The Fourth Annual Faux-Prah Giveaway

*** Giveaway is now closed and the winner has been notified***

For years my absolute favorite thing to do during the holidays was watching Oprah's Favorite Thing show and watching the ladies get whipped into a frenzy about everything they were getting.  Then I would call one of my friends who absolutely hates the show but watches anyway and we would go over the details.  I would tell her all the things I just HAD to have and she would tell me how many ladies fainted clutching their free loot. 

Now that Oprah is off the air I'm going about building my "Faux-prah" empire.  Which, lucky for you, includes my annual "Faux-prah's Favorite Things" giveaway.  I pick a handful of my favorite things and you get to win them! Hooray!  You can see what was on last years list here, and details on how Faux-Prah got started.

Have you read this book?   It's amazing and I just discovered an abridged Young Adult version of this book.

 

Mr. Boy is reading it and we are having the best time chatting about it.  I think it's a story that everyone should read.   You can pick to receive the unabridged version or the Young Adult version of the story.

Have you ever made your own Gingerbread? This mix is crazy, as in crazy easy. Mr. Boy always asks to make Gingerbread Men, but  I've always been too intimidated to make Gingerbread.

Last year we received this mix as a gift and it took about two minutes to make and required no chilling of the dough.   The kids had a blast rolling it out and I was so surprised that it made 2 pans full of gingerbread cookies.  I'm handing these out this year as gifts to my friends, because it's a total holiday time saver.  It's an easy way to make holiday memories. 

My family loves Popovers but I can't stand scrubbing the pan after.  I dread baking anything in muffin pans, something always sticks inside those wells.  Someone told me I needed to try out the William Sonoma, Gold Line of Bakeware.  These pans are amazing!   Muffins, cupcakes, popovers and whatever else you cook in them cook evenly and nothing sticks! I love these pans so much and now I want the whole line of gold pans.

To enter the contest, all you have to do is leave a comment in the post below.  You can tell me your favorite things, tell me why you love me, or just say, "Bon Jour".  If you aren't logged in to Blogger, leave me your email address.   To receive an additional entry, you can share this giveaway on Facebook, just leave me a comment below that says you shared it on Facebook.

You have until Monday, December 22, 2014 at 11:59pm.  Winner will be picked via Random.org and will have 48 hours to respond.  Winner will be announced Wednesday, December 23rd, 2014.

*Disclaimer: I received zero compensation for this post and zero donations of the items featured on this giveaway.  Nor am I affiliated with Oprah.  This giveaway is simply my gift to my loyal readers who indulge in reading my crazy posts.*

Everything is better in Costume.

Three years ago I was watching stage production of "White Christmas" with my husbands extended family.  I fell madly in love with the ending as the stage was full of ladies dancing in big red skirts with fur trim.   I leaned over to Mr. Man's Aunt aka Mrs. Aunt and said, "This year I want everyone dressed just like that for our Christmas Eve Dinner."   I was joking, kind of.  I mean I fully believe that everything is better in costume, but I really didn't expect everyone to show up in costume.  So imagine my surprise when I opened the door on Christmas Eve to find Mrs. Aunt and the entire family decked out in full White Christmas Costumes complete with fur muffs. It was the best Christmas Eve and now it's become a family tradition to wear our most festive outfits to Christmas Eve. 

I realized a few days before Thanksgiving that Mrs. Aunt's birthday was just two days prior to the Thanksgiving Extravaganza she was hosting.  The whole family was coming into town to celebrate Thanksgiving and it was going to be one of the largest Thanksgiving gatherings in some time.   One day while running errands it hit me, I needed to do something for Mrs. Aunt, and I knew there was only one thing she would appreciate.  Costumes!  So I cut out Pilgrim collars for 50 plus and a few extra for Baby Roller Hand and even our pets.  (The deer wouldn't cooperate for the picture.. drats) 

The result was glorious! The Pilgrim collars were a hit, well maybe not everyone loved them, but most wore them, because everyone loves Mrs. Aunt. Everyone knew that Mrs. Aunt would love this, and she did. I'm beginning to think that everything is better in costumes. 

Thanksgiving is one of my favorites, Mr. Man has this big family with oodles of cousins.   As for me... I have two cousins... exactly two and I wouldn't know them if I saw them on the street. We ate, we laughed, we had a great time and parted ways.

Unfortunately, the stomach flu was passed around our Thanksgiving table with 53% of the Pilgrims going down over the next four days.  It was much like the first Thanksgiving where plagues were swapped.  I think everyone is finally on the mend, but all this has given me an idea for next years Thanksgiving Costumes.. HazMat Suits!