Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Vol. 3

Christmas Eve was filled with an attempt to go to church (it was packed and rainy, maybe next year), a lasagna dinner, opening new pajamas for everyone, and putting out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for reindeer. The kids were so excited they could barely stand still.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Vol. 2

The night before Christmas Eve, and George and I spent a quiet night of wrapping and getting ready for Christmas - the kids were at Gran-ma and Papa's house! We got everything done, and took some time to get some pics of the decorations.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Vol. 1

The week of Christmas, we had a relaxing time around town. Our first stop was Dorothy B. Oven park, for a little Christmas light watching. It is hard to convey the beauty of these lights through pictures, but I think George did a fine job. These are some great pics. It was cold, but our love kept us warm! (Cheesy, huh?)

Christmas Baking this weekend

Today after church and into tonight, the kids and I did some Christmas baking. We started out by baking ginger bread cookies,


and iced them in very interesting ways,


Then we moved on to one of the most addictive substances known to man, or at least to us - Chex Muddy Buddies, or as my friend Kara likes to call it, "Dog Chow." The recipe is on the back of the Rice Chex box, but I'm sharing anyway.

9 Cups Corn, Rice, Wheat or Chocolate Chex cereal (or combination - I use 3 cups each of corn rice and wheat)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup creamy natural peanut butter

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Into a large mixing bowl, measure cereal; set aside.

2. In 1-quart microwavable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter uncovered on High 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 30 seconds longer or until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour mixture over cereal, stirring until evenly coated. Pour into 2-gallon resealable Ziploc bag.

3. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag: shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

I can't wait until Christmas Day!

The new Sherlock Holmes movie comes out on Christmas Day, and we are all excited. He is one of our favorite literary characters of all time. The movie creates a new cinematic type of Holmes, and it looks exciting and action-packed. It is also directed by Guy Ritchie in a very Guy Ritchie-style. As a sidebar, Ritchie also happens to be a fantastic looking Brit who is also recently single again - What was Madonna thinking? Leaving Guy Ritchie for A-Rod? Anyway, we're counting the days.