On the 8th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...eight dozen pretzels ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ seven Christmas movies ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ six wish list items ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ fiiiiiiiiive pounds of chili ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ four clear glass bulbs ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ three quick breads ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪
♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

The last two years, my friend Sarah and I have made chocolate covered pretzels to give to our friends, families, and co-workers at Christmas.  I blogged about them here last year. 

This treat is really simple to make and so yummy.  There aren't very many supplies you'll need to make these.

• Pretzel rods
• Caramel
• Melting chocolate (we use Merckens)
• Rolling pin
• Pizza cutter
• Plastic wrap
• Wax paper
• Sprinkles

The pretzels are easy to find at the grocery store or Costco (where we bought ours this year) and the caramel and chocolate can be found at bakery/candy supply stores.

We decided to purchase tubs of pretzels this year, and they worked out so much better than buying bags. 

 
With bags of pretzels, you run the risk of getting lots of broken pieces.  We hardly had any broken rods this time!  That's great for our wallets, but sad for us since we get to eat the little leftover "nubbin" pieces.  Nubbin.  That's a fun word.  :)  Five points if you know where that's from.  (If you know Sarah and me, you should probably be able to figure it out rather quickly!)

First, roll out the caramel into a thin sheet.  We split the caramel into two sections, zapped it in the microwave for about five seconds to soften it, and rolled it out with a rolling pin.  We've found out a few things over the years:  1) Putting a sheet of plastic wrap over the caramel helps it not to stick to the rolling pin.  2) Using a pizza cutter is the perfect tool to cut the caramel into thin strips.  To keep it from sticking, spray a little Pam on the blade. 

Then, take the caramel strips and twist them from the top of the pretzel down to about half way.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of this step. 

Next, melt the chocolate.  This year we used a double boiler to melt the chocolate.  So much easier than the tall cups we've used in the past. 

Dip/roll the pretzels in the chocolate and place on a piece of wax paper to harden.

While they're still gooey, sprinkle with whatever topping you'd like.

And the finished product:

We really do love making these each year.  This was year three, and we plan on making them again next year.  As Sarah asked me the other day, how many years do you have to do something before it becomes tradition?  I'm not sure.  What do you think?  One, two, three?  Are we there already?

On the 7th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...seven Christmas movies ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ six wish list items ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ fiiiiiiiiive pounds of chili ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ four clear glass bulbs ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ three quick breads ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

Some of you will probably cringe when you see my list.  There's no A Christmas Story, Christmas Vacation, Miracle on 34th Street, or White Christmas.  If I'm being honest, I've never even seen the latter two.  And I have no plans of ever doing so.  They just don't interest me.  Kind of like how I've never seen The Sound of Music.  Never.  Again, no desire.

I've mentioned many times, that I'm just an over-grown kid.  I think the following seven movies prove that point.  :)



7.  Christmas with the Kranks
I love me some Tim Allen.  I love that he's from Michigan.  I love hearing his voice on the Pure Michigan commercials.  Actually, I've been hearing his voice a lot lately.  I think it's on a Campbell's soup commercial that's out right now too.  Anyway...

This movie is an adaptation of the John Grisham book Skipping Christmas.  There are a few differences here and there, but I don't mind them.  Overall, I think they did a great job of turning the book into a movie.




6.  Just Friends
This is technically not a Christmas movie, but it centers around the Christmas holiday.  I remember laughing until I cried in the theater.  This is one movie I will watch any time that it's on TV, even though I own the DVD.




5.  Ernest Saves Christmas
My mother loves Ernest.  Loves him.  One year for Christmas, I tracked down all of his movies on DVD and bought them for her.  I don't know if she's ever watched them all, but they're there just in case she wants to. 

I remember going to see this movie in the theater.  There's one part in the movie where the new Santa Claus (before he becomes Santa) is filming a Christmas horror movie called Christmas Slay.  He's supposed to swear and say, "Son of a B....," but he can't bring himself to do it.  He just says, "Son of a..., son of a...," over and over again until the director yells, "Cut!"  Well, my parents used to always say, "Son of a gun!"  For years, I thought he was supposed to say "Son of a gun" and my parents had been swearing the whole time! 




4.  The Muppet Christmas Carol
It was hard to decide which clip to post.  I love this entire movie.  My cousins and I used to watch it every Christmas Eve, so I picked the clip where Kermit sings "There's Only One More Sleep 'Til Christmas."




