The 2010 Christmas Holiday Season

Merry Christmas!

The Christmas holiday came in a flash! Even being 7-8 months pregnant and busy with baby preperations, I manged to squeeze a lot of my favorite holiday activities in this month. Here are a few of my holiday activities....

Handmade Christmas Cards

My girlfriends and I have been making handmade Christmas cards for the nursing home for a few years. We get together for an afternoon and bring out all of our scrapbooking and craft supplies. We cranked out aprox 80 cards this year!

The Cookie Exchange

I hosted my 2nd cookie exchange for 10 of my close friends. We each had to make 6 dozen cookies. I am always nervous to try out new cookie recipes for occasions like this so I stuck to a cookie that's always been a hit, I made the Cranberry Pistachio Mexican Wedding Cake Cookie.

Here is the completed tray of cookies after the exchange. Cookies featured this year were: Peppermint Cocoa Kiss Cookies, Triple Ginger (using crystalized ginger, fresh ginger, and powdered ginger), Red Velvet Cookies, with Cream Cheese Icing, Potato Chip Cookies, Lemon Volcanos, Oatmeal Cinnamon, Butterfinger, Snickerdoodles, Pecan Triangles, and Noels. All so good!

Stocking Stuffers

I have a huge family and a lot of cousins. We usually draw names and do a secret Santa gift exchange, but I also like to give each cousin a little stocking stuffer. This year I have sweet treats packed in paper cones for the guys, and a pair of gloves for the girls. I love how these turned out. Simple cuteness!

Well, I am off to celebrate Christmas with the family. I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I am looking forward to sharing another year with my blogger friends!

Easy No Bake Thin Mints

Tis the season for cookie exchanges, office potlucks, and holiday parties. If you're like me, it can mean you are on a baking overload. So I thought I'd share an easy no bake cookie that's always a hit for the holidays (or if you're craving Girl Scout Thin Mints on the off season).

You only two ingredients:


•Ritz Crackers (I like using the "hint if salt" Ritz Crackers)
•2 pkgs of Andes Creme de Menthe baking chips (I have tried Nestle's mint and chocolate swirl morsels and they don't melt as easily)

Yields aprox 64 cookies (about 1/2 box of Ritz Crackers)

On med-low heat, place your baking baking chips in a double boiler for melting. If you don't have a double boiler (like me), add a couple of cups of water to a pot and place a heat resistant mixing bowl in the pot.



Slowly you chocolate will melt and stir until completely smooth.



Once your chocolate is smooth, dip your Ritz Cracker covering both sides in chocolate.



Place cookies on foil, parchment paper, or even freezer paper and let it cool for about 5-10 minutes.



Once cooled, peel each cookie off the foil and redip the top of the cookie in chocolate. I suggest that you peel all the cookies first, then redip.



These cookies cool really quickly and you can easily make and plate them in 30 minutes. They also freeze beautifully and taste great right out if the freezer.


Enjoy!

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Purple Top and Colorful Treats

My dear friend, Holley, brought me a goodie bag full clothes. This purple top was sitting on top and at first glance I thought they were pajamas. Nope, it was a cute top. I knew they'd be perfect with a pair of leggings. Now I'm all set for a karaoke party!

•Purple top - gifted by Holley
•Leggings - GapMaternity
•Dr Scoll flats - DSW
•Necklace - small store off Harwin

Today I made a run to a different Farmers market. They've got local goods and special treats like these French macaroons. My fav is the pistachio, but the apricot lavender comes pretty close. Aren't they just so pretty to look at?



I hope everyone is having a happy weekend!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday's Go Red Day

Friday was Go Red Day (thanks for the reminder Kimberly). It was 74 degrees today so instead of wearing jeans, I opted for one of my favorite red skirts. Here my Go Red outfit...(sorry it's a little wrinkled, I took the pic at the end of the work day)

brown top - Anthropologie

tank - Target

brown belt - Dots

red pleated skirt - Ann Taylor Loft

brown suede pumps - Ann Taylor Loft

beaded necklace - prize from Ally for this blogger challenge

This weekend is jammed pack with all kinds of things. We started Friday evening with a quick birthday happy hour for a friend of mine and Will's. Afterwards my parents came over for dinner. They brought us some king crab legs and we had such a fab dinner! King Crab Legs are Will's favorite! After, my mom and I made cookies for a party I'm attending this weekend. My friend, Pete, sent me a recipe for Pistachio and Cherry Mexican Wedding Cakes (cookies actually). They are like sand tarts except made with pistachios. They were so good and light. I think they will be perfect for the International Birthday BBQ on Sunday. Thank you Pete for the recipe! Oh and btw ladies, I am looking for a great, light recipe for carrot cake. Let me know if you have a good recipe. Thanks!

As for the rest of the weekend, here what's going down...

• Workout and measurements this morning (weight was the same as last time, but measurements are close to where I was in September which is why the clothes are fitting better again. Yay!)
• The girls are coming over for some mad sewing in about an hour
• Tonight is my brother's girlfriend's birthday celebration
• Sunday is the International Birthday BBQ for a friend
• Late Sunday afternoon is a ladies get together/tea at one of my closest girlfriends.
• Sunday night is church

Whew! Aren't you exhausted from just reading it?

Hope you are all having a fab weekend! Thanks for taking the time to read my madness :-)