Hey Stranger!

If you know me, you know I love my Christmas. There is something about the holiday that screams magical. There are the scrooges out there but the part I choose to see, is friends and family spending time together, people showing more appreciation to others, being more kind to others. Walking out in the morning you feel the cold..and most likely the rain, but that one day when it starts to snow, my whole day feels slower, and I notice the small things. I cant WAIT for it snow..it has to just one day. Otherwise Im leaving for Whistler to get my fix!!

Although I am a huge xmas fan, latley I havent been able to get in the mood. I am usually full on xmas by the end of Thanksgiving, but this year its takin me awhile. It probably doesnt help that I wasn’t allowed to have a REAL xmas tree this year, I was pretty upset about this, even ask FI…I got over it when he bought me a 9ft fake one. I got over it pretty quick actually.

SO I thought what would be the best way to get my mood on track but doing a little Christmas baking!! Between the xmas music, the “festive sangria” and baking with my MOH it got me back in the swing it.

We decided to make Christmas Bark, and Turtle Cookies. We had to obviously drink something while we were doing this hard work so we found a “festive sangria recipe”.

We made sure we dressed the part!! (MOH got me a little early xmas present, and Charlie Pup of course had to dress up as well)

Holiday Sangria recipe http://thetravelbite.com/recipes/holiday-sangria/

Wellll I can say we finished it all, but we probably wont be making it again. It tells you to add 1 cup of sugar, and we thought that was a LOT of sugar for a drink that we will be finishing off so we cut that down to a Tbsp. Seemed fine to me, I didnt miss the sugar. The thing I didnt like about it was the spices. Too much spice for a Sangria drink. Dont get me wrong, if you want a festive drink, this is it! You have cranberries, and oranges with cinnamon, nutmeg and clove. its like potpourri in your mouth!

Cake Batter Christmas Bark http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/12/cake-batter-chocolate-bark/

This was fun, and a bit messy. I am sure it could be a clean experience, but for the both of us when we bake, we kind of make the whole kitchen look like a chocolate tornado hit us. It was all over us, all over everything. BUT it was super easy, and fun, and tastes even better. You can honestly put anything on top. We put sprinkles, toffee, and coconut on ours. Next time we will put the coconut on first then everything else, it didnt really stick well. This recipe was awesome, easy, and I will definitely make this again, especially for a little gift for someone, or just to bring to a party. Mine is in the freezer 🙂

Then we made the

Turtle Cookies http://pixelatedcrumb.com/2012/01/11/chocolate-turtle-cookies/

MOH found this from facebook, one of her friends had made them, then posted a picture up of them, and she dazed a little n then decided this is what we were making. When she first told me “turtle” cookies, I was wondering what that has to do with xmas, BUT they are gooey and chocolatey and soft and delicious. If you like the Turtles chocolate, you will want to make these. Easy to make, just takes some time, you have to let the dough chill for an hour. (Make the bark in between ;))

All were MOH boyfriend approved.

Hope you try these and get in the Christmas spirit, I promise it helps! Go out and make someone smile today!

Im out, waiting for that snow… Merry Christmas!