Christmas gifts......Day 5

I was in a bit of a quandry of what to do to thank all of the lovely people who minister to my children each week at our church. In the past, I would make containers of cookies and other goodies, and it was really no big deal. But now, I have 6 children, and now, we are attending an amazing church where the people love children and so many are involved in teaching and training our children. Now, each of my children have at least 2 adults working in their class, and one of them has FOUR. Multiply that by 6 and that's a LOT.

A LOT of work.

In a tiny house, with 12 eager hands and lots of sweet tooths (is that a word?)

So this year, I decided to make a couple huge 'ol batches of this:

Chex Muddy Buddies

(This also goes by names such as "Puppy Chow" or "Monkey Munch" as heard on the TLC reality show, "Jon & Kate Plus 8)

If you have never tried this, my friend, you have truely missed out on one of life's GREATEST

pleasures!!

9	cups Corn Chex®, Rice Chex®, Wheat Chex® or Chocolate Chex® cereal (or combination)
1	cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2	cup peanut butter
1/4	cup butter or margarine
1	teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2	cups powdered sugar

Substitution

Peanut butter and chocolate are a favorite flavor combo, but peanut butter lovers can substitute peanut butter chips for the chocolate chips to intensify that flavor.

Special Touch

Need clever gift wrapping ideas for this 15-minute recipe? Check out Mix & Mingle with Chex® Party Mix.

1.	Into large 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 food-storage plastic bag.
3.	Add powdered sugar. Seal bag; shake until well coated. Spread on waxed paper to cool. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): No change.

1 Serving: Calories 220 (Calories from Fat 80); Total Fat 9g (Saturated Fat 4g, Trans Fat 0g);Cholesterol 5mg; Sodium 200mg; Total Carbohydrate 30g (Dietary Fiber 1g, Sugars 17g); Protein 3g % Daily Value*: Vitamin A 6%; Vitamin C 2%; Calcium 6%; Iron 25% Exchanges: 1 Starch; 1 Other Carbohydrate; 0 Vegetable; 1 1/2 Fat Carbohydrate Choices: 2 MyPyramid Servings: 1 tsp Fats & Oils
*% Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

I put lots of this mix into a container along with a few buckeyes, and VOILA!!! Done. We made up 19 of the 2lb. holiday containers to give to teachers, and family friends!!!

Christmas gifts.....Day 4

On our fourth day of making Christmas gifts, we were railroaded in the middle of the project by

a bit of a domestic emergency. Our hot water heater decided it had had enough

and gave up the ghost. From lovely Christmas activities, I was immediately thrust into the hectic job of quickly removing items from a flooding floor, finding a place to put it all,

soaking up all the water, deciding how we were going to replace this important household appliance, shopping for it, cleaning up, watching the plumber install the new one, etc.

So this "quick" little gift ended up dragging on longer than I had wanted, but we did enjoy

putting them together once it was all done.

Christmas Treat Jars

This easy little gift came to me many months ago when I was still in the middle of feeding

an infant. I just couldn't find it within me to throw away all of these perfectly good

baby food jars. So I would wash them up, and store them away. Pretty soon I had like 50 of these jars taking up much needed space and no idea what to do with all of them.

I came up with this idea and this is the second Christmas we have given these

as little gifts.

I make sure to get all the food residue out of the jar and off the lid......gross!

It took awhile to figure out how to clean the sticky, gluey junk that is used as the adhesive for the jar label. I had under my sink a bottle of this stinky stuff called "Goof Off", and let me tell you, it works wonders. Took that sticky mess right off. I was about as high as a kite after using it, but I was happy that I had nice clean, clear jars afterward.

I had purchased a yard and a half of the fabric at Wal-Mart (which was way too much), and decided that the lid to our

oatmeal container would be about the right size.

Ashlyn did a lot of the tracing, and all the girls took turns at using pinking shears to cut out the circles. Abby helped me cut and count the ribbon.

To assemble these little treats, I filled the jars first and tightened the lid down, put a dab of hot glue on the jar lid, placed the fabric circle on top, and had one of the girls hold the fabric down while I tied the ribbon on. It took two people to tie the ribbons on, but we were pleased with the results!!!

This year we put together 28 jars!!!

We still have some left over for next year too!!

Christmas gifts....Day 3

On our third day of making Christmas goodies, we dipped pretzel sticks into the melted chocolate candy coating, and then sprinkled them with Christmas sprinkles. This year, I tried a different technique though. In the past, we would dip them and then immediately try to roll them in the sprinkles. But there was too much chocolate and the sprinkles would just slide off once we laid them on the pan.

So this year, I tried scraping off the excess chocolate with a knife and then just sprinkled the sprinkles on while holding the pretzel stick. It worked much better and we didn't end up with great globs of hardened chocolate on the end of the stick either.

Tune in later for how we package these up!!

Enjoy!!

