Welcome to Day 7 of the Cross Country Christmas Blog Hop!

Our theme for today is a favorite Christmas decoration or ornament.   When I found out that this was going to be our topic today, I knew right away what I was going to share.  During this blog hop, I have already talked about my Aunt Lynn a few times, but today I am going to make her ears burn!   Back when I was really little, she started giving each of her nieces and nephews a Christmas ornament each year.  Here’s a picture of one of the early ones – it’s one of my favorites.

Here is another of my favorites -

In fact, they are all favorites.

They are all so pretty and have special meaning to me.  I love unpacking them every year and looking at each one.  When I had my first Christmas after moving out of Mom’s and Dad’s house, these were the only Christmas decorations I had!

My very favorites are the ones that she hand painted or designed  – like the ones below:

As a little girl, I was just fascinated that she could paint these herself.

Each one was dated and signed with her special signature and “xxoo”.   To this day, I have to still remind myself to call her “my Aunt Lynn”, when in my thoughts she is still Auntie Lynn.

There are many more in my collection from “Auntie”, but I don’t want to make this post too long by showing them all!  I just wanted to tell you about how thoughtful and caring my Aunt is.  She is also the one that gave each of us a key chain on our 16th birthday, a collection of photos that she had taken of us over the years for our 18th birthday, and she even remembers to send a card for everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries.  I can’t really express in words what all of those things have meant to me over the years, but someday I would love to be able to give her something back that would mean as much to her.

The computer screen is now a little blurry, so I better wrap this up!

Thanks for stopping and don’t forget to visit our featured designer today – Kari from New Leaf Stitches.  She is another MN gal and has prepared a fun project for you today!  Be sure to leave her a comment to be eligible for our grand prize.  Continue on the hop by visiting the other designers and read about some more of their Christmas memories:  Gudrun from GE Designs,  Sandy from Pieces from my Heart,  Terry from Atkinson Designs,  Pat from Pat Sloan and Co,  Pam from Pam Kitty Morning,  Kari from New Leaf Stitches,  Terri from Whimsicals,  Sherri from This and That Pattern Co,   Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co,  Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage and  Linda Lum DeBono

Wow!  What a day yesterday.  Thanks to everyone for stopping by and taking the time to leave such nice comments.  I’m glad to hear that everyone is enjoying the blog hop, the fun projects, and our different themes everyday.

Today’s theme is Family Traditions.

Our family doesn’t have many specific family traditions.

For example,we don’t have a set day that we get together and open presents (we just squeeze it around all the other holiday celebrations)

Sometime we do a Christmas cookie bake day, sometimes we don’t.

On one side of the family we draw names, the other side we don’t.

We always have a tree, but don’t usually have a Santa.

So, I don’t really have a heart warming family tradition story to share. . . . .

However, I did want to share something that we have been doing the last few years that might turn into a family tradition.  All of our family gatherings seem to always revolve around a meal.  The holidays are so busy with get-togethers, that you actually get a little tired of all the meat and potato type meals.  To add a little variety to the Christmas meals, my immediate family decided to start doing a Christmas brunch.  We get together at 10:00 a.m. and have breakfast type foods, then open presents and hang out together for the rest of the day.  It’s fun because nobody else serves caramel rolls or waffles for their Christmas dinner and it’s something fun and different.

I thought I would share a couple of our family favorites for Christmas Brunch, just to give you an idea of what our brunch is like -

#1 – There must be caramel rolls.

My husband’s favorite caramel recipe is one his mother uses that has marshmallows in it.  They keeps the caramel from getting too hard.  It’s very simple:

1 stick of butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup mini marshmallows

Bring to a boil and simmer 5 minutes.  Let cool before adding the caramel rolls.

My MIL makes the caramel rolls and freezes them.  Then the night before she needs them, she makes the caramel, puts it in a 9 x 13 pan, adds 12 frozen caramel rolls, and leaves them out on the counter all night to rise.  The next morning you bake them.  It’s a great way to have fresh caramel rolls without having to get up at 5:00 am on Christmas morning.

#2 – There must be homemade waffles and syrup.

Our favorite waffle recipe:

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp soda

6 Tbsp melted butter

Beat everything together and cook 2 minutes in waffle iron.

