Christmas Goodies

Today my daughters and I spent about 2 hours (or less) and made some quick and easy, but delicious candy, snacks, and other misc. things.

Abbi got home from school and could hardly wait to rip open this box.

After the fiasco of 1997, which I recall being similar to what WWII must've been like, I refuse to ever try to make one by scratch again. I really don't remember much of the story, but I do know that I had at least 3 children under the age of 10 helping me, and after licking my fingers often, I mercifully fell into a self-induced sugar coma. Martha Stewart claims it is so easy, but I don't have a kitchen staff or fully loaded cupboards with all the latest and greatest gadgets. I only have willing hearts and busy hands ... and we love every minute of creating our "kit"!

We lovingly consider Abbi's tongue another appendage that is necessary for her to complete any task that takes concentration and hard work.

Hard-working Alli & Abbi are sipping a cup of Russian Tea that Alli made. In the last several months I had this silly craving for the tea that I remember enjoying as a child, so I looked up the recipe and bought the ingredients and had Alli stir together the powder mix. This is the first time that either one of them had this tea, and they both gave it a thumbs up! We will bag some of it for gifts.

2 cups instant tea

2 cups orange-flavored breakfast drink mix (Tang)

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Add 2 T. to a mug of hot water.

Other items, starting in front: Macadamia clusters (w/white choc. drizzled on top) and cashew clusters, Caramel Almond Crackers, Dipped and decorated pretzel sticks, Peanut Butter Cheerio Snacks (my neice Lindsy's recipe), and way at the end - Peanut Clusters in the milk chocolate and the white chocolate is Haystacks, which is simply chow mein noodles stirred into melted white chocolate and dropped into small piles.

Here is the recipe for the Caramel Almond Crackers. I first had them last February at our Sunday School Retreat and recently asked my friend for the recipe and had a chance to make them. They aren't a usual Christmas goodie but I thought it would be fun to make something a little different, and as you can tell from the recipe it's loaded with calories so I think it'll pass the test on Christmas Day!

Lay one sleeve of Club Crackers on a well-greased pan and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

1 stick butter

1/3 cup white sugar

Bring to a boil and boil for 2 minutes. Add 1 tsp. vanilla.

Pour the hot mixture over the crackers and bake for 8 minutes.

Easy Easy but oh so good!

When we finished with all the Christmas baking, we all (all 6 of us) sat down to a hot supper of ham, boiled red potatoes, green beans, and Orange Fluff (that's what I call it, cuz I'm not sure what it's really called - cottage cheese, dry jello, pineapple, mandarin oranges, and cool whip). We were finally able to catch up on everyone's lives ... GPA comparisons, boyfriend/girlfriend talk, "Quit texting at the table, or I'll take your phone away!", Abbi's News Team homework, winter travel plans and dreams, "Dave you don't need to take that page, it's not an emergency and you're not setting a good example!", ... you get the idea. We just had a real nice family time!

After most of the family had carried their plates to the sink, we reminded/begged Kevin to get out his homework. When he complained, Dad said "either homework or sit down and we'll have the sex talk!" The older two enjoyed some teasing comments directed at Kevin, Dad just waited for Kevin's response, Kevin said he already got that information at school and said he'd do his homework, and Abbi hid under the dining room rug! What a fun family we have! :)