Red and White Wishes and Peppermint Dreams

First, thank you ,thank you to those of you who joined in the fun for Deck the Halls! I am overwhelmed and grateful for your response. If you participated, commented, or just lurked :), I am glad you came! In this busy season I hope Michael Lee West at Designs by Gollum and Beverly at How Sweet the Sound won’t mind if I “double dip” :) I am linking for Foodie Friday and Pink Saturday for a spin on pink. Thanks for hosting ladies! Peppermint is a favorite of mine and a tradition that takes many forms at our house. It may show up in a table setting or party favor.

It may show up as a snack for Santa in the family room.

It almost always appears as a theme in the packages under my tree. But one place, it always shows up is in the old fashioned hard candy I have been making for years.

It’s a real treat for us to eat or to package and give as Christmas “happies”. There are lots of flavors available and some are available in the grocery store or at Hobby Lobby. Our favorites are spearmint, peppermint, and lemon.

This year I even crushed it and used it as a garnish for this pound cake. It was festive and added a touch of flavor!

This was a new idea I tried this year. I rolled the edge of the cake stand in corn syrup and then in red and white sugar crystals for an easy presentation. Here’s the recipe for the hard candy…remember, it’s not just for Christmas! Click the FF button on the sidebar to visit Designs by Gollum for more recipes. Click here for Pink Saturday fun!

Old- Fashioned Hard Candy

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

2/3 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon oil flavoring

Food coloring

Powdered sugar

Heat sugar, water, and syrup in a large saucepan until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil over medium heat until 300 degrees is reached on a candy thermometer (hard ball stage). Add flavoring and food coloring. Stand back…the peppermint oil is potent! Pour onto a well greased cookie sheet that has been lightly dusted with powdered sugar. Allow to harden. When it is cool, the fun begins! Work out your holiday frustrations and break it into pieces with a rolling pin or meat cleaver!! Careful—the pieces may be sharp! Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.

Deck the Halls…A Room for Memories

Welcome to Deck the Halls! I ‘m so glad you stopped by to participate or just to see what everyone else is doing. So far I have taken you into “my rooms”, the living room and the dining room. Today I want to invite you into our family room—the room where we make and keep our Christmas memories. I hope you will turn on your volume. The first song is my favorite Christmas song; the second is Beloved’s.

Next to the kitchen, I suppose this is the heart of our home. This room is filled with warm library paneling. I had the gas logs removed a couple of years ago…I love a real fire. Our stockings are a mishmash. Only the oldest has a stocking needle pointed by me…look for the other two to show up on Dr. Phil with their stories :) The other two will not give up their childhood stockings. I have added one for our son in law this year.

While the other rooms are formal, this room is all red and green and candy canes. It is full of memories of Christmases past and waiting to make new memories.

The Elf Himself sits on one corner of the mantel.

This tree, a live one, is filled with family ornaments….the ones the kids made in elementary school and Sunday school classes. It is filled with the ornaments we have given each child every Christmas until they leave home and start their own trees. It is filled with the Christopher Radko ornaments I have been collecting for many years. Each little bauble holds a memory.

This is one of my favorites—Christopher Radko’s “brave heart” ornament, released the Christmas after September 11.

No tree for us would be complete without an Ole Miss ornament!

We usually pick up an ornament on every trip we take!

I enjoy wrapping packages and always use a red and green theme.

Lots of rattling and shaking goes on around here :)

Peppermint scented pillar candles with candy canes for Santa!

Finally, I had to share one of my favorite Christmas memories with you. Our youngest was almost six months old when he was asked to play the part of baby Jesus in the school Christmas pageant. Mary, played by a smart second grader, was ready if the little one cried….and he did!!! Baby Jesus with a binky! I still have people from our old home town ask me how baby Jesus is :)

Thanks for sharing these Christmas memories with me. If you are linking to Deck the Halls, add your URL below after you have published! Be sure to leave a comment!

Handprint Ornaments

Even if it is cold where you live, the holiday season is heating up…concerts, office parties, family get togethers, church programs…wheww! I’m joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for a mini metamorphosis. I just fixed a mug of mint hot chocolate and this is what I am working on

Our daughter teaches kindergarten in an area that has been hard hit by the economy. Most parents, if there are two, work more than one job to keep the family afloat. For our Sunshine, having a room mother for her class is just a dream…so I try to help. We have been doing this little project for the past four years….and I’m almost good at it! In early December she buys solid color ornaments. This is the first year we have found the non-breakable ones and it is great!!

Then she has the little darlings dip their hands in white paint and grasp the bottom of the ornament in their palm, leaving finger prints up the sides.

