happy holidays

I love baking this time of year. It reminds me of all of the great times every holiday when I was growing up where my Mom would bake with me and my sister. We always had some treat going ... Christmas cookies, jam thumbprints, peanut brittle, carmels, fudge, truffles, breads, pies, etc. My Mom is such a good cook/baker, and she loved to share her love of being in the kitchen with us. Now, when I'm in the kitchen baking at Christmas, I think of my Mom ... (and my Dad's chocolate chip cookies), and I have warm, happy memories that I hope to pass on to my kids. I think Colton will enjoy eating the treats, and Khloe will enjoy making them with me. I already posted the pictures of us making Christmas cookies ... and last night, I made fudge and carmels. It sure smelled like the holidays in our house!Starting to melt the fudge!Cooling ... Yummy dark chocolate fudge! With M&M's, rocky road, and with nuts.The long process of boiling the carmels.All poured to cool.Cut and wrapped!

I have gotten a lot of Christmas shopping done. I am almost completely finished. It feels good to have everything nearly done. Tonight, I need to wrap some more gifts, and I hope to get a package mailed off by the end of this week. That means I have to make a few more trips tomorrow. It's hard to be out for too long with the kids (mostly with Khloe), so I have to make several short day trips. It makes for a busy week, but I must get it finished.

I'm pretty excited! I found out today that the Chiefs fired Todd Haley. It's about time. I read somewhere that someone said, "It's sad if they fired Todd Haley based on this season with all of the injuries, no preseason training, etc." But seriously, what has he done in years where he's had little to no injuries and a whole summer of training? Nothing. So, I'm prepared to get a new coach in there to make the right decisions and get us competitive again.

My little sweetie in her tutu. She's such a good girl!


I must go fold some laundry.