I made the girls Christmas cookies and will be making chocolate mint brownies today. I thought I would share a few photos of my finished cookies as well as the recipes. Hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season with friends and family. Merry Christmas!

Chewie Chocolate Christmas Cookies

1 pkg. devils food cake mix (18.25 oz.)

1 small pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. Crisco

2 large eggs

1 tbls water

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Combine 1st 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring until smooth. Shape dough into 1 in. balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place 2 in. apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 10 min. Remove from oven.Cool 10 min. on cookie sheets. Place on wire racks to cool completely.

Pecan Sandies with a chocolate center

1 c. butter

4 tbls powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1 tbls cold water

2 c flour

1 c finely chopped pecans

Brach’s Chocolate Stars

Red and Green Sugar

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and water. Stir in flour and then nuts. Form a ball with cookie mixture and place a chocolate star in the center, make sure the chocolate is completely wrapped with the cookie mixture. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 400 for 9 min. or until lightly browned, immediately roll in powdered sugar while cookies are still warm.

Red Devil Cookies with a Hershey Kiss on top

Red Devil Cake Mix

2 large eggs

1/2 cup oil

1 Bag of Hershey Kisses

Mix ingredients together in a large bowl, place a tbls sized amount of cookie mixture on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 min. Remove from oven and immediately place a hershey kiss in the center of each cookie. Place on cooling racks.

Peppermint Bark

2 regular sized bags of White Chocolate Morsels

24 candy canes (red and green striped)

parchment paper

Unwrap and crush candy canes. (Make sure to leave some larger pieces of candy canes to go on top) Melt two bags of white chocolate morsels in microwave for 3 min. Stir melted chocolate and poor half of the crushed candy canes into the melted chocolate and stir again. Poor mixture onto parchment paper, spread mixture to the thickness you prefer. I like mine thin. Once chocolate is smoothed out, poor remaining mixture on top and gently push in larger pieces of candy canes. Let cool until candy is hard. Cut or break into pieces and enjoy!

Lots going on here which means not much time for creating so I thought I would share this great recipe with you. It is perfect for Christmas morning and it has been tested by my family… they love it!

Melt one stick of butter in the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle with a cup of brown sugar and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Layer pan with bread slices 2 layers thick; beat 5 eggs well and add 1 1/2 cups of whole milk and beat again. Pour over bread mixture, cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake next morning covered at 350 degrees for 45 min. let stand for at least 15 mins. serve plain or sprinkle with powdered confectioners sugar.

Enjoy!

I LOVE being a Mom. I had to share with you the card Ansley gave me last night. Talk about making all the stress worth it while I have been getting ready for Christmas. As I was reading this card it brought tears to my eyes. I think it is just so sweet.

All I have left to do is a bit of grocery shopping. It is so nice to just sit back and relax enjoying all the decorations around the house. This is such a magical time of year.

Wishing you all a fabulous holiday season.

All the decorating is complete and ready for our holiday guests to arrive. I am so happy with how the house looks. There is a little bit of Christmas everywhere. I really love my little fur tree I bought last year. It is a perfect display for all my grandmother’s vintage ornaments.

Click here to see more photos

Now all I have left to do is bake and wrap presents. YIPPIE! Finally I can sit back and enjoy the holidays and think of what I am going to create with all the new photos I have taken. I’m sure Maya Road has a few great albums and products I can use! Oh and speaking of Maya Road you will not believe your eyes when you see what they are working on right now for CHA winter. Just stunning!

Wishing you and your family a wonderful holiday season.

Oh I feel the clock ticking down big time. I just about have all my gifts purchased and wrapped and the house is coming together nicely. So all I need to do is finish up my Christmas Cards and send out my SS gift. I think I can get the cards done today and then mail everything off tomorrow. At least this is my goal. I know I can do it. When everything is completed and mailed you will all hear a huge sigh of relief.

I just love sitting in our front room looking at our tree and piano decorations. They truly are spectacular. I am so amazed as to what Connie can do. I took some photos of the piano last night and had to share these two with you. They just make me smile.

Okay off to finish my Christmas cards and box up my SS gifts. Have a great day.