#272: Holiday Bucket List

WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.000
Elsie: You're listening to The Beautiful Mess Podcast, your cozy comfort listen. This week we're sharing our holiday seasonal bucket list and how to make your own. If you're like us and you get a little overwhelmed by the long to-do list this time of year, we definitely recommend creating a bucket list to keep the magic in your schedule during the busiest season. Whoa. Okay, before we jump in, can you even believe that it is November?

00:00:01.000 --> 00:00:02.000
Emma: No.

00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:03.000
Elsie: November, that's crazy. And I feel like we just did the autumn list. I think that Christmas gets its own bucket list because it's only, I mean it's two months. November, December. But I think it gets its own list because the activities are so specific, you know.

00:00:03.000 --> 00:00:04.000
Emma: I do little things for Thanksgiving and like we do Thanksgiving, but I don't really make a whole list for it in my mind. I do like an autumn list. Then a Christmas list. Yes. And so Autumn is likeHalloween and Thanksgiving, like a few things roll over. You know, so Christmas has its own time.

00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:05.000
Elsie: Yes.

00:00:05.000 --> 00:00:06.000
Emma: So anyway. Yeah. But no, I can't believe it because it feels like every single month sneaks up on me. It's usually like the third or the fourth before I even realize it's a new month. Yeah. And then I'm like, oh my gosh. You know, life is. Either on lightspeed or like a snail's pace. Those are like the only two paces in my life it feels like. That's hilarious. It's just, yeah. Insane. But anyway, let's get in the Christmas spirit, everyone.

00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:07.000
Elsie: Yeah.

00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:08.000
Emma: Let's talk about some holiday bucket list stuff.

00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:09.000
Elsie: I'm ready.

00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:10.000
Emma: I know you're all long time listeners and you're our friends already, but if you don't know. If we do bucket lists every season, it's not because we're planning to die, it's because we wanna make sure we enjoy the season before the season's gone for the year. So this is our list of things we wanna do before Christmas is over. Yeah. If you need a bucket list, you can make your own, you can print one from our site. There's also some really cute ones on childhoodmagic.com.

00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:11.000
Elsie: Yeah, yeah. Honestly, like I know it bothers a couple of people that we use, like the term bucket list, but it's just what we do. It's just what we do. It's just what we do. It's just, it's how we say it, you know?

00:00:11.000 --> 00:00:12.000
Emma: Yeah. No, I'm just explaining it. I don't care what you think.

00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:13.000
Elsie: She cares. She cares. Yeah, no, I think we started doing it right as soon as we adopted Nova, and it did change my life. It does make life more magical, and it does, it makes you stuff the magic in when you're busy. Which sometimes is good. You know what I mean? Because a lot of times, like there's nothing worse than getting to like, you know, it's the week after Christmas, the weird week. Yeah. And you look in your drawer and you're like, oh, I forgot to do all this. I bought all this baking stuff and I didn't use it, or I bought all these craft things and I didn't use them. And now it's like I have to wait till next year and then next year you won't remember they're there. This is to prevent that, this is to keep the magic steadily flowing the entire season, but it's kind of like being on autopilot and you don't have to stress about it. I think it's really nice.

00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:14.000
Emma: I agree. So let's do our first one, because our first one happens to be the same on both our lists.

00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:15.000
Elsie: Yes. We did this two years ago. So it is the Polar Express. So we, our local Polar Express is in Branson, Missouri. If you know about Branson, then you know how cool Branson, Missouri is.

00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:16.000
Emma: Very cool.

00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:17.000
Elsie: This year we had to buy our Polar Express tickets in August, and, but we did. We did, didn't we? We did. And so I'm really excited because this year, first of all, we got the later time, so it'll be actually dark. because we learned a lesson when we were taking the Branson train and it wasn't dark yet that the view was weird. And it was really weird. Our kids didn't care. And they were, it was two years ago. It worked out. So they were littler. Oscar was like a baby still almost. He was very little. Yeah. So this year we got it to go when it's dark, actually. And then the other thing is we got like, there's like different types of trains. We got the kind that's like the window top because it's like the most magical one. So that's why we had to get our tickets so early and we had to have eight people all together because our two families together. And then we're doing the full matching pajamas. Which is hilarious.

