One of our blog readers asked for pictures of our past invitations. I began sending official invites in 2000. Prior to that, we just asked people to come as we saw them, included a hand-written note in our Christmas cards, and put an announcement in the Sunday bulletin for our church family.

2001 ~ This invitation has an embossed ornament with the pine and bow stamped over. The invitation was printed on speckled paper and matted on red card stock. Pretty simple!

2002 ~ The grey-shaded paper is actually silver. The stamping is embossed in silver. The invite is printed on paper, then matted on dark blue paper with torn edges.

2003 ~ The invitation is printed on red paper, embossed in gold, and has a little tag affixed. I printed the “Please Come!” on red paper and then, after stamping, cut it into a small rectangle and used a corner rounder on it.

2004 ~ I especially liked this one. I used gold, red, and green glitter glue on the gold embossed lantern. The invite is printed on ivory card stock. All three pieces of card stock are embossed in gold on all edges.

2005 ~ I was in a hurry this particular year and used a postcard picture. I imported it into Print Shop, added the invite and printed the whole thing on ivory paper, cutting the picture with a bit of ivory border. I added silver glitter embossed highlights on some of the snow, then matted it on dark green. I embossed the edge of the green with silver.

2006 ~ It is printed on white cardstock and embossed with silver. I embossed snowflakes on the left edge of the dark blue, embossed the edges of both pieces of paper and tied it together. Very easy!

2007 ~ This year’s invitation was easy to make. The stamping and edges are embossed with gold. I used one large stamp with Christmas greetings on it about 3/4 of the card. I covered the edge of that stamping with a gold ribbon, then stamped the smaller holly piece in the lower part of the right side. The invitation itself was glued over the ribbon. When the assembly was done, I finished them with spray glitter which this picture doesn’t show. Pretty!

2008 ~ It took a while for me to figure out what I wanted to do for 2008. Finally I settled on this large stamped “tree.” I used green embossing powder for the stamp, then used glitter glue for the red words and the gold star. It’s double matted with red and green card stock.

I try to keep the invites small enough to slip into our Christmas cards, which I try to mail the day before Thanksgiving. That gets the invites out a week before the party, which is always the first Sunday in December. It’s never too early to start thinking about what to do for the next open house. The best years are when I have them done early!

~~Rhonda

Our usual kitchen helpers were here, plus a few young ladies from church. Wonderful helping hands.

Stacks of cookies…

Seems everyone likes to congregate in the kitchen.

The village Genny made looked great on the cookie table.

Lots of company…family and friends.

We worked hard for this one, but it was another success.

~~Rhonda

Holiday Icebox Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 6-8 dozen

2 c. margarine or butter, softened
2 c. confectioners’ sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. uncooked, quick-cooking oatmeal (I measure, then grind the oats in the blender)
red and/or green sugar crystals

In large mixing bowl, cream margarine and confectioners sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in vanilla.

Sift together flour, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Stir well.

Stir in oatmeal.

Chill dough until firm enough to form into rolls. Shape into four rolls and roll in red or green sugar crystals. Cover with foil or plastic wrap. Chill until firm. (Or freeze at this point until needed.)

Just FYI, the green and white sugar in this picture is a coarse sugar and the red in the picture below is a sanding sugar, which is a finer grain than coarse, but a larger grain than the white sugar used for baking.

Slice into 1/4″ to 1/2″ slices and place on ungreased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in preheated 325* F oven about 15-20 minutes or until set and lightly browned.

From Country Folk Art’s magazine Quick ‘n Easy Home Cooking, p. 15, December 1995

The cookies could be made without the sugar crystals or made with other colors, as well. They freeze well.

~~Rhonda

Don’t let this recipe throw you off. They are actually easy to make, beautiful to look at, and delicious!

Holiday Petits Fours

• 1 can (8 oz.) almond paste
• 1 1/2 c. butter, softened
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• 2 c. sifted flour
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 10 drops liquid green food coloring
• 8 drops liquid red food coloring
• 1 jar (12 oz) apricot jelly or preserves
• 2 1/2 squares (1 oz. each) semisweet chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 350. Coat three 13x9x2″ pans with nonstick vegetable-oil cooking spray; line with waxed paper, allowing paper to come up the short ends; spray paper. [I use one pan and let it cool between cakes.]

