Merry Christmas EVE EVE!

Can you believe it?  Christmas is almost HERE!  

Wow.  Where did December go?  

Wait...where did the YEAR go?!!

I don't know about you, but I've been busy shopping, wrapping, cleaning and baking.

Not to mention sewing, knitting and shipping!

Whew!  It's exhausting, being a creative type, isn't it?  

AND a mom.

AND a Lizzie B girl...

But I wouldn't change my life for anything.  

It's a Wonderful Life!

And I don't need my favorite angel Clarence to tell me I've got a good thing goin' here.  

Now before the Holidays go into FULL SWING mode (meaning, my kids get out of school for their lousy 1 week vacation...) I wanted to leave you all a gift. 

As promised!  I have some RECIPES for you!  

I've been posting pics of my baking on facebook, causing some mouths to water, and maybe even a little torture that I was the only one licking spoons....

(ok, I have 4 spoon lickers I have to share with)

So here goes!  First the yummy toffee shortbread I made for my daughter's Birthday.

This is a DELISH recipe that was shared with me by a friend of mine who grew up in South Africa.  This was one of her mom's traditional recipes.  My daughter Sienna is ALMOST finished with her entire pan.  And remains a size 0.  It's sick.

Anyway, for this recipe, I'm calling them:

South African Shortbread Cookies

Just click on the name for a downloadable pdf all ready to go!

Next up... 

You'll need 3 separate bowls...

...some of these

and mix 'em all up to make....

THESE!  

Peppermint Stick Fudge Brownies

Again...click on the name for a pdf.  Am I good to you or what?!  

This is the THIRD batch of these I've made this month.  They are incredible.

Now, for the grand finale...

can you see my theme here?  If you don't like chocolate, sorry, you're outta luck!

For this one, I opened one of my FAVORITE jars.....NUTELLA!

And look at the cute little design on top.  Had to take a pic!

This recipe comes from the Cookin' Canuck.

She tells you to mix all this yumminess with Nutella...

to make...

NUTELLA FUDGE WITH SEA SALT!

Again, you can click on the link above, or actually go to the Cookin' Canuck web link for the recipe.  

Now if you know the Lizzie B's at ALL, you know how MUCH we love salt with chocolate!  Here's what salt does for chocolate.  It enhances the flavor!  So when you bite into a bit of salt with your chocolate, the choco tastes even more WOW! Chocolatey.

I've also had a lot of fun this season with GooseBerry Patch's new Christmas 12 book.

I found a GREAT recipe for....

Chocolate-Dipped Crispy Bars!  I can't put the recipe here for copyright reasons, but I'm sure you could find a similar recipe online.  This one was made with sugar, corn syrup and peanut butter, instead of the usual marshmallow treat you find with Rice Krispies.

Also from the GooseBerry book was THIS great idea...

A little decorated paint can full of yummy treats!

These went out as teacher gifts, and they're also going to the neighbors tonight.

They were super easy to make.  I found the "paint cans" at Michael's, along with the scrapbook paper for the inside.  

Then at midnight last night, I remembered the bus driver.  CRAP!  My daughter is the only one at the bus stop on our little street, so I was caught unprepared.  But NEVER fear...

I had a Wawa gift card!  Whew!  And if you're not from PA or surrounding states, you won't know what a Wawa is.  But if you DID know, you would want one!  It's a convenience store which is also the best Deli around.  It's fabulous!  Great coffees for coffee drinker's, and of course, my favorite, the Diet Coke refill center.  These little cards are GOLD around here!  

Which is why I keep them on hand.  They're also going in my kids stockings, so every time they want a sandwich they don't deplete my cash!

Mr. Bus Driver was VERY happy!

And since I last blogged, we celebrated yet ANOTHER Birthday....

My baby turned 11!  And she's smiling because of that little box with her very own cell phone.

Man, they grow toooooooo fast!

Only one more Birthday to celebrate for us now....

May you all find 

PEACE and JOY this HOLIDAY SEASON!

Love, 

Liz and Beth

The Countdown...

Sometime's, I'll admit, I just feel like this....

I mean honestly.  At some point, can't we ALL relate to Charlie Brown?!

