Holiday Treats

We are busy getting all the holiday treats made so we can send them out in time for Christmas. We don't get gifts for our brothers or sisters but we do send out these tins of lots of goodies. That is our labor of love to our families. We end up sending out 10 or so tins in all and there is usually not much left over for us to enjoy (although I think we taste plenty while we are making them!)
We make frosted gingerbread men, sugar cookies, pecan fingers, toffee, peanut brittle, turtles, chocolate covered peanuts, peppermint bark (going to add oreos to one batch - mint chocolate bark-to see how that works, Miss Margie gave me the heads-up on that one)....and that is all I think.

So I was finishing up the turtles yesterday, melting the chocolate and dipping them in. I have to chop the chocolate before I melt it so it melts faster and nice and smooth. Anyhow Isaiah had been in the kitchen with big eyes and I needed to run back upstairs to get Kiersten out of the tub. So before I headed up I gave stern instructions to stay away from the candy. No touching. I came downstairs to a boy with chocolate around his mouth and all over his fingers. Immediately I became angry and asked him to show me what he had 'touched'. He took me into the kitchen and pointed to the cutting board. My littlest man had obeyed me completely and stayed away from my candy. And because I had told him to leave the bowl with chocolate alone he had gone over to the cutting board and was getting slivers from there to enjoy! He obeyed and still won out! :)

I'll put some pictures up of the treats once they are finished. The kids plan on helping me frost some cookies this afternoon..so that will prove interesting I'm sure.

I do hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas season. I am working hard to keep appreciating what the season is all about. The stress (brought on by procrastinating) sometimes clouds the joy of Jesus' birth. What a wonderful story of God's amazing love and his amazing way of bringing it about! I hope the joy of Jesus is yours and you can celebrate his birth.

As an f.y.i. my beloved uncle had a successful surgery. They took out his entire esophagus and found no cancer in the surrounding tissue. Thanks so much for your prayers. I think the recovery will take some time...as he spent a few days in I.C.U. and is still at the hospital almost a week later. I do have another request though - my sister-in-law's mother, Miss Jacki, is just filled with cancer. It has come on so fast and is taking over everything. She knows Jesus and is o.k. if it is time, but her husband isn't and doesn't know the Lord. So if you could pray he would see God's love for him in his wife as she lives out her faith to the end, that would be awesome. My sweet sister-in-law, Wendy, could also use your prayers as she struggles to let her heart be o.k. with letting her mom go to be with Jesus. Sorry to end on a sad note-but these are my loved ones and I couldn't not ask you to pray :) We'll be back soon with Christmas goodies and sweet faces to share. Be blessed!

Little Overwhelmed

I have to admit I am feeling a little overwhelmed just now. Thanksgiving was the start since we had to miss a few school days. Or rather we did miss a few. It seems to be extra hard to get things done when Daddy is home. We just don't stick to our normal routine and there is added distraction. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy when my Beloved gets to be with us, it just throws me off. So I have felt like we have been playing catch-up ever since then. It doesn't help that I am not a naturally organized person or super motivated. As we head into the home stretch I hope you all will bear with me. I'll get some of my Christmas things up eventually :) So don't give up on me just yet!

As a side note, I, or rather a very precious Uncle of mine, could use your prayers for tomorrow. He is undergoing surgery to try to remove all the cancer found in his esophagus. Just asking for it all to be found, contained and removed as well as a smooth recovery. Thanks so much!