2. Break up almond paste in large bowl. Add butter, sugar, egg yolks and almond extract. Beat with electric mixer until light and fluffy, 5 minutes.

3.Beat in flour and salt.

4. In separate bowl with clean beaters, beat egg whites with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Fold into almond mixture until well blended.

5. Divide mixture into three equal portions. Add green food coloring to one portion and red food coloring to another, leaving the last portion yellow. Separately spread each colored portion into prepared pans.

6. Bake in preheated 350 oven 15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove the cakes from the pans, using the waxed paper overhang.

7. Heat apricot jelly in a small saucepan. Place the green cake layer on a jelly-roll pan. Spread half of warm jelly over this layer to the edges; slide the yellow layer on top; spread with remaining apricot jelly; slide the pink layer, right side up, onto the yellow layer.

8. Cover with plastic wrap; weigh down with large wooden cutting board or heavy plate. Place in refrigerator overnight or up to three days. It freezes well. I cover it with a few layers of plastic wrap, then wrap it in foil for the freezer (after weighting it overnight in the refrigerator).

9. Melt chocolate in double boiler over hot water. Spread melted chocolate to edges of cake. Let dry 10 minutes or until hardened. Trim edges off cake. Cut into 1″ squares. I score the chocolate while it is still soft so it is easier to cut after the topping has hardened.

From Family Circle’s magazine “Christmas Helps”, 1994, p. 114. ~~Rhonda

Crush the Oreo cookies. I put them in a zippered storage bag and hit them with the rolling pin.

Stir together the cookie crumbs and the softened cream cheese until well blended. Form into small balls. Cool them in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

Dip into melted vanilla almond bark. Sprinkle with reserved cookie crumbs.

My daughter brought this recipe home from college. It’s delicious. Especially if you’re an Oreo cookie fan! ~~Rhonda

Raspberry Truffles

1 1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 T heavy cream
1 T butter
2 T seedless raspberry jam

In a heavy saucepan, combine chips, heavy cream and butter. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Stir in raspberry jam. Cover with plastic wrap; freeze 20 minutes. Drop mixture by teaspoons onto foil lined cookie sheet. Freeze 15 minutes. Roll into balls; freeze until firm.

Dip into melted vanilla almond bark and sprinkle with red sugar crystals. I used sanding sugar. Keep refrigerated until serving.

I found this recipe at epicurean.com. I doubled it for the open house. It made about 70 truffles, but the finished amount would depend on how large they are made. They are very easy to make. ~~Rhonda

The bodies of the mice are made from maraschino cherries dipped in chocolate. I drain and rinse the cherries and leave them on paper towels for 30 minutes to an hour, changing the paper once. They need to be fairly dry before dipping in chocolate. The stems become the tails. When dipping, totally seal the area of the cherry at the base of the stem. Don’t dip the entire stem in chocolate.

While the chocolate is still soft, add the heads (Hershey’s Kisses) or, if the chocolate hardens, you can dip the bottom of the Kiss in chocolate and stick it to the body.

The ears are sliced almonds, dipped in chocolate and set behind the head. They can be added while the body chocolate is still soft, but the timing is tricky. Too soft and the ears slip down the sides. Too hard and they don’t stick at all. I find it easier to attach all of them at the same time. I break an almond slice in half, dip the broken side in chocolate and attach it just behind the head.

To make the mice, you need:

• maraschino cherries with stems
• Hershey’s chocolate Kisses
• sliced almonds
• silver dragees (If you don’t want to use the little silver balls, you can make the eyes with cookie sprinkles or a spot of frosting.)
• melted chocolate for dipping (I use semi-sweet chocolate chips with 2 oz. of unsweetened baking chocolate added.)

In this picture you can see the set up. The pan of chocolate sits on a heating pad that has been wrapped in a towel and covered with aluminum foil. The gentle heat from the heating pad keeps the chocolate melted. The almonds are in a bowl for easy sorting. The dragees are attached by holding them with tweezers, barely dipping them into melted chocolate. They easily stick to the head (Kiss). I smear a small bit of chocolate on the aluminum foil which keeps the chocolate soft, and also gives me a perfect spot for dipping the eyes without immersing them too deeply into the chocolate. If you find the dragees do not stick well, set the tray of mice in the refrigerator for five minutes or so. When the melted chocolate touches the cold Kiss, the eyes will adhere immediately.

