Merry Christmas!

Hard to believe that Christmas is 2 days away! Even harder to believe is that all my shopping and prep work is done!! I just have to wrap the gifts and hope to have that done by noon.

David and Rachel arrived from Michigan in the wee hours this morning, and after a late brunch we're all heading to Elizabeth and Troy's for an over-night visit. They also plan to come here for a few days beginning late afternoon Christmas Day. Karen (my sister) and Wayne will be coming for Christmas dinner and family time following church, so things are getting exciting around here.

Last Sunday evening was our church's Christmas Celebration which was very nice. People volunteered to do special music or readings and these were interspersed with explanations of some of the names of Christ. As Ed briefly talked about a name and its meaning, someone added an ornament they had made to represent that name to the Christmas tree. This idea came from our CBM friend. Thanks, Ellie!

After the service everyone followed us to our home for an open house - our Christmas gift to our church family. We really enjoyed the evening of visiting and, of course, eating!

My tip for the week is one for desperate times. We have a fireplace but choose not to burn wood. I found a nice fireplace candle holder (at an estate sale for $3, of course) but the candles were really burned down into the middle. You couldn't even see the flame anymore! Soooooooo, I cut them off almost level with the wick,

Big chunks at first . . .

and then shave it level.

used a lighter to smooth the tops,

Yes, there's actually a flame!

and voila - "new" candles! Think of the money I saved ; ) !!

 I love candlelight - everything looks good when you can't see all it's details and flaws! So that's what we had for the open house.






I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. Don't forget to plan time to remember what it's truly about.

iT'S A MARSHMALLOW WORLD

We had a rare and wonderful treat recently. We got to keep all 3 of Elizabeth's little boys - at the same time! It was going to be 2 1/2 days and 2 nights away from Mommy and Daddy, so we planned to keep them so busy having fun they wouldn't realize that. And the time flew by!

The work bench and tools were a huge hit.

 

Having fun in front of mirrored doors

Seth watching cartoons. . .

. . . Ryan playing games. . .

. . . and Reed having fun with all the toys.

Reed was so good - and loved the pretzel rods!

But the best part of all was MAKING MARSHMALLOWS!

They each helped carefully add the "gredients"

AND OUT CAME MARSHMALLOWS!!

This was a really fun project and one I'd never tried before, but I'll be doing this again. For those of you with a descriminating sweet tooth, here is the recipe.

2 tsp butter

3 envelopes unflavored gelatin

1 cup cold water, divided

2 cups sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract (clear is nice but I used the regular)

Toppings or garnishes (See below)

Line a 13-in x 9-in pan with foil and grease the foil with butter (don't skimp or you'll be sorry!); set aside.

In a large metal bowl, sprinkle gelatin over 1/2 cup water; set aside. In a large heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining water. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reads 240 degrees (soft-ball stage).

Remove from the heat and gradually add to gelatin. (I transferred all to a glass bowl because that's what fits my mixer stand and it worked fine.) Beat on high speed until mixture is thick and the volume is doubled, about 15 minutes. (Mine was ready in half that time.) Beat in vanilla. Spread into prepared pan. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 6 hours or overnight.

Using foil, lift marshmallows out of pan. With a knife or pizza cutter coated with cooking spray, cut into 1-in. squares. Dip or drizzle marshmallows with toppings if desired or coat with desired garnishes. (Better plan on doing this because these things can be sticky!) Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place.

To finish, try one of these:

Roll in candy sprinkles, colored sugars, chopped nuts, crushed candy, or (my personal favorite) cocoa.

or

Dip in melted chocolate or candy coating

You can also try different extract flavors like almond, peppermint, lemon, or chocolate.