00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:18.000
Emma: Ours already came in the mail.

00:00:18.000 --> 00:00:19.000
Elsie: Yeah, I think I'm gonna do a different color. Do you think it's okay if I do a different color?

00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.000
Emma: Yes. So I was buying my family's matching Christmas pajamas. It has to do with another thing on my bucket list. And I just emailed Elsie and I was like, here's what we're all wearing. And I noticed it also comes in pink. Yeah. Past Miracle wants that. Yeah. Also, no pressure. You guys don't have to match us, but just if you wanted to get all the same ones, that's hilarious. But no pressure.

00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:21.000
Elsie: It’s hilarious. So anyway, the Polar Express, if you're thinking about it, just do it. It's so worth it. So on ours there's a Santa Claus, a like the best Santa Claus I've ever seen comes through each trained. He's a professional. He is a like amazing Santa Claus. And so he was just a gorgeous, beautiful Santa Claus. And then they have milk and cookies and then they. Do the book. So I think this year we'll bring the book. because you can have Santa Sign the book, which that's, that's pretty cute. I'll tell you what I'm bringing too. I'll do this. Okay. Whatcha bringing?

00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.000
Emma: Well, so we have our matching pajamas. And then also we're a big library family. We go to the library almost every week. So we've never checked out the Polar Express and we don't own it. But I keep kind of like bringing it up at the library to gauge Oscar's response. And here's the thing. Polar Express is like a magical children's book. It's a classic. And my son thinks it's super boring. So I decided, you know, this is the Polar Express like experience that we're doing. It's like on the train's whole thing. But I just got like a different book. It's like called the Christmas Train and it's a little bit more geared towards younger kids. And so I bought that and I have it sitting in my office and I haven't pulled it out yet because I'm gonna pull it out like a week or so before we go on. Cute. The Polar Express. Yeah. Just to have another Christmas train in his mind because the Polar Express book just wasn't quite connecting. Maybe when he gets a little bit older, I don't know.

00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:23.000
Elsie: I will say I do think the Polar Express movie is boring. I do think that it's just, it's, it's not my most magical Christmas movie, but I think it's cute for kids and whatever.

00:00:23.000 --> 00:00:24.000
Emma: Yeah. But as far as what I'm bringing on the trains. I'm not planning to bring our other contraband Christmas train book on the plane. That's just what I'm doing ahead of time to get Oscar excited about being on the train. He loves trains. He'll be excited no matter what, but I'm also planning to bring, so I believe the brand is Melissa and Doug, but there's other brands too. But it's a book where all you need is water to paint it. If you know what those are, it's more of a like. The paint kind of shows like it's on the page, but you have to put water over it to activate it, if that makes sense. No water. It’s where you put water on it and it kind of reveals

00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:25.000
Elsie: Okay.

00:00:25.000 --> 00:00:26.000
Emma: And then as it dries, you could reuse it. This is like, you cannot reuse it once you paint it. One time the paint comes out, it gets activated with the water. It's just kind of different. Okay. I know you've bought 'em for Goldie before. It's just a, a little bit of a different thing. Cool. Anyway, all you need is water. It's not really that messy. And I have one that's like all trains, and I'm gonna bring that on the train. So all the kids need is water. And I'll bring a little water and paint brushes, but it won't make a mess. My sons will like doing that because they're one in four, especially the one year olds. Like the only kind of art I let him do at home so far. Really? Yeah. Unless I'm basically doing it for him. Like hand print things. And if your girls wanna make them too, they totally can. They probably will because they're always sweet to and just do whatever he wants.

00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:27.000
Elsie: No, that'll be perfect. My kids loved it the first time we went and they gave, they gave the kids little bells. Which is really special. I don't really think you need to pregame the book because they read it on train. They read it on the train. That's good enough. That's fine. UIt's gonna be wonderful. I'm excited and I'm just, I'm proud of us for planning ahead.

00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:28.000
Emma: It was really you, you like text me and I was like, yes, buy them for me. I'll Venmo you.

