Monday night, our next door neighbors dropped off a little treat/Christmas gift. The wife is always so clever and this year was more of the same.

See that cute snowman in the picture to the left?  She made it.

When they delivered it, she also recited a poem that she learned in the first grade.

Well, I’ve never seen this snowman idea before and I hadn’t heard of the poem either. I was duly impressed.  Cute, cute, cute.

To make the snowman, she printed up the ‘snowman’ face on white paper.  She wrapped it around a large box of Milk Duds.(You can use any large ‘stadium’ sized box of candy.)  She cut a small piece of fleece for the neck scarf. She got a pair of gloves and stuffed one glove inside the other. She pulled the gloves over the box of Milk Duds to create a hat.  She tied raffia just below the fingers to make the fingers look like a pom pom on the hat.

Here’s a copy of the poem that she recited.

ONCE THERE WAS A SNOWMAN

author unknown

Once there was a snowman,
Who stood outside my door,
He wished that he could come inside,
And run about the floor.
He wished that he could warm himself,
Beside the fire, so red,
He wished that he could climb upon
The big white bed.

So he called to the North Wind,
“Come and help me, pray,
For I’m completely frozen,
Standing here all day.”
So the North Wind came along,
And blew him in the door,
And now there’s nothing left of him,
But a puddle on the floor!

This would be an easy thing to make as a stocking stuffer or a Christmas treat to give to grandchildren.  Or, you could help your grandchildren make some snowmen to give to their friends.  Or, you could make the snowman as a decoration by using an empty box.  (Don’t want to let the candy get stale, now do we?)

Here is a copy of the snowman wrapper.  Print it up, color the nose, the heart, and add a bit of color for the cheeks, and wrap it around your box of candy.

Then, it would be fun to make these Snowman Faces cookies. Pillsbury has easy to follow directions for these little fellas.

Treats.

Isn’t that what the holiday season is all about?  Making and eating and eating and eating treats and goodies?  I thought so.

And, I’m all for easy — treats that are easy to make and easy to eat. (Is there any treat that ISN’T easy to eat? Mmmm?)

Dipped pretzels fits the easy category — especially the easy eating one.  When I stumbled upon the caramel covered pretzel sticks, I knew immediately that this was a keeper.

Here’s the link to the caramel dipped pretzel rods. This site has a step-by-step tutorial and great pictures so you know exactly how to make them.

This are easy to make with grandchildren.  They would be a fun treat for them to make and give to their friends.

If your grandchildren live far away, this would be something that would be light-weight to mail and survive the jostling.  (It might be a tad late to get them in the mail for this Christmas.  But you can tuck this idea away for next year, can’t you?)

Making some of these could be part of your family activities when they get together on Christmas Eve.

Enjoy!

Thursday, a woman at my work brought a treat to share with everybody. It was called Tiger Butter.

Such a fun name! (I imagine the name would really appeal to little grandsons.)

When I tasted it, I had a hard time eating only one piece.

(Actually, I went back at different times throughout the day to check on the candy . . . Totally for security’s sake.  Totally. It was sitting on a shelf and I didn’t want anything bad to happen to it, you know. And if you believe that, then I would like to introduce you to my friend from Nigeria who needs all of you bank account information . . .)

When she told me how to make the candy, I knew immediately that I had to share it with my readers. It is such a snap to make!  Here’s the recipe.

Tiger Butter

16 ounces white chocolate chips
1/2 creamy peanut butter

Microwave for 1 minute — or until melted. Cover a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour the mixture on the paper and spread it out.

Take 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and melt in the microwave.  Drop small spoonfuls of chocolate over the peanut butter mixture.  Swirl the chocolate into the peanut mixture with a knife. Cool until firm.  (It’s best not to cool it in the fridge. Just leave it on the countertop.) Break into pieces.

This candy is something that would be really easy to make with grandchildren.  And, it will be a hit — if your grandchildren like peanut butter and chocolate. (I can’t imagine any grandchildren who don’t.)

And the best thing is that there aren’t lots of pots and pans to clean up and it’s fast, fast, fast to make.

It’s also fast, fast, fast to gobble it all up!  Voice of experience here.

Have you heard of doing a Christmas Doorbell Ditch?

Me neither.

It’s a rather unique activity. One that I think tween and teen grandchildren would really enjoy doing.  (And grandma!)

Here’s a link to a fabulous site that discusses it.

Basically, you drive around the neighborhood enjoying the Christmas lights. When you see a home with Christmas lights that you especially like, you run to the door, slip a special door hanger over the front door knob, ring the door bell, and scurry away before you are discovered.

People answer the door and find a pleasant surprise that says their lighting efforts are appreciated.

This site has a wonderful pattern that you can print up and use for the door hanger. And you can read her directions, too.

This is a fun way to spread some holiday cheer.

If you do the Christmas Doorbell Ditch, let me know how it turns out.

(Oh, by the way.  If you scroll down the on this site, you’ll see pictures of the most adorable little boy.  He is so cute I could hug and kiss him all day long.  Wait!  I do get to hug and kiss him.  He’s my grandson — and the Christmas Doorbell Ditch is my creative daughter-in-law’s activity!)