Tuesday, December 10, 2013

A 65degreeF Christmas

This year, we have a Christmas Tree Forest and a snowman. (I'm pretty sure another snowman has joined the first since I took this photo. Various Christmas decorations appear now and then...depending on who's been going through the tote in the basement!)
(There are 8 trees in our forest!)
 
We frosted and decorated sugar cookies today. The frosting turned out a bit different than what we used on our Memorial Day cookies earlier this year. The consistency was off and the colors didn't "pull" as well. I also couldn't get the red to be, well, red! I haven't heard complaints from the three people who've tested them so far, so I think we'll be just fine. Most of these will be frozen and taken to the beach where we'll spend Christmas with Dan's parents.
 
I am really, really liking my new Christmas-y table runner and I'm so glad I went to the extra effort of making mitered corners. I was excited to find not only blue Christmas fabric, but blue Christmas fabric with Snoopy! It works well with my blue and white everyday dishes. (The Christmas china didn't make it out of storage this year.)

This next project is a total copy from Pinterest. Andy's fingerprints make for tall, skinny snowmen! I'm so glad he humored me and helped make this candle holder. Carolyn made one too, and they are my favorite things on the table this year.
 
Warning -- bad, out-of-focus picture! My camera battery was dying, but I wanted to share what we're giving our church leaders for Christmas again this year. I think this is year #5 that they're getting granola! Apparently homemade granola isn't common around here because it's often treated like the best thing since sliced bread. (My kids don't know what that phrase means...isn't that sad?!)
About three years ago, I asked the wife of one of the deacons if they liked the granola. She said she didn't know because her husband wouldn't let them open it. He said it worked better as a Christmas decoration! So now I give the jar of granola to her, wish her a Merry Christmas, and tell her to EAT the granola!