Decorating the Tree!
This Christmas Eve Day we changed things up!
The girls decorated the Tree all. by. themselves! Seriously!
(okay, Mark strung the lights and helped with hooks and placing ornaments up high)
I think they did an awesome job (even if it ornament heavy on one side)
Isn't it beautiful?
What? No smile, Ava?
What kept me so busy that I didn't help with dressing the Tree? I was making Christmas Caramel Popcorn...you can find the recipe HERE. I followed the recipe as is and it comes out perfect! I did add chopped almonds to the popped corn and added Christmas candy corn (I've not seen that before, have you? candy corn that is red, white and green.) after the caramel popcorn had cooled. These boxes of caramel corn were gifts for friends... I'm bummed that I didn't take a photo of them all prettied up with bows and tags. Oops.
I also made a cookie-in-a-jar gift- Cranberry Hootycreeks. Don't you just love that name???? We tested the cookies before making the gift (don't want to give a cookie that stinks!?!) and they are AWESOME! We were pleasantly surprised by how yummy these cookies turned out. And, as a bonus, they make a pretty cookie-in-a-jar gift.
Any guesses what Mark has caught?
It's a black-capped chickadee that had found its way into our garage and was frantically trying to get out. Mark quickly showed the girls and then quickly let it loose by our bird feeders.
I goofed up this year....I forgot to take photos of our tree-getting adventure! We always get a tree from our friends and neighbors who own Dutch Hollow Tree Farm. This year we found ourselves wading in knee-deep snow to find our perfect tree. I didn't feel like "running" back to the car to fetch the camera!
Also, I just wanted to mention that having the girls take over the tree decorating came as a strange relief to me. Every year I feel as if I take over the tree decorating business and that every ornament has to be in a perfect spot. Which ends up being not so much fun. So, I can now erase Christmas-tree-decorating-nazi from my resume!
Since we put up the tree on Christmas Eve day it will stay up for a few weeks into January. It'll certainly brighten our dark, dreary, gray days here at Bristling Acres!
Hope you have a bright and cheerful January 2011!
Your tree looks beautiful--the girls did a fabulous job! And THANK YOU so much for the delicious caramel corn/mix. It was so pretty and tasted even better than it looked! I'm so glad you posted the recipe!! You made it perfectly - not sticking to your teeth, just absolutely perfect!!
Amy, I've tried with the caramel corn that you make in the microwave (also found on allrecipes.com) with mixed results. The stove-top recipe has been a success every time. I've also made it with one stick of butter. Not sure what sure if it would work with margarine. (it'd be a worthy experiment!)