It’s giveaway time! It’s a massive one guys and I’m pretty excited! For the past week or so I’ve been featuring recipes using Staub, Shun, Cuttingboard.com, Finex, and Kitchen Aid and now’s the time to finally bundle everything up and give it all away. Well, not literally, because you’re actually going to win new items, so there’s no real bundling, just figurative bundling.
win this staub!
I hope you’ve been following along – so far I’ve made Slow Braised Japanese Chashu Pork, Mini Puff Pastry Roses, Caramel Corn and Rice Krispie Mix, and Mint Snowman Marshmallows, but with these giveaway items you can make pretty much anything, which is perfect for the holiday season.
win this shun knife and cuttingboard.com boo’s block!
I love food – as I’m sure you know – and one of my favorite Christmas memories is of me, my brother, and Christmas chocolates. As little kids, come the first of December, we would get chocolate advent calendars. I still see them around now: those thin cardboard drugstore boxes featuring a Christmas picture with tiny numbered windows and chocolates hiding behind them. My brother and I lived for that moment at the end of the day when we got to pry open the cardboard for our long awaited treat. Our eager fingers would melt the chocolate ever so slightly as we tried to eat our chocolates as slowly as possible.
win this finex cast iron pan!
One year, we got it in our heads that we didn’t want to wait. We snuck our calendars down to the basement – it was cold and dark down there and I didn’t like it but my brother convinced me it was the best place to hide – and ate every single chocolate. We ate the entire month of December. And the thing is, we did it in a gentle, artful way where we could close back the windows so that at a casual glance, you couldn’t tell that the calendar was ravaged.
win this kitchen aid!
Maybe it was the sugar-high making us crazy, but we totally thought we got away with it. That is, until it was time for our nightly ritual with our parents. Needless to say, there was no chocolate treat that night. Or the next night, or the next. But, it was okay, because come Christmas morning, there were still presents under the tree. Apparently, our chocolate binge didn’t leave us on Santa’s naughty list, which was a huge relief, because, presents.
These days I’m more into giving than receiving so I couldn’t resist putting together this giveaway for you! I wish I could send everyone a Christmas present but since I can’t, I thought I’d do the next best thing and giveaway some of my favorite things. So, let me know your favorite holiday memory and maybe you’ll be the lucky reader who wins! Good luck!
Giveaway: I’ve teamed up with some of my favorite brands to do a massive giveaway. One lucky reader will win:
Staub 4 Quart Round Cocotte
Shun 6-inch Dual Core Utility Knife
Cuttingboard.com Boos Block Walnut 20×15 Cutting Board
Finex 10-inch Cast Iron Pan
Kitchen Aid Artisan Design Series 5-Quart Stand Mixer w/Glass Bowl in Pearl Silver
To enter: Leave a comment on the blog with your favorite winter holiday memory. I want to hear ALL the details! I’ll randomly choose a winner and notify them through email. Open to US residents only. (Sorry international friends, only American companies agreed to this one!) If you’d like some extra entries use the widget below to follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest. Contest ends December 21st at 12pm PST. Good luck!
The giveaway is closed! I’ll be announcing the winner in the next week or so after reading through all of the comments. Thank you everyone who entered! There are some beautiful memories here!
Update: Congrats Chelsea, you won! Look for an email from me shortly!
My favorite Christmas memory is opening presents as the smell of gooey caramel pecan monkey bread filled the house…and then it was quickly devoured with the oranges from our stockings.
Going to my aunt Marys house. Ohhh she made homemade noodles and rolls. Most of the adults were sauced and laughing and telling inappropriate jokes. The night always ended with Mary on the organ with a dangling cigarette!
my favorite holiday memory is when we got my grandma a wii and she was so happy so cried!
My favourite holiday memories are the ones when the whole family (extended and all) got together. For the past few years Christmas has been a lovely few days of hanging out with my cousins, playing board games and finishing the giant christmas crossword before being woken up at the crack of dawn by our youngest cousins to open up presents. The best part is the fresh croissants that we bake to go along with it!
My favorite holiday memory is when my family goes to chop the Christmas tree down every year. The Saturday morning after Thanksgiving we all drive to a little tree farm, argue over which tree is calling our name, and then cut one down. We spend the entire rest of the day decorating the tree while the grinch movies play in the background. Such a festive little tradition that I’ll never forget!
I’m not sure what year this happened, but I was just old enough to start doubting Santa existed, but my little sister (three years younger) was still very much a believer, so it was always more fun to play along, putting out milk and cookies for Santa, making sure we got to bed on time, etc. I want to say 8 or 9 years old. My doubting questioning nature was thoroughly challenged when my parents woke us up bright an early to come downstairs. A little background – my dad is very organized and clean; the house was always kept very nice and orderly and was full of antiques since I was small, so we were always careful. Well, imagine our surprise to find the fireplace grate knocked over, the mantle and all its knick knacks a mess, and tracks of soot across our living room floor to the tree and the plate of cookies, the milk drained and crumbs all over. We talked about what a mess Santa made for years to come, and I can still remember how proud of himself my Dad was (and still is) about the convincing scene he created. I will always remember that as the year I kept believing a little longer.
My favorite holiday memory is from when my daughter was 3 years old. I had a little extra time when she was at her grandmas so I hung the stockings on the chimney and when she came home she was so excited she could barely stand it. She had a little bit of a speech delay so I couldn’t understand her at first but when I calmed her down I said “Layla what has got you so excited?” She said “Santa mom SANTA!! He put the stockings on the chimney!!” And I realized she thought he came and brought them to her, so I went with it of course. And she squealed and laughed and was the happiest I’ve ever seen anyone over a stocking. It was the most precious thing. She said “Santas going to bring me Cannndyyyy!!” That’s all she wanted for Christmas that year.. A stocking full of candy! HAHA being lucky enough to spend the holidays with the little ones in my family has made each holiday so much brighter. ❤️❤️
My favorite holiday memory is baking sugar almond crescent cookies with my Godmother when I was little. Getting the dough everywhere and the powdered sugar sprinkling over everything like sweet snow.
My favorite holiday memory/memories were driving down to Tampa every Christmas to see family and go to the beach and do summer type things! It still felt like the holidays even though we were in warm weather.
My favorite memory was when I was with my nanny’s family for christmas. They treat me like I’m theirs. They had a Christmas party and while everyone else got presents the grandfather felt bad for me and gave me all the money he had in his pocket that christmas. It was the money that I remembered, it was the fact that he felt bad for me and wanted me to feel like I was one of theirs.