merry & bright

Today was a good day. Holiday-ish, without being stressful.

I got the last remaining stocking stuffers, put gas in my car for the trip to Salt Lake for our Christmas Eve dinner with Michelle's family, bought groceries, packaged my neighbor gifts and had the boys deliver them, and finished my wrapping.

This year I made English toffee, dipped in chocolate and chopped almonds.

And then I got a little ambitious. I decided I had to try my Grandma Nita's famous pecan log recipe, which was handed out at her funeral earlier this year. I had never tried her pecan logs, but I figured if she had a famous recipe, I really ought to give it a try.

I will be posting it on my recipe blog soon, but be warned: it is not for the faint of heart. It is a two-day recipe.

Only when I was nearly finished making these treats did I realize that both of them were covered in nuts. Oops. My apologies to our neighbors who don't like nuts!

It takes me by surprise each year how long it takes to put together these packages. Landon was here playing today, and I was glad to have willing treat delivery boys in he and Lucas.

They played chess by the Christmas tree, which I thought was adorable.

My mom's packages arrived today! A highly anticipated event. She sent two giant boxes of gifts. My kids keep saying over and over again things like, "Grandma sure is generous!" and "Grandma sure does like to give gifts!" and "Grandma must really like Christmas!" It's all pretty exciting.

And now our tree is completely overflowing.

Jill came over, twice! We got to chat, always good for the soul. We had many friends and neighbors stopping by, dropping off little treats and tokens.

The roll dough is mixed and chilling. The children are nestled all snug in their beds. I am headed there myself, with a new book. Oh happy day.