Holiday Chocolate-Covered Crackers

Good Tuesday morning!

The Gallery Pics are of Roxie's bedroom transformation (and her nutcracker collection). I've never been a big fan of the nutcracker. They are a little scary to me, and I have never wanted to try to sleep in a room with several of them staring at me. However, it doesn't bother Roxie, and it's a fun gift for her to look forward to under the tree each year.

REMINDER! REMINDER! REMINDER! - The 12 Days of Christmas Inflatables begins December 13. I will feature a picture of a different inflatable on A Simple Life from December 13 through December 24. The good, the bad and the ugly! (I'm just kidding. There's no such thing as an ugly inflatable.)

RANDOMNESS #1 - The annual Christmas puzzle has returned to Faulkner Farms (circa 1842). Last year's puzzle selection was a disaster. I picked the hardest puzzle known to mankind. (It might as well have been a solid navy blue square with 1,000 pieces. It was that "un-fun.") It did not get finished by New Year's Eve. In fact, it was cheerfully given to the Hannah Home people a few days ago.

The new puzzle is perfect. Although it has 1,000 pieces, I think it is quite doable.

We will have to work on The Boy's attitude this year. As Melia and I discovered last year, when Austin is working on a puzzle, he requires complete silence. It is not a social activity for him. It is a "solitary confinement" sort of activity.

Melia, Roxie and I will have to work on the puzzle without him so we can talk about purses, movies, school, boots, etc. We found that out the hard way when he kept "shushing" us around the puzzle table.

RANDOMNESS #2 - My Christmas cards have finally been ordered, and I hope to receive them, address them and have them delivered to your homes no later than December 15!

That being said, I've only received SEVEN cards so far this year. I'm not in a panic... yet. I'm sure there will be eight or nine cards in the mail today. I just feel it.

I know begging for Christmas cards each and every year gets old to some people, but it's one of the ways I enjoy the season... so I will continue to beg. (And if a neighbor's Christmas card accidentally is put in my mailbox... Well, let's just say we call that a "bonus" around here!)

ONLY 93 TO GO!

RANDOMNESS #3 - I'll be sharing pictures of my household decorations and trees over the next few days. As the name above indicates (A Simple Life), they are indeed very simple, but most of them tell a little bit of our story. It will be like my own virtual Christmas Home Tour. And it's free! (And I don't have to dust and mop before you "visit!")

Holiday Chocolate-Covered Crackers

My sweet friend, Julie Tuggle, always has the best recipes. If you are a salty/sweet person, you are going to love this one.

You will need the following:

Parchment paper
Saltine crackers
2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate morsels

1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. (You really need the parchment paper. Julie tried this on foil, but it didn't work well.)

2. Place 1 layer of saltine crackers on each cookie sheet.

3. Melt 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar together in a saucepan.

4. Pour the butter/brown sugar mixture into a coffee mug and drink it warm. If you are a diabetic (like me), be ready to call 911! (Okay. Just kidding. Totally skip this step.)

5. Spoon mixture over crackers.

6. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes.

7. After you take the cookie sheets out of the oven, IMMEDIATELY sprinkle half of the bag of chocolate morsels over EACH cookie sheet of crackers. (Half a bag per cookie sheet.)

8. As soon as the morsels begin melting (just a minute or so), spray a knife with cooking spray and spread chocolate evenly over crackers.

9. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Break apart and enjoy!

These things are addictive. They are crisp, salty, sweet and easy. Yum!

Have a fantastic Tuesday. Wednesday is our busy day on A Simple Life. Wisdom and a great Seasonal Tradition awaits, plus so much more. Stop by if you get a minute.

Take care, and I'll talk to you tomorrow.

Sincerely,

The Enchanting Belinda