Christmas Tidings

We got our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend. We just now (last weekend) got around to putting lights and decorations on it. Come to find out, our christmas tree topper is gone so I had to go buy a new one this year. So here’s our tree…. it makes me smile.

Bo and I have both been collecting ornaments since we were little and have a TON of ornaments, we put less than half on the tree and it’s full already.

I also got around to baking a little. I make pizzelles every year and have been craving Chex mix for months now and wanted to do that as well and Bo has his favorite cookies that his mom makes every year and I said I’d try to make this year for the first time. It’s not going very well so far….

This is the first of my chex mix… 4 pans in the oven going on their 2nd hour of baking now (supposed to be 1) and I ran out of Worshestershire sauce which apparently is what gives it the bold taste so I’m bummed about the flavor of how this might turn out…. if it ever finishes cooking (i doubled the butter so it wouldn’t get dry but now it won’t cook out!)

My mother in law makes these perfect little mini muffin shaped frosted cookies every year. They are Bo’s favorite. Hers are generally perfectly shaped with cute red and green frosting and sprinkles on top. I wanted to do purple but ended up with a plumy-gray color and bo won’t let me sprinkle them so i guess that’s it. They also didn’t turn out in the perfect little mini muffin shape as they stuck in the pans and ripped apart when i dumped them out. They also sunk in the middle. Oh well…

The pizzelles are the flat waffle looking cookies in the back tupperware in the picture above. These are PERFECT! I have been making them for many years and adjust the recipe a LOT every year and finally got it figured out this year and written down. They are JUST how my great grandma used to make them (or at least how I remember them tasting). They were a hit at our bible study party last night as many who have had them before said they tasted authentic or like they had tried before.

I’m done. Ha. Bo and I hung empty picture frames on the wall tonight as well in anticipation of receiving family pictures from all our family members this year for Christmas so we can have a “family wall” in the house with all our families hung on the wall for us to see. This is probably what I am most excited about. I HATE HATE HATE hanging picture frames on the wall for some reason but I NEED pictures to be happy so we got a bunch done tonight and have a bunch more to do tomorrow then we’ll have about 10-12 empty picture frames hung and just waiting for pictures! YAY!

Here’s more of our tree so you can see some of the ornaments…