This photo reminds me of all the pitfalls of the season.  Not that I like to dwell on the negative...in fact, if you know me, you know that I'm a VERY positive person!  

But yesterday I was in denial.  Denial that it's nearly Christmas and I hadn't done a BIT of shopping.  And denial that any of it actually needed to get done.  I'm totally HAPPY in my little place of denial!  It's a place where I get to stay in my jammies all day and pretend I have no responsibilities!

That is, until I flipped on Twitter, the ultimate time waster.... to see what was goin' on there and someone had tweeted....

TEN DAYS?!?!

Oh boy!  Did panic set in!  Where were my elves?  Why aren't they slaving away in my own personal workshop?  

Why didn't I even FEEL like shopping?!  In fact, I was feeling very, well...

Charlie Brown: I just don't understand Christmas, I guess. I like getting presents and sending Christmas cards and decorating trees and all that, but I'm still not happy. I always end up feeling depressed.
Linus Van Pelt: Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest.

That's right, I was feeling like the Charlie Browniest Charlie Brown in the world.

Ugh!  So I got out the various lists left around my house by my children.  My favorite is the daily updated Google doc from my 18 year old son.  Updated daily.  I'm not kidding.

But in my mind I heard Sally's Christmas letter to Santa....

Sally: Please note the size and color of each item, and send as many as possible. If it seems too complicated, make it easy on yourself: just send money. How about tens and twenties?

 And it DOES seem complicated!  I seriously thought of just gift wrapping lots of little gift cards and let everyone ELSE do their own Christmas shopping!

But that's not really what it's about, is it?

Charlie Brown: Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?
Linus Van Pelt: Sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you what Christmas is all about.
[moves toward the center of the stage]
Linus Van Pelt: Lights, please.
[a spotlight shines on Linus]
Linus Van Pelt: "And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, 'Fear not: for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.'"
[Linus picks up his blanket and walks back towards Charlie Brown]
Linus Van Pelt: That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown. 

Nothing like a little wake up call from Charlie Brown to get you back into the groove!  

Thanks Linus.  You're right, that's what Christmas is all about.

So merrily I go, as the Christmas countdown has officially begun, happy in the knowledge that all of this DOES have a deeper, happier meaning.  So I'll finish up my baking, Christmas card making, gift wrapping (after Amazon, I mean, er, the elves delivers them all that is...) and shopping.  

And I think I'll sit down and watch Charlie Brown too.

Merry Philly Christmas!

I declare today to be PAJAMA day!  

Who's with me???

Just having one of those mornings that stretch out forever.  It all started with a text from my oldest son at 5:50 am.  Yes, we live in the same house.  But, you know, if you're gonna wake your mom up at an ungodly hour, texting is probably the safe way to go!

At that time in the morning, you think he'd be texting me to tell me he's sick and can't go to school right?  No.  He was letting me know that Christmas has come early to Phillies fans everywhere!

Then my younger son came bounding up the stairs a half hour later all decked out in Phillies sportswear...."Mom, did you hear????"

So I had to text my dh who happens to be in Europe.....and he just had to call.

All my boys are as excited as, well, as little boys at Christmas!

Why?  Well, I won't bore you with baseball politics.  But, that gives Phillies fans FOUR ACE pitchers.  The Fab Four.  And Mr. Lee said no to the Yankees, just so he could come back to Philly.  (Insert the Hallelujah Chorus here). Needless to say...there is some serious excitement in the air!  And probably a few calendars in my household alone already counting down the days to spring training.

So what was a mom to do?  She got up and started baking of course.  And while the scent of spicy pumpkin bread wafted through the house, I decided to work on this....

A Christmas quilt kit I bought back in August at Fresh Picked Fabrics, Gina Halladay's shop!

Got the top finished up this morning.  Been a good mornin' huh?

A close-up of this AWESOME retro Christmas fabric from Sheri Berry Designs!

Then I had to nibble on a little of this...

Shortbread toffee bars I made for my daughter's Birthday last night.

She's not a big "cake person".  But these shortbread toffee bars?  I have to make a few batches each year for Christmas because she eats at least ONE (or two!) batches herself!  Seriously.

And I have LOTS more baking to do today.  Gotta bring treats to kids music concerts at school this week.  AND...tonight is...

The Philly Modern Quilt Guild!

