Christmas is long past, but Valentine’s Day is next week. How have I combined the two? In an effort to simplify my family’s Christmas, I saved some of our typical tasks for Valentine’s Day. 🙂 It has been a lot of fun for our family, and it made my Christmas season a whole lot less hectic and Valentine’s Day a lot more fun! These are my ideas to simplify Christmas and enjoy Valentine’s Day…
Idea #1–Freeze the Gingerbread House!
Every year at Christmas, I try to have my kids work to make a gingerbread house from scratch. This year, I made the dough, baked it, and sealed it in Tupperware waiting for the moment we would have time to decorate the houses as a family. That time never showed up. Instead, I put the Tupperware containers in the freezer and pulled them out last weekend (February 1st!) for a fun family project. Remember, Valentine’s Day has cute candy, too. Thanks to my kids, we now have a Valentine’s gingerbread house village. It is totally cute, festive, and both of my kids thought it was a lot more fun to work leisurely on the Valentine’s houses than rushing through the process at Christmas. Our daughter actually suggested that we do this again next year. Yea!
Here is a link to a great recipe and instructions from King Arthur Flour. They are wonderful!
Idea #2–Cut Sugar Cookie Hearts…at Christmas!
I always make more sugar cookie dough than we need at Christmas and I don’t want to throw it away. My family enjoys the sweet treats, but with all the other baking from the holidays, we don’t need all those cookies at once. My suggestion: pull out the heart cookie cutters while doing sugar cookies at Christmas, bake, and then freeze the hearts for February. (If you’d like my recipe, click here. The frosting recipe is below.)
I pulled these cookies out of the freezer and let them thaw before adding a fresh buttercream frosting. The cookies tasted great, nice and soft, and my family was thrilled to have special decorated cookies. The process took a lot less time due to the fact the cookies were already baked and cooled. It was great! 🙂 I simply left the butter for the frosting on the counter to soften before I left for work. When I got home I mixed up the frosting, placed it in a pastry bag with a #17 tip, and added fun designs to the cookies. One color frosting, one pastry bag, and one piping tip equals one happy momma!
The above pictures show how to wrap frosting in plastic wrap prior to adding to pastry bags. It helps minimize mess, and it also makes changing frosting colors easier. Just slide out the plastic-wrapped frosting and slide in a new color. I can’t take credit for figuring out this fabulous trick…I learned it from my cake decorating teacher, Carolyn, over a decade ago.
Idea #3–Save the Red!
We all have more Christmas decorations and items than we know what to do with. How about saving some of those red (and white) decorations to use at Valentine’s Day? I have red and white napkins, plates, table runners, and candles. Since they are only red, no Christmas symbols involved, I can easily use these household items for more than our Christmas dinner. And really, how about bringing Baby Jesus from your nativity to the table? What better symbol of love for Valentine’s Day? Just one more idea to simplify Christmas and enjoy Valentine’s Day! (You don’t have to put that nativity away for a little while longer!)
Do you have items that can double for both holidays? Feel free to share your ideas on how to simplify Christmas and enjoy Valentine’s Day or other busy times of year. I’d love to hear from you!
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 2 c. confectioner's sugar
- 1 1/2 t. vanilla extract
- food coloring, optional
Instructions
- Beat butter and vanilla until smooth.
- Gradually add confectioner's sugar, beating until smooth and fluffy.
- Add food coloring, if desired.
- If the frosting is too thick, add small amounts of milk until desired consistency is reached.