3.  Love Actually
So this one isn't exactly a "Christmas movie" either, but it takes place at Christmastime.  I love how all the stories tie into each other.  I love Colin Firth...and Hugh Grant.  The casting for this movie was great, just great.  I think I need to go watch this one again, like now!




2.  Elf
Will Ferrell in an elf costume.  Is there anything else to say?  This movie was so close to being my favorite Christmas movie of all time.  It's so close.  Maybe because I think the four main elf food groups sound pretty awesome?

"We elves try to stick to the four main food groups: candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup."




1.  Home Alone
This is my all-time favorite Christmas movie.  I could probably recite it word-for-word.  I know that in real life, nothing like this could ever happen, but who cares?  Most movies are like that. 

How are those two crooks not dead yet??? 

Even the music is great in this movie.  John Williams has created some fantastic music that will forever be associated with Christmas.  Love it!



Did you notice the character who appears in the trailer who didn't make it into the actual movie?  I spotted it right away.  Then again, I think I've seen this  movie at least 100 times.  At least.

On the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...six wish list items ♫ ♪ 

♪ ♫ fiiiiiiiiive pounds of chili ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ four clear glass bulbs ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ three quick breads ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

I actually had a difficult time making a wish list this year.  I don't think I even told any of my loved ones specifically about these items.  They are on my Amazon wish list though.  That counts, right?



1.  These are the movies I saw over the last year that I would watch over and over again.  I love Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Vince Vaughn, Jason Segal, and especially Paul Rudd.  I've loved him ever since Clueless.  It was the icing on the cake when he married Phoebe on Friends.  :)

The Proposal

Couples Retreat

I Love You, Man

2.  I bought my first iPod over the summer.  I love it so much that my husband hates it.  It's pretty much always near me.  I think an alarm clock that charges your iPod and lets you wake up to it is pretty awesome.

iHome iP9 Clock Radio for iPod and iPhone

3.  I use my stand mixer so much, sometimes it's a pain to have to wash the bowl and beater before I can move onto my next project.  Having a spare bowl and beater would make things that much easier.  I'd still have to clean them, just not as quickly.  :)

KitchenAid K45SBWH Bowl for Pivot Head Stand Mixer

KitchenAid K45B Flat Beater Replacement for KSM90 and K45 Stand Mixer

4.  I have one of these containers and just love it.  It's easy to put the lid on and take it off.  Plus, it looks nice.  I could really organize my pantry with a set or two of these.

OXO Good Grips 10-Piece POP Container Set

5.  This is one of my favorite TV shows.  Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are great together.  The rest of the cast is pretty darn great as well.

"I'm going to make you a mixed tape.  You like Phil Collins?"

30 Rock: Season 4

30 Rock: Season 5

6.  I'm not a scrapbooker, but I do like paper crafts.  With this machine, there's no limit to what I could create.  I'd love to make some invitations or custom notecards with this.  I see many, many papercuts in my future.  Maybe I should also put some band aids and Neosporin on my wish list...

Cricut Expression Personal Electronic Cutter

On the 5th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...fiiiiiiiiive pounds of chili ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ four clear glass bulbs ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ three quick breads ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

Okay, maybe not five pounds, but pretty close to it.  :)

We had our first considerable snowfall in southeast Michigan last weekend.  It was sooo cold, and all I could think about was warm, comfort food.

Chili

Recipe courtesy of my mom's co-worker

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground chuck
• 1 lb ground sirloin
• 1 pkt mild chili seasoning (I use McCormick)
• 1 pkt hot chili seasoning
• 1 can hot chili beans
• 1 can red kidney beans
• 1 can mild chili beans (optional)
• 1 can stewed tomatoes or 1 can diced tomatoes with onions
• 1 small onion, diced (if you use stewed tomatoes or diced tomatoes without onion)
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 1 tsp sugar

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a skillet and drain the fat.  Transfer to a slow cooker.
2. Add chili seasoning packets, beans, tomatoes, onion (if using), and sugar.
3. Mix everything well and heat on medium for 3-4 hours.

I used a can of Chili Ready w/ Onions - Red Gold Diced Tomatoes.  I hate cutting up onions and this eliminates that step for me.  :) 

I also only use two cans of beans.  I don't like beans, so the less there are the better.  They're so gross.  What's up with the texture?  If you don't believe me, this is what my bowl looks like when I'm done eating:

I can be such a child sometimes.  :)

On the 4th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...four clear glass bulbs ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ three quick breads ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

I picked up a package of four of these bad boys at Jo Ann Fabrics.  They were 60% off. 