Guess who's teaching an applique class tonight???

YEP!  YOURS TRULY!

Right after I catch my little daughter's winter band concert, that is.

Which is why I think I'll just stay in my pj's as long as possible today.

You're welcome to join me!

EVERYONE'S a WINNER!

Well HELLO there bloggie world!  Whew!  It's SOOOO nice to be back in the 

saddle again, I can't even tell you.

This has been ME for the past week...completely out of commission.  Don't know where it came from but it hit my like a MACK TRUCK!  The very DAY the blog hop ended.  What is up with that?  Was I exhausted?  I didn't think so.  And let me tell you, of ALL times of the year to be sick, THIS is so NOT the time!  I will also admit, I am the WORST sick person in the world.  Only because I get SO impatient....all this sitting around in bed and sleeping and stupid nose blowing....when there's so MUCH to be DONE!  And the worst of it was, it just hurt to keep my eyes open, so I couldn't read, was too tired to facebook and tweet....all I could do was watch mindless shows on TV and even THAT made me mad because I was too tired to STITCH!

Is it just me?  Or are you this way too when you're sick?

And I thought my HUBBY was bad.

FINALLY...I'd had enough, and no OTC drugs were obviously working, so I went to the doc (or, uh, RN at CVS!) and got some REAL drugs.  Thank goodness!

So I'm on the mend and trying to pick up where I left off, because, HOLY COW....we've got another RADIO SHOW to do today!

(good thing I got my voice back...)

That's RIGHT!  We're hosting Pat Sloan's Creative Talk Radio again!  Click here, to listen in LIVE at 4 PM EST.  And if you happen to miss it live, go to the SAME link to download the podcast later.  Just WAIT until you see who we're talking to today...a couple of CRAZY quilty gals!  Not sure if you caught our updates from Market back in November, but the two quilter's on the show today were part of our "4H club".  We'll tell ya all about it on the show, but for now, check out Pat's blog for, yet another embarrassing picture of us AND an intro to our guests!

I think we'll send Pat some GOOD pics of us for Christmas.  I tell ya, she just captures us at our best...

SOOOOOO.....

It's official... today, I've JUST decided...

EVERYONE IS A WINNER!

That's right.  I'm SO relieved to be outta bed and back on my computer that not only have we PICKED THE BLOG HOP WINNERS...

But since you've ALL been SO patient waiting for this day, we're gonna throw in a FREEBIE too!

Just for you.

Let's just spread the LOVE shall we?

If you follow us on our facebook fanpage (and if you don't, PLEASE do!) you may have seen THIS pic on Thanksgiving...

Yep, in between pie baking, turkey basting and 200 count roll making....we whipped up this FABULOUS wintery quilt!

And BEFORE I got hit with the SICK TRUCK....I whipped up pillowcases to put over my existing couch pillows.  They just cozy up the WHOLE room!

So here it is....a FREEBIE project for ya! We promise, it comes together QUICK...so if you're still short a gift, or just NEED to make something for yourself...THIS is the one.  Click on the name below to download the PDF file.

"Baby, it's COLD Outside"!

I'll put it up on the side of the blog as well, under Free Projects, 

just so you can find it again if you need to.

And now....the moment you've ALL been waiting for....

The WINNERS ARE ANNOUNCED!

We have TWO categories of winners and TWO winners in each.

FIRST:

WINNERS FOR OUR BLOG HOP DAY - 

MOMMAROCK 

and

STORMY DAYS

You two win the half yard cuts of our new TUSCADELPHIA fabric line AND the book to go along with it!

SECOND:

WINNERS FOR THE LAST DAY OF THE HOP 

(and our little pic scavenger hunt!)

SHERRY 

(from Washington State)

and

MOLLYBGOOD

You two each win a kit for our apron!

Now don't worry....if you didn't win one of THESE prizes this time, guess what?  

THERE'S STILL ANOTHER CHANCE!

That's right....all you need to do is leave us a comment TODAY...RIGHT HERE!  We'll be doing a giveaway for all of Pat's radio listeners.  If you leave us a comment HERE on the blog, OR on our facebook fanpage, you'll be entered to win.  

(hey, double your chances and leave a comment on BOTH!)

