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Soft Christmas Sugar Cookies Recipe

4 scant cups of sugar
2 scant cups of Crisco
4 eggs
2 cups of buttermilk
2 teaspoons of soda
4 teaspoons of baking powder
2 tablespoons of vanilla
8 cups of flour

Cream sugar, shortening. Add eggs. Add remaining ingredients. Must refrigerate – preferably overnight. The secret to this dough is keeping it chilled, it’s a very soft dough. Take a little out of the bowl and place on floured sink top or pie board. Treat it similar to pie crust as far as handling goes, you may need to sprinkle with a little flour and roll to about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with a floured cookie cutter. Work with small amounts in order to keep dough chilled. Have patience and you will be rewarded with beautiful cookies. Bake 350 degrees – watch – do not brown (only lightly on bottom). Can freeze and frost later.

Pumpkin Pie With Spiced Crust Recipe

1 (16 oz.) can of pumpkin
1 (14 oz.) can of sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon ground of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground of ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground of nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon of salt
Spiced crust (See Below)

Combine all ingredients except crust; stir well. Pour into crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 5 to 55 minutes or until set. Remove from oven; let cool.

For The Spiced Crust:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/4 cup of light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of pecans, finely chopped
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoon of butter or margarine, melted
16 to 18 pecan halves

Combine all ingredients except pecan halves; stir well. Press onto bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie plate. Press pecan halves onto rim of crust at 1 inch intervals.

Christmas is about spending time with family and friends to share the blessings of the season. One way to do that is hosting a Christmas dinner party for your friends. Here are a few tips when it comes to planning the perfect party for the holidays.

A Christmas dinner party is an elegant affair. People get a chance to dress up and mingle with coworkers and other friends in an adult setting. It is as much fun as it is formal.

1. Invite guests at least three weeks in advance. The Christmas engagement calendar fills up fast and you want to get your dinner party on the roster. Host a Christmas dinner party for your office department. For a dinner party that is purely personal, invite friends and their dates or spouses. Specify on the invitation that it is for adults only. This gives everyone time to find a sitter for their children.

2. Plan the menu. On the invitation ask if anyone has any special dietary concerns. There could be vegetarians in the group but here we are more concerned with food allergies or conditions such as diabetes. Plan the food courses accordingly so no one feels left out.

3. If everyone hasn’t responded a week out from the Christmas dinner party, contact them with a quick message just in case they forgot. For sit down formal dinners having an accurate head count is necessary to be sure there is enough food for everyone. As a standard rule of thumb, allot at least two pounds of food per person attending the dinner party.

4. Decide on cooking or catering. There is nothing wrong with catering a dinner party. Cooking can be an all day affair and no one wants to be stuck in the kitchen during their own dinner party. The host or hostess wants to mingle with the rest of the guests. If you decide to cook, keep the menu simple and opt for a buffet presentation instead of table service.

5. Set up the table and decorate a day in advance. This way, if anything is missing, there is time to go out and find it. Leave glasses until the last minute so they don’t gather lint and dust particles overnight. After setting the table, go ahead and clean up a bit especially in the common areas where guests will be mingling.

6. Lay out the food a half hour before guests arrive. If a caterer is handling the affair there are no worries there. For a home cooked buffet style dinner party, light the liquid fuel under the food pans half an hour before guest arrive so the food will be warm.

An elegant dinner party is a nice way to get to know coworkers away from the office or to relax with friends you don’t see much of during the year. Everyone has a chance to show off their best holiday clothes and share a few laughs.

It is one of the two times a year that families are guaranteed to get together for a meal. Christmas dinner with family is a big deal in most households. But, this year, plan ahead so that more time is actually spent with the family and not slaving over a hot stove.

Planning saves not only time but money when it comes to having a family gathering. At Christmas, most families are filled with good cheer and a longing to reconnect. Let the family Christmas dinner be the culmination of that celebration.

Here are a few tips to help that dinner turn out to be a delight instead of a disaster.

