Christmas Goodies

We have pretty much been eating or making goodies nonstop around our house lately. It's been fun to play in the kitchen with the kids.

Nate's mom got us a gingerbread house kit. I'd never done one before, but it was actually really fun. Nate and I put the frosting on and the kids went wild with the candy. The outcome was quite beautiful and it's been a cute little decoration. We'll have to do this one again, for sure.

 

Leah was in charge of eating nerds the whole time. She was very good at her job.

 

 After she'd eaten enough nerds, we moved on to a chocolate chip cookie to keep Leah occupied.

 The finished product!

I absolutely hate making anything with almond bark. It is such a mess. But we can't have Christmas without horse plops and chocolate covered pretzels, so in the name of holiday cheer, I  have to do it. Luckily, my sister Shauna is a genius, and came up with the idea of using a cooling rack to make the pretzels. You just put wax paper underneath and dump the chocolate on the top. So much quicker and less messy. We even sprinkled them.

 

We took small treats around to a few people in the ward for Christmas. This is typically the most overwhelming part of the holidays for me (even worse than the almond bark). I always feel like I can't leave anyone out, so we end up making like 60 plates of various goodies and then we have to deliver them in the freezing cold and then come home and clean up the mess. I hate it. So luckily my friend Jenn and my grandma saved the day for us this year. Jenn by telling me to just pick a few people who could maybe use a little extra Christmas cheer. And sweet Grandma by crocheting several of these cute little stocking ornaments and sending them from Georgia. We stuffed each one with a roll of lifesavers and a little note and visited a few of the older people in the ward and that was that. It was perfect.

And of course we made sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas eve.