00:00:28.000 --> 00:00:29.000
Elsie: It was the first week the kids went back to school and my brain was like, time to get ready for Christmas panicking or something. I don't know. But anyway. Yeah, so if you get a chance to go do it, it's so fun.

00:00:29.000 --> 00:00:30.000
Emma: Yeah. They have one, a version of it where you live. Definitely do it. It's very fun.

00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:31.000
Elsie: They have them almost everywhere.

00:00:31.000 --> 00:00:32.000
Emma: Yeah. Yeah. It's very cute.

00:00:32.000 --> 00:00:33.000
Elsie: Cute. Okay. My second one is a cookie baking marathon. So we have really been having quite the year with our renovation and in, I think in a.

00:00:33.000 --> 00:00:34.000
Episode recently I shared when our stove got sent back. Yes. So the stove got delivered and now we have a range and it works. So we've already made cookie. We made cookies the first night.

00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:35.000
Emma: She's beautiful. Yeah, she's gorgeous.

00:00:35.000 --> 00:00:36.000
Elsie: But then immediately after that, our cabinet guy ghosted us and we had to fire our cabinet guy. So now we're doing that. So it's just kind of like we're at the end of this long renovation that began in April and is probably maybe ending in November. So what the thing I really am just using to comfort my brain is the idea of like Thanksgiving and Christmas and like all the fun memories we're gonna make. So I feel like this year we just have to really make the memories, really take the photos, really enjoy it because it was just like such a battle getting there.

00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:37.000
Emma: Yeah. Well, mine's kind of along those lines. So my second one is, so we started doing. I think I talked about this a little bit. We started doing Sunday night dinners and treats at my house. Is how I think of it. So all that is is on Sunday nights, our parents and the Larson family and then our grandma who we talk about who lives in the pink house, who's 91, comes over to my house and I make dinner. And I also have like some kind of baking or cooking type thing that the kids do. So what I've done so far is one week I made lasagna. And the kids made pumpkin cookies. And then I also did a chili night when I had Halloween mugs that the chili was in. And that night the kids made caramel apples. That was like October stuff. So now I'm looking ahead to, you know, fall and Christmas and I think at some point we'll probably start doing them at your house a little bit. Like once you're, once things are in place for that. So I'll be thinking about some things that I can bring where I bring all the stuff or whatever. But at any rate, this is to me like a thing that's really important to me. I really enjoy cooking for other people, but it's not something that I do super, super often and I also don't have a lot of space for it. It has to be something that I can either make the night before or make during my kids' nap time. I can't spend a lot of time cooking when my kids are awake. It just isn't an era of my life where I can really do that. And then I also just really like doing little projects with the kids. Like I always tell Trey I am like, I'm trying to be a Pinterest ant here. Yeah because he'll see all the stuff I've bought for like the caramel apples, like the other, you're a great Pinterest aunt the other week. And he was like, what's all this stuff? Because it was just like random, you know, like mini marshmallows and mini m and ms and all this stuff for the caramel apples. And I was like, I'm just trying to be a Pinterest aunt because I just want to have all these fun little things that we do. And that's just a part of like time with me with Aunt Emma, which is, you know, and a lot of times I am like really watching like the little kid or you know, there's always a lot going on when you're hanging out with your family. So this is like my little way to like have something that's important to me that I know is happening. You know what I mean? So anyway, I'm starting to make my list for Christmas. Here it is like the December, you know, dinner and treat things that I wanna be doing. And yeah, it's just like a fun little thing for me. And I feel like when it rolls around I'm always like, why do you do this to yourself? So much work. But I just love it. I do. Yeah. It's special to me.

00:00:37.000 --> 00:00:38.000
Elsie: No, I think that the best, the best stuff from these years we're living in right now is so much work. I just, it it is and like That's okay.

00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.000
Emma: No, it is.

00:00:39.000 --> 00:00:40.000
Elsie: Yes.

00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:41.000
Emma: Okay. What's your third one?

00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:42.000
Elsie: Okay. My third one is Gremlins Love. Actually, Home Alone, The Family Stone, Elf. So it's just like a Christmas movie marathon. They all play over and over, especially home alone and Gremlins. Love actually too. The Family Stone I can watch once. Elf can play over and over too. All of these can play over and over except for The Family Stone.

