At the beginning of the year we launched this “Favorite Things” series as a way to highlight some of the fun things going on behind the scenes here at The Touring Camper. We try to post daily over on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, but a lot of what we post on social media we never get a chance to share on the blog. So here are some of our favorite moments from December:
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1. Christmas cookie baking!
For this annual holiday tradition, we tried to reign in on the cookie baking this year and focus on gluten-free versions. And for the most part we emerged with baking successes. Yay! We tinkered with the family chocolate chip cookie recipe to go from gluten-free blah! to bam! We discovered gluten-free chocolate sandwich cookies can be substituted for Oreos in the Oreo truffle recipe. Simply swapping out regular flour for gluten-free flour worked great in our molasses cookies. The yummy King Arthur baking mix sugar cookie recipe rolled out fantastically–and one of our little bakers had fun creating a car and camper, complete with campfire. 🙂
2. A repaired camper!
The week of Thanksgiving Jarrett hauled our camper up to Boyer RV in Erie, Pa., to find out what was causing our camper’s tires to wear unevenly. We soon discovered the culprit: bent axles. (For all the nitty gritty details and what you need to know so this doesn’t happen to you, head over here to this post.)
After diagnosing the problem, it took a couple of weeks for the parts to come in, but the folks up at Boyer were awesome about getting it repaired as soon as possible so we could get the camper home before Christmas. (Which also took some coordination due to all the snow Erie was getting!) And now that the camper is back, we’ve been getting ready for our big winter adventure to Texas–so my new “The Campground is Calling” t-shirt seems like the perfect thing to wear.
3. Amazon’s new photo print service
I am LOVING the new photo printing service through Amazon. At the beginning of December I placed a photo order with another leading print service (I got hooked by the one cent print offer) and payed about $8 to have it shipped–but then I waited two weeks for the order to arrive! With the Amazon photo service, if you have an Amazon Prime membership, all orders ship free, and my orders shipped really fast! I placed four photo orders with Amazon this past month and received one of them within two days and the others within three or four days! I think the prints (which are nine cents for the 4×6 size) are much better quality than what I could get at a local one-hour service, and they are comparable to what I have printed through other mail-order printing services. And with speedy, affordable service like that, Amazon will now be my go-to photo printing service.
4. Cool Christmas gifts
The Lego Creator Vacation Getaways set had been on our 5-year-old’s Christmas list for months. And this set did not disappoint! With a working awning and slide-out, even the adults think it is pretty cool! And yes, it comes with a little picnic table and chairs … plus the neighborhood bear. 🙂 The set can also be transformed into a big boat or vacation cottage–pretty nifty!
How about you: What were your favorite things of December? You can share in the comment section below.
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I’m going to have to try the Amazon print service! I’ve been in mourning ever since Kodak Gallery went out of business a few years ago….
As Martha Stewart would say, the Amazon print service is a “good thing.” 😊