Did you get it Did you GET IT DID YOU GET IT???

Yep I am shouting... DID you get my box the post office promised MONDAY its now WEDNESDAY....

I hope you got ittttttttttttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Secret Santa

a little peek at this Years Christmas tree

I got two ... thought I share with you..

the big one sits in the kitchen and its red and gold.. the little one sits in my den its silver and blue.  Talk about polar opposites.

To be honest I lean towards favoring the colors of the small one but that big one is awesome and I did it so reasonable in budget!  Less then 40 bucks... of course it helps if the tree was given to me LOL

Last minute craft gift idea

Teacup light
Tools and Materials
*Nested pans
*Partially burned candles
*Candy or candle thermometer
*Tongs
*New wicking
*Teacups
*Wick sustainers
*Wooden skewers

Teacup Lights How-To
1. In a small pan set over a larger pan of simmering water, melt down old candles; clip the thermometer to the upper pot, and keep temperature at about 185 degrees. Remove old wicks with tongs.

2. Cut a piece of wicking to the cup's height plus 2 inches. Clamp one end to a wick sustainer; tie the other end around a skewer. Dip wicking and sustainer into melted wax to coat them. Remove and stick sustainer to cup's bottom.

3. Pour in the wax, stopping 1/2 inch below the cup's rim. Allow wax to set, about 1 hour. The candle will harden with a well in the center. To even it out, use another skewer to prick a circle of holes about 1/16 inch deep around the wick. Pour in melted wax until surface is 1/4 inch below rim. Cut wick.

An old tradition, lost.

We had an old tradition that the Christmas decorations went up the day after Thanksgiving.  We kept to it for a long time.  When I was little the Christmas decorations were upstairs in the attic.  Oh what fun it was when my Mom would pull the attic stairs down and she climb up and started unloading the stuff.  I so badly wanted to sneak up those stairs and see what treasures the attic held.  My mother had visions of children breaking the necks so we were just barely allowed to be on the third step.  No higher.   We had a huge plastic Santa head that would sit on the front door.  We had the electric candles that sat in the window.  We had that ugly looking Christmas tree, the one I have already posted a picture.  It had every ugly ornament that could be found in the ‘70s.  To make it even uglier it had the fluffy garish shiny garland and the shiny tinsel that we lavishly threw on the tree.  We always tried to recycle it for next year but it ended up on the floor, breaking the vacuum and the cat pulling it off the tree.  We always said next year we will not buy any but when next year came around with the box in hand we were lavishly throwing up on the tree again.  Those are all long gone.  The pieces that I still have are: a Santa in a sleigh pulled by two reindeer,

 a ceramic Christmas tree that is missing some of its bulbs

and a nativity set.  There were two nativity sets but one of the mangers finally succumbed to age.   Sadly it was my favorite of the two.  As you can see these are pretty nicked up.

This particular memory took place when we were older and teenagers.  My step father had replaced the tree with this gorgeous thing bought at a specialty Christmas shop.   That was the first time I ever seen flowers tucked into the tree and beads as garland.  From that point on I never used the fluffy tinsel garland and always had the flowers tucked into the tree.

We just had the most wonderful Christmas dinner.  All my step dad’s family was in and the house was stuffed with people.   Night came and everybody made their way to their beds or homes etc.  I had the bright idea to decorate the whole house while they were sleeping.  So I dragged the tree out (it was now stored under the stairs) and dragged all the decorations out.  I put the tree up and the ornaments.  I scattered the decorations all over the house and it was AWESOME.

My sister woke up and did not find it too awesome.  In fact she was pretty durn mad.  LOL.  I took the fun out of the decorating and she let me know it very LOUD and CLEAR!

Yeah I never did that one again LOL.  Well it has been tough getting my tree up this year. It was not put up the day after Thanksgiving that is for sure.  We have a new tradition for that day.  ROAD TRIP!   The nativity scene is still sitting in its plastic box on the love seat.  The cat has been lying on top of it.  Cats are crazy.  The ceramic tree and Santa in his sleigh are still in the attic crawl space (I do not even have the fun of having one of those attics where the stairs come down POUT… it’s a crawl space upstairs)  as  I write this.  But it will be down and out before I post it, as the pictures will show.  I do not write and post at the  same time.  I do the story writing portion while I am work… shhhhhhhhhh!

Brownie cup cakes with surprise in the middle!

These decadent miniature brownies have a Candy Cane Hershey Kiss baked into the center of them, making for a sweet, pepperminty surprise. They’re topped with striped vanilla buttercream and some chunky sanding sugar—it’s like a winter wonderland in one little brownie!

For the brownies you’ll need:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
2 t. vanilla
1/4 t. salt
1 c. flour

For the buttercream you’ll need:

Two sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
2 c. powdered sugar
2 t. vanilla extract (or peppermint would also be delicious!) 

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees (F).

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a microwave safe bowl for 90 seconds to two minutes, on high. Stir the mixture until all the chocolate is melted and combined with the butter. Stir in the sugar until it’s well combined, and then add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and salt, and stir until creamy. Finally, add the flour and stir until just combined.

Fill paper-lined mini cupcake tins with a heaping tablespoon of the brownie batter. Press one Candy Cane Hershey Kiss into the center, and cover with a little bit more of the batter, so the candy is fully covered (the little peak of the kiss might be visible, that’s okay). Bake for about 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the brownie comes out clean. Keep an eye on them, you don’t want to overbake.

Allow to cool, then make the buttercream.

Whip the butter until creamy, then add in the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until it’s fluffy. Whip in the vanilla and then give it a taste and make sure you don’t need more of anything.

To get the candy cane stripes, paint a couple of red stripes of food coloring gel straight up the side of a pastry bag. Then fill with buttercream, and pipe onto the brownies as usual. (If you’re doing this method, you may need to add another stick of butter and cup of powdered sugar to the buttercream recipe to ensure you’ll have enough for all the brownies—piping uses more frosting than just spreading it on.)

Finish with some chunky sugar sprinkles for a frosty touch. And enjoy!

This recipe was created by Megan Seling for Bakeitinacake.com. See more of her recipes at bakeitinacake.com!

Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland  <---- link

looks cool but looks like it would be a mess too!

isnt this the cutest cake ever

 

Snow globe cake----Just decorate your cake with anything you want and cover with a glass bowl