If you’ve been reading my blog for more than three second, you will know that I love love love Christmas. I adore Christmas. I count down the days of the year until Christmas. And now it FINALLY here!!! EEEEK!
My favorite part of Christmas is thinking of what I want to give who. I have so many amazing, wonderful, amazing, beautiful, inspiring people in my life. (Yes, the amazing had to be in there twice)
By December I have either bought all my presents, or I have everything planned out. This year, I bought my family gifts from Budapest, which you can read about in my 12 Days in Budapest post. I got them the most amazing gifts, and I couldn’t have chosen better.
That being said, I am a horrible horrible gift wrapper. Horrible. I don’t know how to wrap presents. It’s the sad cold truth. Most of the time they end up looking less than beautiful. Maybe less than less than beautiful. Anyways, I came up with this brilliant idea that if I put everything in those treat bags that kids get at birthday parties, tie them with ribbon, and add a pretty gift tag, the receiver won’t care because they received a gift that was perfect for them, and that’s just beautiful.
So I made a six beautiful FREE gift tags that are just simply amazing. All you have to do is copy my screenshot of the gift tags, print them out on cardstock, punch a hole, and tie them on your gift. (Yes, sadly I cannot tie the gift tag to your gift from behind the computer screen. Not that you’d want me to anyways.
Thanks so much for checking out this small and insignificant post, and come back soon for more Christmas posts!
Okay, so lets be honest here. My FAVORITE part of wintertime, is drinking hot chocolate. I love hot chocolate so much. And also hot cocoa. Let’s not forget that they are different things. How? You might ask… well hot chocolate is made with milk, and hot cocoa is made with water. It actually kind of makes sense. Either way my sister Debbie and I made this recipe for the YUMMIEST HOT CHOCOLATE EVER!!!! (Like my use of exclamation points?)
Makes 4
What You Need:
2 Cups of Chocolate Chips
4 Cups of Milk
1 Can of Whipped Cream
Directions:
Add chocolate chips and milk to a pan over medium heat, stirring constantly.
As soon as all the chocolate has melted, remove from the heat, and pour into mugs, then top off with whipped cream.
Oh, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells!!! In case you haven’t noticed, it is already December 11th, or in other places of the world, December 12th, which for me is really big. I live my year in expectation of the fun, bright, and fantastic Christmas Season.
When my family decorates for Christmas, we all get together, drink eggnog, and listen to Christmas carols while we hang up our favorite homemade ornaments and laugh to (or above) our heart’s desire. There is honestly nothing more beautiful than that.
Okay, so this glorified tree branch reminds me of the story of the Twelve Princesses, where they walk through the silver forest, except in real life. I literally just love the thought of a silvery sparkly branch that I don’t argue with the fact that glitter will get everywhere.
Hey guys! Just to warn you, this is going to be a very very long post, so just brace yourselves! Budapest is a beautiful city, and I can’t wait to tell you all about it! I wish I could have spent more time there!
Budapest Day 1: Recovering from my flight took up most of my day, which, luckily, I remembered to schedule an extra day for. After sleeping until after noon, we went to get Chiminy Cakes, which are dough, spiraled around a stick, baked to perfection, and then coated with sugar and the toppings of your choice. The stall that we went to had vanilla sugar, nuts, and coconut. You can usually find them in the Great Market Hall, the Christmas Market, or in the malls. Totally worth the splurge!
Budapest Day 2: Today we went to a soccer tournament for my cousin in the small country of Slovakia…a small country yet very populated.
Budapest Day 3: Yummy Goulash at the Christmas Market, and the fancy donut shop downtown called Mrs. Bagel and Mr. Funk…must eats for any Budapest travelers! My donut was Nutella flavored, my Uncle and Aunt got a raspberry chocolate one with pop rocks on top, one of my cousins got one with a kinder egg on top (chocolate eggs which, when you open them, have candy inside), and another cousin got one shaped like a unicorn. Those are just a few of the amazing flavors that they had!
Budapest Day 4: Today we walked across the Chain Bridge and by the river, seeing a lot of Budapest’s main tourist attractions. We saw the sobering shoe memorial, which is dedicated to men and women who were shot and then pushed into the Danube during the Holocaust, and the beautiful Castle Hill from afar, and finally, the Parliament Building, which is truly majestic. So much history in one country!
Budapest Day 5: Downtown Budapest at night is truly beautiful. While Paris is majestic during the day, Budapest beats it by far at night. The Parliament lights up like a Christmas tree, and all the curiously beautiful lampposts are shining, and all of the bridges are lit up to show off their beauty in their own beautiful way. It’s amazing to contrast Budapest during day and night.
