There May Be A Few Of These Posts...

...because there were 500 (narrowed down from who knows how many) to choose from!!!!!!!

But please join with me in enjoying the artistic talent of Mary Margaret Chambliss!!!

Christmastime Cooking: 7 Minute Frosting

You know, I thought about putting the recipe for the candy house frosting on the last blog post but didn't - and I really don't know why.


So here it is, per request....the fluffy snow/glue recipe:


It's best to make this icing with a handheld electric, but if you are beating it by hand, be sure to whisk it vigorously and constantly.


Makes about 2 cups

3 large egg whites
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 tablespoons cold water
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (i leave this out since it's not being eaten on cake/cookies)

1. Combine egg whites, sugar, water, and cream of tartar in a medium metal bowl. Set over a pot of rapidly boiling water and beat constantly for 7 minutes.

2. Remove from heat, add vanilla, and continue beating until glossy and stiff enough to spread. Use immediately.

Now, for our particular candy house this year, I tripled the recipe. BUT, I could have probably gotten away with just doubling it.

My Favorite

We did it!

We turned this kind of excitement....



with the help of these accessories...


and these ingredients...


a little love and cookin' from Mrs. Claus....



It turned into THIS:

a while fluffy icing used for snow and glue....



and we slowly transformed it into a snowy wonderland....


in between MANY nibbles...



into a yummy, candyland delight:



and THIS:




and THIS:



And they were very happy! (and not completely from the sugar high they were on either)




And keepin' it real....they did NOT eat dinner tonight. I don't know what killed their appetite!!??


P.S.

Not sure if you can tell from this picture, but there is one HUGE thing missing from our newly decorated candy house.




The ginormous peanut-butter-filled santa claus is missing. The candy house is only 2 hours old (when I took this picture). I have a feeling I know who the culprit is.


And my gut tells me it's THIS ONE:




What do YOU think?

All Piled On

I love finding everyone like this - all piled together.....because they want to be all together!! With their daddy! WE LOVE DADDY!




I think they were watching "The Grinch". We LOVE all the old Christmas movies!

What are your favorite Christmas time movies??

Ahead of the Game This Year

We are on top of things when it comes to decorating this year. Last year we didn't finish everything we wanted to do! And we're almost done with things for this Christmas!!

First task, getting the tree....2 of them were interested.



The other one...well, she was just chilling under the wreaths in the cart.



And the other other one was happily snuggled up with me. Can't he just stay like this forever?




Then it was time to put it all up.


Rhodes even got in on the action!



Robert worked hard making homemade garland - thanks to all those free trimmings!



The kids messed around while Robert assembled.

Lillian kept herself occupied by playing with ribbon on the threshold. It's the little things.


Robert worked on into the evening until it was ALL DONE!!




Heck...we even decorated the dog. Doesn't she look happy!?




We still have a couple of more things to do. Two window lack wreaths and we still need to do the infamous CANDY HOUSE!!!!