Christmas Eve 2011

We spent most of Christmas Eve at home with the children. I sat out some goodies that I had baked ahead of time. Lefse', Samoas, fudge and choc. chip nut cookies.  We watched movies all afternoon and let the kids open their umbrellas, since it was raining out. and then they opened Colton's Caterpillar Train.   After we had a Chicken Alfredo dinner we all dressed up and went to the candle light service at church and all three of my boys wore ties, they were so cute

First off I have a few pictures of the tree and the decorations and of course Stetson posing by the tree.... 

 One night last week our church had a little party for the kids and they all got to make some ornaments. That was really fun cause we really didn't have many home made ones to hang on the tree. So, finally we've begun our collection.

Christmas Eve Morning I drove down the street to this little donut shop that is run by a husband and wife.  They are cheap and oh so yummy, I even got a cappuccino and egg, ham and cheese croissants that were the best I've ever had! Sean Loved them as well. :)  It might be a new tradition for us. It was kind of nice NOT having to make a big breakfast. But maybe I'll switch it to Christmas morning next year.. as we had to wait to open gifts after church because I did make a huge breakfast

We let the kids open Colton's Train set. And they each got an umbrella for the rainy Texas weather we've been having.  We found some of the best toys at the Sports Academy Store here in town.  Actually ALL of the boys stuff came from there. Even the umbrellas.. which were cheaper than the ones at Toys R Us.

 Stetson fell asleep on the way to church, daddy even carried him in and laid him down, he slept through everything :)

 After the wonderful candle light service at church we came home and I gave the kids their homemade pj pants, which they were actually more excited about than I thought they would be :)

Gingerbread House

We decided to make the house while Stetson was sleeping. I know it doesn't seem fair. BUT he's TWO and probably wont remember.  It was much easier with just Colton and Carley.   They had a blast but so did Mom and Dad :)  Stetson got to later enjoy the candy......

finally a chance to bake......

4 1/2 dozen Samoas
2 pans of Granny's Fudge
 
 so, I tried to make these...........  wow they look good!  Mine don't look that good.. but they are still pretty tasty and I think I know what I will do differently next time!

Here is the recipe link for  Cookies- Homemade Samoas

Here is how mine looked in the process and then finished.

Note: had some trouble with the chocolate, second batch was better after adding some milk and butter to make it more smooth for dipping and not hardening quite so fast. Would also use a frosting tube next time, my pouch for drizzling didn't work out so great.. but they still taste quite good. The Coconut mixture could also have more caramels in  it to make it more sticky. 

 I didn't get a picture but you melt the caramels in the microwave with milk and salt and

mix it into the coconut after baking the coconut for 20-25 minutes. But you can read all that on the recipe.

 

After you put the caramel and coconut mixture on top and let it harden you dip the bottoms in melted chocolate and drizzle on top, was yummy with a glass of milk :)

I think mine are smaller than the ones on the recipe so I had to spread out the coconut mixture and maybe it should have been thicker. I was very surprised it made 4 1/2 doz. 

Then Sean helped me make two pans of Fudge!  Thank you 

Tamara for the recipe! I'll post it when I get permission. It has Marshmallow Creme in it! 

This fudge is super soft and very yummy!