a new home

Hi all! 

Gracious & Proper has moved to a new home! Please visit us at www.graciousandproper.com. 

As always, thank you for spending time with us!

Blessings, 

Dainele 

holiday menu series: part 3

This is part 3 of a series of holiday entertaining. Start from the beginning here. 

Sweet Endings 

Dessert is my favorite, so I saved the best for last. These are a few recipes that I made this year to give to friends. 

 Ina Garten's Fleur de Sel Caramels

Continue reading here....

holiday menu series: part 2

This is part of a series of menus for holiday entertaining. Start from the beginning here.

Appetizer Gold 

One of my family's Christmas traditions is eating a meal of appetizers on Christmas Eve. My mom always makes our favorites and it is something I always look forward to. Here are some recipes that I often make when entertaining. Enjoy!

1. Knorr Spinach and Artichoke Dip 

continue reading here...

oh christmas tree, oh christmas tree

One of my favorite Christmas memories is going with my family to the tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree. We would search for what seemed hours, which was probably about 30 minutes. We would find the perfect one, bring it home and decorate it. It was magic ya'll. Or maybe it was just magic because I was five and everything at Christmas when your five is magic.

In the last few years we have decided to make it a family tradition to go into the mountains and cut our own tree. Next to Christmas day, it is my favorite thing to do. We start out at my mom and dad's house and have an amazing breakfast. This year I made my breakfast casserole and she made some delicious pumpkin muffins. It just occurred to me that I need the recipe and then I need to share it with all of you. Soon. They were amazing. 

Stuffed to the gills, off we go. 

Chloe, my parents adorable dog always goes with us, she loves the adventure. For the first five minutes, then she doesn't love it anymore and we have to carry her. 

But look at that face. It's worth it. 

This year we found a frozen pond, I was so excited. Then I was mad. Mad because we decided not to take our Christmas pictures up here. Dang it. Next year. 

J would like me to clarify that he did not fall. He was playing. He actually did this on purpose. I do not know why. He is a boy and boys are weird. 

Back to searching...

We usually cut down 5-6 trees. I know. It's a lot. The men are good sports. Being that they have to carry the trees out. 

My brother's tree, that will later be covered with "redneck" ornaments, horns, shotgun shells...ect. He takes great pride in his tree and is so creative. I can't wait to see what he comes up with this year. 

My man cutting down our tree. Swoon. 

Chuck cutting down their mammoth tree. I can not wait to see what my mom does with it. She has a gift. Eek, I can't wait until Christmas! 

Keeping Chloe warm. Priorities. 

Send me a little love note with your Christmas tree traditions! 

Blessings, 

Dainele 

holiday menu series: Part 1

Today we are starting a new series of holiday menus. These are designed to give you ideas for entertaining your people throughout the month, or maybe you need a dish for a potluck. These are recipes that we use all of the time and all of our guests have loved. 

Good Morning

Today I give you the gift of breakfast. And a lot of calories. 

I always make a big breakfast when we have overnight guests. I plan like a week in advance. I love it. They love it. We eat, we drink lattes, we eat some more. It's good ya'll. 

continue reading here....

Giving Thanks

Hi my loves!

I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Aunt and cousins were here from Texas for Thanksgiving this year. We had the most fun possible. We played games, ate, watched Christmas Vacation, ate, played more games. Fun was had by all. Tums were had by all. 

This is going to be pretty much a massive picture post and not much else. If you're not into that- I totally understand. Sign off now, we'll catch each other later.

If you're still here, you are either a. my mother b. another family member c. bored. If you are any of the above, I  love you. Thanks for sticking around.

Cooking together, one of my most favorite things about Thanksgiving. 











Chloe taking a pre-dinner nap. 

Some of were not on board with the picture taking

Stories about Great Grandma...where I get some of my spunk. 

Then there was napping. There are no pictures of this because I was asleep. But then when we all woke up, there was pie. Five of them to be precise. And Aunt Bev made an incredible cheesecake. Lord. I made myself sick.

Even Chloe had a treat.

 Day two: Shopping, hence no pictures. I was much too busy. We had dinner at Maggianos, it was fabulous.

Saturday we headed to Estes Park. Did more shopping, and eating.

They have the cutest candy store. The men spent a good amount of time in there. 

This is Jim. He works at the kitchen store in Estes. Every time I go in there I have to buy something. Because look at him. Adorable. 

Looking for a 'first Christamas' ornament!  Newlyweds are so sweet. Especially these ones!  

This is Chichi the chihuahua. I had to take a picture. I mean look at her. Her owner informed us that she is a therapy dog that goes to Children's Hospital. And her real name is crazy. Like I can't even repeat it because it was in Spanish and it was like seven names long. But man was she cute. And she knows it too. 

And of course we had to stop and pick up caramel apples from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. So. Good. 

We took this before they left. Just couldn't let go. 

I honestly can not remember a better Thanksgiving. We had four days of fabulous and we were blessed to our bones. 

How did you spend your Thanksgiving? Please comment below, I would love to hear all about your traditions! 

Blessings, 

Dainele