353/365 Christmas at Epcot

Matt surprised me with a quick trip to Epcot tonight to see the Illuminations show. It's my favorite and I love the Christmas show. We're going to put these annual passes to good use :)

We sat in England and watched from there. It's in our top three favorite places to watch, mainly because Matt loves the fish and chips.

Also - a quick library run

352/365 Christmas parties

Tonight was our Holiday party for all the faculty, staff and spouses at school. It was held at the headmaster's house and it was simply lovely! Everyone had a great time and the place looked great!

Us enjoying a chance to be photographed

The Headmaster, Kasey Kesselring and Representative Alan Hays with his wife Jeanne

Other party-goers

Some of their lovely decorations

351/365 Cookie time!

I made little plates of cookies for my coworkers this year. Here is the collection of recipes I used for this years cookies.

The Candy Cane Blossoms came from Hershey's site.

Candy Cane Blossoms

48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Candy Cane Mint Candies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar or powdered sugar

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.

2. Beat butter, granulated sugar, egg and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and cookie is set. Remove from oven; cool 2 to 3 minutes. Press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

The Muddy Buddy recipe can be found here.

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Have a bowl of ice water ready. When reshaping the thumbprint after the cookie has caked for ten minutes, dip your finger in the ice water for several seconds and dry before reshaping: this will help your finger cool.

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon table salt

½ cup whole blanched almonds, finely ground

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

½ cup jam or preserves

Preheat oven to 325. Have ready two parchment-lined baking sheets. In an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg yolk and vanilla; beat well. Whisk together flour and salt, and add to mixture, beating on low until combined.

Combine almonds with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar. Form dough into 1-inch balls, and dip in egg white, then in almond/sugar mixture. Make a deep indentation in the center of each ball with your finger or bottom of a thick wooden spoon. Transfer to prepared baking street.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and press down the centers again. Rotate sheets, and back until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from oven, and place on a wire rack to cool slightly. Fill centers with about 1 teaspoon of jam.

Triple Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Makes 3 1/2 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon instant coffee powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks

4 ounces white chocolate, cut into chunks

1 cup dried cherries

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar at medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, coffee powder, and vanilla until blended. At low speed, beat in flour mixture just until combined. Stir in semisweet chocolate, white chocolate, and dried cherries.

3. Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart, onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes per batch, until tops are just firm. Cool on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks and cool completely.

350/365 Library Faculty Christmas Party

Today was the Faculty Christmas lunch and gift exchange for the Montverde Library staff. They even humored me with a group photo!

Opening gifts

349/365 Some ornaments

A few ornaments from our tree.

This is our new one this year - a gift from my mom. It's a Disney ornament and I love how simple and elegant it is.

I love the simple lines of this one.

One of Matt's (of course). Everyone knows Santa drives a bug!

I seem to have a LOT of snowmen. Since about 75% are gifts - I can't say that is by design. But I love them.

348/365 Nativity

A few photos of our Nativity. My parents gave us this our first year of marriage and each year they add a piece to it. This year we received the camel you you see on the right of the picture.

My favorite part of the Nativity - the three kitties! You remember them from the bible, right?

They like to chill with our Lord and Savior.

347/365 An Armstrong Christmas

I got to spend the day with some of my favorite people. I love seeing Christmas through their eyes!

Here is H. showing off their Nativity

And M. showing me the wise men

The tree!

I LOVE this picture!

I love these dresses. Aunt Sandy got them and she has such great taste!

How sweet are they? I love how much they love their nativity.

They also love mom's nativity.

Later on we made a gingerbread house! So much fun!