The Berry Family Christmas Card 2011
From our family to yours, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!
Love, Nikki, Jacob, Macy and Hudson
Monthly Archives: December 2011
Merry Christmas and a happy New York!
Merry Christmas and a happy New York card
This has been our Christmas slogan since we found these Christmas cards a few years ago at a Barnes and Noble. I’ve never sent out this card but I use its wording almost every year and by now I’m sure our friends and family know that I didn’t misuse “York” instead of “Year”. I don’t quite think that any other state could be inserted – “happy New Jersey” um no, “happy New Mexico” no way! Theres just something magical and memorable about New York at Christmas time, whether you have visited for the tree lighting, ball dropping, ice skating or just like to watch your favorite Christmas movie every year (Home Alone 2, Serendipity, Miracle on 34th St – pick one!), you know what I mean when I say “Merry Christmas and a happy New York”!
Macy seeing the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall 2006
Rockefeller Center Tree 2006
Zuccotti Park 2007 (isnt it pretty with out the protesters?)
Nutcracker Ballet at Lincoln Center 2007
Wall Street Stock Exchange 2008
Macy's Toyland 2008
Filed under Holiday
Easy Christmas Candy Houses
Easy Candy Houses
Making Candy Houses. Macy age 6
Candy House Scene
For years we have made candy houses for a christmas craft and decoration. Just like traditional gingerbread houses ours are decorated with candy, cookies and royal icing but I dont have to sweat building the structure. Our candy houses are built with a sturdy cardboard box base. Juice boxes, milk cartons, cake boxes and other small boxes are perfect to use as long as the cardboard is not too thin because it has to hold alot of weight from the icing and candy. Its a super easy craft that lets kids jump right in and build their Sugarplum Dream House without fear of the house breaking. And most importantly the sky is the limit when you are using cardboard….every year we do a skyscraper!
Candy house villages
Pepermint cottages
The only tricky part of this craft is the getting the correct consistently with the royal icing. You need it to be thick and full of meringue powder to dry quickly holding the candy pieces in place. I work the boxes on their side, one side at a time, so there is some drying time involved before you can complete one house. This craft will take a few hours. We usually build entire villages and display them as sets on separate cake boards or I arrange them on cake plates.
Brooklyn Candy Houses
Candy House Party
We have hosted Candy House Parties and asked that everyone bring 2 bags of candy and a few boxes. The more variety the more creative you can be, but some candys are a must. Definately pick up M&M’s, pepermints, gumdrops, Neco waffers and graham crackers. Creating additional trees from gumdrop covered styrofoam cones or paper can turn a few houses into a village scene. Dont forget the paths, mailboxes, lamp posts and ponds and add Schleich animals or Lego men to inhabit the village. My favorite part of this craft is it is one that I let go of my perfectionist tendency and just let the kids create, our houses never look like a storybook gingerbread house and I dont mind a bit because its candy and no matter how they turn out they always look colorful and fun.
Dont miss my favorite Winter Candy Craft, Sugar Cube Igloos here.
Sugar Cube Igloo
Sugar cube igloo
We have a few holiday craft traditions and this spectacular sugar cube igloo is one of them. Its so easy to make and will last for years if you take care of it. I first saw this igloo in an Anthropologie store, they have the most creative displays of course but this one was practical enough to copy at home. Instead of trying to stack up and create an igloo form like a real Eskimo, use half of styrofoam ball as the base. Then its simple to glue on the sugar cubes with Elmers craft glue. We styled our igloo display with Schleich animals dressed for the holidays with red string bows and a red liquorice tree that I made in using a styrofoam cone as well.
- Sugar cube igloo, liquorice tree and Schleich animals Christmas decoration
Dont miss my next craft and christmas decoration post: Easy Candy Houses
Filed under Holiday, SugarCoated
Happy Birthday Dear Sister
Baby Jessica Summer 1987
On December 7th 1986 my dad took me and my younger brother to see the movie “An American Tail”, later that night our little sister was born. Today she celebrates her 25th birthday. Now that we are both adults our 6 1/2 year difference doesnt seem like much, I forget sometimes that she doesnt have the same early childhood memories as me, I feel like she should also remember how I used to sit in the kitchen floor and feed her a bottle while our mom cooked dinner or that I taught her how to climb out of her crib when she was 2.
Nikki and Jessica Spring 1997
But loving memories like those didnt start for her until later on. We didnt play well together growing up, in fact we didnt get along much at all, she was (and still is in some ways) what all “last babies” are…a brat! Oh! the the knock down, drag out fights we would have! When she was 12 I left for college never to return to the home or state I grew up in.
Jesscia Senior 2005
It was during her high school years that we grew to be friends as she looked up to me for advice and support. I have always been a cheerleader for her accomplishments and she has always been the little sister determind on making her own way. For years my home, no matter what state it was in, has been her second home. She stayed school breaks and summers with me and my husband and we took her on vacation with us too.
Jessica and Baby Emma Spring 2008
When she became a mother, my circle of love instantly grew. I know that even though I see my niece only a few times a year the love my sister and I have for each other makes it easy for my niece to learn to adore me as if I was there with her everyday.
Nikki and Jes Thanksgiving 2011
Today we are best friends, we talk or text at least 10 times a day. We have no secrets and we always have time to listen to each others rambling, no matter how mundane. We dont agree on everything, we are definately as different as our hair color. We dont judge or compete and we arent afraid to critique with honesty because we know that we will support each other no matter what. I’m proud of the life she has made and the love she as found with her new husband and I wish her many more years of Happy Birthdays. I love you Jes.
You can follow my amazingly talented and creative sister here capturedbyjes.blogspot.com
UPDATE*** I get a ton search terms for “baby Jessica” If you are looking for the little baby that fell down the well in 1987, it wasn’t my sister. Although they were born the same year, I vividly remember following the story on the news for days (she was trapped for 58 hours) and how glad we all were that our baby Jessica was safe next to us.
Snowflake Cake
One Christmas years ago, my husbands grandmother asked me if I would like to make the holiday cake for their family’s christmas dinner. For as long as GranNana has had her own family she has made them a special coconut cake for christmas dinner. So, YES I was very honored and nervous she was passing the torch on to me. This was very early in my cake making life but my red velvet Snowflake cake knocked the socks off everyone!
Snowflake Cake by Nikki Berry
I didnt want to try to recreate the coconut cake that my husband’s GranNana had made for over 50 years. I needed to make something new and different and spectacular. I knew that it would be white and red velvet, but it was a wedding cake covered in glistening snowflakes that inspired me to attempt a new decorating medium. All of my cakes are a learning experience, I am self-taught in each technique I pick up. This was my frist time using royal icing and although Im still nowhere near a pastry artist is piping skills, these simple snowflakes turned out just right. The cake sat so proudly in my husband’s aunt’s antebellum formal dinning room and most of the 50 family member thought that years cake was ordered from a bakery.
Red Velvet Snowflake Christmas Cake
To make the royal icing snowflakes I traced images of illustrated snowflakes under wax paper. I chose the best looking and unbroken snowflakes for the sides and piled full and partial snowflakes on the top. It was a happy accident that it turned into a lovely topper.
Royal Icing Snowflakes
This has always been one of my favorite cakes, I repeated it ( I dont usually repeat cakes) for Macy’s NewYears Tea Party and plan to make it anytime I get the chance to show it off again.
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December 1, 2011 · 10:59 pm
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