Archive for December, 2010
Christmas Cookie Favorites
Posted by: | CommentsLooking for some cookie recipes?
I wanted to share a couple of my family’s favorite Christmas Cookie recipes with you… the ones we make every year. (Always multiple batches!) They are great for cookie exchanges and travel well.
The original cookie recipes came from a Taste of Home magazine years ago…
Very easy and very delicious- you must bake more than one pan!
12 graham crackers (4 3/4 inches x 2 1/2 inches)
2 cups miniature marshmallows
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup flaked coconut
Line a 15″ x 10″ x 1″ baking pan with foil (I like to use parchment paper, or spray the foil.). Arrange graham crackers in pan; cover with marshmallows. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Spoon over marshmallows. Sprinkle with almonds and coconut.
Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes, until browned. Cool completely. (I like to remove the foil or parchment from the pan, put on a cutting board and to use a chef’s knife for the cutting.) Cut into 2″ squares, then cut each square in half to form triangles. (Makes about 6 dozen)
(For a twist, you can add mini-chocolate chips when you put on the coconut and almonds.)
Similar to spritz by MUCH easier! Delightfully light, crisp and almond flavored, be warned… you can’t eat just one!
Here is a link to the recipe- ready to print and bake!
While you are baking, remember to turn on some Christmas music… it will make the cookies turn out better and if you are dancing and singing while you are baking and tasting, the calories consumed dissolve…. 
Some ideas for fun cookie baking music…
Lenka: All My Bells are Ringing
Kenny Chesney: All I Want for Christmas is a Real Good Tan
Brenda Lee: Rocking Around the Christmas Tree
Elvis: Santa Claus is Back in Town
Happy dancing and cookie eating!
My 12 Favorite Christmas Songs
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I have prepared a list of my top 12 favorite Christmas songs for you today….believe me… it was very hard to narrow it down to only 12… I LOVE Christmas music. I have all I can do to wait until after Thanksgiving to start playing it!
So, while you decorate, bake, wrap gifts or do the many things on your holiday list, here’s a few suggested Christmas songs to keep you joyful and in the Christmas spirit. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do! (If you don’t have them, pop over to amazon, the itunes site to download, or over to each artist’s website to listen-)
1. Micheal Buble: Grown-Up Christmas List
2. Chris Rice: Welcome to Our World
3. Rod Stewart & Dolly Parton: Baby it’s Cold Outside
5. Point of Grace: When Love Came Down
6. Sister: In the Bleak Midwinter
7. Dean Martin: Winter Wonderland
8. Casting Crowns: I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
9. Ethan Osland: Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow
10. 4 Him: A Strange Way to Save the World
11. Jaci Velasquez: Season of Love
12. Robert Robertson: Oh Holy Night
Happy Listening! Remember… a little music makes the work go faster!
Let me know which ones were you favorites too!
Happy December!
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Just a quick hello today… can you believe it’s December? For months the stores and media have been pushing the Christmas season upon us, but it I’m still not prepared for it to be here!
I have a long “to-do” list for my week and month, as I am sure many of you do too. How to fit in all of the decorating, baking, gift buying and entertaining into my already full schedule? It’s always a challenge this time of year…I always think I am going to spread the Christmas preparations out, but not often does that happen.
I usually have to take a step back and re-prioritize myself, remember what is really important… do those things and forget the rest of my wishful thinking. I can’t do everything, even though I want to.
I fall into that trap most years… then I remember the real reason for the season. It isn’t the wrapping and the bows, the tinsel and the appetizers. It’s the best gift of all. Jesus. 
Christ didn’t come to send us into a decorating, entertaining and gift-purchasing frenzy… he came to save us. His lowly birth changed the world forever. He came as our Savior, so that we might live. That has much more eternal power than running around shopping for the best sales or hosting a party. We are loved and forgiven forever… how could we ever top that gift?
So, as you head into one of the craziest months… take a breath, step back and just be humbled by God’s grace and love today… let his most wondrous gift be yours.
Oh, and if you want to cut back on all of your shopping… God loves it when we “re-gift” by passing on His eternal gift to others. Jesus… Joy to the World!
