Christmas Lights

One of my piano students told me about an incredibly decorated house to visit at Christmas time which sounded like a great idea to me.  I told Geoff about the adventure, but he didn't stop there, he looked up several houses in the area that got all decked out for the holidays and mapped out a plan.  We heated up some hot cocoa, got in Geoff's car (with heated seats!) and boy were we amazed at the displays!

 Here was stop number one...I must say, I had never seen lawn lights before!

Stop number two was INCREDIBLE!  The picture just doesn't do it justice.  The lights were synced to a radio station!  When Geoff and I were there some really upbeat Christmas tunes were playing and kept us thoroughly entertained.

 

I don't think I'd want to see the utility bill for this lot.  Can you believe this?  Every square inch of the yard was COVERED!  It's really hard to see, but one of their lawn ornaments was an outhouse where Santa would peak out of every once in a while.  Ha ha!

This house was the first one where we saw a manger scene.  They were also all decked out with a merry go round and lit ornaments hanging from their trees.  Geoff and I get a pretty good chuckle out of the center photo there...the family on the porch knocked over the singing and dancing Santa and were trying to figure out how to fix it!

 

 You may think we made a pit stop at a carnival, but no, this is actually the house my piano student told me about.  They didn't just stop at extravagant lights, they had displays of any and every type of doll out there (creepy ones included) as well as train tracks going ALL over their yard.  Who does this kind of stuff?

Here we are at our final destination.  The icing on the cake at this house is seen in their front window.  Yep, you're looking at the GRINCH!  It appears they made a little video of their kids decorating their Christmas tree and then the dad (dressed as the Grinch) comes along and steals the ornaments.  This was projected on their front window to give the appearance we were actually looking in their home.

We enjoyed our little experience of observing what OTHERS do for the holidays.  And I'm sure Geoff let out a huge sigh of relief at the end of the evening when I didn't say how I wish WE would do something like this.  :)  I'm truly perfectly content with our tiny wreath on our door and 5 foot tree in our home...for now.

Snickers Fudge

A few years ago a friend of mine introduced me to this incredible treat: Snickers Fudge.  Snickers aren't even my most favorite candy bar...but this fudge is insanely good.  And since it's so good, that can only mean one thing: that it's not good for you.  Due to my lack of self-control, I only make this treat every other year...otherwise I would gain 5 pounds every Christmas from this fudge alone!  Thank goodness Geoff and I were able to take most of the fudge to our work places so others would consume it as well.

Here's the recipe:

Bottom Layer:
1 C. milk chocolate chips (6 oz.)
1/4 C. butterscotch chips
1/4 C. creamy peanut butter

Filling:
1/4 C. butter
1 C. sugar
1/4 C. evaporated milk
1 1/2 C. marshmallow cream
1/4 C. peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 C. chopped salted peanuts

Caramel Layer:
14 oz. package of caramels (get the kind you don't have to unwrap!)
1/4 C. whipping cream


Top Layer:
 1 C. milk chocolate chips (6 oz.)
1/4 C. butterscotch chips
1/4 C. creamy peanut butter

Bottom Layer: Stir all ingredients over low heat until melted and smooth.  Spread on lightly greased 9x13 pan.  Refrigerate (I just pop it in the freezer, it sets faster) until set.

Filling: Melt the butter over Medium High heat.  Add sugar and milk, bring to boil.  Boil for 5 minutes (stirring constantly).  Remove from heat, stir in marshmallow cream, peanut butter, and vanilla.  Stir in peanuts.  Spread over 1st layer.  Refrigerate (or freeze) until set.

Caramel Layer: Stir caramels and cream over low heat until melted and smoothy.  Spread over layers.  Refrigerate (or freeze) until set.

Top Layer: Same as Bottom Layer

Refrigerate (this time for real, don't stick it in the freezer) for at least 1 hour.

Enjoy!

It's Tree Time!

Geoff and I put up our little Christmas Tree this past weekend.  Geoff was a pro at assembling our little 5 foot beauty.

I was pretty excited to pull out all the Christmas tree ornaments I've been acquiring through the years.  I've never had a tree before, but I have plenty of fun things to decorate with thanks to all of my thoughtful and generous students and crafty Mom!  Out of all the decorations on the tree, I only purchased about four ornaments--the rest were gifts!  Knowing that, it sure makes you wonder how there could be such a consistent music theme, right?  Ha ha!

 We had fun decorating,

and posing for a picture of our first Christmas together.  

I told Geoff that he will be in so much trouble if he tries to pull his photo faces when we take pictures with our kids and they're finally smiling perfectly, looking at the camera and everything--and there's Dad's face completely out of control.

 Here's Geoff attempting to make our tree appear much taller than it actually is...but the door and windows in the background kind of give it away.

We also took the opportunity to cook up some cranberries the way Geoff's Mom always did growing up.  Yum!

 Finally, Geoff decided to cooperate and take a decent picture for posterity.