Icecicles cont.

These are this years batch prior to hanging, or giving any away.











They seem to look more luxurious all skrunched together.


















This is one hanging on the tree.

This is the one my 9son made that I have had hanging on my kitchen window.

(Obviously I have not got this process of pictures figured out yet. If you tilt your head it looks better.)

Merry Christmas!

Icecicles

I used to buy glass icecicles for my Christmas tree. That was before I had kids and worried about them getting broken. They were also very hard to find, and expensive in those days. But, oh, so beautiful! I still love icecicles for my tree, but have moved on to handgathered, handpicked, handmade beaded icecicles.

It started long ago with some my sister Rainy Face made for me. (above)

Then with my kids we made some with pipe cleaners and an assortment of beads (passed down to me from my Mother-in-law), buttons and old jewelry, to come up with these.

Then another sister from Texas came with a kit that we made, with all the kids working alongside us.

They made these ,

while we made these from the kit.

Since then I have made some every year . I spend a little money here and there, at yard sales and thrift stores on white, pearl, clear or crystal beads that I can use in my next batch of icecicles. I have started buying old salt and pepper shakers to put them in, so I can see them and enjoy their shapes and sizes and colors, until it is time to create new ornaments.

Two whole weeks...aah!

I have two whole weeks to spend at home. I know it will go too fast, but I will really enjoy every minute.
Yesterday we made some more candy to put on our 'ding-dong ditching' plates.
Let me explain!
About three years ago at Halloween we discovered the thrill of 'ding-dong ditching' (we went three separate times that season). We always make a plate of goodies (sometimes with an anonymous note) then take it to a friends house, where the boys stealthily go to the door, ring the bell, and run like crazy, leaving the goodies on the step. The goal is to get away without being identified, and make sure the goodies are received. Which means the car cannot be anywhere in sight and the boys have to find a hidden spot to watch what happens. It is amazing how much fun this can be (and how far the boys have to walk in this rural area). We have some friends who have figured it out and have reciprocated, but usually they don't have a clue. The kids are absolutely giddy after a successful delivery. So tomorrow night after our weekly family night, we will ding--dong again, just for the pure fun of it!

Stained Glass Cookies

I have always wanted to make this recipe I've carried around with me for ... oh,...maybe 20 years. I looked at my boys the other day and realized they were growing out of doing these fun, piddly things and if I was ever going to do it with them I had best get on with it. I mixed up the dough and crushed the candies on Sat. The 13 and 9 boys actually sorted the Lifesavers into the bags to be crushed and wielded the hammer some. They deffinately exhibited some enthusiasm for the upcoming project. I'm sure the idea of playing with candy was the lure. Today after church and lunch, we spread the foil in the cookie sheets, the wax paper on the table, selected the desired cookie cutters, found two pencils and the rolling pin, got out the flour, the dough, heated the oven and commenced to play. The basic concept is to roll and cut out cookies then cut out some shapes in the center that you fill with colored candy chips, (after first cooking the cookies almost done), which melt and look like stained glass. It was great fun. I have never made these and we found that the dough swelled up as it cooked, invariably filling in the space we had left for the candy glass. We poked new holes and forced bits of candy in anyway and they did look bright and festive. A few even looked a little like stained glass. They even tasted pretty good. The best part is we had fun together. I would recomend these to anyone who likes to make fun messes in the kitchen.

Stained Glass Cookies

1/2 cup softened margerine
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cup flour
6 Tbsp. water (approx.)
1 lb. assorted colored candies (We used two small packages of Lifesavers and had enough, but like I said the holes closed up on us)

Blend marg., sugar, egg and vanilla. In seperate bowl combine flour, salt, and soda. Add to sugar mixture. Add water till it forms a stiff but workable dough. Cover abd chill one hour. (We did it overnight.) Sort candies by color into strong zip bag and crush (wrap bag in towel and hit with hammer). Put foil in cookie sheets. Use some flour and roll the dough out with the pin resting on two pencils, to keep it from getting too thin. Cut into desired shapes and cut out centers. Be sure to place cookies 2" apart. Remember the dough swells about triple. (Any 1/2" or smaller holes disappeared completely.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cookies for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and put candy chips into holes. Rebake for 4 minutes, let cool on cookie sheet.

Thanksgiving

I'm not one to go out of my way to cook, but I love doing Thanksgiving dinner. I find the planning increasingly frustrating though. I had planned to make a banana cream pie then forgot to buy bananas. Oops! So I hunted around for another idea. Since I had frozen rhubarb and came across a pie recipe for rhubarb custard, I decided to try it. My hubby loves rhubarb and the pie turned out tart, but good. Not a new tradition but a good alternative. I also made green bean casserole. I have never made it before. My hubby likes it also, but I was not overly impressed with the recipe I used. Once again not good enough to be a new addition to our regular Thanksgiving day menu. If anyone has a fabulous recipe for it, I might be willing to try it again. I kind of go in for plain vegetables. It seems to be a waste of time and a bit self defeating to add a bunch of stuff that really isn't that good for you anyway. I guess I like to be able to taste the vegetable itself.

It snowed all day and felt more like Christmas at times. the kids played out in the snow building a snow-fort and came in soaked. I love it when they come all rosy cheeked and blustering with the smell of fresh air clinging to them. I don't really like the mountain of wet snow clothes that builds up from each change. It is a small price to pay for their extreme enjoyment of their activities.

I went in the library two weeks ago and they have everyone write what they are thankful for on a feather to dress the turkey on their bulletin board. It was a quick think to write something down, but I am thankful for so much it would not have fit on the feather. I am thankful for my family (which includes a lot of people, people I never see and some I have never even met), the gospel of Jesus Christ, Cub Scouts (really), good people to be around (I work with really good people), warmth of home, mosaics!!!, modern conveniences, changing seasons, details in the leaves and rocks, buttons, and photos. There are so many more.

Patty Cake

I had a sister who we often called 'Rainy Face'. I'm not sure who started that name for her, but it was because she cried, easily and often. She HATED that name. One time when I called her 'Rainy Face', in the heat of siblinghood, she retaliated with 'Bucky Bucktooth'. I was a bucktoothed child, but it really hurt me, to have her call me that (it was the name the mean boys at school called me) and I started to cry. She (the sweet, sensitive soul that she was) felt really bad and started to hunt around for a nickname that would not hurt my feelings. She found the name 'Patty Cake', hoping I would hate it, yet not be psychologically damaged by it's use. I liked it (she was devastated, but got over it)! She called me 'Patty Cake' from time to time from then on. My husband uses it to get my attention, you know, when he has tried Honey, Mom, Sweetheart, my real name and I don't respond, he will resort to 'Patty Cake' and I always look up, it is an endearment that never fails to get my attention. I really do like that name and I really do love my sister Rainy Face.

New and don't know what I'm doing!

I believe this is a contagious desease. But I enjoy some of the blogs so much that it makes me want to communicate. This seems to be the best or most popular, maybe easiest (once you get the hang of it) method. Now that I have gone through the initial set up, I'm not sure where to go from here. Although I think I will have some help setting up.