Peanut Butter Balls

Does your family have a favorite Christmas candy you make year after year???

Even when I was a kid, we always made peanut butter balls.

My own children love peanut butter balls.

This year my daughter made these all by herself using the directions from last year's blog post:

recipe peanut butter balls

She added a special twist to our peanut butter balls this year.

She added a Christmas m&m to the center of one of the peanut butter balls.

The person who gets this special peanut butter ball gets to open a present early on Christmas Eve.

She also chose to make this year's candy using candy bars and paraffin for the chocolate coating. (1/2 bar paraffin and 2 large 8oz. bars Hershey's chocolate) We all agree we like this method better than the candy quick we used last year.

Enjoy!!!

Christmas Decorations

Beautiful Christmas decorations...

simple...yet, festive.

Pictures taken while visiting with my Lynchburg Sister.

Happy Retirement

It's official...

My Lynchburg sister has officially retired from 35 years of teaching.

We had a great day last week at a luncheon in her honor at the school. 

They know her as the "perfect" 4th Grade Teacher.

What they don't know is that most of her time before she moved to Lynchburg was spent as the "perfect" Kindergarten teacher.

My children were never in my Sister's Kindergarten class.  I wanted her to be their aunt...not their teacher.  It made no difference.  They were still heavily touched by her Kindergarten program that was put together and used by all the K teachers at the school.

Yes I remember...

the first day of Kindergarten...

the Mother's Day Tea...

the Thanksgiving meal...

the Halloween party...

the Elegant Dance...

the book baskets...

the Star student of the week...

the angel Christmas tree ornaments...

Kindergarten graduation.

Good teacher's are sooooooo hard to find these days.  This is one that will certainly be missed.

Christmas M&M Reeses Cookies

This picture speaks of a very busy kitchen.

My daughter and I have been busy preparing cookies for a cookie swap.

These are my favorite holiday cookies to make...mostly, because they are so easy. The directions can be found here.

I did a few things different with these:

I made a few cookies using peanut m&m's rather than plain.

I did not use cupcake liners like I did before. 

(The liners are hard to peal from the cookie.)

I sprayed my mini muffin tin with Pam for baking...the cookies came out easily.

I took this plate of cookies to my teenage Sunday School class...they were devoured.

Easy...festive...and delicious.

Christmas Countdown

Our Christmas Countdown has taken on a new look this year. 

Last year's countdown was requested by my daughter to be an old fashioned countdown. 

 This year's countdown is really old fashioned...and features pint jars. 

 The kids will be able to see what they are getting, but it sure was easier than what I have done in the past...and it looks very festive on our entertainment center.

Christmas Decorations

The Christmas tree is up and Precious, the cat, has found her new place to sleep and relax. 

I must say I envy her for being able to curl up under the tree.  

It looks like such a warm and inviting spot. 

Christmas Berries

It's funny how things you thought were so ugly when you were younger now seem to be beautiful.

We had two of these nandina bushes in front of our house when I was growing up. 

I thought they were such ugly bushes. 

I remember pulling off the berries and throwing them or using them to decorate when I made mud pies.

Now, my Sewing Sister has one of these bushes beside her house...and it is beautiful. 

Just the right thing to get a person in the Christmas spirit.