Christmas Fun

We survived the Christmas shopping for others on Monday. It was so fun....really....5 kids....lots of opinions...only 2 that counted.....decisions, decisions, decisions and finally with the promise of ice cream hanging in the balance, everyone made wonderful choices and we got what we came for. Well almost. Our initial shopping trip had gifts for everyone and then somehow the gift J-Dog was in charge of never made it to the bagging process. So at 11 p.m. Andy went back to the store and got what we'd forgotten. He's so dedicated to making me happy. Thanks babe! I guess the fact we also forgot a power strip may have been a small incentive too.

The kids wrapped their gifts for each other last night. I think they had more fun doing that than shopping. And of course I got more coupons so I snagged the last two gifts I needed for $1.45! Total--Savings of $37. I was so excited because what I needed to buy was on sale last month, but I chose to spend my JC Penny cash on more pertinent needs. When I got more cash this week I went back and stuff was on 80% clearance. Awesome!

I also made a bunch of Christmas treats. The favorite was Chocolate Dipped Brownie bites. It was so funny how this happened. I made Mint Chocolate brownies and the kids asked if they could have one. "One!" I said. But my portion of one and theirs vastly differed. So when I got to the part of my day to finish them, there was 1/2 a pan left. Do I have a mouse in my house??? No, just chocoholics--it's genetic I'm sure. Looking at the pan made me crazy as I did not want to bake another batch. So I gave Danni a taste and as I was pulling it out of the pan I rolled the edges so she could handle it easily. A mini ice cream scoop and some dipping chocolate later, we had a new treat. I rolled them in crushed peppermint and it is a masterpiece of delicious goodness! Now that's makin' lemonade out of lemons (or awesomeness out of nothingness)!