Christmas 2014 with the Scott's

    Did everyone have a great Christmas? I know we sure did! I just wanted to share with y'all some of many pictures from the holidays. Our Christmas was a week long spending it with Family. My uncle came in from Houston, TX & we celebrated Christmas at my Moms Christmas Eve. I was sick, and trying to recover from a stomach bug.

~Finger Foods~ {Hawaiian Roll Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Chips, Salsa, Spinach Dip, Cheese tray with little tomatoes, Veggies, Crackers, Meatballs, Little Smokies, Peach Cobbler, Brownies & Ice Creams.

{So Excited to open presents they couldn't wait]

 

{My babies are no longer babies, they are growing up too much, too quick. I know that's what kids do but it always shows more in pictures}
     We had an Ugly Sweater/Ugly T-Shirt Party but with me waiting till the last minute and then being sick, My husband and I did not have and Ugly Sweater... My Grandma won because she was the only one with an actual sweater. We live on the AL/FL state line and well it isn't always cold at Christmas. {Read More to see the Pictures of those ugly things} :)

#MerryKissmas - Traditional Cookie Recipes Santa is sure to LOVEChristmas Eve

     In the Scott household our favorite Christmas candy is Hershey Kisses. Not only do we eat these delicious little chocolates we bake with these every Christmas too and sometimes through out the year when I need to make cookies.This Christmas I had the opportunity to promote the #MerryKissmas Campaign and review the Candy Cane Hershey Kisses. Now your first thought may be, " ehhh, I don't know" but these are a must try, even if your not a big fan of Candy Canes

December CraftilyEverAfter Snowflakes

I am so thankful to have been the Craft Contributor over on My Craftily Ever After for 2014. It has been so great working with Ashley and sharing a craft each month with all of you! Here is my last crafty contribution for 2014 and it was so much fun even my husband got in on it.

These were a lot o fun and they absolutely added a special touch to our tree this year! Head on over to MyCraftilyEverAfter.com to get all the how to's and what you need to make these beautiful decorations to add to your home this Christmas! Take a look at all the fun we had.


http://www.mycraftilyeverafter.com/2014/12/19/snowflake-decorations-for-kids/

 

Red & Green Rolo Cookies

     Okay so maybe they came out a shade lighter then Red and are Pink BUT they go well with the green and it's Christmas so we are calling them Red, we will say Pink at Valentines Day. :)

     These cookies are lets just say, yummy & a beautiful treat! I was a little nervous about the outcome of the Rolo in the little sugar cookie ball and it burning from oozing out, but they turned out great and no oozing. I choose to make these with sugar cookies but you could also use a Snickerdoodle or Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe. I made a very simple Sugar Cookie Recipe and all you have to do to make these is roll into a ball, shove the Rolo from the bottom into the middle of the roll and cover the Rolo on the bottom with the Sugar Cookie so the Rolo is in the middle and completely covered.

Christmas Throwback -2013 Posts

I always like to look back at posts from the previous years especially around the holidays because that's when we seem to do so many crafts and so much cooking. I want to share with you so of my favorite posts from our 2013 Holiday Season!

*Favorite Holiday Songs: I don't know about you but Music is such a big part of my life & I love these Christmas Songs, and there not your traditional songs either.

Holiday Crazy

Whew, well I can say that the beginning of December has certainly been Holiday Crazy - I have done all my shopping {minus a few little things} but that's only because I do most of my shopping on Black Friday - it was technically Thursday, Small Business Saturday, & Cyber Monday & I must say there were some great stores. After Thanksgiving & the hustle of the shopping weekend, we of course had our tree up and had to finish decorating the house so it's been so busy around here the only thing I've had extra time for was sleep, between homeschool, work, and my normal wife & mommy duties I've been busy and trying to not go Holiday Crazy. Now that everything is organized for the month, plans have been made, and the calendar is full, everything should be right on track!

Do you have any tips for dealing with the Holiday Crazy and how busy it can get?

BluetiqueCheapChic.com CYBER MONDAY SALE + SPECIAL EXTRA FROM RAISED SOUTHERN

If you haven't heard, it's Cyber Monday and over at my favorite boutique, Bluetique Cheap Chic they are having an awesome sale and you won't want to miss this! 

The entire website is 30% Off all 12/1/2014 - Make sure to use the special code: CYBERFUNDAY at Checkout! So head on over and finish up your Christmas shopping or get this beautiful dress for your upcoming Christmas Party at
www.BluetiqueCheapChic.com

GET THIS EXTRA...

