Chopping, Baking and Decorating - cont'd

I got the mantle done this Sunday, The glass on the right has all of the old ornaments from my MIL. The blue tree is mercury glass (my favorite). The "Ho Ho Ho" sign is wooden and the red stripes are glitter. Get this I found it at the dollar store! The star is wooden and the came pre-lite. I can't say where it came from cause it was given to me by my mom. The tall tree on the left was a great find at HomeSense and the little snowman globe K got and loves. The belly is glitter filled and the light inside changes color. Every few minutes there is a fan the stirs the glitter. It's really cute.



Here are the items I baked this weekend. Yummy almond biscotti. K was a little upset that I didn't cut them on the diagonal so that they were larger, but they definitely taste good.

There were about 50 shortbread cookies made and set to cool on the kitchen table. I rolled, cut and lay them on the cook sheet and K decorated them. He's such a great helper. The funny thing is he's the chef, but I can bake better. We balance each other.

This year I tried a new recipe. These little guys were called snowballs in the cook book. I've also heard them called almond crescents, but in my family my aunt used to call them Mice. So that's what I call them. They are pretty much butter, and icing sugar and a few other ingredients. Once they come out of the oven let them completely cool and roll them in icing sugar. Rest them on parchment paper and ta-da, ready to eat or pack in a pretty package to give someone for the holidays.

Finally the bread. Thank goodness MIL came over and helped me this year. We found out the problem was that the yeast didn't rise enough before we used it. I have mixed equal parts whole wheat with regular white flour. It's a bit better for you and tastes great still.