00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:43.000
Emma: Okay, so she's a one and done for the year.

00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:44.000
Elsie: Yeah, she's one. But I do love crying for that. So it's just so joyful. Oh, Die Hard can play once too.

00:00:44.000 --> 00:00:45.000
Emma: Yeah, actually I love all of them.

00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:46.000
Elsie: It does bring me so much joy. The TV in the kitchen is one of my prides and bread and joys.

00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:47.000
Emma: I love that for you.

00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:48.000
Elsie: I think it's a happy thing to, like, if you have a day where you have to like cook a lot or you're baking or you know, even cleaning or even cleaning, doing a lot of dishes and yeah, just like all the things you have to do, like are better when you have a movie on, so.

00:00:48.000 --> 00:00:49.000
Emma: I'm more of a listen to murder podcast person myself as I do with dishes.

00:00:49.000 --> 00:00:50.000
Elsie: We started it in the, there was two Christmases we spent in the pink house and we would watch the entire Harry Potter the week of Christmas. And that kind of is how we started the tradition of like, you just leave the movies on.

00:00:50.000 --> 00:00:51.000
Emma: I love it. My third one is I am gonna make Hugo’s first hair ornament. So when Oscar was little, when he had his first haircut, I saved some of the hair and I made a ornament for our Halloween tree and an ornament for our Christmas tree.And I do this with epoxy resin. Very straightforward. There's no blog post about this. You can just. Google, whatever you wanna do, but you could put it in a little frame if you didn't wanna do that. You can do anything you want. It's kind of the same thing. I just kind of like making these little ornaments that I pull out once a year and I put them on the tree and it's of the kids' first hair in a way. It's kind of creepy, but I love it and it brings me joy. And the Christmas one, I usually put glitter in it and it has like, you know, it just looks kind of Christmasy, I guess. So anyway, so when Hugo, when I cut Hugo's hair for the very first time, I saved it so I could make these ornaments and now it is time. I didn't pull out my Halloween tree this year. I do make both ornaments at the same time, but I didn't get them maid before Halloween because I didn't pull out myHalloween tree this year and I already talked about that. So you don't need to hear about that. But we are gonna have a Christmas tree come hell or high water. So it's time to make the first hair and I'm gonna put Oscar and Hugo’s by each other this year and like, I don't know, I just like that kind of thing. To me it's like a. Marking a milestone. It's a similar thing to. With both my sons. I did the thing where you take a photo of them every month for the first year. A lot of parents, by the way, keep going. This is a thing I keep encountering. They just keep going for years. I'm like, wow, you have it together. I thought I had it together. Nevermind.

00:00:51.000 --> 00:00:52.000
Elsie: Every month.

00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:53.000
Emma: Yeah, for years.

00:00:53.000 --> 00:00:54.000
Elsie: Oh, I didn't do any of that for years. No.

00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:55.000
Emma: Yeah, I thought I really was like nailing it with the one year. Anyway, so I did that with my sons and whenever I finished and I printed them and I hung it up in the hallway. It felt like it was this beautiful thing that I wanted to have, but it also for me, kind of marks a, like you're making it through their childhood. And you're doing your best and look. He's already had his first haircut and you're hanging up the orna on the tree, and you'll hang this up when you're 60 years old unless you lose it, you know? And it just means something to me as far as marking the passage of time, I guess, through crafts. I don't know, but yeah, that's what I'm like.

