Hello, hello everyone and HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope you all had a magical Christmas and holiday season. It is time again for our dash of sparkle newsletter, so read on to see what we were up to in December!
We are slowly sinking back into reality here at Whipped It Up. For the first time in a really long time, I literally shut the computers OFF, for the last 3-ish weeks!!!
Going into it, I had initially planned to take only a week off. Weeeeell, one week turned into two, which turned into a major renovation (I swear we are incapable of actually sitting down and doing nothing), which made it three.
But now we are back and ready to take on whatever 2020 has to offer!
A look back to december
At the very beginning of December we pulled off our first 12 Days of Christmas event and it paid off HUGE. It nearly drove me to the point of pulling my hair out. I remade this Eggnog Fudge SEVEN times to get the recipe absolutely perfect ?. It took 5 weeks straight of non-stop shooting, recipe testing, editing, scheduling, and writing to pull it off, but it was a blast, and will definitely be back on the calendar for year two this year!
The 12 Days of ChristmasÂ
After that was over, I finished scheduling out some content for the rest of the month, along with social media posts all over and on December 16th I flicked the computer OFF.
Originally it was supposed to only be a break until the 26th, but we decided to start a huge renovation on the 26th, so it was a little longer of a break than I had initially planned.
Christmas
I intentionally shut the computer off on the 16th, because come the 17th we had plans every day right up until christmas day. It was a crazy week, but it was a lot of fun to get out and do some christmassy things with our friends and family.
It is a tradition for us every year to go and see the play A Christmas Carol at Theater Calgary.
This year was the first with a new director, so the play was different. It was still good, but we both agreed that nothing will ever beat the magic of the 2018 play.
After that, the rest of the week was filled with dinners, and christmas gift exchanges with our families. On the 24th we hosted Christmas dinner at our house.
I LOVE hosting huge dinners like that, although this year we had to work (at our day jobs) until noon on the 24th, so we were forced to be ridiculously organized and I had most of it prepped on the 23rd. This is the first time that I have prepped ahead of making the dinner and it made it go SO SMOOTH. Even though we got home at noon, I actually had time to step out of the kitchen and socialize with people, BEFORE dinner was served.
Then on Christmas day we laid on the couch, played mario, drank endless eggnog lattes, and ate leftovers. It was the best.
The Reno
Who starts a reno over Christmas holidays?
Well, we are apparently literally incapable of sitting on the couch doing nothing, so we replaced all of the carpet on the second floor of our house with hardwood. Yes, this sounds like a huge project, and it was, but we both have a lot of experience with renovations and flooring (this is what we do at our day jobs), so pulling off a project like this is normal for us.
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But, the whole time I kept asking myself "why are we doing this, RIGHT NOW?" Anyways, now that it is done, of course I love it, but during the reno my mood was a little touch and go at times ?.
Top 5 Recipes of 2019
#5- Bahama Mama Blended Cocktails
Y'all are loving these Bahama Mama Blended Cocktails! Even in the winter months they are still bringing in an insane amount of views! Well, I don't blame you, they are amazing!
#4- Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breast
This is another recipe that I am not surprised that it has taken a spot in the top 5! These Cream Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts are SO GOOD (obvi, they are wrapped in bacon), but seriously. These are to die for, and they are even perfect if you are on the Keto diet!
#3- AntojitosÂ
Antojitos are one of our FAVOURITE appetizers ever. Every time we serve them at a party they get gobbled up in no time at all.
#2- Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
I am not surprised that these Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies have scored a spot in the top 5 recipes in 2019. They are so thick and perfectly chewy. The flavours meld together like they were meant to be.
#1- Classic Hamburger Soup
Coming in at number one is our Classic Hamburger Soup. This recipe has been in my family for YEARS. We just updated this recipe with some new photos and a new alternative to make it lower in sodium. So if you haven't checked it out yet, make sure that you do, you don't want to miss it!
2020 Vision
After making it through the first year of blogging, now I am starting to have a clearer vision of what I need to focus on more.
This year, of course my main goal is to grow my blog. But with that comes focusing more time and energy on SEO. I have also realized that I am going to have to invest in some courses (specifically SEO and Pinterest) and I am so excited to learn more!
We have some exciting things planned for this year and we are so excited that you are here with us!
What was your dash of sparkle in December? Let us know in the comments down below!
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Kellie says
You’re amazin Jess! Thanks for everything.