Then I did this to them:

I had some leftover feathers from making GIANT angel wings for the Miss Wayne County pageant back in September. 

I forgot about them, so it was too late to return the unopened package I had.

All I did was take off the hanger from the top of the ornament and shove in a few feathers.  I used a coffee stirrer to push them in.  Very technical and professional, I know.  ;)

I actually really love how they turned out. I might have to go snag another package or two of the clear bulbs so I can use up the rest of the feathers.

On the 3rd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...three quick breads ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

The other day my mom asked if I would make some quick bread for her to take to her office Christmas party.  Like a good daughter, I said "yes" to my mother.  She needed to pick up the breads after work on Wednesday, so Tuesday was baking night for me.

I decided to make pumpkin, apple, and banana nut bread.

I came home from work and immediately started on the pumpkin bread.  It's the easiest of the three, so I decided to start that one first. 

While it was baking, I started prepping for the next two breads. 

I used frozen bananas for the banana nut bread, so I took them out of the freezer and placed them in a bowl to defrost while I worked on preparing the dry ingredients for the next two breads.

I measured the dry ingredients into bowls for each type of bread and labeled the bowl so I wouldn't be confused later on.  My kitchen was starting to become pretty messy...  I then cored, peeled, and shredded my apples.  Have I mentioned how much I love my food processor?  If I haven't before, I love it.  Like seriously love it.  :)  I then mixed the wet ingredients for the apple bread together with the dry ingredients.

By that time, the pumpkin bread was pretty much ready to come out of the oven.  After letting it cool, I cleaned out the bread pans (while silently cursing myself for not picking up two more...) and poured in the apple bread batter. 

Into the oven they went.  While they baked, I prepared the banana nut bread batter, covered the bowl with cling wrap, and put it in the fridge.  We were meeting our friends for our weekly get together at Bailey's ($2 pints all day every Tuesday!  I always order water...), so I figured I'd bake the banana bread when we returned home.  My hubby said he'd pull it out of the oven when the timer when off so that I could go to sleep at my normal bedtime.

Around 12:30, Ryan rushes into the bedroom and wakes me with, "I never heard the timer!"  Oh yeah...we had some pretty rock hard loaves of banana nut bread!  Our house smelled of burnt banana bread, which actually wasn't too bad.  It could have been A LOT worse, right?

I'm just thankful they didn't bake all night!!

Since I've posted the recipes for the pumpkin and banana nut breads before, there's only one recipe today.  It's a good one though!  I think this is my favorite quick bread that I make.  However, when I grabbed the bananas out of the freezer last night I saw some frozen strawberries and had the brilliant idea of strawberry banana bread.  I might have to try that one soon!

Apple Bread

Recipe courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 3 cups shredded, peeled cooking apples (4 medium)
• 2 cups sugar
• 2/3 cup cooking oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla 

Directions:

1. Grease and flour three 7-1/2x3-1/2x2-inch or two 8x4x2-inch baking pans.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl combine flour, soda, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder; set aside.
2. In a large bowl combine eggs, apples, sugar, oil, and vanilla.  Stir in flour mixture just until moistened.  Pour batter into prepared pans.  Bake in a 325 degree F oven for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans.  Cool on wire racks.  Wrap and store overnight before slicing.  Makes 30 servings.

On the 2nd day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...

♪ ♫ ...two craft projects ♫ ♪

♪ ♫ and an invite to Christmas Eve. ♫ ♪

The other day I started feeling like we needed more Christmas decorations.  The little table centerpiece in our dining area just wasn't cutting it.  Then, I saw this post over at My Happy House.  I had to try and recreate her chandelier Christmas bulb extravaganza!

Our chandelier isn't quite as substantial or conducive for lots of glass bulbs, but I did my best.  I bought two different sized packages of glass bulbs at Target in a beautiful cranberry color and strung them up with some ribbon purchased at Jo Ann Fabrics at 60% off.  Here's what I came up with:

It's not quite as expansive, but can't figure out where I'd fit anymore bulbs since our glass shades point downward.  Needless to say, I still wasn't entirely pleased with this area of our home.

There were some bulbs leftover and I had one very plain transom window, so I decided they needed to be used again in this area.  One Merry Christmas sign, nine 3M Command hooks, one broken bulb, and some string later, I had this:

Much better!