Christmas gifts.....Day 2

On our second day of gift making, we embarked on our second kind of homemade Christmas candy:

"Ritz Cracker Candy"

My aunt first introduced me to this recipe which she first sampled from an elderly evangelist friend she and my uncle had cared for in their home until he passed away. It's become a family favorite since we first tried it!!

Ritz crackers

Peanut Butter

Chocolate and/or Almond Bark Coating

Melt the chocolate coating (or the almond).

Spread a light layer of peanut butter between two crackers to make a sandwich.

Immerse the cracker sandwich into the chocolate and completely cover it. Sprinkle with holiday sprinkles (optional).

Put in refrigerator to dry on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

Store in a tightly closed container.

ENJOY!!!!

Making Christmas gifts.......Day 1

Every year my children have always wanted to give their friends something for Christmas. I want to encourage them in this because this is the season of giving and I want to instill in them that it truly is "more blessed to give than to receive." We give because our Heavenly Father gave us the greatest gift of all through His Son, Jesus Christ. Though we could never match what He gave us, we can follow the example He gave us and the principle He taught us of being willing to give and share.

So, as the years go by their list of friends gets longer and longer. We really can't afford to buy something for everyone on their extensive lists, but our family enjoys making crafts of all kinds and our favorites are gifts from our kitchen. This week, we are taking some time every day to make a different kind of goody to include in the gift bag for each of their friends. We will also be giving some treats to their Sunday School teachers, choir leaders, etc. Grab your apron and let's get started!!!!!

Day 1

"Buckeyes"

Having grown up in Ohio, I was regularly greeted with plates full of buckeye candy

at church functions (primarily around Christmas) or in boxes of Christmas goodies from our neighbors. When I moved away from Ohio, I was shocked that this amazing candy was relatively unknown to those in other parts of the country. Not only have they never tasted this delectable treat, they don't even know what a "buckeye" is (and no, it's NOT the eye of a deer, but yes, it is related to the Ohio State Buckeyes of which almost EVERYONE who loves football is well acquainted with!!!).

The "Buckeye" is the state tree of Ohio and produces a nut that looks like this:

You can read more about them here.

Buckeye candy is made to resemble this gorgeous mascot of the great state of Ohio.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups of creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 sticks of butter or margarine

2 lbs (or less) confectioner's sugar

Chocolate candy coating (I use the chocolate almond bark candy coating)

Mix together the peanut butter and margarine until smooth. Gradually mix in the confectioner's sugar until the dough is stiff but not crumbly.

It helps to coat your hands with the confectioner's sugar and knead it like bread dough until soft and smooth. Form the dough into small balls the size of the bouncy rubbers balls for playing jacks.

Place them on a waxed paper lined cookie sheet and put them in the refrigerator for a couple minutes to firm up.

Using a toothpick, dip the balls into the melted dipping chocolate until almost covered, leaving the top exposed.

Refrigerate and enjoy!!!

P.S. I doubled this recipe and ended up with over 12 dozen, give-or-take the several my children ate.

Our second weekend in December full of Christmas activities.....

"Bethlehem Revisited"

There is a church in a town not far from us that transforms the back lot of their church every year into a living "Bethlehem" that you can walk through. We have gone for several years,

and each year we get something new out of it.

All the townspeople are in period costume working period crafts that the children can

watch and even participate in. The idea is to find the Messiah who has been rumored

to have arrived. You can follow Joseph and Mary (who is riding a donkey) on through town

where they look for a place to stay and are directed to a stable out back.

After the baby arrives, the shepherds come (that were at the entrance to the town with their sheep) and see the baby, and leave rejoicing. They are shooed away by the largest men dressed in Roman Centurion costume that I've ever seen.

Not very far behind them are the wise men who come complete with real camels.

It's a wonderful experience and we always enjoy exploring it.

As we all stand around the stable and watch Mary and Joseph, I'm always reminded

that this is what it's all about. No "rockin' around the christmas tree", no Santa (like where did he come from in this story anyway......that's a soapbox of mine for another time), no reindeer, no crazy shoppers out at 2am for a $3 pair of pj's, no lights, no Hallelujah Chorus. Just a baby.

A quiet, unobtrusive birth. That's it.

But what a miraculous birth it was. Of our Divine Saviour in human form.

It always reminds me to stay simple and block out all the noise of the commercialism and the pressure to follow everything our culture does this time of year.

It's about Jesus......and that's enough.

I caught Aryn standing over in this little corner all by herself checking

out the goats and donkey behind this fence.

You can read more about this here.

"Shepherds, Sheep, and a Saviour"

Sunday evening our church's junior choir had their Christmas program.

Our three oldest children participated in it and I thought I'd share a couple clips of

Ashlyn's part and Alexis's part. Ashlyn's video was taped during rehearsal, while Lexi's was during the actual performance. Grant didn't have a particular speaking or singing part,

but he did his part in the choir.

Enjoy!!!