00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:56.000
Elsie: No, for sure. I think I'm gonna redo my photo boxes soon. And stuff like that is a major thing. It is. You know, it's a major thing. It means something to me. You need to do it. It is important to your kids' posterity, like they have this stuff organized the way that you want it to be, you know? But at the same time. It's a lot of work. Yeah. So, yeah, for sure. Totally. Okay. So my next goal on my bucket list is to be extra thoughtful and creative with my gifts this year. So last year I had a little bit of a weird experience, like this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I'm being vulnerable. Okay. Everyone please respect that. But so I am like. Ultimate Christmas, like my, like ultimate Christmas for sure is like how I want it to be, you know? And that's my goal. But last year, I think I got the kids too. Mini gifts, or there was just something about it not right, because after Christmas they had these certain ones that they played with and clung to. And then there was just this huge box of all the extra gifts. It was like a big Tupperware sitting in our living room for months and they just did not get back into it, like ever. And like, and it really bothered me because obviously like obviously we spent time and money choosing all those gifts, but it was like they just didn't really like exist to them. So I felt like it was just too many toys. So this year I am going to try like. It's hard because I still wanna have that wow factor Christmas morning, you know, feeling. But I don't want to have so much stuff, so I'm trying to figure out how to creatively, so a lot of my ideas are like, I could get like bigger crafting stuff, like one of our children likes weaving, so I was like, I could get one of those really big weaving looms and like get it set up halfway. Like that would be exciting. You know, maybe we would do like bikes or scooters, something like that. Yeah, I think I wanna just stick this year with more things that are activities and things that you use up and not so many like dolls and toys because they just didn't really seem to appreciate them last year and it felt kind of wasteful.

00:00:56.000 --> 00:00:57.000
Emma: Yeah. And it was making me think about how there really is kind of this like art to setting up the Christmas mornings if your kids are listening to the Santa Claus toys. Like there is definitely like an art. To that, and it's weird because I'm more of a, like I wrap all the gifts, I put them under the tree. Does it? You open 'em up, you know, like, I don't know. That's like as far as my brain gets because I feel like that is like, okay, I've picked out things that I was trying to be thoughtful that I thought they would like and I've wrapped them all and you know, so I feel like I've done so much work already at that point. It kind of sometimes can look sort of dinky and it doesn't really have this like moment You have to plan it out. Actually, my mother-in-law's really good at this. Yeah. She has like almost kind of a merchandiser's eye for it. And she will spend a long time doing it, but it does look great because she can have, because she'll have, you know, stuff, but it's not like an infant number of things. But it will somehow look almost like you can see it all at once. Yeah. But you still have things to open. I dunno, there's a bit of a thing to it. Try. I would read a blog post on that if anyone has tips because

00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:58.000
Elsie: Yeah, I would love to hear tips. I think I'm gonna focus more on like activities but not necessarily like the pre-made kits also haven't been very popular with our kids, like the open-ended type of activities. Are a little better. Like I would rather get them like paints and a paper pad than like a kit. Right. Of like make, you know what I mean? So anyway, yeah, I'm trying to figure that out. And then in addition to that, I wanna be more thoughtful with my gifts for my friends and family. I'm just gonna like spend more time on gift giving this year because I feel like. It is special and like there is an art to it and I think it is worth the time. If you have the time to put into it, I think it's worth it. And Oh yeah. Just like, I don't know, magical. So,

00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:59.000
Emma: Okay. My fourth one is some night leading up to Christmas, I'll do a holiday movie night. . So every Friday night at my house is movie night, and all that really means is we have it for dinner. Make popcorn and then some kind of protein, chicken fingers, peanut butter, anything really. I'll take anything this night. And then there's candy and that's like what we eat for dinner on Friday night with the kids. Hugo gets pouches to eat one. But anyway, you see my point, it's movie night. It's a special night where we're not as, you know, sit down. We don't sit at the table every other night. We sit at the table for dinner this night, we get to watch a movie. Yeah. And sometimes the movie is more like a long Wildcats. But you get it. Our kids are young, we're cute. We're always having movie night. Every now and again, I try to make Friday night movie night somehow kind of special. Not every single Friday night, but you know some, so I did like a spooky movie night and I had this, I talked about a little bit. We had our matching spooky pajamas and then there was like this giant stuffy skeleton, which has been named Mr. Skeleton and he has been all over the house, including in my son's bed at night sometimes, and they love him. And I just, you know, last year for. The holiday movie night, I did a Grinch night, so I got a Grinch stuffy, which has become a favorite since then. And usually we have matching pajamas or that's been my kind of my thing this year. So this year for holiday movie night, we'll have our matching pajamas, which we're also wearing on the Polar Express as I mentioned. And then I haven't planned what exactly I'm gonna do. I try not to always make it a giving a stuffy or stuffed animal type situation because I feel like that's just too many for over the years.

