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!

~~~~~~~~~~

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), and please—Pin away and follow me on Pinterest too! Thank you!!

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

Sunday Showcase at http://www.bystephanielynn.com/

Sunday Creative Home and Garden Hop at http://creativehomeexpressions.blogspot.com/

Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

Sunday at DIY Show Off

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Masterpiece Monday at http://boogieboardcottage.blogspot.com/

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday at http://linda-coastalcharm.blogspot.com

Tuesdays at Our Home at http://mariaelenasdecor.blogspot.com/

Tuesday’s Treasures http://www.myuncommonsliceofsuburbia.com/

Inspire Me Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/

Cuisine Kathleen at http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wow Us Wednesdays at http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

DIY by Design Party at http://diybydesign.blogspot.com/

Home and Garden Thursday at http://blissfulrhythm.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday at http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

Open House Party Thursday at http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

From my nest to yours~

Zuni

“P” is for Pink Pancakes and Pajamas

Our oldest chickadee, Miss Chickadee, is in pre-school, and “the letter of the week” this week is “P,” so they were having a Pajama Party at school.  Since they were coming over later in the day—all three of them in their pajamas—:) we decided we should have breakfast for dinner—Pink Pancakes, in our Pajamas (yes, we were going to get into our PJs too, but there was no time for costume changes for my husband and me.  We had hungry little bears on our hands!)

Ms. Chickadee had done some Valentine’s Day decorating around here earlier in the week, so the original plan was that we would have the strawberry and cream cheese French toast they love, but when “P” came into play we went for Pancakes instead, but kept the Valentine theme and made them Pink—and heart-shaped!

Well, they were kind’a heart-shaped. :)   I don’t have a heart-shaped pancake mold, and I’m pretty sure I don’t have a BIG HEART cookie cutter, so I didn’t even take the time to look.  Freehand they were…    The whipped cream is of course made with my handy-dandy iSi cream whipper I told you about HERE.  Yum!!  These chickadees LOVE, LOVE, LOVE whipped cream!

Before the chickadee flock arrived, in keeping with our Valentine theme I quickly put a table together for them~

  The snowy trees, silver pieces, and white (snow) cutwork runner I’d kept out after Christmas were quickly repurposed to serve as a Valentine centerpiece.  The trees were decorated with felt heart cutouts I bought a few years ago, and a few other red/heart touches were sprung into play.

{And the Blue Hour was upon us…that’s always a special time.}

 

Believe me, taking this picture was NOT easy—these chickadees (in their P’jammies) were HUNGRY!!

 

HAPPY EARLY VALENTINE’S DAY!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to +1 this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you!

I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Friday at Tatertots and Jello

Friday at French Country Cottage

Friday at The36th Avenue

Friday at Bacon Time

Friday at It's Overflowing

Friday at Shine on Fridays

Fridays at Stuff and Nonsense

Saturday at Six Sisters Stuff

Sunday at DIY Show Off

Tuesday at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Tuesday at A Stroll Through Life

Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style

Wednesday at DIY by Design

Thursday at No Minimalist Here

Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch

Thursday at Shabby Creek Cottage

Thursday at House of Hepworth

Thursday at Jennifer Rizzo

From my nest to yours, ~Zuni

Hot Chocolate and Chocolate Dessert Bar

Our dear friends came to visit for the weekend—the perfect opportunity to spoil them a little.  We texted them while they were en route:  “Arrive hungry…we have LOTS of goodies for dinner and dessert!”

For dessert we had a HOT CHOCOLATE BAR set up.

I used our sons’ baby cups for the mini marshmallows and tiny chocolate chips.

Vintage napkins I turn to often, because they are so sweet.  They were a gift from my dear MIL from their years when they lived in Mexico, where my FIL was sent by General Tire. 

My iSi cream whipper was at the ready, of course, (you can read about this wonderful kitchen tool HERE), and the vintage silver cocktail shaker my mother gave me was perfect for the hot chocolate…LOVE this piece.

    Gifts from my SIL, I use these spoons often too, because I think they’re so pretty.

These sweet little sugar tongs now repurposed to serve the mini marshmallows.

And yes, we also had fruit on hand, in case we wanted to add something healthy to our dessert. :)

A not-so-mini chocolate-chocolate Bundt cake, garnished with peanut butter fudge curls and bite-size pieces for walking by and grabbing one or two, plus dark-chocolate on butter cookies, and of course, kisses.

