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We are under a wonderful blanket of snow today.  Last night we received around 12-14 inches of snow...very unusual for us. And we are also in the minus's for temperature....with the windchill it is around -15-19 Celsius.

The children are having an amazing time in the yard building forts and just plain enjoying the snow.  I did manage to do a little baking in between watching hockey.  Took dh 3-1/2 hours to get home from work because the freeway was a complete parking lot.  So he had to go the long, long way home, and even that was slow going.

Today I kept the kids home from school as the roads were quite slippery and I do NOT like driving in lousy weather.  We cleaned the house and are still working on laundry. I changed the living room around as I felt the tree was in the wrong place and taking too much room, and with lots of company coming, we need all the space we can get.  So hopefully dh won't mind the changes (as he was fine the way it was).

 Anika baked the most wonderful cookies today.  She read the recipe alone and did really well.  The recipe was from our Advent book that we are going through.  She was very proud of herself and we were grateful for the treat.

Here is the recipe if anyone is interested:

Oatmeal Christmas Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 white sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1-1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups rolled oats

1 cup M&M's

Preheat oven to 350.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon,cloves and salt; stir into the sugar mixture.  Stir in the rolled oats and M&M's with a wooden spoon.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoons, two inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes until light and golden.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for two minutes.  Transfer to a wirerack and let cool completely.  Store in airtight container.

I also made our very favourite raspberry dessert.  Being that raspberries are my favourite fruit, this would stand to reason that I LOVE this dessert.  It's a recipe that I have had since my 4-H days many, many years ago.  Hard to believe I have had this recipe for so long.  There are only three ingredients which makes it also a lot of fun and easy to whip up.

Raspberry Bavarian cream pudding

This is also a family favourite.  I made this when I did 4-H clubs many years ago. 

1 16 oz. pkg frozen raspberries

1-1/2 cups raspberry juice & water

13 oz. pkg raspberry jell-o

1-1/2 cups whipping cream whipped

Thaw raspberries.  Drain.  Keep berries chilled.  Heat juice & water to boiling.  Add jell-o powder.  Chill until consistency of unbeaten egg white.  Beat thickened Jell-o with electric beater until foamy & fluffy.  Fold in whipped cream & berries.  Chill

**I always double this recipe for our family.

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by heritagehill
Hi, thanks for stopping by my blog to wish me a Merry Christmas! I want to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas too!
These cookies sound so good.....enjoy the snow!
Marilyn

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by blessedmomof10
Oh connie - how beautiful!! I am so missing "home" right now.... that is the mountains..... my parents an sibs in the seattle area are getting lots of snow too... so beautiful!
Those cookies look so yummy -- I have some m&m's so I will need to try them out... I love anything with cloves in it!
Blessings to you my dear sister in Christ,
gloria

Thursday, December 18, 2008 - Oh, yum!

Posted by FarmWife
M&M cookies. I haven't had those for YEARS! They look delicious. And brrrrr.........it looks COLD there. The entire country seems blanketed in the white stuff right now. And for those of us on the west side (Seattle side) that means big trouble! Coasties can't drive in the snow. The hills of Seattle aren't meant for snow. Our homestead is on the EAST side, where snow is the thing that happens in the winter. But the coast? Yikes! It's a mess out there right now. And my DS is driving home from WSU tomorrow. He needs prayer! It's scary.

Friday, December 19, 2008 - Hi

Posted by Raina
I would love for it to snow like this here in VA. It looks beautiful in your pictures!

Raina