Christmas Prep

Decorating
Baking
Emilyn playing with the little Bears' house. Hubby's Grandpa made it for a school auction twenty+ years ago. We bought thinking we might have a little girl someday. I found it in the closet with the Christmas decorations. Emilyn had fun playing house with the Bear family.
Caleb is enjoying my new laptop.
Cleaning. Hubby did the floors today and we did all the chandeliers this week.
Hubby and Caleb and Emilyn's parents are practicing for the choir cantata tonight.
All these preparations for Christmas make me excited for it to be here. Danny is home in nine more days! Can't hardly wait!

Cherubs aka Mutant Zombie Cherubs

Our tree has Shiny Brites and angels. When my Grandma Dykstra died and Grandpa remarried, he got rid of some things. At his new home with Grandma Jo there was a table of things that anyone could have. I took what some considered to be junk. I took the bare butt angels that Grandma had on her Christmas tree. They came from Newberry's and were still in their original box. They started to disintegrate and one Sunday I saw replicas in the fliers. I ordered them to keep my collection going.
I love them because first of all they remind me of Christmas on the Wiser Lake Road farm, secondly, they are sweet and thirdly, they glow. So, you turn off your lights for the night and you can still see the bb angels.
I wanted to share this with my readers and thought I would google 'glow in the dark cherubs' as they are called on their box (the new one), so if you wanted your very own I could give you the information. You can find them on ebay, etsy and antique sites, although the ones they are selling on the antique sites are not the antiques. I know, because they look just like my replacement set.

They also showed up as 'Mutant Zombie Cherubs' on google and Flickr.

You can get your very own on ebay and call them what you'd like. They will always be the 'bare bum angels' to me. Butt, whatever.

Cranberry Bliss Bars *Starbucks Copycat

When Jerrie emailed me that she had found this recipe. I was so excited, I love the Cranberry Bliss bars at Starbucks. Jerrie finds recipes for Lorinda all the time and then gets her to make them for her. Well, I guess it worked with me too. Jerrie, I made them and saved some just for you! They are delicious. Thanks for the recipe.

Cranberry Bliss Bars *Starbucks Copycat


Bars:
1 cup butter (2 sticks very soft, almost melted)
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons orange extract or vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 cup craisins
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Frosting: (Recipe notes that you could use store bought if in a rush)
3 oz. cream cheese
2 T. butter, softened
3 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. orange extract (or vanilla)

Topping:
1/3 cup craisins, chopped
1-2 T. grated orange rind
1/3 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 tsp. canola oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a 9X13 pan with parchment paper or use a non-stick spray.
2. BARS: With an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugars for 3-5 minutes until fluffy; blend in the eggs and extract. Add flour, baking powder and ginger, beat briefly. Add the cranberries and chips and stir.

3. Spread the thick batter in pan and bake for 27-29 minutes until edges are light brown and skewer comes out clean. Let cool completely. *check at 25 minutes, mine were a bit over done at 27 minutes.
4. FROSTING: Blend cream cheese and butter until fluffy. Add extract and sugar and beat until fluffy and spreadable. Spread evenly over bars.

5. GARNISH: Use a zester to remove rind from an orange. Chop 1/3 cup craisins coarsely. Sprinkle this garnish over the bars.
6. DIZZLE: Mix white chocolate chips and oil in bowl. Microwave 60% power for 1 minute. Stir until melted. Use a fork to drizzle bars with white chocolate. *I always use a small freezer ziploc bag for this and snip a corner and then dizzle.
7. Allow one hour for chocolate to set before cutting. I cut mine into triangles like Starbucks.


I hope they freeze well, because that is where I put mine. Ready for the holiday parties or ready when I need a cup of coffee and a little bliss this season.

Shopping, Wreaths and Christmas Treats

Hubby and I went shopping today, you name it, we were there. After Trader Joes we stopped at Avenue Bread for a coffee break. Three days of Eat Less, Move More-down the drain with a cherry danish. To die for! The cherries are real, not that gunky pie filling. So good. Then on to the mall and Costco for the big shop. Our Christmas shopping is almost finished and we have food. Including what I call, "Insta Party"-meaning appetizers, drink etc. on demand. So when people stop by, I am ready for Christmas cheer.
After shopping we hit DQ for lunch where I again fell off the wagon, I lOVE the peppermint flip blizzards and they are back. If you haven't had one-GO right now.

After school Max called me and we delivered FFA wreaths to my folks and to Adelene. Installation is included, Ad supervised.
They are beautiful and if you still need a fresh wreath, call Max and he'll totally hook you up. With all the colds and illness going on here we didn't sell very many. Speaking of ill, Hubby now has our strain of ick and Sam too. Their colds were slightly different than Max and mine. Round and round we go...


Tonight I am going to finish decorating. And when I get tired, it is finished.

The Wisemen Came from the East & Wisewomen Know It

Generally speaking, I am not a detail person. I am not OCD. But here is something I am pretty particular about, when I set up all of my nativity scenes, the Wisemen are coming from the East. And it bugs me a little when I see a beautiful nativity set set up incorrectly. Ask Ad, her sets have the Wisemen coming from the East.
This is the Christmas decorating that can be Biblically correct.
Sometimes it doesn't work because the mantle runs north and south. But really, everything is a little to the East.
Go fix your nativity sets!

Glitter and Bling

Doing a bit of decorating tonight. My shiny brite wreath always needs a lot of repair, so I did that and hung it up for the season. Very cautiously, I might add. One of these Christmas times it will be beyond repair. Our tree is all shiny brite ornaments too. A lot of bling at my house.

The bannister going upstairs is finished too. I used my glittered pine cone ornaments from Smith and Hawken, some little birds and beads and lights and gold ribbon and gold crystals, and, and , and ... suddenly it looks like it may be too much. Even for me. And I do like the holiday glitter and bling.
I may be making poor decorating choices as my head is still full of snot. Sorry, but it is. True story. Now Max has it and he looks terrible. I told Sam I thought I'd turned the corner and was getting better. Apparently he has been thinking that for two weeks and so it is a long curve. We need to get rid of the cold meds and decorate the window sill.

Maybe tomorrow...