"The Quest (a.k.a. to not have another nervous breakdown before next Wednesday) stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little and it will fail, to the ruin of all." --Lady Galadriel, The Fellowship of the Ring
Bonus points if you heard that quote in Cate Blanchett's voice! But really, though. I feel like Wednesday [Christmas] will be like crossing a huge finish line and my life will be rainbows and sunshine from then on, because now, not so much.
So this year, our friends/family/neighbors/coworkers/teachers/church colleagues Christmas goodie list reached 65. (My sister Maria wants to know how we even know that many people.)
Naturally this caused me to panic a teensy bit. During the summer, I had high ambitions of just making several batches of jam, getting it done months ahead and breezing through December without having to worry about it. But then I got pregnant and could do nothing but sleep 14 hours a day and try not to wither and die. So that didn't happen.
But I had bought a case of jars....and this past week I got a wild hair and bought some berries and pectin and sugar. I still had extra strawberry puree in my freezer from when I made strawberry freezer jam this summer. But this time I was going for cooked jam, boiling and preserving and the whole works. IT TOOK FOREVER, I DON'T KNOW HOW PEOPLE CAN STUFF ALL THE TIME.
One batch made nine jars of the Triple Berry Jam (recipe found in the Sure-Jell box) and I have no idea how it tastes yet, but it looks pretty! My pot was barely big enough to immerse the jars in water, but all the jars sealed, so I guess it worked. My first "real" jam!
My immediate family is ending up with these. I was even nice and baked some rolls (from frozen store bought dough) to go with. Oh yeah, but before I made the jam that day, I made:
I have been trying to avoid signing up to bring treats to anything, but since we've had about four thousand church activities lately, I was eventually asked point blank to bring something to a Relief Society luncheon on Saturday. So I made my favorite Chocolate Orange Cupcakes (click for recipe) that morning. I forgot to take a picture of the 48 mini cupcakes that I took to the luncheon. There was still enough batter to make a dozen regular size ones, too. Luke immediately kiped two or three of them. And no, doing pretty cupcake frosting is not my forte. Just slap it on, in my opinion.
Then last night, because I didn't think I'd spent quite enough time standing over a hot stove, I made a double batch of Michelle's Homemade Caramels/Caramel Apples (click for recipe). Don't you love the state of my kitchen?! This was taken at around 11:00 pm.
And by the way, I have not been able to face cutting and wrapping the pan of caramel yet. It requires far too much work. All the cutting of the wax paper! And the stickiness! And the cutting!!!
We had Granny Smith and Jazz apples and dipped them in white chocolate/peppermint
And milk chocolate/toffee bits. I made a couple of extra, but I have been too tired and busy to even try some. Madelyn says they're good, though. I know from past experience that they are like manna from heaven.
Before Mark left for work this morning, I bagged them all up and each of his coworkers got to take one. Lucky.
As for the other half of the goodies? I don't think this is copping out, considering that I just made like a hundred other homemade things.
Smith's had a good deal on Stephen's Gourmet Cocoa, (it is a Utah brand so I was able to get it on sale for $3.50 a can, but it goes for much, much more online) and so I bought about 29 cans of the milk chocolate and the Candycane Cocoa, as well as 10 giant Symphony bars. If it wasn't so expensive, I probably just would have bought all 65 of my treats. But this helped a little. Delivering them was a pain but I only have a handful left. The end is in sight!!
Also store bought were these gifts for the other ladies in my RS Presidency. But really, how can you go wrong with Ghirardelli Caramel Turtle brownie mixes?? You can't. The spatulas are from IKEA and are so cute. They were only $1 a piece and I wish I had gotten a ton more. Maybe next year (they don't sell them online, unless you want to go on ebay and pay quadruple).
So those are my Christmas goodies this year. It's one of the biggest things I had looming on my to-do list and I'm ecstatic to have it done!!
5 comments:
Wow!! You never cease to amaze me. Um.... Thanks for the brownie and spatula idea! :)
You did it!!! (One of Griffin's favorite phrases is "I did it!" accompanied by clapping.) We jut got to the bottom of our friends/neighbors/teachers/ward members goodie list too. Ours was about 50 people long, and I'm not pregnant, and I'm BEAT! I did truffles this year. I figure I made about 20 pounds of truffles - close to 600 hand rolled (several hand dipped). OI! Next year, I'm not doing teachers except for elementary school. Carter and Anna each have a dozen teachers - criminy!
My kids are getting their caramels in the form of a big slab cut and slid in a ziploc bag. Wrapping them is the worst, even though I just wrap them with saran wrap. I cut a long strip of wrap, lay the caramel squares upside down, 1-2" apart in a row, fold the wrap over the caramels, cut between them and fold the ends in. Works for me, but might not look as classy...
That is actually a genius way to wrap caramels--thank you! I happen to have festive red saran wrap....
Ok seriously, I have not blogged forever!!!! First things first... A girl YIPEE!!!!!!! That is so exciting! Every girl needs a sister:). I am so happy for you! Second: really you put us all to shame, my mom made extra corn bags am that's what my neighbors got:/..
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