So have you got your house all decked out for Christmas? We’re trying over here. We really are. This is the first year we’ve ever been in an actual house and not an apartment. Before when I put up my 8 decorations, it felt cozy and festive in our 20 square foot living room. But now that I have all this empty furniture-less space, my hand-made-Pinterest-wanna-be paper decorations are just not cutting it.
Even Eric noticed. He asked if I could pick up a tree skirt while I was at the store. This to cover up the plastic claw-like foot of our fake 5-foot Walmart Christmas tree. (We always travel during the holidays so have never been able to justify buying a real tree. To my everlasting shame, I assure you.)
We must have lost our box of ornaments during the move, because the only ones we could find were a couple homemade paper ones, a shatter-resistant glass ball with a Star Wars Stormtrooper sticker on it (why??), and a creepy little babushka ornament that I got at a white elephant party. Also there is a 4-foot string of popcorn that we made for our first Christmas. We were all like, hey, we’re poor, let’s do popcorn strings and then 12 hours later we realized just how insane it is to needle through popcorn, so we gave up. It’s not long enough to wrap around the tree, so we just zig-zag-drape it across the front and hope no one notices. Supa classy.
But back to the tree skirt. Do you KNOW how much those things cost?? Like, more than our tree, apparently. All the ugly ones were $35, and then I saw one that was actually cute…for $40. Bummer! I was trying to think of a way that I could make a paper tree skirt (I’m kidding, geez) when I walked past the aisle with the mini counter-top trees. You know, like the 24-inch ones. And lo and behold…tree skirts. Mini tree skirts. 8 bucks! I snagged one up faster than you can say ghetto Christmas. Our pitiful tree now has what is essentially a red wool sock that doesn’t extend past the lowest branches. It’s festive, dangit.
My best friend in college made these Candy Lasses for Christmas every year. I love them. It’s her grandmother’s recipe. These cookies are kind of hard to describe without tasting them, but essentially they are a lightly-spiced molasses cookie with crushed peppermint in the dough, covered with frosting.
This sounds weird. I know. Molasses and peppermint? It is not a flavor combination that I would have ever thought of, but it totally works. There are only a couple tablespoons of molasses, so it is not overwhelming, but it still provides that deep golden flavor. These would be a great addition to your neighbor gifts! What cookies have you guys made so far this year? Do you guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more? Facebook | Pinterest | Twitter Here’s what your candy canes will look like if you use a food processor. I like to have pretty fine pieces in the actual dough. I used a rolling pin for these guys. You won’t be able to crush them as fine. I sprinkled this on the top. Add the candy canes and dry ingredients all at once. Here they are just out of the oven.
And there you have it! Enjoy!
