A Christmas Wedding

I was honored to design some decor for my friend Jen's Christmasy wedding this past Friday evening. The day was busy-busy-busy, but I made myself take a few minutes to photograph the auditorium and reception table decor...or I knew I'd be kicking myself afterward. =)

Everything we did was pretty simple but very festive - and it suited the couple perfectly. Both Jen and her new husband Jonathan love to read, so we brought some books in as part of the design.

We borrowed these hardback books and created dust jackets from tone-on-tone metallic wrapping paper.

I also used the wrapped books in the centerpieces for the reception tables. Instead of a poinsettia atop the stack of books, though, I filled glass bowls with coordinating Christmas balls and silver tinsel. Could it get any easier??

The auditorium pew markers also contained an element of the reading love theme. 

Using plain white (previously ugly) shatterproof ornaments, I modpodged strips of text from an old book (The Amy Vanderbilt Book of Etiquette, if you must know - and I totally enjoyed reading snippets of it while I was working on this project! Pretty hilarious.) onto them and then sprinkled clear and silver glitter to finish it off. It only took a bit of time - it wasn't difficult at all - but it was a great little touch, I think. Plus, they can be used for Christmas ornaments afterwards. I love that whole two birds/one stone thing. =)

Here's what the stage looked like. We taped icicle lights to the glass in front of the baptistry and covered them with white sheer curtains. I arranged a little semi-circle of poinsettias for Jen and Jonathan to stand in front of. I cannot wait to see the wedding photographer's pictures of the ceremony! The wedding was at 5:00pm, so the lighting was completely different than when I was snapping these pics. 

And here's one sneak peek shot from Starla Photography (she's fantastic - she shot our wedding, too!) I seriously cannot wait to see the rest of the pictures!

(Yes, I made that bouquet and boutonniere. Yay!)

Oh, and hey, here's another shot from Starla - I loved how the wedding colors turned out!

My friend Ashley made the wedding cake and it was both beautiful and so delicious. Yum! (Plus, she took this lovely picture of it.)

Happy Wedding, Jen and Jonathan! May God bless you guys with a long and very, very happy marriage! =)

Cranberry Pecan Pie

I haven't blogged in sooo long, but I just had to put this very excellent recipe out into the universe on this day before Thanksgiving. Those of you who are last-minute internet recipe gatherers need look no further. ;) But truly, it's a great Christmas recipe, too. Great for gifts, great for freezing! Honestly, it's super easy, just like a traditional pecan pie...except there's something better here. It's prettied up by the addition of fresh cranberries, becoming ever-so-festive - and the tartness is perfect. Because isn't regular pecan pie a little too sweet anyway? This adaptation just *works.*

I've made this pie many, many times over the last few years (I've even sold some) - and given out the recipe many, many times, too. Make it. You're gonna love it.

P.S. I always make a homemade pie crust, except for this one time last week when I was a little under the weather and decided to buy a pre-made one, as evidenced by the pictures in this post. But, seriously, my pie crust recipe is super easy and totally worth about 15 extra minutes of time to make it. I'm sharing it below, too.

Cranberry Pecan Pie
Slightly adapted from Taste of Home magazine
Print-friendly version

3 eggs
1 c. corn syrup
2/3 c. granulated sugar
1/4 c. butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. fresh (or frozen) cranberries
1 c. halved (or chopped) pecans
pinch of salt
deep-dish unbaked pie crust (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Melt the butter and set aside to cool. Wash the cranberries and pat them dry. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, corn syrup, sugar, and vanilla - add the melted butter. Stir in the cranberries and pecans and pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 425 F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake 30-40 minutes longer or until filling is *almost* set. Cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate for several hours or overnight before slicing.



Easy Oil Pastry
Adapted from Betty Crocker's Cookbook
Makes one deep-dish pie crust
Print-friendly version

2 2/3 c. all-purpose flour*
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. canola oil
4-5 Tbsp. cold water

Measure flour and salt into a medium bowl. Add oil and mix until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle in the cold water one tablespoon at a time, mixing until flour is moistened and dough almost cleans the side of the bowl. Press dough into a ball.

I don't roll out this dough - I just press it into the pie plate. (If you're using this dough for a different recipe that calls for a baked pie crust, just prick the crust all over with a fork and bake it at 475 degrees F for 12-15 minutes.) For this cranberry pecan pie, though, just press (or roll out, if you prefer) the dough, then pour the filling into it, and continue following the baking instructions above.

*From years of testing, I have decided that I prefer to use a mixture of White Lily flour and King Arthur flour (about half and half). I adore the lightness and taste of White Lily (it's my favorite flour) but the crust will be extremely crumbly. King Arthur gives it some needed togetherness. If this conversation seems somewhat fussy to you, I give you full permission to use whatever all-purpose flour you desire. ;)

Literary Ladies: Her Mother's Hope

Bonnie, Sandy, and Ashley

Last fall, my friend Becky and I were excited to begin a women's book club at our congregation. Both of us enjoy reading to an absurdly enormous degree - and many of our friends do, too...and there were always the usual conversations among book lovers...exclamations over books that the others *need* to read!! And questions of what one should read next. And so, well-loved books traveled from household to household and back again. It was already an unofficial book club, really.

