Welcome to the last day of the Virtual Cookie Exchange and Blog Hop, hosted by the fabulous Carol of Just Let Me Quilt. And also welcome to my day, and my part of the world! I've included the whole schedule below in case you haven't had a chance to check it out yet.
I have always loved Christmas, celebrating Jesus' birthday. I love the decorations, I love the songs, I love making cookies and giving them to family and friends. And I love gifting my family and friends.
In my Christmases growing up, I remember getting in our stockings an apple, orange and nuts with shells on them. My mother started me making the Christmas cookies from the time I was about 14-15. She had me make them and then gave them to friends.
In my life now, Christmas begins right after Thanksgiving. For the past number of years I have had my older grandchildren come over and help me get my Christmas stuff out. A large part of my decorations I have made, including cloth dolls, ceramic dolls, painting ceramics and Christmas quilts. I have a quantity of my Christmas decorations stored upstairs, and my husband no longer wants me going upstairs by myself and bringing the large totes down.
First out come the nutcrackers. And last Christmas I got these 3 large ones.
Next out comes the Nativity Scene my dear Mother-In-Law painted for us over 40 years ago right after we were married. We also have a set of musical angels I set out with them.
I have my grandsons help me set up my village. They are particularly helpful plugging things in under the tables! I have a section of nautical related shops, and boats and people, and I have another section with shops and houses. It's really hard to get a good picture of that with poor lighting.
We then decorate the front room with tree and all the dolls, artwork and quilts. Our granddaughter Kyleigh did the nutcracker when she was about 4 or so and I watercolored the wreath long ago.
These gnome guys are not ones I made, whereas most of the others dolls I have. These guys mostly were obtained at the Harvest Festival years ago.I have them standing next to the door to greet you as you come inside.
I was thrilled this year to have finished my Nutcracker Suite quilt which was a BOM through Shabby Fabrics late last year/early this year.
This was one of my very first quilts called Plaza Trees
After all the decorating is done, I get out my Christmas Cookie book. I have collected recipes over the years, and I basically put them in a scrapbook. I haven't done that recently, just slipped new ones in the pocket, but I usually make 9-10 types of cookies that we give out at Christmas. I made my list for this year, and went to get the ingredients.
I have two recipes to share. The first is Crunchy Peanut Bark. The recipe is here, and it is printable. This is one recipe I have to do every year, or the natives would revolt around here. Everyone loves it. I made up a batch yesterday. It is easy and quick, basically melting the candy coating, mixing in the peanut butter, then pouring over the Rice Krispies, marshmallows, and peanuts. Then just drop onto waxed paper.
The second recipe I have to share was a new one, though I apparently have had the recipe since 2004. It was from a Woman's World magazine. I tried to get it pulled up online, but there is no reference to it.
Two things I learned from making these reindeer. It is not easy to break up your pretzels so they can look like antlers. The other thing is, I am lousy at using a bag to decorate. I had icing squeezing out the back end, and I was holding the back closed!
I had hoped to have a couple of projects to show finished but radiology contacted me this morning and asked if I could come in and get my test done this afternoon from 4-6 So I figured I would finish my post in case I didn't feel like it when I came home. I did get the redwork done though.
The darker one I plan to make into a mug rug. The other is going to go in a fancy frame for my sister.
Thanks so much for stopping by, and be sure and visit the others on this blog hop. I have found so many new recipes. I'm excited to try a few. Thanks again to Carol of Just Let Me Quilt for organizing this, I have thoroughly enjoyed it!
December 2nd
December 3rd
December 4th
December 5th
December 6th
Thank you for sharing all your wonderful decorations, recipes, and projects. They are all great! Your redwork is beautiful and I lknow your sister will love hers! Both cookie recipes look yummy and fairly easy to make. Can't wait to try them.
ReplyDeleteWOW, it must take you days to put out all your lovely Christmas deco's! How fun! Thanks for the yummy looking recipes, Merry Christmas!
ReplyDeleteI can only imagine how long it takes you to put out all your lovely decorations. I have a village I put out also. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYour decorations are incredible! What fun to have the grandchildren help you set it all up. That's a memory they won't forget. I totally love that nutcracker quilt! It is cute and beautiful...so sweet! Yummy recipes, decorations, and Christmas projects made this post a real joy to read. Thank you for hopping and sharing with us!
ReplyDeleteyou are definitely quite a busy person during the holiday season! Enjoy! I'm jealous you have lots of help with yours. over the past several years, I have minimal decorations out as I too have to climb stairs and then an attic stairwell.
ReplyDeleteThank you for 2 recipes!!! Your home really looks like Christmas!! I don't have grandchildren who are old enough to really help (well, maybe 2 of the 8), but they are scattered across the country. I just don't have the desire to pull everything out and decorate this year...I am caring for my dad (750 miles from my home) who is on hospice. Seeing your home brings back amazing memories of my younger years!!
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Karrin! Gosh, you shared a lot of goodness in your post. I would LOVE to visit and check out your nutcrackers and especially your village areas. I put up a village as well but not as extensive as yours! It has a small town that gets more snow than the village proper with all the businesses, and then in the country there's a skating pond with skate rental and a log cabin. HAHA! Oh, and a train around the town but I'm skipping that this year because I have a one-year-old niece, and that would be right at her eye level. That sounds like disaster to me. Thanks for sharing your recipes! Merry Christmas to you and your family. ~smile~ Roseanne
ReplyDeleteGracious, Karrin -- your decorating is a-maaaa-zing!!! It's like living inside Christmas village, I bet! ♥ Both your treats look yummy; the Crunchy Peanut Bark looks particularly good!! I'd like to give that one a try for sure! Thanks so much for sharing!! :)
ReplyDeletethose reindeer cookies are cuties :)
ReplyDeleteYou have a lovely Christmas collection of decorations. The quilts are fabulous. The village is amazing and huge, too. Thanks for the 2 recipes. Love those reindeer/Rudolf cookies. Have a sweet Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYour house is so very festive! I enjoyed seeing all of your fun decorations! The Plaza Trees quilt is so fun - looks like a very unique block. And the Crunchy Peanut Bark sounds yummy - thanks for sharing the recipe!
ReplyDeleteI love seeing all your decorations, Karrin. I especially love the hand painted nativity and your collection of nutcrackers! And thanks so much for the recipes! They sound great. I like most anything with peanut butter in it! LOL
ReplyDeleteWow Karrin you really go all out for Christmas. It's wonderful that you have so much excitement for the season and loving grandkids to help you with the setup. Thanks for sharing those cute reindeer as well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking us on a tour of your Christmas home. It is spectacular. The cookies looked pretty darn good too.
ReplyDeleteWow your decorations are amazing, thank you so much for sharing. The cookies look delectable also, and your quilts are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on completing your Nutcracker Suite quilt. It is SEW lovely!! I appreciate you sharing your other Holiday quilts, too.
ReplyDeleteMy son had a huge nutcracker collection - gathered over 20yrs. Your decorating is over the top!
ReplyDeleteWow, that's a lot of nutcrackers! So wonderful. I'm going to have to make that nutcracker quilt. Going to add that one to my list. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteYou have so many beautiful Christmas decorations, traditions, and memories. What a blessing! I'm especially in awe of that village.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful home and so lovely in its decor of Christmas. Thank you for the awesome cookies. Those reindeer are so adorable.
ReplyDeleteThose reindeer cookies are super cute! And wow, you take decorating for Christmas seriously for sure. I especially love the Plaza Trees quilt, thanks for sharing.
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