Christmas Eve Traditions

Our family extends Christmas gift giving to include having one present from under the tree on Christmas Eve. Usually it's new pj's or something like that. Gone are the days when they'd have matching plaid pj's with the feet attached. Sigh. Nope, now they're man sized, taller than me (Chris is at least) and independent. Little boys grow up so fast. Just look at our son John! Married to a lovely wife with 3 beautiful daughters. Oh how the time flies.

And here we are on Christmas Eve. Cookie delivery day to our friends and neighbours. I've been awake since a little after 3am and I'm tired but I think that stress is preventing me from sleeping and I'm SO tired. Maybe if I write this little entry and think happy thoughts I'll be able to slow down my brain and get back to sleep for a couple of hours.

The gifts are all bought. I have a couple of time consuming service projects to do today and a bunch of cookies to bake and deliver along with some holiday bread. And the guys have a 'men only' breakfast and ball hockey game this morning so it's going to be a fun but busy day. We are supposed to go for a sleigh ride with our friends the Comeau's today too but not sure how we can fit everything in with a trip to Digby to take a little girl home to her father's for Christmas. I'm sure it'll all work out. And if Steve comes then we can spend time together.

Speaking of Steve...I was reminded that he has a built in sense of humour that a lot of people don't see. His snoring woke me up at about 2 this morning and our conversation went like this.

Liz: Steve roll over. *shove*
Steve: Why?
Liz: Because you're snoring really badly.
Steve: Maybe I need more practice then. Zzzzz

I love my husband!

Here's the recipe for my

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies/Chocolate Snowflakes as we sometimes call them, that we're giving to our friends this year.

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares , melted
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
  Mix together the melted choc, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs until well combined. In a separate bowl mix the flour, baking powder and salt then gradually add the flour mix to the chocolate mix until there are no floury lumps. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour.
  
  Heat oven to 350. Take enough dough to form a 1 inch ball and roll in the icing sugar to coat thickly. Place on a greased or parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes. Cool and eat! Also good to give away and fun to make with kids.
  
  Another kid friendly recipe is this one for Tiger Butter
  * 1 cup Dark chocolate wafers, melted
  * 1 cup White chocolate wafers, melted
  * 1 cup Peanut butter, natural smooth works best
  
  Mix the peanut butter together with the melted white chocolate and pour into a square glass dish. pour the dark chocolate over it and gently swirl a knife through it to make stripes. Chill, break into pieces and serve. You can also use orange coloured chocolate in place of the white if you wish and adjust the peanut butter to a half cup for a firmer consistency. This recipe easily doubles, triples and more. For our holiday baking I do 2 lbs semi-sweet chocolate, 2 lbs white chocolate, 1/4 lb orange chocolate and 2-3 cups of natural smooth peanut butter. Use parchment paper to line pans for easier removal.
  
  
  From our Family to you and yours, we hope that you have a wonderful Christmas and a New Year filled with peace, joy and love for your fellow men.