Sunday, December 26, 2010

as i recap i turn my thoughts to next year...

after looking back at our wonderful christmas and thinking about christmases past, i'm thinking i should make next year the year i make all (or almost all) of our gifts to other people, homemade. my seester and i are great bakers and pretty crafty so this year we made some monogrammed bags for her team and my managers and a few family members and they were very well received. maybe they were well received because they had homemade cookies, kiflis, cereal snack and chocolates in them and maybe it was just because we put time and love into them. either way they weren't that complicated (except the 21 dozen kiflis but its not like you can only make one or two dozen anyway). i know i said i'd blog a combined list of what we made, maybe more for us to have a bit of a memory of these things but if you want some ideas of what works for us in the mean time, here it is:

21 dozen kiflis (the only thing we bother to count)
macaroons
oatmeal chocolate chip cookies
cutouts
oreo truffles
buckeyes
white trash (white chocolate and peanut butter covered pretzels and cheerios)
peppermint bark
spritz cookies
peanut butter blossoms
thumbprints
brownies
chocolate crackle tops
cereal snack (modified chex mix)

the only thing i haven't made yet is the round pretzel with either a kiss or rolo smushed down by an m&m and chocolate covered peanut butter cracker sandwiches but those will get made for my new year's cocoa party. i've also made home made marshmallos for the cocoa party but i'll blog about that next week.

as for a handcrafted christmas next year i'm not thinking that i'll just bake, i'm thinking that in the coming months i should plan a craft project or two to give as gifts. since i generally shop for everyone all year long anyway, maybe crafting all year long is the way to go. i've seen a few projects that might be just right so hopefully i can keep you posted as i handcraft my christmas :)

Saturday, December 25, 2010

an amazing christmas...

first we had lunch and presents with my husband's family but i didn't take pictures so you'll get the pics from dinner at my grandma's. i got a really good picture of the girls with grandma, perfect for her calendar next year
and the hubs and i looked adorable, hopefully next year he won't be in this old navy fleece, it's made an apperance two years in a row in photos and that's a big no no for methe girls looked adorable in their sweater dressesand grandma's tree (decorated by me) looked great with all of our presents underneath, i'm pretty sure everyone got most of what they wanted and, best of all, we got to spend a great day with each other, and we didn't have to fight the snow because the streets are clear clear clearrockne even got what she wanted, something to chew on that she wasn't going to get in trouble for eating merry christmas everyone, i'll be posting a post-holiday baking list and some photos just to show ya'll what fun we've been having but for now, i'm going to relax with the hubs and watch some tv - we've become highly addicted to 'white collar' and can't get enough, looks like a white collar marathon will be happening every evening until we're caught up!