How I Spent My Sunday

I spent my Sunday decorating cookies and covering pretzels and peppermint sticks with chocolate. These are the handmade goodies I give out to my family/relatives at Christmas every year. I think the pretzels are my favorite. It's the mix of the saltiness of the pretzels with the sweetness of the chocolate that is just yummy! These have become a family favorite.

More chocolate-covered pretzels and peppermint sticks.

I finally found peppermint sticks this year right around Halloween at Cost Plus World Market. What I really like about these are that they are soft and chewy. I have been wanting to cover peppermint sticks with chocolate for a few years, but had never been able to find peppermint sticks - you see candy canes everywhere, but the peppermint sticks are not that easy to find.

I made the dough for these gingerbread cookies on Friday night and chilled it overnight. I baked them yesterday and decorated them today. I found this really cool edible glitter (gum arabic) at my local cake decorating shop and I really like the little extra "sparkle" it gives the cookies, although it's a little hard to see in this photo. I am a firm believer that you can never have too much glitter!

What kind of baking do you do each year for Christmas? Do you have a special recipe or cookie/treat that your family and friends look forward to each year? I'd love you to share some of your baking traditions. I think it would be fun next year to do a virtual "cookie swap" where we could all share what we've made with each other. And there's no calories!!! I have some cute tins to put the peppermint sticks and gingerbread cookies in that I had bought last year at JoAnns (and they were like 75% off!), and some cute cellophane bags that I bought at Michaels this year to put the pretzels in. I'll post those photos soon.

It was a very productive day, but I still have lots to do, as we are having Christmas Day at our house this year and I also still have knitting that I'm trying to finish-up. I don't know if I'll be able to finish them to give on Christmas though, as one project has to be blocked after I finish knitting it. I have a feeling these gifts are going to be a little late this year, but that's okay. I should have started sooner, but I thought I would have plenty of time. There's a saying...

Happy Holidays!

With Christmas only six days away and with all that I have left to do to get ready yet, I'm going to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a very Happy Hanukkah a little early. Here's wishing that wherever you are, you are with loved ones and that you have a wonderful holiday.

Santa Came Early!

My SIL sent me this little poem that she found on the internet and I just had to share it with all of you. I bet a lot of you can relate to it ( I know I can!). It gave me a good chuckle:

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas, I'm glued to the tree.
I'm wondering what Santa brought just for me.
Could it be cardstock or chipboard or lace?
"Or a Cricut," I said, with a smile on my face.
And that's when I heard him, "Hi Santa!" I said.
"You know....good little girls should be in their beds."
"I know I should Santa, and now I've got caught.
But I was just so excited to see what you brought."
"Well, let's take a look in this room where you work."
He shook his head quickly, and left with a jerk.
I heard him exclaim as he put it in gear...
"You've got enough crap, I'll see you next year!"

I finally got my TagMate System with sterling silver tags to use for my jewelry and I'm so excited. Infinity Stamps is having a Jewelry Artist Holiday Sale now through January 1st. They are a very easy company to deal with and it only took two weeks to receive my personalized stamp system from start-to-finish. I love the resulting stamp and feel like this is the "icing on the cake", as far as finishing-off my jewelry creations! What are you hoping Santa brings you this year?

One of My Treasures

This is one of my absolute treasures. This is my favorite Tasha Tudor print and the fact that she had signed it makes it even more special to me. My dear friend Karen and I both bought this print, "Laura in Snow", back in 1991 and had Ms. Tudor sign them for both of us. It was known that this was one of her favorites too. I can't believe I've had it that long and that I finally got around to matting and framing it just yesterday. I had always meant to do it sooner, but like a lot of things, I put it in a safe place and never forgot about it, but always thought I would get to it a lot sooner! I always seemed to really remember it around this time of year, but now it finally has a home hanging on my office/craft room wall. I just love being able to look at it - it just brings a smile to my face.

Tasha Tudor was not only an incredibly talented artist and author, but her life is an incredible story in itself. She really lived life on her own terms. She passed away on June 18th of this year at the age of 93! Her family has a website where her prints, books, etc. can still be purchased and her legacy lives on. Be sure to check it out.