Merry Christmas

I have been so busy getting settled and then with the holiday season I just have had no time to blog!

I am so excited to blog this but I couldn't do it until after Christmas...

Each year I change the way my girls exchange gifts. I have these little Christmas bucks I designed and printed on card stock and when they do something good or do an extra job or two, they earn a buck. then when it is time to go shopping they get to roll over that money into actual dollars to purchase gifts for the family.

(please insert some teeth on Elizabeth - poor kid has lost them all in front!)

This year I decided, MUCH to late in the season, to have the girls hand make their gifts to one another. It sounded great, but I realized as I tried to execute this that it took a LOT more involvement from me. 

Which was OK! 
We had a lot of fun working together on these projects.

I gave some help but I really tried to have the girls do the work on their own as much as I could. 

Look at how cute these turned out.

Stella made this for Elizabeth...

Claire made this for McCall...

Elizabeth made this for Claire...

(I sewed the stamps and velcro on - but Elizabeth is pretty good on the sewing machine. It would be cute to have three lines on the address but I just didn't have any more patience to watch her do the third line.)

And the cutest thing ever...

McCall made this for Stella from wool felt...

(I helped stitch alongside McCall in the interest of time...and I ended up taking over stitching the hair on.)

 So darn cute! 

We had the best Christmas! 

I hope you all had a lovely day too!

 XXX

Candy Canes + Truffle =

 A good mix I tell you is a sweet truffle with bits of candy cane.

Every Christmas, my friend Paula drops off the most delicious handmade truffles. I look forward to it every year. Not only are they wonderful but her presentation is also simple amazing. Yes, she is one of those who can compete with the best Martha has to offer.

The lovely little round truffle rolled in candy cane is always the first to go.

Oh wait, I guess I should clarify here. You may have just pictured my family calmly selecting a truffle while we sit around laughing, Christmas music playing, maybe a fire glowing, and the candy cane ones selected first by our little family.

Erase anything remotely close to what I just described.

No, I am not that kind, or kind of person. No, no... I pull rank here and don't even blink over it. Even though I do believe the tag says Peterson's, I just put everyone in their place and let them know these are from MY friend, thus they are for ME. You can go have a candy cane Kiss or red, green or gold wrapped Reese's peanut butter cup or something.

It is very selfish I know. I have a thing with truffles. I am working on that.

Since we are talking about truffles... I will now explain the worst thing in the world. 

I was at Costco in November and I spotted some truffles which I had not seen before. Candy Cane Truffles. Being they were made of chocolate and had candy cane I figured they were worth a try, so I grabbed a bag. See... we are going downhill.

Unfortunately... they got opened. 

Erik threatened to tell me the calorie count one day, as I had eaten four in front of him, but I covered my ears with a "blaa blaa blaa" and repeated with ears still covered "Ignorance is BLISS!"  (You may thing I jest but I am very accurately describing the exact scene between us.) 

I finished off the bag in a few days.

So next trip to Costco, being with Erik, just so I've set the scene and you can picture us... I passed that red and black bag and using reverse psychology, I said to Erik... "Don't buy those! I cleaned out a whole bag almost on my own!" So of course, being the obedient husband and man I love, he grabbed two bags, while I pretended to protest, "Erik! Don't! I'll eat them all."

After finishing off my 2nd bag of Candy Cane Truffles before Dec. 1st, I swore I would not be the one to open up the third bag. So they sat for a long time (three or four days - could have been two - it felt like eternity), I finally succumbed at about 2pm and opened the sealed bag.

Mmmmm...

My niece called Monday night as we were headed up to Temple Square. She and my parents were at Costco and looking for the truffles I had raved about (and one of my Mom's friends too) but they couldn't find them anywhere. Next day I phoned to see if they had any luck finding them, but nothing.

Wednesday, as I shopped at Costco, I tried NOT to look for them as I circled the seasonal candy square isle for the third time. "If they are out it is just as well", I told myself trying to calm the panic I felt inside. By the third pass I realized...it's true! They are out in Orem and Lehi! 

At check out they always ask you if you found everything you needed. I said yes as always and then halted...

Don't do it Ashley... stay quite.! It's for the best! 

But I didn't listen...

"Oh wait!" I said... "You're out of those candy cane truffles." The cart loader turned to look at me with a knowing sympathetic nod. Then the checker yelled over to the service desk. By the time I was handed my receipt, the desk man informed me that there are 147 bags in Sandy but no where else. And they were scheduled for item deletion which means they are not expecting any additional shipments of the product that season.

Dang. 

I tried NOT to think about this as I left the store, weighted and heavy with this information... but about 30 feet from the exit, next to the water softener, I skirted my cart to the side and sent a text to Erik...  "If you happen to be in the Sandy area, Costco has 147 bags of candy cane truffles and that is it, forever and anywhere."

Erik's next text was...

"Are you OUT? :)"

Ha Ha!




This is what he came home with that evening.

That's 10 bags folks.

A couple had been searching the store like Erik and when they got to the pallet they took 7 CASES of them! 

They must be stocking up for themselves too!

The Moral: Please avoid looking at my waist this holiday! :)