.m&m's.pops.

My mom wanted some pops in the shape of M&Ms and they had to be blue for her coworker.  The only problem I encountered was the color!  I couldn't find BLUE candy melts.  I had the light blue so I just added some black discs to make it a little darker.

 This guy was my favorite one of the batch...

.christmas.baking.

This year I decided to bake for all the families in our lives instead of buying gifts (only bought the children gifts).  I made different types of cookies and snacks and packaged them up all pretty.

.sugar.cookies.

All of the sugar cookies were frosted with candy melts instead of that REALLY sweet icing.  It was a bit time consuming but they dried super fast compared to the icing and they taste a lot better!

.caramel.chocolate.pretzels.

For these, I laid out the pretzel squares (single layer) on a cookie sheet and topped each one with a Rolo candy.  I stuck them in the oven for about 4 minutes...just enough time for the Rolo to get soft but not melt.  Then I took them out of the oven and stuck an M&Ms piece in the middle and poked it down.  The original recipe called for a pecan but I didn't want to risk anyone's life that was allergic to the nut. 

.chocolate.crinkle.

This is a really soft chocolate cookie that's rolled up into a ball, covered in confectioner's sugar and baked.  While they bake and spread, they form little cracks and look pretty cool with the white sugar contrast.

.oatmeal.cookies.

.cranberry.white chocolate.oatmeal.cookies.

.m&m's.chocolate chip.cookies.

.the.assembly.line.

.inside.the.box.

.the.outside.

While researching what to do with the outside, instead of having a plain white box, I came across some boxes that had doilies on the outside as a decoration.  I thought it was just too cute and such a delicate touch and perfect for the holidays.  

Christmas .decorations.

This year I didn't go all out with the decorations.  Mainly because I don't have a lot of space to put decorations on, so I used what little space I did have. 

Stockings (left to right): Al's, Lonjas's, Torta's (hers says naughty on it), and mine.  I never grew up with the traditions of a stocking so I mainly use them to decorate and not stuff.

Here's an apothecary jar filled with white and red gift bows

Plastic candy ornament in front of our TV

Another apothecary jar filled with mini ornament balls

Our short, fat tree in silver and red

And the Christmas wrapping paper for the year.  I chose this one not only because it was white and red but because it really didn't have a Christmas theme.  I didn't have a lot of gifts to wrap this year, so I knew I was going to have a lot of paper leftover.  So instead of getting paper in a smaller quantity that I wasn't going to like, I grabbed this one that comes a lot in a roll and I can use it throughout the year!

Christmas .p.o.p.s.

These were some Christmas pops I made for my mom for her coworker...

Christmas Cards

My mom needed some Christmas cards but that had a little pouch on the back to hold a gift card so I was on it! 

Above is the little pouch on the back I added to all of the cards

All the cards went into this clear envelope with a little fake Santa stamp