Graham Cracker Cookie Christmas Houses

Today, my daughter traveled to our town to bring three of my great-grandchildren, so they could attend a graham cracker cookie Christmas house workshop that I, with the help of my husband and mother, conducted at our local art gallery. Twelve kids, ranging in age from three years old (my great-granddaughter) to about 12 years old, participated in the workshop. Pictured above are samples of the kids' creativity. The house decorated by the child with the Rudolph shirt is my great-granddaughter's handiwork. The other two (much neater) houses were done by older children.

This is a fun and easy way for children of all ages to create "gingerbread houses." Here's what's needed:

Supplies:

1/2 pint, empty and washed, milk carton (like those used in school lunchrooms)

A square of cardboard to use as a work surface (wrap foil around it and tape foil to back of board)

Wax paper, to spoon icing onto

Small containers to hold candies and such

Plastic knife for spreading icing

Inexpensive white icing - we used Wal Mart's Great Value. Don't use whipped icing, because it's slippery

Stick pretzels

Red hots

M&Ms

Candy canes

Peppermints

Marshmallows (we used tiny ones, but large ones can be used as chimneys, snowmen, etc.)

Shredded coconut

Any other decorative food stuff - gumdrops are good (green ones make nice trees or shrubs)

Instructions:

1. Staple milk cartons closed at top. Spread icing on bottom of carton and place carton on foil cardboard. This stabilizes the milk carton so it's easier to work with.

2. Carefully break graham crackers in half at scoring line - you will get two squares per cookie sheet. It takes four squares to make the walls of the house, and two squares to form the roof. Using a serrated knife, cut one cookie in half diagonally to form triangles to be mounted onto the upper ends of the milk carton.

3. Use a generous amount of icing to coat one cookie. Stick the cookie to one side of the milk carton, with scored cookie lines going in a vertical direction. Do the same with the other three cookies, until you have four walls on the milk carton.

4. Generously ice the triangles, and place them flush atop the walls on the ends of the milk cartons with the indented spaces. These triangles will help hold up the roof.

5. Generously ice two cookie squares and place them on top of the milk carton to form a roof.

6. If there is time, you can let the icing dry for a while before proceeding. But if the icing is stiff enough, you shouldn't have a lot of trouble with the next step, which is to ice the entire house, making sure to fill in spaces where walls and roof meet.

7. Once the house is iced, the sky's the limit in decorating with candies, coconut, pretzels, etc.

8. HAVE FUN!!

Twelve Days of Christmas

Several years ago, my mother became ill during the two weeks just before Christmas. She desperately wanted to go to all the holiday events, but just wasn't up to it. One day, to cheer her, I stopped by a local dollar store and bought a grab bag. The bag jingled, but I had no idea what was in it. When Mother opened it, she found a pair of jingly reindeer horns on a head band. She promptly plunked them on her head, and we had a good laugh.



That inspired me to go search for other small items to give to her...one for each day until Christmas Eve. None of the items were expensive, but Mother looked forward every day to seeing what I came up with.



Thus began our Twelve Days of Christmas tradition. Yesterday was the first day for this year's season, when the gift was a loaf of homemade lemon bread, accompanied by a homemade Christmas card. Other examples of gifts I have on hand for her are her favorite hand cream, a CD of her favorite music artist, garden decorations, scrapbooking supplies, and crytogram and crossword puzzle books. The most unusual gift, though, is a Serta Counting Sheep that I got at a silent auction. Mother is captivated by this little character, so she'll be delighted when she sees it.

Fruited Popcorn

For years, I've been making one of my husband's favorite Christmas treats...fruited popcorn. I do several batches each year to use as gifts for those extra folks on my Christmas list, like my hairdresser, or the neighbors, or an unexpected guest that drops in. My stepdaughter gets a batch, too, since she loves it as much as her father. I have no idea where I got the recipe, but here it is:

FRUITED POPCORN

7 cups popped popcorn (I use an air popper for this)
1 cup broken pecans
3/4 cup candied red cherries, cut up
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter or margarine (I use butter)
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Remove all unpopped kernels from popcorn. In a 17x12x2 inch baking pan combine popcorn, pecans, and cherries. In a 1-quart saucepan combine brown sugar, butter or margarine, and corn syrup. Cook and stir over medium heat till the butter melts and mixture comes to a boil. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes more. Remove from heat. Stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour mixture over popcorn, and gently stir to coat popcorn mixture. Bake in 300-degree oven for 15 minutes. Stir and bake 5 minutes more. Remove mixture to a large bowl. Cool. Makes 8 cups.

