Christmastime Is Here...*cue "Charlie Brown Christmas" music*

I'm back already! It's been very enjoyable putting up our holiday decorations in our new home. Our beautiful Nativity was set up on the piano, as usual. However, I'm a little more nervous about it being there now that our stairwell is right next to it; as you can see by the picture, it would be all too easy for curious/destructive little hands to reach through the bars and wreck havoc on some of our beautiful breakables. For now, I will cross my fingers and trust my luck. My kids are not normally destructive people; well, not most of the time.

And here's our tree! Our ceilings are "only" eight feet high, so our tree (which really isn't huge) certainly looks tall in our front room! Another problem we faced--apparently both our strings of lights decided to die sometime over the previous year. Not cool. Anyway, we took the opportunity to do something we've been meaning to do for a while--we upgraded the tree lights to the energy-efficient LED lights. They burn just as bright, but they are much cooler (reducing fire risk), and they use less energy to boot. They also include purple and blue bulbs, which means that our whole front rooms has a very bluish glow when the tree is turned on at night.

Before you ask: yes, I am aware our star is "listing" a bit. What can I say? We aren't professional tree trimmers; I also think it adds to the tree's charm! Also: this is a REAL tree; I realize they are a lot more hassle sometimes, but I just can't resist that wonderful smell in my house!

As many of you know, Christmas is also the time when I make lots (lots) of cookies, fudge, and other sweets and give them out at various occasions. In years past, I have made dozens of batches of stuff, and handed plates out to everybody I could. This year...well, I'm a lot busier than I was at this time last year, so we'll see if that actually happens. I may try to ease up on the baking by only doing a few batches when I get around to it, and giving them out when I have a moment.

However, that hasn't stopped me from cooking a few things, and trying some new recipes out. Here's what I've made so far this Christmas season:

First I whipped together a batch of one of my family's favorites: chocolate scootcheroos! Basically, it's Rice Krispie Treats made with corn syrup and peanut butter instead of marshmallows, topped with melted chocolate & butterscotch. Soo sugary and yummy.

I also made these very easy pecan/Rolo/pretzel snacks, which is just as simple as it sounds. First, you put a Rolo candy on top of a pretzel; repeat until the bag of Rolos (or pretzels!) is gone. Second, you put them all into a 350-degree oven for about 5 minutes. Then, you remove them from the oven, press a pecan half into the Rolo, and let them cool completely. That's it! If you like caramel, they are a must; plus, they're a nice salty alternative to many of the ultra-sweet Christmas treats out there.

Here's a recipe I tried for the first time this year, but it was fun to make! Basically, they are gingersnap "logs" (although I think I'll shape them into balls next time). I take crushed-up gingersnap cookies and mix them with sweetened condensed milk and a few other things. Then I roll that dough into shapes, then cover it with the white topping (a combination of canned store frosting and white chocolate for baking). It tastes sort of like a high-powered gingerbread cookie; I liked it, but think one is enough!

What else did I do last week? Shopping, shopping, and more shopping. The good news: I think I'm done shopping for my family. Yay! However, I've still got some extended family to take care of; plus, Celeste's birthday is just around the corner, as is my piano students' winter recital. Hopefully I'll survive (and be alert enough) to fill you in on all that later.