Happy New Years Eve!

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Happy New Years Eve!

I'm thrilled to say goodbye to 2009 and hello 2010!

I pray abundant blessings to my bloggyland friends near and far and look forward to all the new things we will each bring to our blogs to share with one another!

Today has already started out with a memory! My sister Melody and her

A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E

Granddaughter came over for a morning visit and ended up joining us for breakfast and hot tea ~ we had a great visit!

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If I eat another cookie...

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If I eat another cookie...

I have eaten probaly 50 cookies in the last week! Some were "Quality Control" and some were because they just taste better hot out of the oven! But now...UGH - Stomach ache! I SAY THIS EVERY YEAR... Parents should get a pass for eating the Santa cookies on Christmas EVE. I did NOT eat them because they were delicious and chocolately and soft... I ate them because my children expected it! It is purely good parenting - one of many, many sacrifices a Mother must make. It is not a sacrifice for a Father to make because THIS Mother got to them first!

It takes several days to make all these goodies but here is what one of the days looked like. Got the kids to help me frost some sugar cookies.

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I also made CANDY too! This is 6 pounds of the Chocolate Almond Toffee drying on the table. Notice how each batch has a different "lining" under it... ha ha

I was running out of supplies and I was determined not to make a run to the store that day. I have here the last of the tin foil, the last of the parchment paper and a large size oven bag (think turkey bag). ha ha

At the end of day - 4 - I said, "My work here is done, let the parties begin!"

Mind you my family didn't eat all of these. I brought trays and trays and more trays to all the holiday gatherings we went to because I'm usually assigned desserts.

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How about you? What special item are you famous for at the holidays?

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Tis' the Season to make memories!

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Making memories...

"Honey, have you seen the kitty?"

"No, why?"

"Hmm, can't find him anywhere."

After a quick search, we finally heard a little meow coming from the Christmas tree...

Samson was sleeping under the warm glow of the lights!

Then we went to church and watched my Girl sing in the children's choir...

Ahhhh ~ Angelic voices!

Great job honey! Now let's get you out of that pretty dress so you can help Mommy make some cookies!

Magic Bars!

Peanut Butter Kisses

We call these Russian Tea Horns but they are also known as Rugelach

Traditional rolled out Sugar Cookies with frosting!

Chocolate Almond Toffee

No Bake Chocolate Oatmeal cookies

Snowballs also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes

My Quality Control Expert... who said the Snowballs passed inspection! ha ha

My Man came into the kitchen and said that I should start to wrap things up for the night because it was time to go out and remember the reason for the season.... by visiting a Live Nativity scene! I couldn't agree more!

Since we were already out for the night, we decided to start our neighborhood light looking tour and we weren't disappointed with our annual favorites plus we found a few new ones too! So many of the homes that were vacant from last years foreclosures are coming back with new owners who celebrate the birth of Christ!

I know there are other ladies out there baking up batch after batch of baked goodies, but I encourage you to take a LONG break to get outside and enjoy this season with your family & friends making memories!

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Small, small Group Fun

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Small, small group fun!

Recently we got together with our small group to finish and celebrate our 10 week church campaign on "Whats LOVE got to do with it?". I say small, small because about 15 people weren't able to come due to scheduling conflicts but that is to be expected this time of year. Our group leaders opened their home to enjoy a potluck dinner and games!

I just lurve seeing the variety of ways that people decorate their trees! Kind of like light-looking, I never get tired of it!

We got right down to business starting with a fabulous dinner of Spinach Salad...

a H-U-G-E Lasagna Casserole...

And here's Kim, our Beautiful Hostess who made the lasagna!

Family friends, Beautiful Heidi and Handsome Michael

Heidi and her beautiful daughter

And even the "Little People" joined us!

"Tween People"

After dinner the group showed my Man and I how to play the card game "SPOONS"! Oh my stars, that was hilarious fun! My stomach ached from laughing so much.

While we played cards, Hostess Kim labored hard the day before so the kids could create homemade Sugar Cookies, complete with homemade frosting! Let's go kids!

Bless your heart Kim because I KNOW those tiny little decorations were all over her kitchen floor! ha ha

TA-DA! The finished cookies ready for their photo-op!

For our dessert, I brought my Pumpkin Spice cake that I made at my birthday party last month. Mmmm, it was a hit!

It was a great night of memories and fellowship with our church family!

 

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