1. Find out who is coming. We are talking about family so most people will probably attend. But, there will be the person who has to work or is out of town and can’t make it because of the weather (it does snow in a few places around Christmas!).

2. Ask everyone to bring something. Obviously if they are traveling by plane that will be difficult, but for family members who are driving in or live nearby, it is okay to ask them to bring a vegetable dish or a dessert to the Christmas dinner. The others can pitch in on the preparations when they arrive.

3. Make side dishes in advance of the Christmas dinner. We all like to sit and smell the delightful flavors wafting from the kitchen but that’s impractical when serving dinner to a sizable group. Before you know it, the entire house would be overheated and there would be dishes piled up in the sink for someone to wash. Fix and freeze as many side dishes as you can. A few hours before the meal, take them out and warm them up.

4. Cook the turkey early. Turkey is the main course at most traditional Christmas dinners. Roasting the turkey early leaves plenty of room in the stove to fix smaller dishes together. It takes several hours for a turkey to cool completely, so by dinner time, it will still be warm enough to serve without reheating the entire bird.

5. Serve dinner buffet style. Let everyone serve themselves. Have a communal blessing over the food and then whoever is hungry can eat. It is not the sit down at the table dinner we all envision from our youth, but it is more practical. Some people like to eat early and some will be watching sports on television.

Planning a Christmas dinner for the family is about the fellowship as much as it is about the meal. Use the above tips to share the cooking and spend more time reminiscing with family and friends.

Each year, millions of Americans decorate their homes for the upcoming holiday season, namely Christmas. Are you one of those individuals? If so, which type of Christmas decorations do you plan on using? While you might not necessarily think that there is a difference in Christmas decorations, there is. This difference is often the overall quality, as well as the design. If you have yet to start decorating for Christmas, you may want to think about decorating your home with elegant Christmas decorations, you will find that there are a number of benefits to doing so.

As just mentioned, there are a number of benefits to decorating your home with elegant Christmas decorations. Before you focus on those benefits, it may be a good idea to further examine elegant Christmas decorations, namely what they are and where they can be purchased from. When it comes to elegant Christmas decorations, you will find that different individuals have different views. Despite these different views, you will most commonly find that elegant Christmas decorations look better than most other decorations. For instance, instead of using cardboard to create a table centerpiece, an elegant Christmas decoration would likely include a ceramic or glass centerpiece and so on.

In addition to the appearance of elegant Christmas decorations, you will also find that their cost is quite different. In most cases, you will find that elegant Christmas decorations cost more than most traditional decorations. Aside from the better quality, you will find that this has to do with where the decorations can be purchased from. Most elegant Christmas decorations can be purchased online, from specialty retailers, or from specialty Christmas stores. These retailers are almost always priced higher than most others. One of the reasons for that is because most elegant Christmas decorations are handcrafted. A large amount of time, skill, and money go into creating handcrafted Christmas decorations; thus the increase in costs.

Now that you know what elegant Christmas decorations are and where they can be purchased from, you can begin to start focusing on the benefits of using them to decorate your home. Perhaps, the greatest benefit of using elegant Christmas decorations to decorate your home is the feel that will be created. As you likely assumed, elegant Christmas decorations tend to create an elegant feel or environment. If you take great pride in your home, especially the design and cleanliness of it, you may also be proud with the results created by elegant Christmas decorations, as your guests will likely be as well.

Despite the fact that we often associate Christmas decorations with personal home use, that is not their only purpose. If you are planning having a Christmas party or dinner in your home, you and all of your guests can greatly benefit from having elegant Christmas decorations, especially if your party or dinner will be elegant or formal in nature. It is no secret that decorations are the key to any party. The decorations that you use will likely have an impact on the mood of your party; therefore, if elegant and formal is what you were going for, elegant Christmas decorations may do just the trick.
Although there are a number of benefits to decorating for Christmas with elegant Christmas decorations, you do not have to. Since your home is your home, your own personal space, you are advised to decorate with what makes you feel the most comfortable. If elegant Christmas decorations are that then great, but if they are not, you have an unlimited number of other Christmas decorations to choose form.

