What am I up to?

Hello Family, Friends and some new folks!

What the heck am I up to? Well, I’m a self-proclaimed homebody. If you asked me what my true passion is – it’s my home! I believe everyone’s home should be their sanctuary from their busy day-to-day life. Of all the things you can’t control in life – your home is YOUR space to express yourself and be your most comfortable. I’m a mother to two fur-babies, a wife to a hunk of a man and a busy professional navigating the stressful and challenging corporate world.

So why am I doing this? Because the things I truly enjoy – decorating, organizing, entertaining, baking (sometimes cooking), time with my family, art, history, gardening, etc. are my escape and true pleasures in life. So this is my attempt to have fun and share projects, ideas or inspiration to anyone that may be interested…and whenever I feel like doing it!

Your home is your little kingdom that you reside over in this world. I am the Duchess of my domain …hence the name! 🙂

I’m starting at the best time of Year! Christmas!!!

We spoil ourselves this time of year and we love nothing more than to spoil our loved ones. Indulge! Enjoy the down time from work.  It flies by and we all need to slow down and enjoy each other. Try not to be a perfectionist (which I admit – I am too guilty off and have to work harder to catch myself).

This year will be a different Christmas for me and my family. Usually we host my husband’s family earlier in December and then on Christmas Eve we go to my Great Aunt’s (which we’re still doing this year 🙂 ) and Christmas Day we do brunch at my parents and dinner with our whole extended family of Brown’s and Bradley’s —- I know! Crazy right! We’ve sat down to dinner with as many as 35 people! It’s a busy 2 days, but I’ve loved the tradition. But the families are growing and we need to start making new traditions with smaller groups. I couldn’t be more excited after a very busy last few months to spend quality time with family on a more laid back Christmas Day.

Even though things will be different this year. I thought I’d start with a few tips that I do to lessen the stress:

Take breaks! don’t wear yourself out trying to be the best or have it be perfect. Your guests will be as comfortable and de-stressed as you are as their host. So chill out – I usually snack on something yummy and drink copious coffees or teas (or …a glass of prosecco).

I plan ahead! In late fall I start pinteresting some new ideas, appetizers, flower arrangements, gift wrapping, cocktails, dinner and dessert ideas. Sometimes I cook something a little different from turkey – 2 years ago I made a Beef Wellington with Red Wine Sauce (click link for recipe)- and it was a huge hit! What’s great about this is you can prep and make the Wellingtons a day in advance and just brush with egg-wash, bake and serve! So much less stress than a turkey. But, this is not a cheap recipe – Beef Tenderloin is $$$ but so are Turkeys! This dish does require quite a bit of  prep and can seem daunting – but dive in one step at a time and you’ll be amazed how much easier it gets each time you make it.   I love the flexibility of having it done before guests arrive and it’s always a hit!

Most years I make a dessert for our big family Christmas Dinners – my Chocolate Raspberry Torte does not disappoint (click link for recipe). I love this one as well because it can be done in advance. It looks stunning and I even drizzle some warmed up raspberry jam about an hour before so it really shines and dazzles! It’s a lovely decadent dessert but it can be cut into small pieces so it’s not a super heavy post-Christmas dinner dessert. It’s also thin layered torte. I absolutely love this recipe! It’s my go-to! I hope you try it and love it too!

I decorate well ahead as well- usually mid to late November (always after Remembrance Day). I do this for 2 reasons 1) decorating stresses me out – the process is not for me and 2) I like to add and tweak things until it’s perfect.  I love the results when it’s done. Christmas just warms up the house.

To see more on The Burloak all decorated check out “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” post.

I have many more posts to come that I’ll be working on when I’m on vacation later this month:  some more holiday related posts, like My 2018 Favourite Things, My annual visit to Prince of Wales Hotel in Niagara-on-the-Lake (one of my favourite places! with my favourite girls!), and some projects on organization, etc are to come. I will also be doing some posts on my Italy trip this past fall and many others!

Welcome. Thanks for checking out my site. I hope you enjoy. More to come!

Tori