The Sights,Sounds and Smells Of Christmas~

With only a few more days til Christmas I will be taking the rest of the week off~

I will be back on Monday~

I have much to do.....

Make some lemon lavender shortbread

Make some Chex Mix

Make some peanut brittle

Finish sewing our fabric gift bags

Help the girls finish making our gift tags

Help the girls sew their sachets for gift giving~

Wrap many gifts (with our fabric bags)~

Order the prime rib for Christmas Eve dinner~

I will also be snuggling up and reading to the kiddos from our

 many Christmas stories.......I was really late finding them! :(

December flew  by so fast!

I am also excited my mom is coming out for a visit.....I still need to wash the sheets for her bed! eeekkk!

Did I mention she will be here tomorrow?

Merry Christmas~

If you are new to my blog welcome and

 feel free to read some of my past posts!

Mama Little Elves {part 3}

Peppermint Bark

Step 1- Crush 30 round mint candies OR candy canes what ever your have.

We used a honey molasses candy cane from the health food section of Fred Myers.

(they taste like regular candy canes...but are more natural)

Step 2- Chop and melt 12 oz of white chocolate.

I used the micro wave to melt but you could also use a double boiler.

When microwaving only  go 25-30 seconds then stir, then go again.

You can easily burn it if you are not careful.

Your white chocolate should have cocoa butter listed as an ingredient

The real thing was hard for me to find and was expensive after I did track some down.

So we use the good stuff for our top layer (last step)

We cheated and used vanilla almond bark stuff...for just the bottom layer.

I know I know......

I forgot to mention....take a large cookie sheet, cover with foil and spray with oil spray.

Smooth white chocolate evenly in a 9x13 area....just eye ball it.

You don't want the layer to be to thin as the next layer,brown chocolate will be slightly soft!

So this is the "crust" layer if you will.

So after you smooth your white layer add some of your peppermint candy.

Refrigerate to harden while you get the next layer ready.

Now its time for the brown chocolate....we used a large (jumbo) Special Dark Hersey Bar

and a some Semi-Sweet Bakers Squares.

Chocolate should be at least 60% cocoa

Step 3 Melt 10 oz of brown chocolate and 6 tablespoons heavy cream

Then add 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract.

Let brown chocolate mixture cool slightly before added it on top of the white layer

..as you do not want the first layer to start melting.

Smooth chocolate layer on, being careful NOT to push to hard and stir the two layer together.

Refrigerate while getting the last layer ready~

Step 4 Melt more white chocolate (8oz) of the good stuff!

Smooth melted chocolate on top of the brown layer

Add the last of your crushed peppermint candy and

let chill in fringe for about 5 minutes to harden!

Break into pieces...as its hard to cut.

You can store at room temp or the refrigerator in a airtight container for about 2 weeks.

Jackie waited very patiently for THIS moment.....

Bon appetite~

Mamas Little Elves {part 2}

This little elf helped mama make Nut Crunch Granola.

Go here for the recipe.

So awesome to be in the kitchen with my little ones!

I am one blessed mama!

We are all having fun getting ready for Christmas.

After a busy day making things with the kiddos, hubby and I snuck out (ok we did tell a few of the kiddos) lol and did some Christmas shopping together. Then had dinner at Red Robin. I wanted to go to a Indian food place....but hubby (who never tried it, ahumm) said, he did not want to go there! :(

It was fun anyways!

On a different note.... I have a prayer request.

A gal Andrea, I know from church gave premature birth (due in March or April) to a baby girl

Jazmym Raye last week....the baby passed away a few hours later.

This was to be her 6th child!

The funeral is tomorrow.

Can you pray for their families grieving heart?

Also could you please pray for:

 Dana and her husband John from an online home school  forum I belong.

They will be having the funeral of her 22 month old son today.

Mattias Ryker passed away due to a freak accident in the home earlier this week, you can

read here and see his slide show.

Thank you :)

Mamas Little Elves {Part 1}

{Homemade Bath Tea}
THIS IS NOT A DRINK
IT IS A BATH SOAK!

This year all our gifts for family and friends will be homemade!

We are getting a late start on our gifts but.....that's how it is!

Last week Noah helped shop for all the supplies for our bath tea 

and was eagar to get started today.

You can find the recipe here.

This bath tea will given with a small muslin bag attached as well.

The recipient will just need to add the desired amount of herbed salts {tea}

to the muslin bag and hang it over the spicket, letting the water run through it.

Then soak,sip tea and read!

So fun and very easy!

Happy Gift Making~

I must cut this post short as it is bedtime here and

well the excitement of Christmas has my kiddos acting naughty not nice....just kidding.

You would think Santa was coming tonight!

They are good kids, just VERY EXCITED and we still have 9 days to go!

There is a lot of ruckus coming from the upstairs that I must attend to.

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

Oh Rainy Day Christmas Tree~

Our crew, minus our oldest son Jarett.

Our family likes to get our Christmas tree 2 week before Christmas!

So as tradition will have it......we got our tree on Sunday, though there was flood warnings for most of our state! As a family we trekked in the mud and rain to find the perfect tree!

I spotted one right off...it won by majority vote! {even hubby liked it}

Then he suggested, we check the trees in the back of the lot....then decide! lol sigh*

I suppose he wanted to get his moneys worth?

Did we not WANT the excitement of the hunt?

I was able to get more cute photos for everyone while walking to the VERY back of the lot!

The girls were able to see if their rubber boot could keep their feet dry.

And of couse we did find the perfect tree! :) *sigh**

Our oldest son Jarett (16) was not with us. He had a project to work on for DECA!

I hope you enjoyed my pictures....

This week the youngest kiddos and I will be doing some elfing.

 Making cookies,candy and some bath tea as Christmas gifts for teachers and family! 

{I will come back and put links to my recipes I use}

The power went out last night and just came back on at 12:30 pm today!

So this morning was dark and quiet. I decided to unload the dish washer and load it again.

I picked up the house and took out the trash in all of the bathrooms!

The youngest kiddos played with the GEO train set!

We were supposed to make candy today but think we will try to do that in the morning tomorrow!

Tonight for dinner I will make homemade chili with leftover steak and

the Duggar family's tater tot casserole a favorite at our house!

Peace and Joy,

Georgiann