Day 5, 25 Days of Christmas Tips

5) Got someone naughty on your list? Fill a clear plastic bag or a small clear jar with mini marshmallows and chocolate sprinkles, and attach this note:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Update

Ironically two people mentioned tonight that they made the chocolate chip cookies recipe that I posted. And both commented that their cookies came out flat. The only reason I can think that they'd be different is the altitude and humidity. We have no humidity here, so that could be the problem. Shortening makes cookies cakey-er =), so I would try using half shortening, half butter. If you like the butter flavor, Crisco makes butter flavored shortening.

Let me know if you make them again and if this helps!

Day 4, 25 Days of Christmas Tips

4) Grandma Trudy's Snickerdoodles
My grandma was an amazing woman with an equally amazing life story. She grew up in Nazi Germany and met and married my grandpa when they were 16, and he was fighting with the American Resistance in WWII. He brought her back to the US on a Navy ship when the war was over, and they lived in New Buffalo, MI from then on. Much of her household had a German influence from her cooking to her decorations to her traditions. One of her favorite things to do was to bake cookies. My aunt made a cookie jar in an art class for her when she was in high school which my grandma proudly displayed on her kitchen counter. And it was ALWAYS full. Even when she got sick, she made sure that there were at least store-bought cookies filling that jar. At Christmastime that jar was filled with dozens of different kinds of her special Christmas cookies. She made thumbprints, snowballs, snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, sugar cookies, etc. She even made traditional German Apfel Kuchen and stollen each year. A few months before she passed away I called her and asked her for her recipes since many of them were not written down. It is absolutely not Christmas without her snickerdoodles in my heart. I have had them every single year since I was born, and I am so blessed to have the recipe to continue to bake them every year. I thought it would be fun to share it with you.

Grandma Trudy's Snickerdoodles

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 2/3 unsifted Pillsbury flour

1 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 Tbsp sugar + 2 Tbsp cinnamon

Directions:

In a mixer, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. (I always use Mexican vanilla and double the amount any recipe calls for) In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salk. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients mixing after each addition. Cover the mixing bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

When the dough is firm, roll into 1 1/2 inch balls, then roll in sugar and cinnamon mixture to coat. Place on a baking sheet, and bake for 10 minutes at 375. Do not overbake! The cookies should be very lightly browned around the edges only.

I hope these become a Christmas tradition in your home too!

Day 3, 25 Days of Christmas Tips

3) Elves
If your kids are into the whole Santa thing, they are definitely aware that he sends elves to keep an eye on the kids and report back to him. Now there's actually a book along these lines, Elf on a Shelf. But the elf is a little creepy if you ask me (which you didn't, but I'm just sharing...). Anyway, when I taught pre-K, we had a couple of fun traditions that we'd institute at Christmastime that the kids LOVED, and I figured these might work at home too. We talked about how elves smelled like candy canes and sounded like jingle bells. We let the kids know that if they heard bells or smelled candy canes, it just might mean elves are near. And we all know elves are trickly little fellas who are hard to catch. So most of the time the only way we know they're around is if we smell them or hear them. Rarely will we actually catch a glimpse.

So we also used this to our advantage. We hung huge jingle bells on the outside of our classroom door with a sign that asked passers-by to ring them (especially if they noticed that our class was extra rowdy). We'd also carry 2 bells on a string in our class notebook (that had to accompany us wherever we went) that we'd ring at key moments. As for the smell? We filled a tiny squirt bottle with water and a few drops of peppermint essential oil. When the kids weren't looking, we'd spray some of the water in the air. I cannot even tell you how excited the kids would get when they'd smell that peppermint spray or hear the jingle bells. We'd always emphasize the good times way more than the not-so-good by saying things like, "Wow! We heard jingle bells, and you were all obeying exactly what you were asked to do! Do you think maybe an elf saw that?" We would never say anything like, "Did you smell that? When you were hitting your friend, I smelled peppermint. I'll bet that elf ran to tell Santa." =) We wanted to keep this as a very positive thing.

So grab a couple of jingle bells and a spray bottle of water and peppermint oil and see how your kids' eyes light up when they use their senses to detect elves.

Awesome Raffle Opportunity!

I've mentioned MckMama before on my blog, but this is huge and worth mentioning. A brief nutshell of her story is that they were given a fatal diagnosis for their unborn son at 24 weeks gestation. By God's grace, he is alive and well and just celebrated his one-month birthday. I posted asking for prayer for their family on his birthday. (This is also the recipient of my funky orange and hot pink quilt.) Anyway, she's having an enormous raffle that I cannot even begin to describe how badly I would love to win. If you're interested in donating to a great cause and, possibly, winning an amazing prize, head on over. If you're interested in another way to support String of Pearls, head on over to my etsy page and go shopping.

Day 2, 25 Days of Christmas Tips

2) Let's all make a new tradition this year and send a card to a recovering soldier. I got this idea in an -mail and wanted to share. While addressing your Christmas cards, add this address to your list.

A Recovering American Soldier

c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center

6900 Georgia Avenue,NW

Washington , D.C. 20307-5001

Day 1, 25 Days of Christmas Tips

1) Spiced cider is delicious and makes your house smell very Christmasy. I mix one jug of apple juice with 20 cinnamon starlight mints. Pour everything in your electic coffee urn or a soup pot and heat until the mints melt. Serve piping hot. Yum!

Also, I've replenished my stock of Quiet as a Chick and Quiet as an Owl bags in my etsy shop.