Surprise! Surprise!

On Dec. 12th we attended our good friends Kristin and Andrew's "Home for the Holidays Christmas Party" (well that's what I'm calling it, first Christmas in their new house)! I was ambitious, to say the least, with my baked goods! Decided on an edible Gingerbread Star Christmas Tree and Kiss Covered Strawberries with Mini Brownies! Yummy on both counts! My apple bars were also in attendance! I would not have been able to finish it all without the help of my little elves:)

Orion hand-dipped all the strawberries in chocolate and

rolled 'em in the mini chocolate chips!

Ethan, well he was a great taste-tester!

~Gingerbread Star Christmas Tree~

I cut-out 9 different star shapes from card-stock, rolled out dough and hand cut with a knife two stars from each template. Left me with 18 stars in all, made one star for the top. It was time consuming but the result was great and you could eat it!!! Plus the strawberries looked like little presents under the tree!

I love love love this recipe! Better than the ones made with molasses, in my opinion.

Gingerbread Men without Molasses

1 (3.5 oz) pkg. Cook and Serve Butterscotch pudding mix

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour

½ cup butter softened

1 ½ tsp. ginger

½ tsp. baking soda

1. In mixer, cream together pudding mix, brown sugar and butter. Stir in the egg. Combine the flour, baking soda, ginger and cinnamon; stir into the pudding mixture. Cover and chill dough until firm, about 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll dough to 1/8 in. thickness. Bake cookies 10-12 minutes on parachment paper. Cool and decorate!

~Kiss Covered Strawberries with Mini Brownies~

They were oh so yummy in our tummies!! My spin-off of these over at MckMama's:)

First make mini brownies, then melt semi-sweet and white chocolate, dip the strawberries in (with toothpick in top) and gave 'em a roll through the mini kisses! Let them firm up a bit and then place the strawberries on the mini brownies and inserted the toothpick, joining them! Done! Beautiful enough to eat! And we did, everyone loved 'em and thought they were so cute!

Yeah I made 'em put on Christmas sweaters!

But aren't they just so cute:)

Guess you're wondering where's the Surprise! Surprise! Well that came later in the evening when Andrew asked us all to come out into the garage for a little "thank you" speech. It started out that way but the ending had a twist! Andrew got down on one knee and in front of all their friends he asked Kristin Michele Puryear to be his wife! It was such a surprise, to me anyway! And most of all to Kristin! Congratulations Kristin and Andrew we could not be happier for you both! And we can't wait to see what this new chapter holds in your lives together.

And just in case any of you ladies out there are wondering...
He went to Jared:)

Yesterday Kristin came over and asked me to be her Matron of Honor, and I could not be more honored to stand at her wedding and share in the start of their lives together! Thank you for the honor Kristin!