Note: Since it's difficult to mix the coating into the popcorn in the baking pan, we put the popcorn, cherries and pecans in a large mixing bowl, add the cooked mixture, and stir to coat thoroughly, then transfer the popcorn to the baking pan.

Christmas Craft Fair and a Road Trip

Saturday was a good day. We started it by attending a Christmas craft fair in the morning. The thing we like best about this craft fair is that the facility that hosts it makes large, luscious cinnamon buns that are light and fluffy without being too sweet. One of the buns is big enough to serve two people. We bought a half a dozen to bring home and enjoy over several days.

The handmade crafts are great, too...there are gourd crafts, leather crafts, carved wood crafts, Christmas ornaments made from recycled quilts, handmade jewelry, and lot of other things. But the craft that drew my attention this year was the snowmen Christmas tree ornaments made from thin slices of wood, painted and detailed, and sporting bright ribbon bows. I bought several to give as token gifts to the women in our family who will be visiting during the next couple of weekends. Besides the Christmas tree ornaments, the young woman crafter makes tabletop snowmen, and big wood-slice snowmen that stand about two feet tall. All are reasonably priced, and were selling like umbrellas on a rainy day.

Late Saturday afternoon, we made a road trip to another town that has wonderful Christmas light displays, and an outstanding drive-through living nativity. The church that sponsors the living nativity has built the town of Bethlehem, and dozens of church members in costumes roam the streets of the city.

There are lots of animals in the city, too, including horses, donkeys, sheep, and goats, but what amazed us most is that the church had somehow acquired two camels for the display. The city is very busy with Roman soldiers riding on horseback, people plying their wares, weaving baskets, or leading their camels around, etc.

An angel, white robes glowing in bright light, seems to hover over the shepherds. The Three Wise Men are resting around a fire, on their way to visit the Christ Child. A camel is staked nearby. Mary and Joseph are shown in two places...being told there is no room at the inn, and then in the stable.

King Herod, seated in grand style on the portico of his temple, is represented, too.

The living nativity event is offered over the course of two weekends, for three hours each night, and it draws a constant stream of vehicles. It was well worth the time we spent creeping along in line, though, to see this excellent display.

Dinner at the Lodge

Last Friday night we attended a Christmas party hosted by a local home medical service. I've served on the board of the service for about 15 years, and my husband and I look forward each year to this employee get-together.



The party is held at the local lodge, a very popular place for all sorts of events that are booked months, even years, in advance. It's owned by a down-home sort of lady, who has collected antiques for many years, and enjoys displaying them at the lodge, and selling them in her antique shop downtown.



The facility has several bedrooms, all featuring rugged bedsteads, constructed of huge, treated logs, and covered in handmade quilts. The rooms are decorated with such things as fishing nets, cowboy boots, overalls, mounted animals, galvanized bath tubs, and deer antlers. In fact, every corner, dresser top, table, bathroom vanity, mantel, and wall are used as display areas.



At this time of year, the lodge is trimmed in outdoorsy Christmas decorations. Pine cones, cranberry strands, bird's nests, and the like adorn Christmas trees, along with camouflage caps and western hats as tree toppers. The dining tables, set in festive holiday ware, feature centerpieces created from whatever is at hand.



The dinner was buffet-style and, as usual, included a salad (a yummy mix of lettuces, mandarin oranges, dried cranberries, and toasted walnuts, with a sweet dressing), two meats, two vegetables, herb-flavored mashed potatoes, and big, homemade yeast rolls, plus a choice of two desserts. Diet is a four-letter word at this affair.



This year, the event included a little game. Each table had gift on it...wrapped or in a gift bag. Someone started music playing, and guests at the tables passed the gift around. When the music stopped, the one holding the gift was eliminated, and the game proceeded until only one remained not holding the gift. That person was the winner.



Both my husband and I were eliminated quickly, which meant that we could sit back and laugh at the others, particularly when the game got down to two people, who vigorously threw the gift at each other in an attempt not to be holding it when the music stopped.



The event also included a Christmas ornament exchange, and bingo, played for prizes. The start of those activities was our cue to head home, well-fed and in high Christmas spirits.