25 Days of Christmas Movie Schedule STARTS TODAY

     I absolutely love this time a year because at the end of the day there is always something to watch with the kids that isn't, I'm just going to say it, Frozen. Don't get me wrong I love love Frozen but there are only so many days you can have, "Do you want to build a Snowman" stuck in your head before you really don't ever want to build a snowman, see a snowman, or hear that song again.  Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year not for presents or anything of that nature but for how cozy the house feels and all the family activities we do together. 

The RIGHT Way to Decorate the Christmas Tree

   

     Yes, you read that right, there is a RIGHT way to decorate a Christmas Tree, well maybe not decorate it fully because well we all have our own styles of Christmas tree decorations. However, there is a right way to string Christmas tree lights so they are easy to remove. I have to admit last year our pre-lit tree quit being pre-lit and need lights to be strung on it, well I did just that. I wrapped 4, okay maybe it was 5,extra sets of lights onto our tree and you know what I did when I put the tree up last year? I just detached it and left them all on there, not thinking of the mess it would be next year.

Well, let me tell you about that mess and then I'll show the RIGHT way to do it.

25 Days to Christmas Countdown Starts tomorrow on ABC Family

All of the Movies are starting! Watch some of your favorites on the ABC Families Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas - It will be here before you know it, until then though, which movie are you looking forward to most? I love most of these movies so every afternoon while I'm cooking or getting the evening routine done. Hope you all have a great week and wishing you all a great Thanksgiving to you and your family. Tune into ABC Family starting at 1:30 p.m. tomorrow and mark your calendar with all your favorites,

Sunday, November 23, 2014

• 1:30pm – The Nightmare Before Christmas
• 5:00pm – The Hunger Games
• 8:00pm – Finding Nemo
• 10:30pm  - The Nightmare Before Christmas

Monday, November 24, 2014

• 6:00pm – Finding Nemo
• 8:30pm – Dark Shadows
• 12:00am – Another Cinderella Story

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

• 6:00pm – Dark Shadows
• 8:30pm – Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
• 12:00am – Mirror, Mirror

Start Planning for Christmas with this FREE Christmas Planner- 8 Styles

 

      I have something special for you all today. I found this Christmas Planner on Pinterest from Eliza Ellis, It's a Beautiful Life. This Free Printable Planner has everything to help you plan for an amazing Christmas! I printed it out two days ago in this Santa Theme shown here and the more I think of that I need/want to do the more this planner comes in handy! If you don't like this Santa theme here, you can always choose from one of the 7 others. This planner has everything from stores your planning to shop at, to do list, decorating theme & list, dinner planner, party planner, Christmas card list, & much more. I know I will be well prepared for Christmas with this!

November Craft Contributor

 

     It's that time of the month again where Raised Southern is contributing to the awesome site of My Craftily Ever After. This site has a great idea for any kind of craft or recipe you are looking for and plenty of other ideas to keep you busy. I would head over and spend some time on this great site!  This month I decided to to contribute one of our families favorites - This Thanksgiving Appetizer or Centerpiece and the kids are thankful to play with their food.

{Thankful} Day 21

Day 21 – Relationships/Friendships – how else to talk about them but that they are a Roller Coaster.. Incredible Highs, and very low lows, but just like a roller coaster, even though you are a little scared you still get on it. I am so thankful for all the close personal relationship and friendships that I have. I have friends that I have been friends with since 5^th grade {that’s 18 years now}

{The Scott Life} A little bit of us shared with y'all!

Making : My Holiday plan I am so excited about the holidays coming up
Cooking : I'm fixing to start some Potato soup for dinner.
Drinking : Mt. Dew - My favs.
Reading: I haven't been reading anything much except work stuff, school stuff, & sales paper.
Wanting: To be done with my Christmas Shopping, I wish I would have started sooner.
Looking: I've been looking a lot at the sales papers and making sure I am getting a good deal.
Playing: no games, do not have time for games right now.
Wasting: time dealing with unnecessary things
Sewing: some new bows for christmas!
Wishing: That our car would work right just once. Now it's the starter, I hate car issues

{Thankful} Day 20

 

Day 20 – Dreams (Raised Southern Boutique) – I have always had dreams, not like dreams you have when you sleeping, but the way I pictured my life, or what I thought I would do with my life and career. A lot of my thoughts were just that dreams because my road led somewhere, somewhere great might I add, but somewhere different then I had thought.

I'm a #BlueChica & You should be too! Thanksgiving Style!

     I can't tell you how excited I am that I have joined the #BlueChica team at BlueTique Cheap Chic! This site has become one of my favorite places to shop and I'm sharing with you because I want you be able to shop at this awesome store too! I really wish we had a actually store in one of the nearby towns, but since we don't, I have no problem ordering online. Well I want to share with all of you this special gift of 10% off!!! Look below at the end of this post for the code!