My husband’s favorite aunt used to make peanut butter fudge for us, but now that she’s gone he’s happy to have found an excellent substitute at Krema.  Krema is local, but they ship everywhere.  You won’t go wrong with them, I promise.

And other walk-by treats.

But this was the BEST part…our family gathered together to spend time with our friends.

Our friends are so sweet.  They love everything we do to make their visit special, and they enjoy EVERY.SINGLE.DETAIL.  That makes it so much fun! 

What do you do when you have guests?  I’d love to hear your idea of pampering guests for our future visitors. 

I’ll be posting the recipe for my Espresso Hot Chocolate soon. ~~

Cake stand – Crate and Barrel, several years ago, a gift from my cousin

Mugs – House Beautiful, Marshall Field’s, years ago

Spoons – 1847 Rogers Bros., Columbia

Sugar tongs – Vintage Forbes Silver Co.

Cake plate – gift from my MIL many years ago; Dome – Bombay Company

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you’ll leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them! And if you like what you see a lot, maybe you’d like to Google+ this post or pin it on Pinterest too! Thank you!

I invite you to follow me. If you’ll let me know that you’re following, I’ll be sure to follow you back.

Mop it Up Monday at http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com

Tuesdays at http://www.astrollthrulife.net/

Wednesdays at Let’s Dish: http://www.cuisinekathleen.com/

Wednesdays at Wow Us: http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/

Share Your Cup Wednesday at http://jannolson.blogspot.com/

Thursdays at Tabletop Thursday: http://betweennapsontheporch.net/

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

Transformation Thursdays at http://www.theshabbycreekcottage.com/

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

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

Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

Sundays at The Tablescaper: http://thetablescaper.blogspot.com/

From my nest to yours~  Chickadee Home Nest

Best Whipped Cream--Ever!

My favorite holiday secret weapon in the kitchen?  My iSi Cream Whipper!  It never fails that when I serve this whipped cream my "taste testers" R-A-V-E about it! 

Plus it's a cool, cool gadget (pardon the pun :) ).

I have the Mini Whip, which holds 1/2 pint of cream.  Don't be misled by the "mini"--according to the iSi website, it makes
about 2 1/2 cups of whipped cream.  I'll trust the folks at iSi on how much it makes, because I've never run short.
 2 1/2 cups of whipped cream is a lot of {DELICIOUS} whipped cream.

With these yummy ingredients, how can it not be DELISH???

Here's the "recipe":
1 pint whipping cream
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Add all ingredients to the container.

If you would rather serve CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM (!!!)
simply add 2 tablespoons Hershey's Cocoa Powder to the recipe above,
and you have a delicious mousse!



The secret is in the "chargers"--that give the cream its volume.
(And I DO mean secret--I don't know what the chargers contain, but they surely do the trick!)



And it really IS this easy...
1 - Add your ingredients
2 - Attach the charger (and the spout)
Well...there is one more step--shake a few times, and...
3 - ...Serve!

Serve and impress!

Now, wouldn't you just LOOOVVVE to find one of these under the Christmas tree this year?
Or better yet, why not gift it to yourself before the holidays, so you can use it at every party?

Thanks for stopping by.  Please leave me a comment to let me know you were here—I read every single one of them!  They encourage me and inspire me.  And if you like what you see a lot J, maybe you’d like to +1 this post too!  Thank you!

I will be joining these fun parties; please stop by to see all the great things there!

 Homemaker on a Dime, Sunday at http://www.homemakeronadime.com/p/link-parties.html

 Carrie’s Amaze Me Monday at http://dittledattle.blogspot.com/

 Home Savvy A to Z Monday party at http://www.homesavvyatoz.com/savvy-homemade-monday-13/

 Susan’s Metamorphosis Monday at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/

 Motivated Monday at http://becolorful.typepad.com/  

 Debbie’s Newbie Party on Monday at http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/

 Marty's Table Top Tuesday at http://astrollthrulife.blogspot.com/ 

 Kim's Wow Us Wednesdays at http://savvysouthernstyle.blogspot.com/ 

 Open House Party Thursday http://nominimalisthere.blogspot.com

 Courtney’s, Feathered Nest Friday at http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/

 Honey's Potpourri Friday at http://twenty-eight-0-five.blogspot.com/

 Inspiration Friday at http://www.atthepicketfence.com

 Show and Tell Friday at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/
 Five Minutes Just for Me ar http://5minutesjustforme.blogspot.com/
and

 StoneGable for On the Menu Monday

 Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

Mandy’s Recipe Box

The Shabby Creek Cottage