1st Snowman

Hi all,
I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas & that everyone is enjoying some family time.  I'll be back after the 1st of the year to share some pics.  For now, here is how we spent our afternoon today.  That's right, a few days after Christmas, but finally we got snow!  The girls are so excited and today they made their 1st snowman with Dada (I don't really do snow, being from the south & all, so I just let him take the lead :).  I have to give my husband credit, he had to add water to the snow b/c it is so powdery & not wet enough to make a great snowman, so this snowman was quite a feat!  Last year (2012 post Sunny snow day) Ella was too small to enjoy the snow & Jessie did enjoy it, but not like this year.  This year Jessie is rolling around in it & loving it.  Ella is also enjoying it, but I will say she has a difficult time walking in it & gets mad every time she falls down.  Enjoy this snapshot of our family :)

1st snowman December 2012

Market Square 2012

This is probably my last posting for the year--Michael is off for 11 days, so I'm sure we'll be busy around here.  I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas & Happy New Year!  This last weekend we had a fun family outing to Market Square in downtown Pittsburgh.  We saw so many beautiful lights & gingerbread houses.  Of course, the girls enjoyed it, but they will enjoy it even more in years to come.  They also had some hand-made Santas from around the world, which Ella loved, she calls him "Ho-Ho".  Enjoy a few pics of our outing & have a great day!

This is the family pic we put on our Christmas cards......Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Not a great picture, but here's what our Christmas cards look like this year.  I printed them through Mpix & really think the quality is excellent!

Christmas Candy Cane Blossoms

What with my holiday baking beginning this week, I thought I'd share a new recipe I stumbled across on Pinterest.  I made these for Jessie's class Christmas party & they were a huge hit, they are pretty enough that I'd include them in our gift tins (I always give Michael's colleagues a cookie tin filled with homemade goodies for Christmas).  Here's the recipe & some pics of the ones I baked with Jessie girl :)

Candy Cane Blossoms

recipe from Hershey's

1 bag Hershey;s Kisses brand Candy Cane Kisses

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 egg

2 cups all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons milk

Red and Green colored sugar

Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove wrappers from candies (approx. 35)

Beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and egg in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternatively with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Roll in red and/or green colored sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 - 1o minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookies is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Yields approximately 35 cookies.

This was mine on the cookie sheets before they went in the oven, it was kind of trying for an OCD person like myself to get the little candies distrubuted evenly, but in the end they turned out fine, if I were to make them again, I wouldn't put candies on the bottoms of the cookies

Aren't they festive??

Pretty enough to eat

Here's a look at the gift tins I did this year.  I simplified them some from years past as I have gotten a little behind & I'm trying to beat the impending snow!  I settled on cheesecake brownies, homemade toffee dipped in chocolate & nuts, candy cane blossoms, & gingerbread.

And of course, I did have 2 little taste testers, who I am sure made everything sweeter :)  Here's the littlest elf helping out with the taste testing.  The brownie batter was a huge hit (I realize I shouldn't give my kids brownie batter due to the raw egg, but a little won't hurt :)