Chickadee Home Nest: Williams-Sonoma

Showing posts with label Williams-Sonoma. Show all posts

Sunday, November 29, 2015

Polar Express Children’s Breakfast

It’s a tradition now—my brother and SIL, and my husband and I, take all our grands on a Polar Express or Christmas train ride (depending on who’s sponsoring it), sometime before Christmas. We make a day of it, they wearing their cute plaid pajamas, and the adults may wear a reindeer nose or antlers…all in good fun for our babies.

Typically our chickadees spend the night with us, and we have a special breakfast to kick off the special day.

A couple of years ago UPS came to our door, delivering our very own Polar Express electric train! Mr. CHN had “heard” my heart’s desire :). Now we could start yet another beautiful tradition for our babies—a train for the Christmas tree!

Now that we had the train, the theme for our breakfast was, of course, based on the book, THE POLAR EXPRESS.

While the chickadees were snug in their beds, Ata (that’s me!) ~~in her kerchief~~ in her apron was busy setting a magical table for their surprise the following morning! I used a soft, fuzzy blanket as the snow, with thoughts of the trip to the North Pole, through forests and mountains and wildlife. (The mountains and valleys were created with stacks of cookbooks hidden under the deep, deep snow.)

The train comes complete with a hobo and his campfire,

the conductor and the nameless boy, referred to as “Hero Boy” in reviews and book summaries, and…

a silver bell, which I am happy to report we ALL can hear!

When I was in high school I traveled to Europe with a group of friends, and one of the highlights was spending a couple of nights in a Swiss chalet in the mountains, where there was snow even though it was summer. It was my first experience with down comforters, which were an absolute necessity! At night we could see the tiny lights in the valley below, and that beautiful scene I believe will forever be etched in my mind. It was that memory that created the scene for our quiet, snowy village where the babies would have their breakfast.

Conductors need a lantern…

Baby Love Chickadee had made this “snowflake” ornament, so of course it was included in our snowy scene!

The menu consisted of yogurt parfaits, served in the footed holly-and-berries bowls, milk in the bottles Ata decorated and saved from a snowman table (that’s another post, someday…), and yes,

TRAIN pancakes, with whipped cream steam! (The pancake mold is part of a transportation package from Williams- Sonoma.)

Sleepy travelers will soon be energized by the sugar high and the excitement of our adventure!

I hope this Polar Express breakfast inspires you to listen for the bell.

May you always hear it.

I still believe!

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I’m thrilled to know you stopped by, and I’ll always visit back and comment too. If you like what you see, I invite you to follow me (I promise to follow back).

Don’t forget to pin these ideas, and I invite you to follow me at Pinterest too! I love Pinterest, so I’ll help you find the good stuff!

NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are for sale. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

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Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

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Share Your Style Thursday at http://www.Commonground-do.com/

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From my nest to yours~

Zuni

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Santa Train Breakfast

Last year we took the grand-chickadees on a Santa train ride. They spent the night the night before, and to get in the spirit we had a Santa Train Breakfast. (It was too late in the season to post it then, so now is the time!)

I searched high and low for a large train centerpiece, and the only one I could find (besides a $200 one!) was unfinished, so I pulled out my paints and to work I went, to create our very own version of the Santa Express. I set the table after the babies were asleep, to surprise them in the morning…and were they!

Since this was a Christmas train, Santa was the driver, of course, and he had his train filled to the brim with all sorts of toys (I raided their toy boxes :)). The top is very vintage—when the babies’ father (our son) was born I really wanted an old, “real” top, not the kind that had a base at the bottom and therefore wouldn’t move around, and my mother found this one for him, so it’s much older than he is. The Night Before Christmas book was also his and his brother’s.

Of course, no Christmas train story would be complete without a jingle bell (a nod to The Polar Express). They each took their bell to the train ride and took one for their little cousin who was joining us.

While they waited for breakfast to be served Baby Boy Chickadee #1 and his sister, Baby Love, entertained themselves with the goodies on the table~~the nativity scene animals gathered on her napkin, and the small train ornaments came alive in his imagination!

Baby Boy #2 (11 months) had his table set too. :)

And what was on the menu, but TRAIN PANCAKES! Williams-Sonoma carried these pancake molds at one time, but they were no longer available. I was very lucky to have found them on eBay!

This is the best picture I could manage of the finished pancakes…we had hungry little ~~bears~~ chickadees on our hands, and she had already cut the top off when the camera arrived! The steam from the engine is whipped cream (boy, did they like that part!!), made with my handy-dandy iSi cream whipper. You can read all about this favorite gadget here.

Their first course was granola with yogurt and red sprinkles, served in my “best” footed bowls—the now-famous holly collection from Arby’s, from years ago! (I’ve had the glasses for years, then our son found these at GW and gave them to me, beautifully wrapped, as a Christmas present!)

And then…SANTA CAME TO OUR TRAIN CAR and visited with each child! We can’t wait to do it again this year, so….

…tell me, please—have you found a good train to use as a centerpiece? Even on Pinterest I haven’t been able to find much. I think this year we might go with their dad’s and uncle’s real train set that they’ve never seen before, but I sure would hate to retire the first one after only one year!

What other children’s Christmas breakfast ideas can you share? We can never have too many ideas!

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NOTE: Some of the items I use in my posts are in my Etsy shop, but many are not, simply because I haven’t updated my shop. If you see something you like and wonder if it’s available for sale, email me at coral5252@gmail.com and let’s talk!

I’ll be attending these fun parties:

Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

Home Sweet Home Fridays at http://thecharmofhome.blogspot.com/

Thrifty Things Friday at http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/

Vintage Inspiration Friday at http://commonground-debrasvintagedesigns.blogspot.com/

Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Friday Tatertots and Jello at http://tatertotsandjello.com

Friday Bacon Time’s party at http://bacontimewiththehungryhypo.blogspot.com

Friday at It's Overflowing

Friday at Shine on Fridays

Fridays at Stuff and Nonsense

Saturday Strut Your Stuff at http://www.sixsistersstuff.com