North Pole Breaky!

Happy December everyone! I have so many pictures to share and am way behind on posting so look for lots of new stuff this week as I get caught up. In the meantime, Christmas is charging toward us full steam ahead and we've been having a great time getting into the spirit!

This year we started a new tradition in our house by welcoming the season via a North Pole Breakfast hosted by our new house elf, Pookie...ahem. That is, I thought her name was Pookie but Teagan has very different ideas. She insists that her name is Kiersten as a reminder of her much loved cousin... so Kiersten it is!

Elf Pookie/Kiersten left a special basket Kade, Teagan and Isla found in the morning amidst much excitement! It included a letter introducing herself and special Christmas pajamas.

The letter told them Kade's house elf Zachary (also named after his cousin...see a theme here?) had shown her how to get to our house! She said they need to put on their new pjs and head downstairs for a very special breakfast!

The breakfast table was set for a surprise visit from Teagan's buddies Jackson, Caleb, Lauren, Olivia and Landon who came over at 9:00! Each child got a special bucket with Christmas socks, sparkly Christmas cup, candy cane and reindeer food to sprinkle on the lawn on Christmas Eve!

We had "snow" covered donuts, chocolate donuts, fruits, cheese danish, Christmas breakfast casserole, hot chocolate, oj, mimosas, and lots and lots of coffee!

Check out Dave, Shanna, Caleb and Liam's matching jammies!! I love this idea but Brian so won't do this with me. Boo.

Speaking of cute jammies, I adore mom Blair's Christmas paisley pair with frilly hem! Aren't they oh-so-cute? Little Lauren is always a fashionista and looking sweet!

Good Morning Olivia and Landon! Landon is a HUGE...I mean HUGE FSU fan so I he wore his sporty pjs!

One of the few pics I got of my busy Teagan that morning! She is so not into mom taking pics this year which makes me wonder if we will get a Christmas card pic out of her at all? Still, there never was a happier girl that morning which made the lack of sleep worthwhile!Speaking of sleep, Isla's ready for her morning nap after all the excitement. Sleep little angel! It's a busy, happy season.

A few of my friends asked for the recipes from that morning so I thought I'd share them here. Both are super easy!

Breakfast Cheese Danish

Ingredients

2 pks cream cheese

1/4 c sugar*

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 pks crescent rolls

1/2 stick butter

1 tsp sugar*

1 tsp cinnamon

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. degrees

Lightly spray Pam in bottom of 9x13" pan. Lay out one pack of crescent rolls in the bottom of the pan pressing the seams together. Mix together the first three ingredients (cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract) until smooth. Spread on top of cresent rolls. Top with second can of crescent rolls, pressing seams together. Drizzle mixture of melted butter, sugar and cinnamon on top. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

*We found the original recipe way too sweet so cut our portions as noted above for a more savory version of the dish. Play with these amounts to suit your family's taste!

Christmas Breakfast Casserole

Ingredients

4 c frozen shredded hash browns

1/2 c chopped onion

8 oz bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 c (4 oz) shredded cheddar cheese

1 can (12 fl oz) Carnation Evaporated Milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 1/2 tsp seasoned salt (we use Tony Cachere's)

4 oz sausage patties, cooked and crumbled*

*This wasn't in the original recipe but adds some oh-so-good flavor!

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 8" square baking dish. Layer 1/2 potatoes, 1/2onion, 1/2 bacon, 1/2 sausage and 1/2 cheese. Repeat in a second layer. In a small bowl combine evaporated milk, egg and seasoned salt. Pour over mixture in pan and cover with foil. Bake 55-60 minutes. Uncover and bake 5 additional minutes. Let stand 10-15 min before serving.