Catching up on the Weekend

The boys were super excited to be on break this past Friday and each invited a friend to sleepover.  WD's friend and teammate, Bieber Hair, stayed over. WD & BH spent pretty much the entire day and a half like this:

Sitting together on their laptops.  I don't get it, but they are on vacation.

SB and Princess were kept occupied with the making of a gazillion glittered snowflakes.  I let small children use spray adhesive and glitter, you can only imagine what my floors look like.

Matching hoodies - "We're twins!"

SB & P also helped make biscuits for all of the dogs we know.

The two took turns with each step.  We ended up making 2 kinds of biscuits, Pumpkin Molasses biscuits as well as Peanut Butter biscuits.

They even helped box up and deliver the treats.

Christmas Eve we hosted our friends for our annual "Orphan's Christmas" dinner.  They're from Buffalo and we're from Rochester, but we both like to have our kids wake up in their own beds Christmas morning.  We've been getting together for 8 years now.

Some of the desserts - ignore the crackers, the packages hadn't been put away yet.

It's such a fun tradition.  We always play games like Cranium and the girls always win, though there were some accusations of cheating this year.  I can't help it if I know my friend so well that when she puts down a pointy lump of clay, I can shout out mannequin for the win.

After our friends head home, we put out cookies and milk for Santa and the boys go to bed.  I try to make it in bed before midnight.  The boys were up whispering at 5:30(much later than last year,) and I kept them quiet until almost 6:30 when CG got up.  They're allowed to check out their stockings and Santa gifts on their own, but have to wait for CG to be up to unwrap the other gifts.  The gift opening started in an orderly fashion.

Both boys were really pleased with their gifts.

By 7:30 this is what my living room looked like.  I left that mess for a few hours.  Sometimes a mess is a happy thing.  We spent the day hanging out, trying out the new games, and building Legos.  CG and SB even spent the entire day in their new Christmas pjs.  The perfect low-key Christmas day.

Thanks for popping in and sharing my weekend with me.

Christmas Baking

I've been in go mode for the past week, and haven't had a moment to sit with at my computer and visit with my on-line friends lately.  It's just been go, go, go.  I hope to carve out some time today and tomorrow to do that.  Here's what I've been up to - I was called for jury duty - yuck.  I know it's my civic duty, but the week before Christmas?  There was a road trip to Wilkes Barre for an elusive item on my BFF's son's Christmas wish list.  I'd show it to you, but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise.  I've also been baking.  I made Gingerbread Stars and Frosted Sugar Cookies for the staff at SB's school.

I also made melted snowman cookies

and snowman heads

for SB's class party. 

 How did I make it to his party this week when I was called for jury duty?  I may have mentioned that I carry a knife with me at all times(a leathermen, because they're useful,) and my firm belief in the right to use deadly force in defense of yourself or others when questioned during voir dire.  This was a jury being pulled together for a stabbing case.  I know shirking jury duty is horrible, but SB jumped up and gave me a big hug when I walked into his class.  He won't always be so excited to see me.

I also made these Cheesecake on a Stick Christmas trees.

I started with my no-crack-never-fail cheesecake recipe that I've shared with you here.  Skip the crust, it'll just crumb up the chocolate when you dip them.  Bake and let cool.  After it's refrigerated for a few hours, I use my cake leveler to slice it up into 12 wedges.  You can use a clean piece of wire or dental floss to slice it, too.  You'll end up with much cleaner slices than with a knife.

Next place a popsicle stick into each wedge.  If you push too close to the surface, it may crack a little, but it'll all be covered in chocolate, so it won't matter.  Freeze these overnight.

Melt 24 oz of semi-sweet chocolate, and dip or spoon the chocolate over the frozen cheesecake pops.

The chocolate will set up pretty quickly.

Meanwhile melt yellow candy melts and pipe into stars.  Pop them in the freezer for a few minutes to harden.

Melt green candy melts and pipe a squiggle on each chocolate covered cheesecake.

Press a star into the top of the squiggle before it sets up.

Thanks for popping in and baking with me.

More Christmas Decor

I've shared a few glimpses at this year's Christmas decor around my house like my sheet music wreath and glittered bell wreath here and here.  Here's a few more looks at some more Christmas touches around the house.  Every year, I decorate a rosemary tree with cookie cutters for my kitchen peninsula.

I like to place garlands over the doorways, and love the way this one frames the view into the great room.