This is where I come in! Each little finger becomes a snowman or woman…depending on the hat I make! Some get top hats, some get baseball caps; a few even get cowboy hats! I use regular paint pens.

I haven’t drawn the stick arms on these yet…just working on their fashions right now. Twenty five kids with five fingers each…lots of snowmen!

Then each ornament gets a name. This is a great inexpensive project for Sunday school classes, Scouts, or just with the kids or grandkids.

Each one will go home with the children on the last day of school. My tree is filled with so many ornaments like these. I hope their parents will love and cherish them. While I am working on these, Sunshine is at home making individual banners for the children. Teaching school is not a career; it’s a calling :)

Don’t forget! Mr. Linky will be up tomorrow night for Deck the Halls! If you have participated or visited, I thank you! If not, I hope you’ll join the fun.

Now Click on the MM button on my sidebar to visit Susan for more makeovers!

Red Velvet …The Easy Way

I’ve been away from Foodie Friday too long..not that I haven’t been cooking. I am glad to be joining Michael again at Designs by Gollum. It’s been a long busy day here. The soup and salad luncheon was a success. The weather was very cold and just right for hot mugs of soup followed by dessert by a roaring fire…the real kind :)

We love red velvet cake and there is nothing more festive for the holidays, but frankly, it’s a lot of trouble. I found this recipe that has all the taste and none of the three layer hassle. It was pronounced a hit by the luncheon group and put in my “keeper” file ! These cookies are slightly bigger than the usual cookie, but you can make them whatever size suits you.

Red Velvet Cookies

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tbsp. liquid red food coloring

2 Tbsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

Parchment paper

Cream cheese frosting

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first five ingredients in a bowl. Beat butter (separate bowl) at medium speed until creamy. Gradually add sugar and beat well. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat after each addition. Beat in food coloring and vanilla. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Beat on low speed until blended. Drop by 1/4 cupsful three inches apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Use a spoon to spread into three inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until tops are set. Cool on baking sheets for five minutes and transfer to wire racks until cooled completely. Spread cream cheese frosting onto cookie and garnish. Crumble one cookie into fine crumbs to use for garnish.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 ( 8 0z) cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Dash of salt

16 oz powdered sugar

Beat first four ingredients until creamy. Gradually add powdered sugar and beat at low speed until smooth.

This recipe is long; don’t be intimidated. It couldn’t be easier!

I thought you might enjoy seeing my co-hostess for the luncheon. I don’t know that I‘ll ask her again. She’s not much of a cook and hates doing dishes :). She does make up for it in her sense of fashion though! Click on the Foodie Friday button for more recipes and fun!

Christmas Luncheon

Thank you to Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for hosting this fun party every Thursday. I am so excited to invite you in for my luncheon today. We’ve been building towards it all week! On Monday I showed how I was making part of the centerpiece here. On Tuesday I showed you my decorations in the dining room. On Wednesday…I set the table!!

Tomorrow I am having a luncheon for nine friends. I saw a similar tablescape in early October in my Christmas with Southern Living and I’ve been plotting ever since. This will be a casual soup and salad for a dear group of friends.

I found these oversized mugs for soup at Kroger for $1.25 each. They match well with the Christmas china and carry out the red and green theme. It is supposed to be bitterly cold here tomorrow---just right for a big mug of soup!

I am using red chargers and my Christmas Tree china by Cuthbertson. I collected this as a young bride. I pull this out the minute I put away the Thanksgiving china and we use every day all season long. It is casual enough for just us and can be dressed up for more formal dinners! The glasses are by Spode. These two patterns are so similar. They mix well. The napkins are more of those 99 cent bandanas from Hobby Lobby. I found the napkin rings at Old Time Pottery this year for 99 cents also!

Salt and Pepper shakers tied up like candy!

Here is one of the moss ball projects I showed you on Monday—set in a martini glass and tied with red and green satin ribbon. That’s a dog gate in the background—I’d retake the picture, but I am busy cooking!

Here is the centerpiece idea from Monday also. I added the red carnations from Kroger to the moss balls and Gibson cup and saucer.

Each person will get this favor. Really Rainey at The Project Table showed us here how to make bath salts. I made a batch of red and a plain batch. These happen to be votive containers a friend gave me. She owns a candle business and passed them along to me. You could do this in a small jar for the same effect. Of course, everything has to be tied up with a ribbon…It’s Christmas :) Here is tomorrow’s menu:

Hot Cider and Cheese Straws

Baby Blue Salad

Crab and Corn Bisque

Wild Rice and Chicken Cream Soup

Herbed Muffins

Susan’s Cranberry Trifle

Red Velvet Cookies

The trifle recipe is from the “Between Naps on the Porch” Susan and you can find it here. I will be linking to Michael at Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday with some recipes. I hope you will come back. Thanks for sharing this with…I’ve had S0 much fun doing it! Click on the TT button on the sidebar to see more festive tables at Susan’s!