I make about 90 of these mice for our open house. Each jar of cherries has 27-31 cherries in it. DD#3 loves to find stemless cherries in the jar. She gets to eat those.

Do check the jar label. Some maraschino cherries have stems, some don’t. We live in a small town and can’t always find stemmed cherries locally. Larger grocery stores with more variety are an hour away. I sometimes pick the cherries up in the summer or fall before Christmas so I have them when I need them.

Try creating your own Christmas mice! They are fun to make and look cute on the cookie tray, as you can see in this picture of cookies packed for the volunteer firemen. Boxes also go to the police station, the staff at DD’s school, and others.

~~Rhonda

Toffee Bar Crunch Biscotti

6 T. butter, melted
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon butterscotch extract (I couldn’t find this, so left it out)
3 eggs, beaten
3 c. flour
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chocolate-covered toffee bar, chopped (I used 1 1/2 c. toffee bits plus 1 c. mini chocolate chips)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped and toasted (Don’t skip the toasting. It does make a difference.)

Cream together butter, oil, sugar and brown sugar in medium bowl. Mix in vanilla and butterscotch extracts. Add eggs.

Combine dry ingredients and stir into creamed mixture. Add chopped toffee bar and pecans.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Dough will be sticky, so lightly flour hands. Form into two logs (I decided after baking that four would have been better.)

Bake at 350* F for 25-30 minutes or until center is set. Cool for ten to fifteen minutes. Slice crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Return slices, cut side down, to baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes on one side, then turn over and bake opposite side an additional five minutes. Cool on wire racks. I cut the slices in half before the additional baking.

After they cooled, I packed them in zippered storage bags and placed them in a plastic container for freezing until needed.

I dipped the end of each piece in chocolate when thawed. It made about 60 pieces.

The recipe is from Gooseberry Patch 1999, p. 89.

Daniel’s Cookie Bar Bites

Cream together:

4 sticks margarine (2 cups), softened
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 1/2 c. brown sugar

When light and fluffy, add:

4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well.

In a separate bowl, stir together:

6 c. flour
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking soda

Add to sugar mixture and combine thoroughly.

Add and stir:

2 12-oz. bags mini chocolate chips

Spread in a greased cookie sheet with 1″ sides.

Bake at 375* F for 17 minutes.

When cool, cut into 1″ squares and dip in melted chocolate. Sprinkle with cookie decorations / decors.

For dipping chocolate, I melt chocolate chips and add 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate for each 12-oz. bag of chips.

I make the bars ahead, cut them (removing the raised edges), freeze them between sheets of waxed paper and, after thawing, dip them in chocolate the day before our annual open house. When dipping I put them into the melted chocolate upside down so the bottom becomes the top. That ensures the tops of the finished cookies are smooth and the edges as square as possible.

I’ve also made the same recipe as little hearts, for a baby shower and for a ladies’ tea, using a 1-inch cookie cutter. For the tea, I dipped the hearts in dark chocolate and topped them with frosting flowers and sugared violets.

~~Rhonda

Spiced Cranberry Punch

1 c. sugar
4 c. water
12 whole cloves
4 (3-inch) cinnamon sticks
2 T. minced ginger root
8 c. cranberry/apple juice cocktail
2 c. orange juice
1 c. fresh lemon juice (from 6 lemons)

Orange slices and cranberries (optional)
Additional cranberry/apple juice cocktail (optional)

1. In a large saucepan, combine sugar, water, cloves, cinnamon sticks and ginger; mix until sugar dissolves. Bring to boiling; simmer 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Cover; let stand 1 hour. [At this point the punch base can be strained and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days.]

2. Strain punch mixture into a large bowl (chilled punch) or crockpot (hot punch). Stir in cranberry cocktail, orange juice and lemon juice. Chill or serve hot. If serving cold, garnish with orange slices and cranberries or fill ice-cube trays with orange slices, cranberries, and addition cranberry cocktail; freeze, and use to chill when serving.

Makes 16 servings. From “McCall’s Favorite Christmas Ideas,” 1992, p. 108.