Cranberry Snow - A Beautiful Holiday Treat!

CRANBERRY SNOW

A friend shared this with me several years ago 

when a group of us were swapping favorite holiday recipes.  

I wasn't too sure if I'd like it, 

but she swore it was amazing.  

She was right!

It was an instant hit with my family!!

It's like 'healthy' candy that you just pop into your mouth.  

One after the other.....

again and again and again!

It's better made the night before serving 

so it has time to air dry thoroughly.  

Ingredients:
1 regular size bag of fresh cranberries (2 lbs)

Sugar
1 egg white
Gallon size Ziploc bag

Directions:
Add one teaspoon of water to the egg white and beat by hand with a fork in a small bowl.

Put 1/2 of the cranberries in the Ziploc bag.  Add only half of the egg white mixture to the cranberries, zip shut and thoroughly coat the cranberries until they're all shiny.

Add 1 - 2 cups of sugar to the shiny cranberries, zip shut and gently toss them until as much sugar as possible sticks to the cranberries.

Spread out on a large waxed paper covered cookie sheet and allow to air dry completely (preferably overnight).

You're gonna love 'em, so go ahead and make the other half of the cranberries and the rest of your egg white mixture while you're at it!

This is an amazing addition to any holiday relish tray or great by itself!

I'd recommend only making as much as you think 

you'll consume in a 24-48 hour period.  

It's best at room temperature and the cranberries 

will get mushy if left out for more than a couple of days.  

That's usually not a problem for us cuz 

we scarf them down pretty quickly. 

Enjoy and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Twenty-One Handmade Ornaments - Annual Exchange

We've had TWO ornament exchanges this year,

so I have lots of wonderful handmade ornaments to share with you!

TWENTY-ONE, to be exact.

Ohhhh, how I love all of this year's ornaments.

Every year they get better and better!

Polar Express Ward Christmas Party

It's almost Christmastime again 

Ahhhh, that most wonderful time of the year.

How To Display Your Lovely Christmas Photo Cards

Don't you just loooove the adorable photo Christmas cards that everyone sends nowadays?

Used to be we'd get only a couple each year,

but now almost all of the cards we receive are photo cards.

I am incapable of throwing away a card if it is a photo.

I have a gajillion that I've been saving for years, but it seems kind of a waste to just throw them in a box and then never look at them again!

What to do, what to do?

Burlap, White, Silver and Gold Christmas Crafts!

My first Christmas post....

in mid-January.

I know.....

I. Am. Never. On. Time!

I've been shifting towards the naturals/neutrals/metallics and loving it!

{the sparkly fabric and the string of bells are from Dollar Tree!}

Christmas Cookie Exchange and Homemade Snickers Recipe

I love blogging for many reasons, 

but the one that was the most unexpected

 is all of the wonderful friends I've made through blogging!  

I mean, my thought process when I started a blog was, okay, I moved to a different state, 

I think I'll blog so I can keep in touch with my out-of-state family and friends.

It's turned into so much more!

It has enriched my life,

and I'm hopeful that it may have enriched someone else's too!

So one of the ways I was enriched by blogging this week was being invited to a 

fab Christmas cookie exchange by Laura of Pink Cake Plate!

I haven't been to a cookie exchange in YEARS!

I was really excited to go and it was super fun!

In fact, I was having so much fun that, as usual, I didn't take enough pictures!

You should have seen the treat table!

You'll just have to take my word for it....

it was loaded with goodies from all the gals

and everything was DEE-LISH!!!

Here's just part of what I came home with!

March - 12 Months of Christmas

This is all about Cowboy's Christmas gift that will keep on giving for the rest of the year!

The original post is HERE....

I thought it might be easier to just post these month by month, 

so that I can share any fun pictures I might have of that month.  

In March, the gift he opened was:

A gift certificate to the Olive Garden

and

Herberger Theater tickets to see The Great Gatsby

Honestly?

I hated it.

February - 12 Months of Christmas

This is all about Cowboy's Christmas gift that will keep on giving for the rest of the year!

The original post is HERE....

I thought it might be easier to just post these month by month, 

so that I can share any fun pictures I might have.  

In February, the gift he opened was:

A Gift certificate to The Outback Steakhouse

and

2 tickets to the Herberger Theater to see 39 Steps

(very funny...we also saw it in Cedar City last summer @ the Shakespearean Festival)

I tend to fall asleep ANYWHERE I sit down at night,

especially a dark theater...

so we opted this time to see the matinee

(I didn't even know they had a matinee!)

I fell asleep anyway!  Gah!!!

The day we went to see the play we actually stopped for lunch at a GREAT place in downtown Phoenix called Corner Bakery Cafe.  VERY good!

Regan's New Way To Play Basketball

I have to post this just because it's so funny!

Regan and Trace received this as a Christmas gift....they pretty much rocked it!

Christmas Paper Craft Projects 2011 (and 2010)

Are we finished with Christmas yet?  

Nope!

I think Christmas should be celebrated year-round!  

Or at least for more than just a month!  hehe  ;)
(I promise only one more post after this about Christmas...til next year)

I love these little crafts aka GIFTS that we made this Christmas,
so of course, I'd love to share them with you.

These projects were constructed by me but 100% designed by Rachele!


2011 Christmas projects

Here's the sad thing about making these cute goodies at Rachele's......

I like 'em so much I fail to give them away.

Note to self:

Share these with friends next Christmas 

and spread the love!

Annual Ornament Exchange 2011

Please forgive me, but I'd like to post the rest of our Christmas goodies 

BEFORE I start telling you how excited I am about Valentine's Day!  lol 

Remember my friend Rachele that I've spoken of before?  

(We made paper gingerbread houses at her place last month) 

We have good times together and her/our projects are fun to make!

I also hope she starts blogging again, because she's good at it!

(RACHELE, ARE YOU READING THIS???)

Anyway, as part of the craft group that Rachele has organized, 

she has added an annual Christmas ornament exchange.

I am so grateful to be surrounded by such amazing (and crazy fun) crafty women!

I'll start with the ornament I made.  Believe me, it was a huge improvement over my ornament last year! hehe

Cowboy's 12 Months of Christmas

Remember back here when I mentioned I'd let you in on what I got Cowboy for Christmas?

He is SOOOOOO difficult to get gifts for because:

#1 - He doesn't want anyone to spend money on him.

#2 - He doesn't like 'stuff'.

#3 - He pretty much just wants to eat.....

#4 - ....and go places.

A Kid Farm Christmas

We believe.....

2011 brought us a pretty amazing Christmas!

We celebrated all through December in many ways, 

but one of the biggest highlights was one crazy night when we just so happened to have this....

And accidentally turned it into this......

Paper Gingerbread Houses

I'm gonna start a new series of posts called "What I Made At Rachele's" 

because Rachele really knows how to party with paper 

and some of my most amazing projects were constructed at HER house.  

Thanks Rachele for rocking my paper world!

She's always on the hunt for fun things to make, and when she saw these paper houses, plus these amazing bits of inspiration on Pinterest, she scheduled us right up to come over and create!

Here she is, our lovely hostess and creative extraordinaire, Rachele.  

She's the Queen!

And she really knows how to treat her friends!!!

And yes, we really know how to make a mess!  

Here is Rachele's house completed.  See the pretty little snow on the eaves?

Dear Santa

Dear Santa,
May i have an hillee (heelie skate/shoes) 2 hillee's and you are the nice santa i ever met and how are your elf's doing too day? Your elf's macke the best toy's ever so much. I love you santa.
Love Maddie
(Aren't letters from first graders just the best?)