Budapest Day 6: Today we saw Castle Hill, with the Buda Castle and St. Matthias Church, both in their majestic beauty. Both are beautiful examples of architecture and stunning historic landmarks. For example, the Empress praised with uniting Hungary and Austria into one country is Cisi, or Empress Elizabeth, who has statues both at the Buda Castle, and St. Matthias Church.
Budapest Day 7: We took a day trip out of Budapest to visit the Guicciardi Estate where Beethoven wrote Moonlight Sonata and Fun Elise! It was so much fun and there was so much to see, from the small museum to the grounds around it. Seeing were he wrote it made it easy to see how he got inspired for both those songs. This is a must stop for any musicians traveling through Budapest and Austria.
Budapest Day 8: Next stop, the thermal baths! Budapest is famous for its thermal baths, which have great health benefits, and are completely natural. We went to the Gellert baths, which was left over from the OTTOMAN EMPIRE! Can you imagine! It was living history! They had eight pools, and I think that my main advice for visiting the thermal baths, is making sure that you bring a water bottle. With the hot water, it is so easy to get dehydrated, and even though we only stayed for 4 hours, I quickly accumulated a headache from dehydration.
Budapest Day 9: Yummy, yummy milkshakes at Johnny’s, a small American Café in ‘Erd. If you’re feeling a little homesick, this is a great place to stop. It is a hidden gem in Budapest, known to American locals, mostly Missionaries and Embassy workers. After that it was home for a small fire, which was the perfect end to a relaxing day.
Budapest Day 10: Today we went to the great market hall…so much fun trying out food and chocolates. One of the foods that we tried was called Langosh, basically they were fried pizzas, which you really can’t go wrong with. One of the things that stressed me out about the Great Market Hall, was how crowded it was. It was partially stressful because you have to make sure that you’re keeping track of your stuff, but also for an introvert like me, it was hard to not freak out because of how claustrophobic I was getting. I WOULD suggest going, but I wouldn’t suggest planning on spending the whole day there. Also, a quick tip, but most stalls don’t take credit card, so make sure to stop at a currency exchange before shopping.
Budapest Day 11: A quick daytrip to Vienna, Austria. It is such a beautiful city, and a wished so bad that I could spend a whole week there, but the time/lodgings wouldn’t allow it. I would suggest that if you had more time, a weekend trip here. It was a lot of fun. We visited the graves of Mozart and Beethoven and Shubert and Brahms, which were all located in the same cemetery the Vienna Central Cemetery, which also happens to be the largest cemetery in the world. After that we went to the Castle and ate yummy pretzels at the Christmas Market.
For groups with kids I would strongly suggest the Children’s Museum at the castle. It was very interactive and let you dress up like princesses and princes, ride horses, comb wigs, and even set a table like in the early 1800s.
And another must eat is Weinersnitzel, which is pork, cut extremely thin, and then fried…it was like heaven on earth.
Budapest Day 12: Last day in Budapest! I spent most of the day repacking my bags, and figuring out how I was going to cram all my souvenirs into one suitcase, but ended with the best ending you could have: eating Rosa Gelato by the light of St. Stephens Basilica at night. How can something be so delicious and yummy at the same time? I had so much fun in Budapest and am going to miss this majestic city.
Thanks so much for reading this post! I love new adventures and exploring new places. Comment below what looks like something you would do if you were in Budapest, and another question you might have. I’d love to answer them!
I love it when someone makes a gift for me instead of just buying it at the store, because it shows how much that person really cares, but in all honestly a lot of people don’t do it anymore, except maybe a few close friends. The reason why? Because they simply don’t know what to make me. They remember back in their teen years how they wanted the newest this and the newest that and then figure that I must want it too, right?
Maybe it’s my inner romantic, or the fact that I am a true nefelibata, but in all honesty, I LOVE it when people make gifts for me, and I ESPECIALLY love it if its something I will actually use, like the movie night box, or the headbands, or the coffee cozy…okay well pretty much EVERYTHING on this post I would love to receive for Christmas this year. And the best part is that they are all (mostly) simple and (mostly) cheap, so you can be thrifty and thoughtful at the same time. So trust me, as a Teen Girl I can guarantee that these gifts will be well loved by almost any girl.
Isn’t this adorable? Not only that, but I’m pretty sure that every teen girl drinks coffee, and those who don’t drink tea (and most also drink Starbucks).
Every girl has to deal with the hassle of keeping her lovely locks in place, and headbands are the perfect way to do that! With four different simple designs, any teen in your life will be happy to receive this gift.
What girl doesn’t like snuggling up with a blanket for an at home movie night, eating popcorn and chocolate, and crying over dead characters? Am I right?
Thanks so much for reading my small insignificant post! Be sure to comment below which gift you want to give the teen girl in your life, and any other questions or comments below!
What a Gorgeous Day 