Christmas & Yummy Treats

I trust you all had a joyous and very Merry Christmas! We certainly did! I think we'll all be a little sluggish for a few days after all the eating and merry making of the holidays. We had a wonderful visit with Peter's 3 children and then headed over to Atlanta to spend a couple of days with my family. Lots of eating, as I'm sure you all did too!

We got back on Friday just in time for me to hit the after-Christmas sales, which I love to do every year. I found a few things! :) I didn't have any Christmas platters, so after spotting these at a cute little shop in Chelsea called Chelsea Lane, I went back and got them 1/2 off.
Michael's had most of their glass Christmas balls at $1.99 a box, so I loaded up with a few colors so that I can do one of these wreaths that Eddie Ross showed us how to make. If you missed it take a look. I'll be sure and show you when I finish mine. I just love the looks of it and how fun to do whatever colors fit your home.

Couldn't resist the Merry Christmas blocks 1/2 price at Homegoods (love that store!), as well as a pair of mercury glass votive candle holders.

My main goal was to buy some lighted garland, since my old garland is SO old it's shedding like an old fur coat. So, Target was my next stop and I did manage to score 100 feet of lighted white lights garland for 1/2 off. I'll be all set next year. Also from Target, I found these pretty bronzey glass garlands, red bottlebrush trees on deep discount, and a pretty set of small mercury glass ornaments. I can absolutely go crazy with the after-Christmas sales, so I have to stay focused on what will work with what I'm already doing. I think I did OK. Thought I was gonna lose my religion when I found a gorgeous pair of mercury glass fleur-de-lis stocking holders at 1/2 off. Took them up to the register where the girl promptly smacked them together while putting them in a bag and broke both of them! I was pretty aggravated about it (of course, there were NO more), but took a deep breath and went on without saying too much. I wanted to, but refrained. Not worth stressing myself out over that. I really did find plenty to bring home.

Now, back to Christmas. Peter's three (20-something) younguns came by to see us, spent the night and then had some other relatives to visit, so we did Christmas with them and then headed over to Atlanta on Christmas Eve. It was great to have them for a little while and they're all doing well.

My sister always does a huge Christmas breakfast at her house, so that's where we celebrated. Then we ate a huge meal of BBQ ribs later in the afternoon, around 4:00 pm. It was ALL yummy and we all ate way too much.

You can see we ate well for breakfast with a sausage and egg casserole, fresh fruit, cheese grits, some fancy Southern Living bacon and some butterscotch pecan rolls (which look burnt, but it was the cinnamon & brown sugar that over browned). Mom and I put that one together at her house before we went over. It was ALL delish!

Here's a few shots of my sister's house at Christmas. This little tree is in her kitchen window.

She's pared down her Christmas village, but it's still big and so pretty. I always get fascinated watching it, as she has a lot of moveable things and light-up things in here. That big tree lights up and goes round and round.

As do the kids sledding around the rink. See flying Santa overhead?

My friend, Debbie shared a treat with me that I just loved and got the recipe to make at home. It’s really easy to put together and the most time-consuming part is making the balls and rolling them in the powdered sugar. It’s worth it though! I didn’t think I’d like dates all that much, but this is a really good little treat.

Dingbats (wonder who made up this name) I’d actually call them Date Balls

1 stick butter

1 pkg. Dates (I used 10 oz container)

1 cup sugar

Put all 3 of the above in saucepan and stir to melt butter and blend all together.

Add in 2 cups rice crispies

1 Cup chopped pecans

Mix well and let cool to touch.

Spoon into balls, roll in powdered sugar. And EAT!

Mine aren't all that pretty, but they taste good!

That’s it! Hope you try them and enjoy too! And I hope that you ALL had a wonderful Christmas. We sure did, but I'll be ready to clean up all the Christmas stuff and put it away for another year very soon.

Don't forget our Before & After Projects party in January. I'll put up a post on Monday with a button and all the info on that.