Simple is best

This school year has been a good one but an incredibly stressful one. Most nights, I have enough energy to get the girls fed and ready for bed…..and that’s pretty much it. So, now that I’m on Christmas break and I have more time to get stuff done, I still want to keep things nice and simple. I actually have time to get stuff done….but I’d much rather use that time getting the girls fed and ready for bed. 🙂

I love Christmas-y snacks and one of my favorite pairings is salty and sweet so, of course, one of my favorite Christmas-y snacks is chocolate covered pretzels.  Not only are they yummy, they are also ridiculously easy. And they are a great way to use up random sprinkles/sugars that you’ve got in the cupboard.

Yummmmmmm

1. Melt chocolate.
2. Dip pretzels. (I tend to just stir a handful of pretzels in the melted chocolate. I do not have the patience to do one at a time.)
3. Sprinkle the top of the pretzels with fun sprinkles or sugars. (Be sure to do this fairly quickly. The chocolate sets up pretty quickly and you want the chocolate to still be melty so that the sprinkles stick.) Adding sprinkles adds a little extra crunch and it’s also a great way to use up any of those sprinkles that you bought specifically for a birthday or to decorate cupcakes. I currently have a ton of sprinkles and decorating sugar so I’m always on the look out for a way to use up some of them.

This batch ended up a bit too chocolatey, if that’s even possible. You can’t really see the openings on the pretzels because every nook and cranny is covered in chocolate. Oops. But, they were still good. I am not sure how too much chocolate could actually be a bad thing.

I made a huge batch so I was able to give them as a gift and still have a bunch to keep at home.

Surprise: I already ate all of the ones at home.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year

This year, I had grand plans for the outdoor decor on the house. I was certain that I was going to have time to calculate the feet of lights needed to outline the front of the house (following the roof line).

Well, that didn’t happen.

However, I am keeping those big plans in mind for next year. There’s always next year, right? 🙂

This year, I did end up adding some lights outside even though nothing is on the house itself.  There is a random pine tree in the front yard that I thought would look nice lit up. I mean, most things look better with Christmas lights so I was fairly certain that it would look nice.

Oh, Christmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree.

And, honestly, I love it! It adds an amazing amount of light for just one tree.

And next year is going to be even better!!!