We top the waffles with whipped cream, peach pie filling with 1 tsp almond flavoring and my husband’s homemade syrup.  He brought the recipe home from school in 4th grade, and his family has been making it ever since.

Joey’s recipe for syrup:

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup water

3/4 cups corn syrup

Bring to a boil and add 1/2 tsp maple flavoring.

#3 – There must be something with fruit

My favorite hot fruit recipe

1 – 16 oz can of pear halves, peach halves, apricot halves, and bing cherries

1 – 20 oz can pineapple chunks

1 – 11 oz can of mandarin oranges

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/2 cup slivered almonds

Drain fruit well and layer in a greased 9 x 13 pan.  Stir brown sugar and spice into melted butter.  Pour mixture over fruit and sprinkle with almonds.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

To make the fruit extra special, we top it with this:

1 – 8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 pt whipping cream

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp orange rind

1/8 tsp nutmeg

Whip together and serve on top of warm fruit.

I’m looking forward to Christmas brunch already!

It seems every family get together has food involved.  Are other families like that, or is it just us?

I’m also looking forward to what our featured designer will be sharing with us today.  Head over to the Pam Kitty Morning blog for a special project and be sure to leave a comment to be eligible for the grand prize!

You can check out the family traditions of the other blog hop designers by clicking on any of the links below:  Gudrun from GE Designs,  Sandy from Pieces from my Heart,  Terry from Atkinson Designs,  Pat from Pat Sloan and Co,  Pam from Pam Kitty Morning,  Kari from New Leaf Stitches,  Terri from Whimsicals,  Sherri from This and That Pattern Co,   Carrie from Miss Rosie’s Quilt Co,  Roseann from Rosebud’s Cottage and  Linda Lum DeBono

Today is Friday the 13th!  It seems appropriate that today is the day that I am the featured designer on the Blog Hop because Friday the 13th is the day I ran away with this guy and got married!

It sure makes our anniversary easy to remember!   Don’t worry, I don’t think reading this blog post will bring you the bad Friday the 13th luck . . .

Just in case we haven’t met before, I’m Heather.  My husband Joel and I live near Spicer, MN where we run our business out of our home.  You can read a little more about us and our business here.   I started my business 14 years ago and have since published over 20 books, lots of single patterns and designed over a dozen fabric lines.  You can see more of my work here (it’s my favorite part of my website)  I love to take traditional elements of quilting and put a trendy spin to them – that’s why I call my blog Trends and Traditions.  Speaking of trends, one of my favorites is precuts and I’ve designed many books and patterns for them.  So, if you have a Jelly Roll, Layer Cake, Charm Pack, etc that you have been looking for a pattern to go with, I just might have a project for you!  My newest book is a table runner book, filled with quick projects that you can finish in an evening or weekend.

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My next fabric line is Wildflowers and will be arriving in stores next month.  I would describe it as bright, fresh and playful, with a modern feel.

My project for you today is this little wool penny mat:

If you haven’t tried a wool penny mat before, they are so fun!  They are small enough to tuck in your purse, work on in the car, or have in your lap while watching TV.  I also like that you don’t have to worry about quilting or binding them.  A simple blanket stitch around the outside edge finishes everything off!  You only need to know how to do three simple hand stitches to be able to make this project.  If you don’t know how to hand embroidery, I give pictures in the pattern to help you along.  All you need to do is print yourself off a copy and get started collecting some wools!

Just click on the text below:

Christmas Penny Mat

Our theme for today is a Santa story.  Here I am in 1980 sitting on Santa’s lap (my Aunt Lynn, also known as the oracle if you read the previous blog hop posts).

Don’t you love the foil wallpaper in the background?  I’m not sure if I usually came to Christmas dressed in my pajamas, but my little brother is too:

He doesn’t seem to like Santa quite as much as I do.  He’s only two here, so I guess the love for Santa comes later!  Every year we would hear some loud thumping on the roof at Grandma’s, followed by a loud “HO, HO, HO” at the back door.  I also remember that one year Santa had black eyebrows.  I later realized that one of my uncles was filling in for Aunt Lynn as Santa.  We didn’t seem to care, as long as Santa showed up.

As a thank-you for visiting my blog today, I am going to have a giveaway.  I will be giving away copies of my newest books!

Just leave me a comment to enter.   Then continue on the hop to see what the other designers are sharing today!