Christmas Cocoa

We stood in the checkout line at Walmart on Saturday afternoon for about 25 minutes. The place was a madhouse. But, lucky for me, Walmart had strategically placed peppermint stir sticks next to the magazines...a whole bag of peppermint sticks for 87 cents! So I threw them in my cart. And when Gina and Evalyn were over, I made us some chocolaty goodness.

The stirsticks are sort of a soft, quick dissolving candy, which makes them way better than a candy cane because the stick basically disappears by the time you're ready to drink your hot chocolate that is now delightfully minty. Seriously, it was one fabulous cup of hot chocolate.

a lovely gift

Back in October I posted about a new favorite blog that inspires my socks off. Her name is Donna, and I love her stuff. I showed her work to my friend Gina, the graphic design artist at Carol Joy Holling Camp. Gina is amazing at what she does...a true artist. When I showed her the project Donna had done, she didn't seem intimidated and said, "we can do that." And so we did!

Our marketing director, Casey, had her last day at Carol Joy yesterday. She is moving to Minnesota and will still work for camp, just via skype and lots of emails. So we made her a going away present. Casey doesn't like butterflies, which cracks us up. I never even thought it was an option to not like butterflies. So we decided to make her an art piece centered on a butterfly with a cheesy butterfly quote: Casey, it's like you always say, "Love is like a butterfly: It goes where it pleases and it pleases where it goes." (please groan here.) Ha!

Gina got a frame for it, and honestly, it turned out stunning. And Casey loved it. And plans to hang it in her brand new house in Minnesota! We were honored and I am inspired to make a few more of these just with flowers. I LOVE the bright colors.

This is Gina and her daughter Evalyn showing off our materpiece.

And finally, we made Casey her own NLOM (Nebraska Lutheran Outdoor Ministries) sweatpants. She has joked many times that if she is working from home and skyping in to meetings, she really will never have to put on a full outfit. Just a nice shirt and sweats will do. And now she's set.

Chocolate Oreo Truffles

My sister-in-law, Lisa, went to a cookie swap a few years ago at her neighbor's house. When the neighbor brought out her own cookies she said boldly, "These are the best expletive-expletive cookies you'll ever eat!" She then proceeded to reveal the Oreo Truffle. Lisa is hysterical when she tells this story; she was so shocked that such words would be used at a ladies neighborhood Christmas cookie swap!

But, after trying one bite of these babies you're going to want to be the one who brings these fabulous truffles to your next cookie swap. Just watch your potty mouth.

one package Oreo Cookies
one 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
one 24 oz package chocolate almond bark
white almond bark for drizzle design

Crush oreos in food processor or a plastic bag. Blend cream cheese with Oreo until all pieces are covered and creamy...I used my kitchen aid. Using a one inch cookie scooper create balls onto a cookie sheet and then freeze these cookie balls for an hour or two. Dunk frozen balls into melted chocolate. Place on wax paper until hardened. Drizzle white almond bark on top. Let set. Store in refrigerator or freezer (I HIGHLY recommend freezing these things!)
Makes about 4 dozen one truffles.

our abc's

I spent a good part of the weekend working on Our Family ABC book. My mom had this fabulous idea to use our family pictures to make an alphabet book for the grandkids for Christmas. It was super fun to put together as it meant I spent a lot of time looking through all of our family pictures. There were letters that proved to be tricky though- I didn't have much for O, X or Z, but I got creative. And thanks to shutterfly and their "each additional book 50% off" deal, it didn't break the bank either.

ABC Book

Click here to view this photo book larger