Baking Blunders

On Saturday I devoted my whole day to Christmas baking. After spending two hours at choir practice, I came home and got to work. I wanted to try two new recipes this year but I was confident they would work out fine. The first one I started was a recipe of Martha Stewart's that she makes for her own family every year-- Noel Nut Balls. Sound yummy right? I followed the recipe exactly and things were going along great. However, when I got to the part that said "form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for three hours", I ran into some problems.

The dough was so crumbly it was extremely difficult to get into a ball. It stuck way more to my hands than it did to itself! Finally, after much effort, I got it to mostly stick together. After its three hours in the refrigerator, I was supposed to take the dough out and roll it into balls to prepare it for baking. There was just one problem... the dough was literally as hard as a rock! I couldn't even press my thumb into it at all! I finally ended up putting the whole ball of dough, bowl and all, into the preheated oven to soften it a bit. It worked and I was able to bake them, and roll them in sugar.

Here's the final result. And after all that?? I found them to be not very tasty. They tasted like a ball of crunchy butter with sugar on top. Martha Stewart, where did I go wrong?

The other new recipe I tried was called St. Nick's Dove Sticks. I saw the recipe on the back of the holiday peanut M&M's bag and thought they looked so yummy and easy. First, I had to made a graham cracker crust with peanut butter and margarine. I was to press it into the pan. Slight problem though-- the crust was so sticky it would not press! It did get all over my hands though. I finally got it down using a rubber scraper and proceeded to melt the hundred Dove chocolates (okay, okay, so maybe it wasn't that many but after unwrapping them all it seemed like it!) and pour them over the crust. That part went smoothly and I felt my confidence returning! Finally, I placed M&M's on top of the chocolate and refrigerated it to let it set.

Now, the picture on the back of the bag shows the sticks in perfect little rectangles. However, when I tried to cut them this is what happened:

They were not cooperative. The crust was still very sticky, the chocolate broke into pieces, and everything fell apart, including me! I was so tired after working on these things (plus chocolate covered pretzels) and so bummed that they didn't turn out the way I expected them to.

I was feeling a little teary and so my husband came over, wrapped his arms around me, and said, "Don't worry. We get a lot of Christmas goodies from people that look yucky but they always end up tasting good." Hmmm, thanks?

Next year I am going back to my old stand-bys: Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies, Rachael Ray's Five Minute Fudge, and Chocolate Covered Pretzels. I'm good at those ones and they always look pretty too. And if you were one of the people who were so unfortunate as to get my goodies this year, I'm sorry. Try the Dove sticks though. They may not look pretty but they taste like a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. :)

Just Fake It

A few years ago I went to my mom's employee Christmas party with her. We happened to be in town so my husband and I offered to accompany her as my dad was working. Or maybe he was there and we just went too? Hmm, I'm finding my memory is a bit fuzzy on the details because now I am picturing my little brother there as well and possibly my daughter. Anyhow, I do have a point I promise!

The hostess had the most beautiful tree I have ever seen. It was about twelve feet tall (was a real tree) and ornately decorated to perfection. The presents under the tree were perfectly wrapped too. Each one in it's own square box with sparkly paper and elaborate bows. The gifts all coordinated with the tree in classical harmony. It was so pretty. As I gazed upon the tree through the night, I realized how shabby my presents really did look under my own tree.

I became conscious of the fact that the gifts under my tree were mismatched in cheap paper with ugly shiny bows. We had recently gotten a new Christmas tree and I wanted my presents to not only match my tree but go along with the theme of the room as well.

I decided to start wrapping gifts in kraft paper with a country Christmas theme. The ornaments on my tree are all handcrafted for the most part so I knew kraft paper was the way to go. Plus I love how thick it is which makes wrapping easier for someone like me who is wrapping-impaired. :) I also desired to adorn my presents with fabric bows too but I knew that would be time consuming and expensive.

So this is what I do instead. I just fake it! I put my prettiest presents at the front of the tree. Then I use cheap plastic bows on the ones that go under and at the back of the tree. This way I have the illusion of having all these fancy gifts but without all the work.

It works for me and although my tree will never look like the one I saw at the party, it is now much more me and I like it that way. :)

Christmas Crafting Just for Me

 Last week I took some time off from house upkeep and took some time for myself. I've always loved hand-crafting things but admittedly, the more kids I've had, the more I've set my own interests aside to concentrate on motherhood. I know, however, that I'll be a better mommy if I take time to cultivate my own talents too. So I did!

 First, I created these cute winter snowmen scenes. I love snowmen and most of my Christmas decorations consist of them. These snowmen were so easy too! I have a large collection of scrapbook paper that I don't use often. I tend to be somewhat of a paper hoarder. :) Anyway, I've had some mulberry paper for probably ten years and have never used them because I didn't what to use them for. I discovered, however, that they work well for landscape pictures. I used two different kinds for the snow in my scenes, another for the angel wings and one more for the pine garland too.

I didn't have any white design paper so I made my own by taking plain white card stock and rubber stamping small snowflakes in light tan all over it. The result was rustic-looking paper perfect for country snowmen. Self-adhering buttons and various patterned papers complete my cute snow guys. The words are 3-D scrapbook stickers my mom got me last year for Christmas.

I re-purposed some old wooden frames by first painting them with a shiny bronze paint. Then I applied a crackle medium and let it dry. Finally, I painted a top coat of Rockwood Red paint over the top. I love how they turned out!

And we can't forget this snowman can we? I love wooden crafts. Someday, I hope to have my own saw that cuts out wooden shapes so I can create whatever I want. I bought this guy at Hobby Lobby for a whopping 3 bucks! A little craft paint, some sparkle glaze, and lots of love later and he's all done!

Now I have three cute new Christmas decorations, four happier kids, and one happier me!