Monday, December 29, 2008

Putting the stockings away

The day after Christmas this year I had some time to play a little, so I finally embellished my boring salmon colored Christmas stocking with odds and ends I had lying around my studio. Now it's one I'm proud to show Santa.

The post Christmas days have been relaxing and fun. Our family plays well together, so we've been trying out our new games (Rockband and electronic darts in the garage) and getting in some reading and movies, too.

We enjoyed having grandparents visit us and opening our house to friends and neighbors. I really can't imagine being anywhere else than home for the holidays.

Hope yours were happy, too.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Gingerbread Cookies

There were 92 Gingerbread People at the end of the day. These were the ones that made it through tasting, icing, and coffee breaks. Plenty to box up and bring around to the neighbors.

The kids helped a little bit. They were especially interested in the icing, but didn't like the drippy texture, so they quit pretty quickly. I agree, the icing is not much fun to work with, but it's the only stuff that hardens so you can freeze or stack the cookies.

Besides these, I've made:
  • a few batches of peanut brittle
  • chocolate biscotti
  • fantasy fudge
  • snickerdoodles
  • a couple of pans of cornflake candy
  • almond cutout cookies
The goose isn't the only one getting fat! I just realized that I seem to always be wearing pajamas when I bake, come to think of it. Baking days are the days when you don't need to get dressed or made up. (And you can taste and nibble as much as you want in PJs and it doesn't count!)