00:00:59.000 --> 00:01:00.000
I just try to make it somehow special. There's a special treat, there's a special, there's special lighting, like it could really be anything. My kids are so little that like almost anything impresses them if you just put an effort. So it's like a good era, but that's definitely on my list that I'm still thinking about and needing to plan a little more. But I'm going to have a holiday movie night and we will pitch holiday movies, but. Also, we'll kind of watch whatever he wants to watch. because he gets scared of a lot of things. He's just still really little. Yeah, it's hard finding movies at that age, but he's just scared of a lot of things. He'll get there.

00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:01.000
Elsie: Do you think he could watch Elf? They have a cartoon version of Elf maybe for little kids. My kids liked it when they were little.

00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:02.000
Emma: Our thing lately is we show him trailers of movies. But he pretty much always says no. If he ask to watch the trailer again, like days later, I always feel like, okay, is a good sign. We're moving in the right direction here, but it doesn't really matter.

00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:03.000
Elsie: We're trying gremlins this year. So, pray for me. I just, I want this more than anything, but we'll see. I'm gonna fast forward through the science room scene, don't worry. Okay. So my last one is, this is one I'm the most excited about. I've been planning this and planning it, so every year I do my Christmas free little library and I usually make some kind of a video and show like my favorite books of the year, and then I put them in my free little library. Sorry, little free library at the pink house. So I've done that I think for three years in a row since we moved here. And it's always really fun and it makes me reminisce about the books I read and also it's just fun to like. Give my, the girls in my neighborhood like something fun to go get. But this year I think I'm going to do the blind date with the book method. So basically you just wrap every book. And then I saw some of these at the flea market and it looked really fun. And then they would write on the outside like, this book combines this. And like, you know, like. Is like Little Women meets, you know? Like give a little description, like a little hook, or it would say like, this book has 4.3 stars on good reads, so it's like, okay, that's trustworthy. Or like, you know, a little review. I just think it's so fun to like give people surprise. Books where it's like, if you like this, try this book. I think it'll be very fun and joyful. So, oh, I love it. I'll make a video about it when I do it, for sure because it's a lot of work. But I think it'll be magical and joyful for the neighborhood and hopefully people will get some kind of weird book they never would've picked.

00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:04.000
Emma: Oh, I love that. Okay, my last one is basically down the street from where Elsie lives. There's one of those places where kids or anyone can paint pottery.. And then they fire it for you. And they used to come to Oscar's daycare. You could just, it was like an extra thing and you would sign up and they, he would get to do it and they would fire it and you'd pick it up at the daycare eventually. And they don't do it anymore, which is a bummer. But maybe it was just too much. I don't know. At any rate, it's on my list for the holiday season that I'd like to take Oscar, hopefully with his cousins to go paint pottery sometime. Cute. And I'm kind of hoping to gear him towards a couple of items that could maybe be gifts for his grandmother's or something like that, like a ring dish or a mug or you know, something of that nature. We need to go soon then. I know exactly. So. That's sort of the idea. You know, if we don't make it in time, then I will save them for Mother's Day. Grandmothers, so whatever, you know, like just doing my best out here, but I've never taken him to the place to do it. So I just thought it'd be fun because something he hasn't really done before.

00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:05.000
Elsie: We would definitely love to go with you. I think that kind of thing is so. So fun. It's cute. The first year that Nova was with us, we did like mugs for grandparents. I think we did like a lot of them, like probably like five to 10 for all different people and it was so fun. And yeah, I still have one in my house too, and it's just like a joy, My Nova mug. And they were just like paint, you know, like met, like sloppy little kid abstract, little kid painting. But I picked the colors so they were whatever.

00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:06.000
Emma: Yeah. Okay. Not all brown. If you give them all the colors, everything's brown. So yeah, it gets mixed.

00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:07.000
Elsie: There's some strategy involved, but I think it's good.

00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:08.000
Emma: And now it's time for a joke or a fact or a meditation with Nova.

00:01:08.000 --> 00:01:09.000
Elsie: Alright, so this week we have an extra special guest. Would you like to introduce yourself?

