Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Vol. 4

Christmas Day, finally! our day started with a Creamer Christmas tradition, pinwheels. this is an easy, tasty, and non-messy breakfast to have white opening presents. Basically, you just roll out crescent dough, pressing the seams together. Then you spread out 1/2 lb. (1/2 tube) Jimmy Dean maple sausage. Roll into a log lenthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch rounds. Bake for about 13-15 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. Delicioso!


Then, we opened out presents, from Santa and all but Zachary's. Danny was excited about his hot wheels dinosaur...

Megan loved her hippie nutcracker...

and George loves his set of Law Enforcement Memorial lapel pins.

Sorry, not publishing any pics of my in my pjs, but trust me, I loved my gifts.
We all loved all of our gifts!

Especially Harley, who literally went crazy over her toy soldier. we inspected the carnage later, and...

Poor toy soldier.

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.