Christmas Day

The biggest box under the tree is for me!



Wow! Star Wars Legos! I love it!



" Ma Baby"



Christmas Morning



Singing Christmas songs

It was a nice christmas. On Christmas eve we went and saw light festivals and toured well-lit neighborhoods. We enjoyed a nice Lasagne dinner at Grandma's and I made peanut butter fingers to snack on all day.

We filled the "white stocking" for Jesus with good goals for the coming year. I think the kids understood it for the first time. A wants to write in her journal once a month and J wants to memorize a scripture.

We gave out books, chocolates, crafts, mixed nuts, clothes, a fishing license, and games to our loved ones. Santa brought oranges and m&m's like he always does, and the gifts under the tree left twinkles in the kids eyes.

Dad- movies and book "Get Smart" and "The Tales of Beedle and Bard".

Mom- movies: Emma, Sense and Sensibility, and What's up Doc

A-6 years old. An art kit with mixable markers, glitter paints, crayons, construction paper, colored paper, scrapbook scissors, regular scissors, and two Tiara Club books.

J-4 years old. A fire truck and a star wars lego ship.

A-1 years old. A baby doll and a noisy sounds and lights toy.

Holiday Baking

Despite how busy this time of year is, I've had a chance to try lots of new holiday recipes. Here are the favorites:

Wassail Mix:

My kids don't really love hot chocolate, so this is a good substitute after playing in the snow.

2 cups orange flavored drink mix
6 TBS lemonade flavored drink mix
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves

Combine all ingreadients and mix well. I use 2 Tbs mix with one cup of hot water, but experiment to your tastes. Keeps up to 6 months. Enjoy!!


Traditional Chex Mix

try baking it in the oven the old fashioned way, it smells soooo good.


School Lunch Peanut Butter Fingers

So we were craving these and much to our dismay, could not find just the right recipe on the internet. "You're kidding!" I said, I've seen these things at every church social my whole life, are they just an old Mormon recipe no one else knows about? So I tried looking through the old ward cookbooks. Sure enough! I'm glad I bought one.

BARS:
3/4 c margarine
1/2 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
3/8 tsp soda
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c oats
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c peanut butter

FROSTING:
6 Tbs water
1 lb (3 3/4c) powdered sugar
1 cube margarine
4 Tbs cocoa

Mix ingredients in bowl. (I found it easier to melt butter and peanutbutter first and then add the eggs last when it was cooled a bit.) Pour into a sheet cake pan and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool, then frost with chocolate frosting.

A sad farewell...

After nearly eight years of pancakes, muffins, cornbread, omelets, grilled cheese sandwiches, cakes, casseroles, perfect calzones, breadsticks, meatballs, chicken nuggets, and lots of other goodies, all cooked perfectly in less time than my oven takes to preheat (about 3-10 minutes). The GT Xpress has worn itself out. I'll miss you little friend. (sniffles)

About Christmas...

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? wrapping paper
2. Real tree or Artificial? artificial, let the real ones keep on growin’.
3. When do you put up the tree? Thanksgiving weekend.
4. When do you take the tree down? New Years.
5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, but I always thin it down, full strength gags me.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I mostly remember looking forward to a toy called fashion plates where you could design your own dresses and color them and any barbie doll stuff.
7. Hardest person to buy for? My husband, he goes out and buys everything he wants before Christmas.
8. Easiest person to buy for? Mother in law, she likes books which are easy to get and thinks whatever you get her is special.
9. Do you have a nativity scene? not this year.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? E-MAIL!!!
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? a five pound (or something ginormous) candy cane, I felt compelled to eat it even though I don’t even like candy canes.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? Its A Wonderful Life.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? November usually.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No, but always the gift bags.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Panetone (Italian Christmas Cake) I can’t believe Dwight and Sarah don’t like it!!!
16. Lights on the tree? Yes, and I totally miss bubble lights, I priced them out this year and they are a small fortune, but maybe someday...
17. Favorite Christmas song? Joy to the World, Sleighbells, O Holy Night, Feliz Navidad.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? I like staying at home, but we always have fun when we travel too.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? Of course!
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Christmas morning
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? Shopping frantically for twenty people who all say they don’t really need or want anything...
23. Favorite ornament theme or color? In addition to the nativity, I like snowmen, penguins, snowflakes, and candy canes. I steer clear of all Santa stuff.
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner? We don’t traditionally have dinner on Christmas, but for Christmas we’ve enjoyed authentic German, Hispanic, Spanish, Mongolian, and other various homemade masterpieces by the talented members of my family.
25. What do you want for Christmas this year? I asked for new carseats, but I’m getting some of my favorite classic movies which will be a lot more fun.
26. Who is most likely to respond to this? I don’t know, this is just for fun.
27. Who is least likely to respond to this? Everyone who reads this after Christmas!

Merry Christmas

Seasons Greetings!















Merry Christmas from our family to yours!