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!
Growing up in White Salmon Washington there was always snow at Christmas! Our families would gather at my Aunt’s house nestled back in the woods along a creek bed. We had the usual dolls for the girls and trains and trucks for the boys and oh the food; with Mom’s, Aunt’s and Grandmothers cooking the holiday feast we were guaranteed something good! Breakfast smells of bacon and platters full of pancakes to this day are still some of my favorite smells. However the best part was the snow! After opening Santa’s bounty it was time to turn our attention to outside and with 8 kids that was a blessing to be out of the house! Out came the sleds; it was game on to see who could make the longest run! That year myself and two cousin set the record that still stands today in the family. We pulled the sled up the hill and climbed on and away we went headed straight for the house! We knew we were going to crash but my Aunt saved the day! Just as we approached the house the door to the mud room swung open and we rode victoriously into the kitchen! The best part is the 8mm film that is a testament to our victory! We have many special memories of family holidays but the best is being with family not matter where.
We love trips to NYC to see the tree and the Christmas Show. Even no when all the children are grown we line up to have our family portrait with Santa and a second shot by the tree. The hustle and bustle of the city makes Christmas ideal.
My first time celebrating new years apart from my family was at Sleazefest- and it turned out to be quite a banger. I had maybe one champagne glass too many and ended up at the guacamole bowl just eating it mechanically non stop. I got to celebrate the new year with some of my best friends, at this ridiculous party and fall asleep to the sounds of some guys fighting each other over god knows what. It was awesome (the guacamole was too)
My favorite holiday memory is an ongoing one– my grandmother used to do the 7 fishes christmas eve dinner all by herself, up until the very last year she was alive. I used to come and watch her prepare, and now that she is gone, I’ve been able to carry on her recipes (always delish, but never the same) and continue the tradition. It is my favorite meal of the year!
My family and I went to Disney World earlier this month and we went last year, too, around the same time in December. My parents go twice a year to Disney, October (Halloween!) and December (Christmas!). My brother and I decided to join them (aka, invited ourselves) and I’m hoping we can carry this on in the years to come, especially once we have children of our own. If anyone is wondering when they should plan a trip to Disney World, do it around Christmas time!
I was a teenager when this happened. My brother and I woke up our 5 year old baby brother on Christmas Day to show him that Santa Clause showed up last night and dropped off presents under the Christmas tree. He excitedly ran down the stairs to the tree, but he stared at his gifts from Santa Clause suspiciously. I asked him what was wrong to which he replied, “Santa Clause didn’t come! Mom and Dad wrapped these presents with the same wrapping paper they used for the other presents. I’m not stupid!” My brother and I laughed for hours. We have never been more proud of our baby brother. XD
This will be a different sort of comment, I don’t have a specific favorite holiday memory because I don’t celebrate the holidays- I’m one of Jehovah’s Witnesses. So I don’t have a favorite Christmas memory but I sure do have a favorite winter memory. It was back when I was in the 6th grade we (my sister & I) were over winter break and the news said that there would be a horrible blizzard coming. Well, since I live in Chicago ( aka the windy city) I was use to hearing about incoming bad weather. So the next day came and I went to open door, but the old broke down door wouldn’t open! Now just image me at the time being a small girl, my mother a young forty something, and my older sister all piled on top of each other trying to break down the door. We probably should have kept it closed, because when it did open at least four feet of snow was their to greet us! Long story short we kept the family shovel in the car, so we were forced to use buckets to dig our way out. After three hours of tirelessly digging with buckets and our then purple blue hands we hadn’t even made a dent in the snow. Some nice men neighbors of our so our struggle and came over to help!!(OMG! THANK GOODESS) We went inside and made hot chocolate and treats for the men. The cleared the doorway in two hours. That night we made pizza binged on popcorn and twinkies and watched movies like they were going out of style! Needless to say we spent the rest of that week in the house!
Being snowed in for several days with all of my cousins when we were kids. We played like crazy.
One of my most memorable holiday experiences was when our family traveled from Alaska to Southern California when I was around six. To get on a plane after traveling through a snowstorm around the Turnagain Arm to deplane in the bright and pleasant glow of San Diego was the first sign of a newfound welcome. To be able to then go out on Christmas morning to pick oranges from the tree in the backyard and to then eat them with still-warm Stollen bread and dig through our stockings topped it all off.
My middle school would put on performances every year, and each grade prepared their own song/skit/etc. A lot of the time, it felt like a chore for us, and I can’t image the teachers enjoying telling middle schoolers how to stand and to not look too nervous while singing. But for some reason, when it came time to actually perform, it felt kind of magical – maybe it was the weirdness of being at school at night, or because everyone was dressed up for the holidays and the church was decorated with wreaths and ribbons. One year, the fourth graders created a hilarious skit based off of the 12 Days of Christmas song, and my parents and I could not stop laughing the entire evening.
Thanks for doing this!