00:01:09.000 --> 00:01:10.000
Marigold: My name is Marigold. I'm gonna make macarons.

00:01:10.000 --> 00:01:11.000
Elsie: It's recipes with Marigold time. All right, take it away.

00:01:11.000 --> 00:01:12.000
Marigold: So first you need all the ingredients to make macarons.

00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:13.000
Elsie: Yeah. What are all the steps that you usually remember doing?

00:01:13.000 --> 00:01:14.000
Marigold: Well, I'm not gonna start from the beginning because I do not really remember, but I remember this. Okay. First we need to measure all the ingredients and so that we need to make macrons, then pour them into a big ball. Then you pour them into this. Mixer whisking thing. No. And you whisk it and mix it. And after you do that five times, five or four times then you put it into a mixer, add a few other ingredients, turn on the sand mixer and, and while it's mixing. And you check it once in a while. While it's mixing, you can start adding food coloring now you can add any color you want, even mixing colors.

00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.000
Elsie: Amazing. And what colors are your favorites to make?

00:01:15.000 --> 00:01:16.000
Marigold: Pink, blue, and the yellow. Okay. I make them with my uncle.

00:01:16.000 --> 00:01:17.000
Elsie: Yes. And then what else do you do before you bake them?

00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:18.000
Marigold: Well. Before you bake them, you do not just roll them into balls and put them onto a tray like normal cookies. Now, this is an adult part. You have to put them into an icing bag, squeeze them onto this special type of tray, yet with a little mat that has these little circles. And the careful bit is you're trying to get it as, as round as you can and as even as you can too. Once you're done with that, well you have to bang it on the counter or whatever you're using really hard to get most of the air bubbles out. Then you leave it to sitting for about 30 minutes or something like that. And put that and to somewhere where nobody will reach it except you.

00:01:18.000 --> 00:01:19.000
Elsie: Okay, so don't let any toddlers put their hands in it.

00:01:19.000 --> 00:01:20.000
Marigold: Yes ,while it's resting because I've seen what a macro looks like if people touch it.

00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.000
Elsie: Ooh, you've seen it go very wrong.

00:01:21.000 --> 00:01:22.000
Marigold: So once it is halfway out, you can put sprinkles on if you want, but the sprinkles are just a choice. Okay. I'm gonna add that. Once you're done with that, you let it sit out for the rest of its minutes, then it's ready to bake and you put it in the oven. Now this baking is about like 30 minutes too. It's like 40 or 30 minutes. Okay. And once they're done, I'm going to tell how to make the icing. Okay. This is easy, isn't it? Yes, of course. So it's a main, like you can make it a usual icing. Do the same color that you did if you wanna, with the macaron outside bed, or you can make it a different color and make it unique, but make sure you add a little bit less than you did the before, because the shell wants to be darker than the frosting. So I think it's like butter, sugar, and vanilla. And then you would do the like thing. Now I told you about out and keep mixing it, but this one you have to use the stand mixer like we did with the shell. Now, once the shell comes out and your icings done well, you have to refrigerator the icing before you exactly put it on, because it needs to be nice and cold. Now once these macarons cut out, you, you know, like you need to let them cool off a great little bit, and then you put the icing on, put icing on one side, and then put another shell on top of that and, and put that to the side. Keep doing that into all your shells and all your icing. Well, most of it is gone. But this is the last thing that you do not like. Eat it straight. How it gets delicious is you have to refrigerate it for one night.

00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:23.000
Elsie: Yes, we usually don't eat them until the next day.

00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:24.000
Marigold: We just like, we usually plan making macarons on Saturdays so we could just pull them out on Sundays.

00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:25.000
Elsie: Perfect. Okay, well thank you for that lesson. I think people will be very interested to try that at home.

00:01:25.000 --> 00:01:26.000
Marigold: Bye. Enjoy your week.

00:01:26.000 --> 00:01:27.000
Elsie: We would love to hear what is on your cozy Christmas bucket list. If you have anything, please send us suggestions. We're going to do a couple of Christmas rewatches, so we'd love to hear that. And we'd love to hear your listener questions at podcast@abeautifulmess.com.