Christmas Presents that Mean the World

Ahhhhhhh, the end of January is such a peaceful time for me.  The hustle and bustle of the holidays has come to an end and I can finally breathe again.  Don’t get me wrong, Christmas and New Years were fantastic.  I love spending quality time with Kyle, family and friends. 

This past Christmas was very meaningful for me because a lot of the gifts Kyle and I received were heartfelt and still impacting us to this day.  Kyle got me a relaxation themed Christmas gift.  This may sound simple, which it is, a lot of tea, chocolate and candles; however it meant the world to me.   This year holds a lot of potential for stress.  We need to plan a wedding and we need to figure out a way to be together (physically in the same town as one another would be nice!).  Conveniently the gifts Theresa, Mark and Beth got me went along with Kyle’s theme as well.  How nice! 

Another meaningful gift was the visit from Kyle’s parents.  They came in a couple days after Christmas and stayed until a couple days after the New Year.  I will also claim any visitor as a huge gift.  Living so far from home can be hard on the emotions and feeling like you are missing out on a lot of things…Can I get an Amen from my sisters??  So having family and friends come down and spend time with you no matter how long (shoot Cakora came down for 36 hours!) it means the world to us!  To know that loved ones are willing to put the resources (time, money and energy) in to check out the sights and enjoy spending time with us makes me so grateful for my life. 

I gave Kyle the Christmas gift of “Time”….thank you Pinterest and Lindsay Gallmore for the grand idea!!!  I planned out a date for each month of this upcoming year for Kyle and me.  With our hectic crazy lives this year I decided that we could really use that one on one time.  I also know how important communication is between couples and realized that this is something I really want Kyle and I to spend time working on before our big day.  Kyle does not know what the dates are until the first of each month and then he gets the big reveal (or really tiny reveal).  This month (January) we will be taking a cooking class together at the Whole Foods Market Headquarters.  And the cooking class is meant for couples so I’m hoping it will have a little romantic edge to it….cuz we all know how romantic and lovey dovey I can be :) 

As happy as I am that the Christmas madness has died down, it also warms my heart that so much thought and love comes from that holiday (thanks Jesus!). 

Before this month is through a quick shout out to our family members who had January birthdays:

Grandpa Kissane (THE BIG 90!!!), Theresa Kissane (in her prime), Mark Peluse (still young and beautiful), Owen Nachman (The BIG 4!!!!), and to our many other extended family and friends who experienced January birthdays!

xx

P.S. Recipe of the months (Happy Super Bowling!!!)

Jalapeno Popper Dip

Ingredients:

4 ounces soft Cream Cheese
Pinch of Cracked Pepper
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1/2 cup Plain Greek Yogurt
2 cups Shredded Cheddar-Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Chopped Bacon (about 4 slices)
1/4 cup Jalapeno, cleaned & chopped** (1-2 Jalapenos)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Set aside 1/2 cup of the cheddar-jack cheese.  Mix all ingredients together and spread into oven safe dish.  Top with the 1/2 cup of remaining cheese.  Place dish into the oven and cook for thirty minutes.

 Then broil for two minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.

For the jalapeno garnish – Slice jalapeno in half (lengthwise) and remove all seeds.  Wrap with bacon and cook on a baking sheet or piece of foil next to the dip.  Remove after fifteen minutes.  Once the dip has finished cooking, place on top.

**Thoroughly remove all seeds and the white veins inside the peppers unless you want an extra spicy dip.