Christmas Eve

I LOVE Christmas and Christmas Eve.  It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

This evening, before church, we went to the Parade of Lights and Fireworks at the Fairmont Ski Resort, here is one of the pictures I took during this event:

After church when we got home we found that the "elves" had already been through to deliver the special Christmas pajamas, and in addition my son's reindeer treat bowl!  I have to thank the Alyssa elf for this, because when my son painted the bowl for the reindeer a few weeks ago at Crock A Doodle I did not have time to go back and get it.  Thankfully, Alyssa elf saved the day and got it picked up and delivered to him in time for Christmas Eve.  Thank You Alyssa!

We filled the bowl with popcorn, because of course reindeer don't eat cookies!

Merry Christmas to All, and to all a Good Night!  I wish everyone a Very Merry and Creative Christmas!

Kathy

Cookies for Santa

For the second Christmas in row we are spending Christmas in the Rocky Mountains.  I really do recommend that everyone should try this once, it really does make Christmas magical!

My son of course was worried how we would leave Santa cookies if we were not at home to bake and apparently the bought ones left out last year, simply were not good enough for Santa (so he thought).

So, this year I came prepared:  I measured out all the ingredients into plastic bags before we left home, and simply had to add non hydrogenated margarine, vanilla and eggs today to bake the cookies. I know I am simply GENIUS!

The end result:

Hope Santa likes them!

The recipe for these is:

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies

3/4 cup non hydrogenated margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsps vanilla

2 tsps cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup white chocolate chips (I use Bernard Callebaut)

1 cup dried cranberries

Mix ingredients together.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 - 10 minutes.  Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Knitting in the Toyota (again)...

I finished knitting my sock on the five and a half hour drive from Edmonton to Invermere.

Tried it on and it is super cozy!  I love the fun colors of it too!

Now, to get started on the other one....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Stampin' Up Rescue

My son always gives his classmates treats for holiday occasions. Over the past couple of months I have collected things such as flavored hot chocolate packets, Lindt Teddies, and of course a Christmas pencil.

Now, with all this preparation one would think I would have this all organized....NOT.  

Another Red Eye Craft, as I was putting these bags together near midnight last night.  Not sure at that hour how I was going to make these "Top Drawer" until I remembered that I had the Snow Festival Designer Series Printed Tags from the Stampin Up Holiday Mini Catalogue.  

A bit of last years (OMG another use for old product) Cherry Cobbler Quilted Satin Ribbon, and we have treat bags for the Grade3/4 class!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

 

Kathy

Oh Christmas Tree, how little and wee...

When I was a kid, I think every old lady that I knew of had one of these trees.  Well, now that I am almost an old lady I decided I had better have me a ceramic Christmas tree.

Thanks to Crock a Doodle in Spruce Grove, Alberta, I now have one of these 14" wonders.

I painted the bisque with one of their "Simplicity" glazes and LOVE how it turned out.  Makes the house feel a bit more festivy (not really a word), since I have not really done any decorating this year!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Mint Chocolate Nanaimo Bars

I love mint!  There I said it. Even at the free ice cream lunch at work today, one of my scoops was mint chocolate chip.  I purchased a bag of Mint Chipits a while back, for some reason, and noticed the recipe on the back for the Mint Chocolate Nanaimo Bars.  They looked delicious!

So, for the past three evenings, I have been layering them one layer at a time to ensure that no layer melts into the next, and TAH DAH!

Early this morning, I cut the bar into pieces and placed in the cute little house boxes in the background and took them in to work with me.  Hope everyone likes the taste and .....

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy

Gingerbread People

Last evening my son and I took out the gingerbread cookie dough from the refrigerator and baked these Gingerbread Men.  After the cookies were cool, we iced them with left over butter cream icing.

The recipe for these cookies is below:

 

Gingerbread Cookies:

1/2 cup non hydrogenated margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsps white vinegar
1 egg
3 cups flour
1/2 tsps baking soda
2 tsp ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
2 tsp Gingerbread Spices

In a sauce pan mix together margarine, sugar molasses and vinegar.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Let cool and add egg.  Add mixture to remaining ingredients.  Wrap in roll and refrigerate for 2 hours.  Roll out and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Enjoy!

Hope this inspires your own creativity...

Kathy