Christmas

Season of Gratitude

Courtesy of Curly Girl Designs
Have you ever thought about why a season of joy follows a season of gratitude?  There are the obvious reasons of course.  Thanksgiving was started by proclamation of Abraham Lincoln in 1863 as a national day of "Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens".  It was obviously at the end of the harvest.  Christmas is there because it aligns quite nicely with the winter solstice.  So perhaps there are wonderful reasons to have these holidays placed on the 4th Thursday of the month and on the 25th of December but really I think the reason is even greater.

 Throughout the month of November I tried to focus daily on being grateful.  I like to think that I practiced gratitude because being grateful is not a one time thing and it is not an easy thing to do.  There are so many things to complain about but what I have found is its more effective to be grateful and thankful than it is to try not to complain.  When I focus on not complaining I focus on the negative.  When I focus on be grateful I am focusing on the positive.  

The strange thing about practicing gratitude is that you don't even realize the effect it has until you are in the thick of it.  Thinks are going awful.  The day is terrible and the next thing you know you're thinking of the good things about the day.

 But back to joy.  Joy is something many folks look for during the holidays, including my family.  I imagine its why we wait in line for 2 hours to meet Santa or set up rides on "Santa trains".  We are searching for joy all the time from outside places but the fact is if you practice gratitude the joy will find you.  If you are thankful for the little things, enjoying the moments its amazing how joy sneaks up on.


Christmas (or St. Paddy's Day) Treats



Oh my, this is late.  As in very late.  To the point that I thought perhaps, I shouldn't even write about our Christmas baking.  I mean, I've already done my Valentine's Day baking.  Then of course I realized that any time is a good time to share about Christmas baking and making Homemade Irish Cream.  Heck, St. Patrick's Day is coming up so I'm actually ahead of schedule.  And you could easily use minty green oreos and make St Paddy's Day bark...(which I'm totally going to do).

The best thing about both these recipes is that they are easy!  Really easy requiring very little more than just combining ingredients but none the less they are very, very good.

Homemade Irish Cream
Irish  Cream supplies.  It is go time!

  • 1 cup light cream 
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 2/3 cup Irish whiskey (I used Bushmill's)
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee (I used decaf)
  • 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and set on high speed for 30 seconds.
  1. Bottle in a tightly sealed container and refrigerate. Shake before using.
  1. Will keep for up to 2 months.

 Peppermint Bark
Peppermint Bark supplies 
Peppermint Bark


  • Ingredients
  • 12 ounces chocolate chips
  • 12 ounces white chocolate chips
  • 1½ cups (roughly 15 individual candies) crushed peppermint candies (can also use candy canes or pre-crushed peppermint)
  • About 1/2 Box of peppermint joe-joes

Instructions
  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
  1.  Melt the chocolate in the microwave by placing in a microwave-safe bowl and heating and stirring in 20-30 second intervals. 
  1. Once melted, pour over parchment paper and spread as evenly as possible with a spatula. 
  1. Crush the peppermint oreos.  I prefer the plastic bag technique.  (As put in a plastic zip-lock bag and step on them.)
  1. Sprinkle the peppermint oreos over the melted chocolate.  
  1. Prepare white chocolate in clean bowl exactly as with chocolate.   (Beware with the white chocolate.  It melts fast and then crosses beyond melted even faster.).
  1. Pour over the oreos and spread evenly with a spatula. Spread as quickly as possible to avoid having the melted chocolate mix with the white chocolate.
  1. Generously sprinkle  peppermint over the white chocolate topping.
  1. Place back into freezer for 30-45 minutes to allow to fully harden.
  1. Once completely hardened, remove from freezer and break into small pieces with your hands.
  1. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Recipe courtesy of www.cupcakeproject.com

Ingredients
Instructions

Peppermint Bark