Christmas Crafting

Well, it's that time of year again....and I'm so excited I can hardly contain myself!!!

It's time for Christmas Crafts!! I have a TON of inspiration and probably too many planned projects to ever complete.

Here is a glimpse of what I'm working on

I know you can't tell much about the actual projects, but I'm afraid that some special people may read the blog and I don't want to ruin anyone's Christmas surprises. I'll see if there are any that I can share and I'll try to post them later on.

For now, it's back to the craft table....

A Recap....with pictures

Let's see if I can get all these promised pictures for you posted in some order that makes sense.

First of all: Apple Time

We started with apples....a half bushel to be exact.

I cooked down the apple pulp, put it through the food mill and then it went into the oven for a couple hours, that didn't cook it down the way I thought it would, so I stuck it in the crockpot overnight

While the apple butter was in the oven I decided to try some Cran-Apple cider jelly....it came out great!! Personally I love it!

When I got up the next morning the apple butter still wasn't done so I put in a pot and cooked it down (nearly 2 hours). Then it went into canning jars, processed 10 minutes and then YAY!!! apple butter is done....and so tasty!

Brad's Birthday Banana Pudding Cheesecake

I found the recipe at examiner.com

The way I figure anything that starts with 4 blocks of cream cheese must be good

Nilla Wafer crust, a layer of sliced bananas then the creamy cheesecake goodness....bake and eat

It was REALLY good! Next time I'm going to leave out the sliced bananas and put them on top instead.....they were a strange consistency after they baked.....Yummy, but rubbery.

Brad's Birthday Eve

Tomorrow is Brad's birthday. Yay!!! I can't wait for him to be "old" like me. I am excited about his birthday this year. We are having dinner at my grandparents after church. The birthday boy has chosen the menu....fried turkey, potato salad, baked beans, corn, green bean casserole (thanks Becky for whipping this up for me) and for dessert we're having banana pudding cheesecake....yep it's a mouthful. When he first said that I was like "what the heck is that....how am I going to make that?" Then I Googled it -- there are a LOT of recipes out there. I chose one and, after a quick trip to the store, I got to work getting it baked so it had plenty of time to chill in the fridge. I can't wait to taste it!
I'll try to post some pictures tomorrow....for now I'm going to bed, but if you see Brad around tomorrow make sure to wish him a happpy day.