Charlie in the Woods |
Hello Friends and Happy Sunday!
There are TEN days until Christmas! Are you excited? I can't help it, I definitely am! Growing up, holidays were always sources of anxiety and fear for me, so I guess that's why I pull out all of the stops to enjoy each holiday and special event now! The first special event of our Christmas season is Tree Trimming Day. That falls on December 10th each year and I planned a Pretzel Bar!
While trimming the tree, we sipped on egg nog and snacked on cookies. I made some homemade Egg Nog for Alex, he added some pear liqueur to his. My stomach can't handle egg yolks, so my egg nog was store bought. Funny enough, the store bought lists "frozen egg yolks" in the ingredients, but I guess it's been processed enough that my stomach can handle it...I spiked mine with rum and brandy!
We always munch on cookies when we're trimming the tree. This year I made a few new recipes, these are Fruitcake Cookies - I'm not a fan of raisins but Alex said they were delicious!
I wanted a cookie I'd enjoy too, so I made these Drunken Cherry Ice Box Cookies. I used the cherries that we had leftover from when we made our Cherry Bounce. By the time I took the photo, this was all that was left! π
To give us a little break from the egg nog, I made some Sweet Tea to sip on.
I spent about 8 hours preparing this Pretzel Bar and it was well worth it! It was a lot of fun and everything turned out delicious! We had so many leftovers!
Soft Pretzels are delicious but very filling! They were great dipped in my Marinara Sauce.
I tried a new recipe for Pretzel Bites. They are made with Pillsbury Pizza Dough - I don't normally buy that stuff, but they were very good. Sweeter than the soft pretzels and VERY good dipped in honey Dijon mustard!!
I made this dip for Alex - Buffalo Blue Cheese Dip. I can't handle the hotness of the Red Hot Sauce!
By far, this was my favourite dipping sauce - Nacho Cheese Dip. I could probably eat this by the spoonful.
I kind of made this recipe up myself. I saw a few versions of this floating around the internet, but not quite what I had envisioned, so I winged it to an extent - Apple Cinnamon Pretzel Bites with Caramel Dipping Sauce! You need dessert pretzels in your Pretzel Bar!! Actually they reminded us of donut holes. Unfortunately the apples kind of got lost in the shuffle - maybe next time I'll try making an apple sauce to mix into the dough with the chopped apples.
And a little digestif π, Chocolate Covered Pretzels.
I can't help myself, I have to show you Dancin' Santa again lol...this time I made a little gif from photos I took! I think Alex might be regretting buying this for me because I have this on from the moment I wake up until dinner time lol! Leo the cat is not even fazed anymore.
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πΆ "Oh by golly have a holly jolly Christmas, this year!" πΆ π
The cats are safe and warm at home watching the Blue Jays in the lilac tree.
Sleepy furballs. I love having the pets with me all day!
Dana's favourite toy is the string rope on the cat tree.
Today is a sewing day! Alex is working on his album today so I have a chance to be sneaky and sew some Christmas gifts! What's going on in your world?
See you on Thursday for our art date! The theme is: Holiday Stories, Carols and Lore.