Author Archives: ~~Rhonda

Living in a small town, I share my life with my husband Russell (married in 1977), five children (one still at home), and six cats (one indoors, the others outside).

I teach an online class called “The Christmas Notebook” which is about all things holiday prep. The many facets of celebrating Christmas comprises one of my favorite hobbies. Other favorite things include gardening, reading, cooking, and scrapbooking.

the biscotti is delicious!

The house smelled SO good while the biscotti was baking and the final result was as delicious as the smell. The dough contains melted butter and veggie oil, so it has a different look than most cookie doughs. Shinier and denser. The recipe called for broken chocolate-covered toffee bars which I didn’t have. I used […]

biscotti and cake today

Last night I worked on more invites. Watched The Two Towers while doing that. This AM I’m planning to make Toffee Bar Crunch Biscotti and Holiday Petit Fours. I’ve not made biscotti before but want to try it for the open house. I’ll let you know how it comes out. My sister Genny is coming […]

kitchen garland – going up!

Last night DH put the garland up in the kitchen. Standing on the counter is the only way to do it. The next step is to add the snowflakes. We’ve had some frosts, so the geraniums came in. Not sure where they are going to end up, but they are so pretty right now that […]

addressing Christmas cards

The piles are getting bigger…

halfway through

3:00 pm – I’m halfway through the Christmas card list. Taking a break as my hand needs a rest. There are about 20 more finished invites then I will have to stop and make more. I have a meeting tonight and a chat later this evening, so won’t have time tonight to get much else […]

cards, invites, and tv

Today I have several projects on my agenda. I have the bulletin inserts for church to format and print so they can be copied for church. After finishing that, I’ll catch up on some Tivo while addressing our Christmas cards. I have half the open house invitations done, so will be doing more of that […]

Cookie bar bites – finished

This picture from last year shows the finished product. Easy and delicious. I’ve made them for teas and baby showers by cutting them with a 1″ heart-shaped cookie cutter and then dipping them. For the baby shower, I dipped them in vanilla almond bark and sprinkled the tops with blue sanding sugar.

cookie bar bites

The cookie bar bites are baked, sliced into 1″ squares, then frozen until it’s time to dip them in chocolate. Wonderfully delicious, this is a favorite “open house cookie.” Easy to make. I double a recipe of Tollhouse cookies, using mini chocolate chips, to make the bar cookies. Originally uploaded by christmasnotebook

Our first grands

Our first grandbabies joined our family this month. We spent a long weekend getting acquainted. So soft and sweet.

Back home

After a week away, visiting brand new grandbabies out east, we are back home. Feels good. Now the Christmas decorating must start in earnest. Today will be a day of organizing what needs to be done…checking the cookie list, planning the week’s menu (easy meals this week!), making a grocery list, sorting the piles of […]