes | PB&J sandwiches, fruit | Leftovers | Fruit | |
| Wednesday FULL MOON | Muffins, Bagels, or Toast W/Eggs and Cheesy Grits | soup, grilled cheese, fruit slices, rice pudding | Homemade pizzas | Fruit | |
| Thursday | French Toast, Fruit | Chicken Salad, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, lettuce | Loaded potato soup, crackers | Fruit | |
| Friday | Cereal/Oatmeal | Leftovers | Salmon/Chicken Patties, Mashed Caulitaters, Creamed Peas, pineapple slices | Fruit | |
| Saturday | Make Sourdough Donuts or English Muffins | Chicken Stir Fry, Fried Rice, Egg Rolls, steamed veggies, sauce | Fruit |
Notes:
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Desserts |
| Sunday 12/11 | Monkey Bread, Eggs & Grits | Cheddar Chicken, potatoes, veggies | Fruit | ||
| Monday | Cereal/Oatmeal | egg salad sandwiches, veggies | Homemade pizzas | Fruit | |
| Tuesday | French Toast, Fruit | PB&J sandwiches, fruit | Taco ring, salad | Fruit | |
| Wednesday | Blueberry Oatmeal Bread, scrambled eggs | Soup, Grilled Cheese | Sandwiches, french fries | Fruit | |
| Thursday | Pancakes, Fruit | tuna salad sandwiches, fresh veggies | Spaghetti, Salad, Garlic Cheesy pull-apart bread | Fruit | |
| Friday | Cereal/Oatmeal | Leftovers | Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin, mashed potatoes, veggies | Fruit | |
| Saturday POLAR EXPRESS! | Waffles, Eggs, Bacon | SEE MENU | Fruit | Fudge Cookies |
Notes:
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Desserts |
| Sunday 12/18 | Biscuits n gravy/Sausage/Eggs | Breakfast for Dinner | Fruit | ||
| Monday | Cereal/Oatmeal | scrambled egg sandwiches | Tortellini Soup, buttered bread | Fruit | |
| Tuesday | French Toast, Fruit | PB&J sandwiches, fruit | Easy Bean Tostadas, Rice, Salad | Fruit | |
| Wednesday | Muffins, Bagels, or Toast W/Eggs and Cheesy Grits | soup, grilled cheese, fruit slices, rice pudding | Shepherd’s pie, fried cabbage, beer bread, fried apples | Fruit | |
| Thursday | Pancakes, Fruit | Chicken Salad, sliced tomatoes & cucumbers, lettuce | Homemade Pizzas | Fruit | |
| Friday | Cereal/Oatmeal | Leftovers | Alice Springs Chicken, salad, baked potatoes | Fruit | |
| Saturday Christmas Eve | Make Sourdough Donuts or English Muffins | Fruit |
Notes:
| Day | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Snacks | Desserts |
| Sunday 12/25 CHRISTMAS | Cinnamon Rolls, SCRAMBLED EGGS, SAUSAGE, OR BACON | SEE MENU | |||
| Monday | Cereal/Oatmeal | egg salad sandwiches, veggies | Leftovers | Fruit | |
| Tuesday | French Toast, Fruit | PB&J sandwiches, fruit | Tacos or Taco Soup, Rice, Chips | Fruit | |
| Wednesday | Cinnamon Swirl Quick Bread, scrambled eggs | Leftovers | Mississippi Pot Roast, mashed potatoes or egg noodles, veggies, milk | Fruit | |
| Thursday | Pancakes, Fruit | tuna salad sandwiches, fresh veggies | Creamed Spinach & Bacon-Smothered Chicken, salad, garlic bread | Fruit | |
| Friday | Cereal/Oatmeal | Leftovers | Sloppy Joes, French Fries, Slaw | Fruit | |
| Saturday NEW YEARS EVE | Cheese Danish, eggs, bacon | Crunchy Chicken, Squash Casserole, Mashed Potatoes, or potato cakes | Fruit |
Notes:
Some days are left blank to allow us to use up some of our pantry and freezer supplies. You can check out some other meal-planning posts HERE and HERE.
Here in our neck of the woods, the stores are looking a little sparse so I’ve been trying to grab what I can when I see it for our upcoming holiday meals… have you planned yours out yet? If not, I’ve got some easy recipes for you to use and some menus from previous years that may inspire you.
Our holiday meals here may not be quite as grand as they have been in the past but when everyone joins around the table we have more than enough!
Here are some of our favorite recipes:
Brown Sugar & Honey Glazed Ham
Roasted Turkey w/ Giblet Gravy
Favorite Sweet Potato Casserole
Grandma’s Mac N Cheese sprinkled with bacon
Mashed Potatoes and/or Super Yummy Caulitaters
Old-Fashioned Cornbread Dressing
Potato Salad (with cauliflower alternative)
Steamed Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
Empty Tomb Rolls (aka Resurrection Rolls)
Chocolate Pudding Pie – (This was something I always looked forward too with my Mom-Mom)
Luscious Four-Layer Pumpkin Cake
Milk Chocolate Fudge (Christmas Fudge)
Need a recipe you don’t see listed? Try checking out the search bar or leave a comment and we’ll try to get one posted ASAP!
We hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!
We are trying our best to get back into some of our routines and traditions around here but it’s been tough going with one thing after another. I do plan to do a little something special for St. Nicholas Day and we hope to get our tree up then as well. I had thought about doing our Polar Express Party on St. Nicholas Day but it falls in the middle of the week so that wouldn’t work out well for anyone right now.
We won’t be doing anything really spectacular but I’m sure the kids will be excited anyway. I did manage to snag a couple of bags of chocolate coins a couple of weeks ago too so I’m hoping they won’t have melted by the time St. Nicholas Day gets here.
I just wanted to post this in case anyone else wanted to try to do something a little extra special… maybe you will have a chance to grab some things over the weekend to start a new family tradition. Maybe we can schedule a quick drive around town to look at Christmas lights or something as well.
Here are a few posts from previous years:
We usually make Santa Pancakes and I think we did something a little different last year but I can’t remember what we did for sure as it was so crazy then.
Before you think that you couldn’t possibly pull anything like this off because something always goes wrong here’s another post about how our day really went on a previous St. Nicholas Day:
Whether you celebrate or not we hope you have a great St. Nicholas Day and we pray that you are blessed beyond measure during this holiday season!
Here are some of our favorite Cookie Recipes:
Day 1:
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Day 2:
Day 3:
Haystacks aka Noodle Cookies (2 versions here)
Day 4:
Easy Sugar Cookies (We also added some butterscotch and some white chocolate chips to a few and they were delicious.)
Continue reading “12 Days of Cookies”