You know we never just pick ONE winner....so comment away.  I'd love to hear how YOU are all doing.  Please tell me you didn't get the nasty sick that I did.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  Is everything wrapped?  The cards sent out?

I can answer all of those at once.  NO!  Not even close.

But today....

I'm wishing my sweet little girl a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

She turns 17 today.  I'm still trying to figure out how to stop the clocks...she's growing too fast.

Off to bake her favorite treat...chocolate toffee bars.

Have a FABULOUS MONDAY!

It's a WONDERFUL Life!

PROJECT PARADE - DAY 7

WOW!  This is IT!  Last day, can you believe it???  What a BLAST we've had!  Hope you've had just as much fun!  Have you downloaded all the projects?  

AND the cover, so you can put them altogether?

NOW...all you need to do is finish up visiting the LAST two blogs.

Today, go visit:

THE BUGGY BARN GIRLS, Jane Nesbitt and Pam Soliday

AND

KIM DIEHL blogging for HENRY GLASS

When you click on the Henry Glass link, click BLOG.  

You'll want to finish up here at the Henry Glass blog, this is where you'll post a comment for the 

GRAND PRIZE!

Yards and yards of fabric, books, PLUS a prize from EACH of the designers participating in the blog hop!  Now I don't know about YOU, but that's one prize I'd DEFINITELY be hoping for!

Remember, this is what you need to do to win:

1. Leave a comment on the Henry Glass blog 

(your comment won't show up on the blog, it's private, 

so PLEASE, only post once and you'll be entered to win!)

2.  In your comment, you MUST add ALL the special words you've gathered from each blog this week.  They don't have to be in any order, but there SHOULD be 17.  Also, add your email address to the comment.  

This will be helpful in contacting you should you be the LUCKY quilter to WIN!

THAT'S IT!

Oh, except for....WE will also be choosing the winners from OUR blog today as well!  If you left a comment on Day 4, you're entered to win ONE of our giveaways.  For ANOTHER chance to win, follow THESE important instructions!

VERY IMPORTANT: TO WIN ON THE LIZZIE B BLOG TODAY, GATHER ALL THE HOLIDAY ICONS FROM EACH LIZZIE B POST (start on Day 1) THEY ARE THE FIRST PICS ON EACH POST!  Leave a comment TODAY with that LIST and you COULD BE A WINNER!

(P.S. Day 4's is kinda hard to tell, but it's a Christmas card...)

MAN!  All those chances to win something, how could you NOT be tempted?

Now, in case you need a little hint for all those SPECIAL words for the Henry Glass 

Grand Prize.....

Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

The Stockings were hung by the chimney with care

Angels we have heard on high

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas

To the North Pole, I'd like to go

Oh Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Santa Claus is coming to town

I only want a Candy Cane this year

Have a Holly jolly Christmas

And Presents round the tree

Ho! Ho! Ho! Who wouldn't go?

The first Noel...

Just Believe

Caroling, caroling Christmas Carols

Wrap the Tree Skirt 'round the tree

Percy the puny Poinsettia

Hang the Wreath upon your door

Ok...so I didn't make up a poem.  But I DID manage to find a song lyric for almost EVERY word!  Can you guess which one's weren't songs?

Before I sign off today, just wanted to share another one of my FAVORITE Christmas traditions.

This is a hint...it has to do with a bell...

 Yes!  It's the movie, It's a Wonderful Life!  

I LOVE this movie.  And it's become a family tradition to watch it every year.

I just found the sign (pic above) that says "It's a Wonderful Life".

I think this is one that can stay up ALL year, don't you?

And Clarence, what a lovable angel....

I have a small collection of ornaments from Bedford Falls

The Gower Drug store

The good ol' Bailey Savings and Loan

Ma Bailey's house

The famous bridge, where George decides he'd be better off jumping...

and is saved by Clarence the wingless angel.

I LOVE the message of this movie....how it depicts the importance of 

EACH person's life here on earth.  

Clarence: Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

 

Zuzu Bailey: Look, Daddy. Teacher says, every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.
George Bailey: That's right, that's right.
George Bailey: Attaboy, Clarence. 

May we all continue to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive and strong throughout the season 

and in the year to come!

And maybe help an angel get his wings.