I showed off the ginormous fresh tree here all decked out in silver and gold.  Down in the basement rec room, we have a more colorful tree.  This little faux tree needs a bit of fluffing to look right, but one tree is all I can remember to keep watered.

It's trimmed with vivid color, sports team ornaments, and storybook characters like little Olivia(the pig.)

This year's mantel got a dose of color, too.  Last year I went with a black & white photo wreath.

This year It's all about color.

Thanks for popping in and checking out my Christmas home.  I'm linking up to Between Naps on the Porch's Metamorphosis Monday.

This Year's Tree

2 weekends ago, we trekked out to Kretzmer's tree farm to bag ourselves the perfect tree.  I shared pics of our tree hunt last year here.  This year we had warmer weather(no snow,) so the kids weren't as bundled, and my camera went on strike, so you'll get this pic of WD(whose arm is not in a sling this year) horsing around on a tree stump karate kid style.

And this pic of my BFF in front of the barn, both taken with my camera phone.  Your eyes aren't playing tricks on you.  That sign is right.  $20 for any tree, even the ginormous one we bring home every year.

Our tree sat naked for much longer than usual, because our lives got in the way, but tonight we carved out the time to decorate it.  For reference on height, that's an 8 ft ladder that SB is on.

We collect gold plated brass ornaments everywhere we go.  Cinderella's coach at Disneyland, the space shuttle at the Smithsonian, etc.

This means that every year gold appears on our tree.  Last year our tree was red and gold with popcorn and cranberry garland.

And this year, it's silver and gold.

And here it is all lit up.

Thanks for popping in and checking out our tree.  I'm linking this up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party.

Cookie Swap Parties

Thanks to Duncan Hines for sponsoring my writing. There's no limit to the baking possibilities, so grab your favorite Duncan Hines mix and Comstock or Wilderness fruit fillings and Bake On! http://www.duncanhines.com/.

December is a time for parties and entertaining.  There are class parties, office parties, and holiday open houses.  We always host an "Orphan's Christmas" on Christmas Eve for our friends whose extended families live elsewhere.  There's no secret that I love to bake(and eat) cookies, and one of my favorite types of December gatherings is the cookie swap.

image via

You'll want your invitations to go out early in the month, because December social calendars fill up fast.  It's a little late in the game, but you can right click on these to print them from your browser.  You can slip these in an envelope or send them postcard style to save on postage.

The way a cookie swap works best is with 6-12 guests.  Each guest brings one type of cookie, a dozen per guest.  One dozen is unwrapped and set out for sampling and each guest leaves with one dozen of each cookie brought.  I think it's nice for the host to provide pretty containers to bring the cookies home in.  You can grab takeout containers for very little and personalize them with pretty paper or ribbons.  For those of you with a Silhouette, I'm pretty sure there's a takeout box template.

What's a cookie swap without some cookie inspired cocktails?  How about a Naughty Girl Scout(thin mint flavor in a cocktail glass,) or a Peppermint Bark Cocktail?  Rim the glass with some colored sugar and mix together 1 oz vanilla vodka, 1 oz Godiva's white chocolate liqueur, 1/2 oz peppermint schnapps or white creme de menthe, and drop a piece of peppermint bark in the bottom of the glass.  Use a candy cane as a stir stick.

Thanks for popping in and partying with me.

Remember to check out Duncan Hines' website http://www.duncanhines.com/ to find some great recipes for your holiday get-together! I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective.

Fa La La La La

I love to fill my home with music at Christmas.  I'm one of those people with a zillion Christmas albums.  That's right, I said albums, not 400 songs on my iPod.  With that in mind, I thought I'd make a sheet music wreath.

These are so simple to make, that I'm thinking about putting one in each window.  I started with some old sheet music.  I'm lucky enough to have an enormous stash(3 suitcases full) of very old sheet music with yellowing edges, but you could use new and tea stain them.

I rolled each sheet into a cone and hot glued the edge.  This can be done in front of the tv.

I glued some sheet music to a cardboard circle,

and glued the cones around the circle adding a layer on top of the base layer, and another layer of half sheet cones on top of that.  I made a ruffled circle to cover up the center of the wreath with some more sheet music and hung the whole thing by hot gluing a ribbon to the back.

I'm debating on whether or not to glitter the edges of the cones.  It is Christmas after all, and who doesn't like some sparkle.

Thanks for popping in and crafting with me.