Deck the Halls…

Welcome to Deck the Halls! Whether you are here to participate or just to browse, I am glad you’re here! I appreciate your patience last week with both me and Mr. Linky! I think (and pray as I type:) that we have resolved our issues. Today I want to take you into our dining room where I am trying several things for the first time. This is another room that is “my room”.

You people in the land of Blog amaze, inspire, and teach me constantly! I have never used fresh greenery in here before and have never used a wreath on the mirror. After seeing many of yours, I thought I might “audition” the look. It was meant to be. The fresh garland came from Home Depot on black Friday. I wheeled into Lowe’s on a whim and there was one, yes ONE, fresh wreath left and it was half price. I had floral picks and ribbons in “the closet”

I want this room to have a formal feel and still feel welcoming. I used gold to pull out the accents in the wallpaper.

I thought I’d show you a close up of the wallpaper. It’s really more of a deep red than it photographs, and though I never think of it as “Christmasy” the pattern almost looks like deer on an ornament—perfect for this time of year! I don’t think wallpaper ever truly goes out of style—the pattern-yes; the concept-never.

I like to buy floral picks anytime they are sale. They make any gift or package special. I picked up several gold ones at Old Time Pottery for less than a dollar each.

Several months ago I was browsing through back posts in My Romantic Home and saw Cindy’s beautiful dessert pedestal adorned for Christmas. I emailed her and asked her about it. She graciously emailed back that it was one of her prized possessions and from Disneyworld, a long ago gift from her mother. So much for plan A—on to plan B. After several trips I found two cake stands that would give me the same look. One came from Marshalls; one came from T.J. Maxx. Several of you were nice enough to share how to make the starfish. I love this. I think it might be my favorite new decoration…and it might just be here after Christmas.

It was such an inexpensive project—almost all dollar store items. The pearl garland gives it that elegance I want for this room.

The force-bloomed paper whites or narcissus is a project I do every year. Frankly, it’s like rolling dice. You can usually plan on about three weeks—sometimes more; sometimes less. There is nothing that smells better and I love this touch of spring. It seems to signify the birth and hope that Christmas is all about.

I planted the bulbs in votive holders with clear marbles and covered the roots with this gold ribbon.

I hesitated about showing you this picture—the chandelier is not my favorite. But the fresh green garland dresses it up a little.

Finally, the table in candlelight—white poinsettias in my antique footbath with candles to continue the white, green, and gold theme. Be sure to come back Thursday…there will be a whole new look for a luncheon.

Thanks so much for visiting with me. If you are participating please add your permalink below. Don’t forget to link back. I can’t wait to see how you’ve “decked your halls”!

Reindeer Moss Projects…Metamorphosis Monday

I think I may have told you before. I am “craft-challenged”….sadly, born without the craft gene. But today I am joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday with a crafty makeover even I can do. It all starts with reindeer moss.

I bought a bag of reindeer moss at Hobby Lobby. Of course, I couldn’t just use it—I had to know what it really is. It turns out it is not a plant but a lichen, a combination of an algae and a fungi. It is so named because reindeer and caribou like to munch on it. It is common in the alpine tundra and grows in North America. My particular bag was a product of Norway, but on to the project!

I am having a luncheon for friends on Thursday and I am working on a tablescape. This project will be part of the centerpiece. Martini glasses from Dollar Tree, styrofoam balls and reindeer moss from Hobby Lobby and lots of straight pins got me started.

The reindeer moss comes in pieces….lots of piecing and pinning. I tried floral pins, but they seemed to show too much. A little while and a big mess later, I had three of these! Now on to another part of the centerpiece!

Remember the Big Lots Gibson plates? They’re back at work. I’m glad to use the cups and saucers. We never drink out of them, but they’re perfect for this. I already had these candy cane candles.

Dollar Tree floral foam trimmed and pushed securely in the cup. More piecing, more pinning, more mess….

Another part of the centerpiece! I can’t take credit for the ideas. I saw these in the annual Christmas with Southern Living. I knew they were do-able for a non-crafter like me. Click on the MM button on the sidebar to visit Susan and more makeovers.

I hope you’ll be back on Tuesday for Deck the Halls. Mr. Linky will be up tomorrow night. I’ll be posting the entire tablescape on Thursday with Susan for Tablescape Thursday. Hope to see you!