Christmas Cookies

Here is a great recipe for fun Christmas cookies!


here's what you need:

• 1
  cup butter, softened
• 1/2
  cup powdered sugar
• 1
  teaspoon vanilla
• 2
  cups all-purpose flour
   
  Optional: 
• 1
  cup finely chopped dried cranberries*
• 2
  teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
   
   
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   Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add powdered sugar. Beat until combined, scraping bowl. Beat in vanilla. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in cranberries, lemon peel, and any remaining flour (use your hands to work in flour, if mixture seems crumbly).

  2. Shape mixture into 1/2-, 3/4-,or 1-inch balls. Roll dough balls in nonpareils. Arrange balls 1 inch apart on prepared cookie sheets.

  3. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes for about 1/2-inch balls, 13 minutes for 3/4-inch balls, or 15 minutes for 1-inch balls, or until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Transfer to wire racks and let cool. 

  
  

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  Something extra you can also do with the cookies:

  
  

  Roll them (when you make them into balls) into powdered sugar, hot cocoa powder, nuts, oats, chopped fruit, almost anything!

  
  

  Please ask for permission though, or else you will get into trouble!

  
  

  Alia

  :)

  :)

  <3

  <3   

The Nativity

This is another quick poem:

The Nativity

On the rough Judean plains

The night was dark and still

Until a host of angels

Spoke to shepherds on a hill

In a stable not far off,

In a manger filled with hay,

While His loving mother watched, 

                                The little Christ child lay.     

Christmas Workshop

Here are 3 very simple crafts and recipes for Christmas! 

Crayon Pencil Holder

You need:

a ruler

a 3 inch square of cardboard

foil to cover the square

toilet paper tube

19 new crayons

newspaper to protect your area

 How to make it:

Step 1: Neatly wrap the cardboard square, with the shiny side out, and set it aside.    

Step 2: Cut the toilet paper tube so that it is a little bit shorter than the crayons.

Step 3: Glue all of the crayons on the OUTSIDE of the roll.

Step 4: Glue the bottom ends of the crayons to the foil square, and it is ready to be a gift! :)

   

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   Finnish Christmas Stars

   What you will need:

12 ounces of dried apricots or other dried fruit

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup butter or margarine

2 cups flour

1/2 cup milk

1/8th teaspoon salt

1/8th teaspoon of baking powder

Steps:

1. Chop the dried fruit into pieces and place in a medium saucepan. 

2. Add the water.

3. Stir occasionally, and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until soft. 

4. Drain off the water, and mash the fruit with a potato masher, blender, or fork.

5. Add the sugar and mix well. Set aside.

6. Mix the butter or margarine and flour until crumbly.

7. Add milk and salt and baking powder.  Stir until soft.

8. Roll the dough out on a floured surface.

9. Cut the dough into 36 squares that are 3 inches.

10. Cut four diagonal slits in each square starting at the corners, and and stop halfway to the middle.

11. Spoon a mound of fruit in the center of each square.

12. Fold the dough into the center to make a pointed star.

13. Lift the stars onto a spatula and put onto a cookie sheet.

14. Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes until golden brown.  

15. Remove the stars and enjoy!

           

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 Pumpkin Fudge

What you need:

1 cup milk

3 cups of sugar

1/2 cup of canned pumpkin

3 tablespoons of corn syrup

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4th cup of butter

1/2 cup of nuts any kind

Directions:  

1. Combine milk, sugar, pumpkin, corn syrup, and salt in a saucepan, and stir until it comes to a rolling boil.

2. Put to medium heat, and STOP stirring.  

3. Give it a good 15 min to simmer on a lower heat.

4. Get a little bit of cold water, and set it next to the pot.  Put a drop of the mix into the water, and if it dissolves, it is NOT ready.  Wait until it feels like taffy in the water.

5. Take off the heat when that happens.

6. Add in pie spice, butter, vanilla, and the nuts is you want.

7. Let the mixture sit in the pot until it becomes warm, not boiling hot.  Stir it, and pour into a pan.

8. When the fudge cools, cut into squares and enjoy!!!

 

Enjoy!

Alia :)

Hi!!!

Hi guys this is Cambria and Kelly posting. I(Cambria) am here in CA!!! I'm SO excited!!! That was a random picture

A Nice Christmas Poem

Here is a nice poem to really show the meaning of Christmas:

Sweet Little Baby

By Linda Hoffman Kimball

Sweet little Baby

Resting in the hay,

Do You know why shepherds come

To worship You today?

Sweet little Baby,

While Mary hummed to Thee,

Angels sang out "Gloria!"'

O'er flock and field and tree.

Sweet little Baby

Peaceful in the night, 

Shepherds ran here breathless

To see this wondrous sight.

Sweet little Baby

Smiling at these men,

In time, You'll be their Shephers

To guide them home again.

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Wow! isn't that nice?  I really like it, and I hope you do too!

This is just for the start of Christmas, but it is great to start off with the most important things!

         

Love,

Alia :)

PS: This was from a magazine called the Friend.

A Fun Family Gathering

The Wilson family got together and did a huge family picture!  Here are some photos from the day:

 Kaia and Kelly

Grandma Zoe and my Mom.

 

Cambria and Grace

 Alia and Cambria

 Grace and Adelle

Everyone getting ready for the family photo!

 

Everyone getting positioned.

 Grandma, Grandpa, and their 8 kids!

 

 True Love.  Awwww!

 We played some basketball with the cousins.

 Grandpa got a birthday quilt.

 Happy 80th  Birthday!

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When  the Hayes family was at our house we:

made cookies:

 

 Cambria made us notes.

 They made thumb people too :)

I love my family!

-Alia :)

Lick and Stick Stickers

I am making these for BCE!

Lick & stick stickers – Pour 2 tablespoons of cold water into a bowl and sprinkle 1 packet of plain gelatin over it. Whisk in 3 tablespoons of boiling water until gelatin is dissolved. Add 1/2 tablespoon corn syrup and a few drops of flavored extract for taste. Apply a thin layer of this solution to the back of whatever you want to make into a “sticker”. Let it completely dry, and there you have it – your child can simply lick and stick when ready!

Make some yourself!