The Finishing Touches...

Well, it's official. It's Christmas Eve.

And, no, this is not the scene here at home. I wish.

Today has been a pretty jam-packed day of cooking, crafting, and cleaning. 

On Thursday, Benji and I went back to see the lights with our friends.  

Ashley and Colton...Megan and Jeff. 

Their pictures turned out better than ours. 

...

I took this picture at the restaurant while waited.

They reminded me of the Three Stooges. 

They proved their resemblance later that night.  

 I finally finished the stockings.

Mama wanted them monogrammed so bad.

So, I finally did it. I think it looks nice.

I even put it on Pinterest.

 Then I went to the kitchen.

Who knew I'd be in there for so many hours.

I made Naughty/Nice gifts for Benji's grandparents.

The Nice gifts are baked apple chips.

The Naughty gifts are cookie dough balls drizzled with chocolate.

Yum...

 Oh yeah, I made the monkey bread, too.

Funny story about the monkey bread.

It turned out great, but make sure when you try it you

don't use a bundt pan with the removable center piece.

The butter spilled all to the bottom of the oven .

You would've thought the whole kitchen was on fire,

and Abbie made a break for it to the back yard.

But I solved the issue, and it looks delicious.

It's always a hassle when you take food to places with a lot of people.

Everyone's always asking, "What is this? What's that?"

So, I came up with a solution.

I just printed the name out, stapled it to a piece of red construction paper,

and stapled that to a bendy straw. The bendy part slips right under the bread.

 Well, I hope all of y'all have a great Christmas.

I've gotta get in the kitchen and wash dishes.

Tomorrow, I'll take on Paula's Ooey Gooey Butter Layer Cake.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Matthew 1:18-25