Brief Summary
Jamerrill Stewart shares a glimpse into her preparations for a Christmas party, focusing on food, decorations, and activities. She highlights making Pop-Tart houses, stocking up on various candies and snacks, and preparing homemade royal icing. She also mentions her participation in line dancing events and an upcoming writing conference where she will be speaking. The video showcases her efforts to create a festive and enjoyable experience for her family and friends, despite a busy schedule and personal challenges.
- Preparing for a Christmas party with Pop-Tart houses and lots of candy.
- Balancing homemade and store-bought items for convenience.
- Participating in line dancing events for personal well-being.
- Promoting a Christian writers conference where she will be speaking.
Intro
Jamerrill Stewart discusses her busy week, which included preparing farm-raised chickens, grass-fed roasts, and homegrown potatoes. Despite these efforts, she focuses on sharing the junk food and Christmas party food she has prepared. She mentions having one of two Christmas trees up and expresses pride in managing various activities.
Pop-Tart Gingerbread Houses
Jamerrill is preparing to host a Christmas party with an expected attendance of 20 to 30 people, where they will make Pop-Tart houses. She recalls making 100 graham cracker gingerbread houses in the past and more recently doing smaller poptart houses. She plans to make at least 20 Pop-Tart houses using Great Value frosted cherry toaster pastries, requiring six individual poptarts per house. Each box of 12 poptarts makes two houses. She is providing the houses, a variety of candy, and icing for the party.
Candy and Icing Preparations
Jamerrill has purchased a variety of candies for the party and plans to set up tablecloths on the table. She is asking each family to bring a random finger food, similar to a church potluck. She bought Great Value icing but prefers to use royal icing, which acts like glue, to assemble the houses. She intends to make homemade icing but acknowledges she might resort to store-bought icing if time is short. The houses need to be assembled 24 to 48 hours before the party.
Additional Party Supplies and Food
Jamerrill shows a variety of candies, sweatshirts, and jackets for guests. She has bowls of candies, plates for the houses, gummy bears, gummy worms, winter green candy canes, peppermint candies, Skittles, and fun-size random candies. She also plans to use sprinkles and is considering asking each family to bring a bag of candy and a finger food. She has icing for the houses and powdered sugar for homemade icing.
Gluten-Free Options and Weekend Meals
Jamerrill includes gluten-free options like rice cakes, Annie's granola bars, and Amy's chili for those with dietary restrictions. She mentions relying on Walmart and Costco freezer meals due to a lack of homemade freezer meals. For the weekend, she plans a pizza night with Great Value pizzas, chocolate milk, Costco meatballs, barbecue or marinara meatballs, gluten-free ice cream, corn dogs, and nuggets. She also restocks paper plates.
Christmas Party Preparations
Jamerrill bought four boxes of cherry and five boxes of frosted cookies and cream poptarts, along with six boxes of strawberry poptarts. She also purchased bananas, Granny Smith apples, red delicious apples, strawberries, and blueberries. She got paper fans, Pioneer Woman cookies for Santa napkins, a Merry Christmas sign, disposable tablecloths, snowflake plates, Christmas tree plates, and plastic utensils. She also restocked glue sticks for her kiddo's glue gun.
Vision Christian Writers Conference
Jamerrill promotes the Vision Christian Writers Conference in Mount Herman, which she will attend and speak at in April 2025. She encourages viewers to join her, providing a link and a coupon code "jam15" for 15% off registration. The registration includes room, 12 meals, morning tracks, afternoon workshops, evening worship, speakers, Sunday service, night owls event, and appointments with literary agents and publishers. She highlights the inclusive nature of the conference and its location in the coastal redwoods.
Weekend Activities and Line Dancing
Jamerrill mentions her participation in line dancing, which her therapist recommends for its bilateral stimulation benefits. She has a line dancing event and will be in a parade with her line dancing group. She plans to have pizza night while she is at her line dancing event and corn dogs while she is in the parade. She expresses excitement about these activities for her well-being.
Royal Icing Preparation
Jamerrill is making royal icing for the Pop-Tart Christmas houses. She is preparing for a dinner event and has meatballs in the slow cooker. She mentions that one of her teens will make four dozen deviled eggs for the party. She reflects on her busy weekend, including line dancing events and a Christmas parade.
Icing and Campfire Party Plans
Jamerrill adds ingredients to make royal icing. She plans a campfire party with hot dogs and s'mores between Christmas and New Year's with a friend and her kids. She hopes to add food coloring to any leftover icing for the party.
Assembling the Pop-Tart Houses
Jamerrill adjusted her egg white math and added more powdered sugar to help the icing stick. She stayed up late assembling the Pop-Tart houses and is pleased that they stayed up overnight. The icing looks like snow dripping on the houses.
Final Thoughts Before the Party
Jamerrill encourages moms in hard situations not to worry if they cannot make Pop-Tart houses. She emphasizes the imperfect nature of the houses and expresses excitement about hosting friends. She mentions having about 12 kids, in addition to her own, and their parents coming to the party, totaling about 20 to 22 people plus her household of 10. She plans to place a Walmart order for last-minute items.
Last-Minute Walmart Order
Jamerrill received a Walmart delivery with cheese, crackers, pepperoni, salami, shrimp, cocktail sauce, pretzel sticks, marshmallows, and additional candy. She also got more mayonnaise for deviled eggs.
Hobart Mixer Introduction
Jamerrill introduces her Hobart Mixer, which she acquired through Facebook Marketplace after her Kitchen Aid mixer broke. A friend found the mixer for her, and she is now cleaning and preparing it for the party. She asks for help naming the mixer and plans to add stickers and magnets to it.
Kitchen Setup and Stickers
Jamerrill shows her kitchen setup, including a magnetic strip for utensils and two mixers: a Kitchen Aid from Costco and the new Hobart Mixer. She applies stickers with inspirational messages to the Hobart Mixer.
Party Setup
Jamerrill shows the party setup with paper tablecloths, a tea station, cookies, meat and cheese platters, mandarins, blueberries, deviled eggs, shrimp, and meatballs. The Pop-Tart houses are arranged as a centerpiece, and there is a large amount of candy.
Party Success and Leftovers
Jamerrill declares the Christmas decorating party a success. She packs bags for three children who could not attend, including candy and house excitement. She shows some of the creations, including her toddler's first attempt.