     I have to share with you my current FAVORITES from BlueTique Cheap Chic:

{Thankful} Day 19

MyALWB TEAM

These ladies, let me just tell you about them- they are some of the greatest ladies I have had the pleasure of knowing. All of them are great in there own ways and all are very supportive. I really wish I lived closer to these ladies because I think we would all be great friends. Now I wouldn’t have met these ladies if they wouldn’t have joined ALWB and wanted to be apart of this community in a higher way.

{Thankful} Day 18

Alabama Women Bloggers & Stephanie Buckly – Earlier in 2014 , I was asked to become the editor of Alabama Women Bloggers, I joined this community in the summer of 2013, it was a fairly new community and I was very excited to be apart of it. Shortly after they joined I was asked to be apart of the team and handle our Blogger of the Month series. I really enjoyed it because I wanted to connect with new bloggers and be apart of a community that would help me build my blog as well and that’s what I found in Alabama Women Bloggers!

How Does Time Fly By So Quickly?

How does time fly by so quickly? I was just writing out the November calendar for all the posts that needed to get done for my blog this month because I want to go out with a BANG- & here we are, it's the 17th & I'm 13 days behind on my 31 day of Thankfulness & 17 days behind on #BlogLikeCrazy- Which I loved doing last year. SO.... what to do.. give up? naaaa----- Luckily my thankfulness post were scheduled out to the 19th so I can just write them up and edit real quick,cause I already know what I am going to be writing about and #BlogLikeCrazy is topic related so I'm good there- now I just need to write, write like a crazy women. 

Sorry for my absence, other sites needed my full attention & I wasn't feeling well, and all us wives and mothers know, that when we're not feeling well, nothing gets done & the house looks like a hurricane hit just it. 

Have a great week, check back in- I'll have a lot for you to read :) 

{Thankful} Day 17

 

While thanking Raised Southern I think about all the opportunities it has brought me and all of the memories I have made with my family because of my brand. It started out as me just making bows, I then decided to sell them and Raised Southern was born,

{Thankful} Day 16

 

*Raised Southerns very first Logo {2013}

 When I started Raised Southern, I never really thought it would go in the direction that it has and I am so proud of it! Raised Southern has such a bright future as long as I continue to follow my dream and do what I want to do with it. I’m very thankful for what it has already provided for my family and look forward to looking back in a couple of years and seeing where it was and what it has become! I’m looking forward to all the things coming up in 2015 and all the places I want to take it!

{Thankful} Day 15

Family – I have a ton of other family that I want to know I am thankful for them but I would be sitting here writing for days if I told each one how thankful I was so I’m going to just say in one post.
I absolutely have the best family we are the definition of crazy. Everyone of us has it in us- hmm, maybe I shouldn’t be admitting to this – but any who, I have such memories with so many of you and one thing I would like for you to do is either email me with your favorite memory of me or send a few pictures you have of us! I would love to reminisce! I’m thankful for each and every one of you, no matter our current relationship!< 3

{Thankful} Day 14

My husband has worked so hard to get where he is. This past year {2014} has been such a great journey for him in his career. I am very thankful that he had a dream and set out to achieve his dream career and still works harder and harder every day. I must say he has the greatest work ethic that I have ever seen in someone. Him working hard towards his dreams and achieving such a achievements has been such a beautiful thing to watch. I’m very thankful that every day he is able to go to work and not only do what he loves but also provide for his family in a way that is not typical in this day and age. I am able to be a stay at home mom, homeschool our children, and build my own brand because of his love and passion for his work and working hard to be the best at what he does. Today I am so thankful for my husband’s career and what it allows for our family!

{Thankful} Day 13

     Our Home – Our home is very very special to me. It was built by my grandfather & family members, it holds so many precious memories of mine. Our home has been such a great blessing to us. I  am very thankful to my grandparents for allowing us the opportunity to own our own home, and this very special home. While my home holds so many memories it will also

{Thankful} Day 12

Music is my therapy- There is something about music that holds a part of me . If I am having a bad day, I know exactly what songs to listen to, to block it out and continue on with what I need to do. If I’m angry I can listen to music to clear my head and help me work out my frustration and deal with the situation more clear headed.

{Thankful} Day 11

     My Daddy: I'm so thankful to have had you for the time I did. There is not a day, and sometimes it becomes all day that I think about you!

{Thankful} Day 10

 

My neices & Nephew - These crazy kids are such blessings. They have such personalities and I love being Aunt Kari to all of them. I’m thankful that these sweet faces are such a part of our life and we get to be a part of theirs!