Preserving the Spirit of Christmas on December 22

 We'll call this one the jar of good intentions. I bought these peppermint Hershey's Kisses intending to use them on cookies...but so far the opportunity to get in the kitchen and make them has eluded me.

 This afternoon number 1 son had set aside time to make his "M & M Bars". He works in a methodical way getting all his ingredients out, measured and ready before he hits the "start" knob on the mixer.

 Cream the butter and sugar and now beat in the eggs one at a time.

 Put the dough into the baking pan and smooth it out.

 And, after it has cooled you can cut it into serving pieces. He made two pans of the recipe today, each with a different sort of M & M. They are to be given away to friends.

 Last Saturday number 2 son held court in the kitchen all day long. We are great fans of the food section of the Washington Post when they publish their annual issue of Holiday baking recipes. 2 son had chosen three recipes and this one, Chai-spiced Snowdrops turned out the best.

 This recipe for Cinnamon Pretzels needed work. But with perseverance (and the addition of another egg and a drop of milk) they were able to be rolled and shaped and baked.

 They turned out okay and, true to the recipe note, they are good for dunking.

 Here's a plate of finished treats from last weekend - a couple of my angel slices (see the angel post), the snowdrops, pretzels and the vanilla cookie (in it's basic form as a cut-out cookie).

Venturing outside I found this very delicious looking chocolate log...well, it did look very edible but, as you can likely tell, it is a Christmas tree trimming after the ice storm of this past weekend. The way that ice melted looked just like frosting dripping off a chocolate log to my eyes.

In the pursuit of preserving the spirit of Christmas for you I have just had to resort to a lot of calories. sigh.