Back in the early days of American history, women made quilts with scraps of whatever fabric they had on hand, using patterns they had memorized or shared freely with each other. That trend continues today within the quilting community, and if you are in the market for free quilt patterns, you’ll find a wide variety of them available from many different sources.

Many online sites offer free quilt patterns as a way to get you to visit their site. Google “free quilt patterns” and a huge number of listings will come up. Many sites list hundreds or thousands of free quilt patterns. Among the categories of free quilt patterns you will find there are quilts for babies, traditional American quilts such as the Log Cabin, Hospitality Pineapple or Lone Star, holiday designs, designs with animals or flowers on them, and many, many more. There are even free quilt patterns for food and drink, nautical designs, or angels and butterflies. While many sites feature free quilt patterns for old traditional designs, some also offer original patterns. Some sites have lists of links that will take you to more sites full of free quilt patterns. Quilting is such a time-honored craft that many patterns have been passed around from quilter to quilter for years. It’s a good idea to look at several different sites that offer free quilt patterns as you may find one particular site’s patterns of more use to you than others. Variations in the way the free quilt patterns are written are common, and it takes only a bit of research to find a site which is compatible with your needs. You may get so engrossed in the free quilt patterns on one site that you’ll never need to go any further!

But it is a good idea to keep browsing, because while searching for free quilt patterns you will also find yourself on sites that offer all kinds of other goodies for quilters, from fabrics to notions to books to patterns to purchase. Spending time looking for free quilt patterns is actually a good way to acquaint yourself with what’s available in the world of quilting and learn more about the craft along the way. A sure way to expand your knowledge about your hobby is to become familiar with all the tools and notions that are available.

Another place to find free quilt patterns is to ask your friends, family and neighbors. Many people have learned to quilt from their grandmothers or mother and they may have written down patterns from family members. These are wonderful free quilt patterns to get your hands on! All quilters can be grateful that quilting has been a social activity-first out of need, and later for reasons of entertainment-and this has caused quilters to share not only information but patterns as well.

Browsing for free quilt patterns, whether on the internet or asking friends, is an enjoyable aspect of the hobby of quilting, one that is certain to keep you engrossed for many hours.

By Rachel Paxton

Impress your family and friends with simple, homemade holiday cards you can stitch yourself.

With all you have to do during the holiday season, you probably haven’t given much thought to making homemade Christmas cards. Homemade cards don’t have to be difficult or take a long time to make. With a couple pieces of scrapbook paper, card stock, and your sewing machine, you can surprise your family and friends with your creative holiday cards. I have included below instructions for two different easy designs.

Supplies:
Green and white checkered scrapbook paper
Coordinating green scrapbook paper
Red card stock
Paper cutter
Scissors
Glue stick
Sewing machine
Green sewing machine thread
Gold embroidery thread
Embroidery needle

Card #1:

The green checkered scrapbook paper will be the base of the card. Use the paper cutter to cut paper to desired card size, then fold paper in half to create card.

The focus of the card will be a Christmas tree cut from the green scrapbook paper. You can use a stencil if you wish, but I just cut one freehand to have more of a handmade look.

Next cut a piece of red card stock slightly smaller than the face of the card. Glue the green Christmas tree onto the center of the red card stock.

The stitching comes next. Using an embroidery needle and gold embroidery thread, sew a freehand star at the top of the Christmas tree. Using the sewing machine and green sewing machine thread, sew inside the border of the Christmas tree.

Next glue the finished piece of red card stock onto the center of the front of the card.

Card #2:

 
This card is similar in design to the first card. Use the same checkered scrapbook paper for the base of the card.

Instead of one tree, I cut out one big one and two smaller ones, and glued them next to each other.

Using embroidery thread sew stars on top of trees as before. Instead of using sewing machine to sew inside the Christmas trees, I sewed inside the border of the red card stock.

Next glue the finished piece of red stock onto the center of the front of the card.

About the author:
Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom of four. For scrapbooking, card making, gift-giving ideas, and more family memory-making activities, visit http://www.crafty-moms.com.