Becky and I have a blogging friend - Melissa, over at A Little Loveliness, and we got to spend some time with her last summer. One of the things we quizzed her about was the ladies book club at her own congregation. Her book club posts had inspired many conversations beginning, "Oh, we really need to start that book club!" (And then, sadly, going no farther.) She graciously answered all of our questions and encouraged us to begin. And so we did. And there was much excitement in the land. Besides the fun that a book club brings, we also are thrilled that it encourages fellowship with Christian ladies of all ages and also it can serve as an outreach tool. We love when any of our members invites a friend from the community!

As the slacker blogger than sometimes I am, this is only my first post about our own group, the Literary Ladies. (I kind of just love that name - the alliteration, the exact meaning of what we do and who is included. Though we were kind of tickled that Becky's grandfather responded to the first Facebook event that he could not come. So cute.) But Becky has posted about the previous two meetings, so I invite you to visit her blog to see how it all began...(P.S. Becky has also started another book club for her daughter and her friends. You can see posts about that on her blog also!)

At our latest meeting on March 1st, we discussed the book Her Mother's Hope by Francine Rivers. We had about 17 ladies in attendance (sadly, Becky couldn't come to this one because of a bout with strep throat). Even though many of us were up in arms about the actions of a certain Marta toward her daughter Hildemara, I knew that the book was now on almost everyone's well-loved list for one simple reason: the majority of the members had sought out the sequel, Her Daughter's Dream, and had already read it also.

In deep discussion...probably about grandchildren??

Trina and Dani

Visiting before the meeting began

Pretending to be all candid...

In keeping with a color scheme from the book, my friends Jen, Ashli, and Ashley helped decorate the tables with blue and yellow plates and napkins. We arranged daffodils in mason jars for the center of each table, which was really very perfect for our spring meeting. Also on each table, we placed some ceramic birds and a birds' nest and a yellow teacup, all of which symbolized different themes from the book. To complete the look, Ashley had brought handfuls of wonderful black and white pictures of her mother and grandmother, and she scattered those on the table also.

Since the book took place in various countries, we had quite a bit of freedom with what foods the ladies might bring to share. And if someone didn't have a specific Swiss/English/Canadian/American dish (!) they wanted to bring, they were asked to bring a dish that their mother or grandmother had taught them to make. My decorating committee had made little blue, yellow, black, and white tags for people to write the name of the dish and its significance to display on the food tables. Ladies also brought recipes to share, as one of the main characters had kept a journal of foods that other people had taught her to cook.

After we ate, we sang a few songs, and then one of our elder's wives gave a very good devotional to tie in with Her Mother's Hope. Since Becky was sick, Ashley stepped in to lead the book discussion, which was pretty lively. I guess there's just something about this type of family saga that inspires passionate commentary. ;)

We also discussed having some mini-meetings between our big, three-months-apart ones. We might start meeting here and there to have dessert, coffee, and book conversation. We also talked about the Literary Ladies assisting our congregation's Haiti book drive since we all support the value of books, obviously.

Before we adjourned, I announced the next Literary Ladies' "assignment" - A Lasting Impression by Tamera Alexander. I have actually not read this book yet, but Becky highly recommended it. The author attended Harding University in Arkansas and actually went to school with one of the members of our congregation. I very much look forward to reading it because it takes place in Nashville, Tennessee and the Belmont Mansion figures prominently into the story. Becky did a little scouting and found out that the mansion is having a special 195th birthday party on March 17th in honor of the lady of the house, Adelicia Acklen, who was real - and also a character in our book. There will be all sorts of fun and games and food and free self-guided tours of the mansion. So...the Literary Ladies will be taking their first field trip! The grandest thing, though, is that Becky wrote Tamera Alexander, the author of A Lasting Impression, and told her what we were doing...and she said she'd meet us at the mansion that day! How fun is that?? Well, verrrry. =)

Are you in a book club? Do you have any recommendations for us to read and discuss??

My Funny Valentine

Unless you know me in real life, you wouldn't know that something big has happened in the Hicks household...

We got a dog.

I've never had an inside dog, but since we had dogsat our friends' maltipoo, Lily, multiple times and loved it, we finally decided to adopt a puppy of our own. Auggie is about 5 1/2 months old and he's in the process of getting housetrained. He has just learned how to sit and is now mastering "stay." He looooves his rawhide bones and ALL of his toys - and lives for playing fetch. It's his favorite thing. Besides napping. And being rightnext to us.

Auggie is adorably precious and such a good snuggler. He's actually curled up right next to me on the couch as I write this post. He's a great addition to our household and everybody loves him. (Even if I have used more potty words in the last two months than I ever have in my adult life. Is this like being the mother of a toddler??)

But this post isn't totally about him. It's about my other Valentine - my first Valentine, my husband. Who cracks me UP. (He's also a great addition to our household and everybody loves him.) He and I had the following conversation this morning (a continuation in the *previously* ongoing search for Auggie's middle name):

Jeremy: What about Emerson?

Kristen: Auggie Emerson Hicks. I kind of like it. Like Ralph Waldo?

Jeremy: (Pause) Ralph Waldo who?

Kristen: Ralph Waldo Emerson. He was a poet.

Jeremy: (Quickly) Well, I didn't know it...(Laughter from both of us.) You set that up perfectly.

Kristen: Yeah, yeah. Well, Emerson after who, then? I want it to mean something.

Jeremy: It's the brand of our microwave.

And that, my friends, is how Auggie (probably) ended up with his middle name. As Jeremy says, "The microwave has lasted for sixteen years, so maybe Auggie will live that long, too." Here's hoping!