Celebrating Families this Holiday Season

Some of you might know about our family’s difficulty conceiving years ago and were told that the only way I would get pregnant was if I went through months of fertility drugs and artificial insemination due to hormonal issues I was having at the time. Since my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer at a young age  (48), I wasn’t too keen on disrupting my hormones with drugs.  Hearing those words in the doctors office was very painful and I remember feeling like I was somehow failing – myself and my husband. I think feeling this way is pretty normal when you are told you cannot have a child naturally and it can be very devastating. Something that should come so naturally just wasn’t happening that way for us. We talked about how important it was for us to raise a family together so we looked into other options to expand our family and started researching about adoption. We were so excited to have this available to us!

My husband’s cousin adopted both her adorable boys through the state so we looked into adopting through the state, an attorney who specialized in adoption,  as well as through a private adoption agency.  We decided to start with the private adoption agency and were starting to put together our family book that the birth mother would look at to decide if she would like to meet us. I remember feeling blessed that this option was available to families. Not only for the child but for couples like my husband and I.

American families have changed over the years.  I love that adoption is an option for the array of families we are seeing today.  More than 1.5 million American families ^[4] have been touched by adoption and it is something that we have spoken about since my daughter was born nine years ago (a miracle in itself really). We even went to a couple agencies to look into adopting a brother or sister for our daughter and are still thinking about this wonderful option to extend our family!

Honey Maid has long recognized and celebrated that while the makeup and day-to-day lives of families have evolved, the idea and importance of wholesome family connections remains the same.  I grew up eating graham crackers and would eat them for breakfast in a bowl of milk.  Nowadays, we eat their Teddy Grahams for a quick on-the-go snack or for family movie night!  Honey Maid has evolved over their 90 year history and offer families wholesome products made with whole grains and real honey.  You won’t find high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors in their products!  I am always amazed at the foods that are filled with junk marketed for kids.  I love that Honey Maid is offering us moms healthy alternatives!

Here is our favorite recipe that will take you less than 5 minutes to put together for your next family movie night! Cozy up by the fire, grab a cup of hot chocolate and this yummy and easy Teddy Graham Popcorn Treat!  Enjoy!

You will need:

Teddy Grahams (they come in six delicious flavors, including honey, chocolatey chip and the new Teddy Birthday Cake flavor.

Air-popped popcorn

Pretzel sticks

Mixed nuts

Popcorn Bags (found at your local grocery store in the popcorn section)

Mix the popcorn, pretzel sticks and Teddy Grahams together in a large bowl.  Everyone’s preference is different but we used 3 cups popcorn, 2 cups pretzels, 1 cup Honey Teddy Grahams, 1/2 cup mixed nuts.

Mix together and viola – snack for movie night!

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.