December

It's a busy time of year with all of the parties and family gatherings and it's all too much for Ashton!

I think being tired and eating too much is pretty accurate of how I feel through much of December. Ashton fell asleep eating a roll on the way home from Sunday dinner.

Matt is a trooper, he helped me make/dip 6 batches of Almond Toffee along with Peanut Butter Balls and Caramel Popcorn. Rather than spreading chocolate on top of the toffee I like to dip the pieces in chocolate and then crushed up almonds. If you've ever had toffee from Garden Gate Candy this is how they do their toffee and I love it. It's more work but I think it's worth it; after 6 batches I don't think Matt thought it was worth it.

Almond Toffee

1 lb. butter (4 sticks)

2 c. sugar

1/3 c. + 1 T. water

Almonds 

(approx. 1 c. coarsely chopped for pan and 2-3 c.ground for coating)

Add everything to a saucepan and cook on high heat stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until it reaches 310 degrees. Spread coarsely chopped almonds on a silpat (on a sheet pan) and pour the toffee over the almonds. After it cools, break up the toffee and dip into chocolate and then finely ground up almonds and let set.

Last week we had our Scherzinger Christmas Party and since we were planning on playing Christmas Minute To Win It games on Christmas with the Jorgensen's we brought the games along to play at this party. I think the videos I have of people trying to get rudolph's red nose to stick to their nose was the best part. The games were really fun to play and even more fun to watch.

 

On Sunday Kaleb's primary class for sharing time put on a shadow puppet play of the nativity. Kaleb was a narrator and also held the angel and star. The kids sent out invitations to come and watch and since I teach the 12-13 yr. old's for Sunday School my whole class came to watch and my dad and sister came to. His teachers did a great job putting it together and it was a great way of teaching about Christ's birth. It was one of the highlights for this month for me.

 Picture stolen from this blog, thanks Angie!

Christmas Eve dinner is at our house and I'm going to try to brine the turkey first. I've never done it before but I hear that it should stay more moist that way so we'll see. The boys are beyond excited at this point with only 3 DAYS LEFT before Christmas. Anytime Kaleb is mean to Ashton, Ashton reminds him he's on the naughty list and he's getting a big rock from Santa but of course Ashton is always on the nice list (in his mind anyways). With only 3 days left I better get busy, anyone want to come and wrap for me?