Christmas means candy to me

Each year as a child we made candy and would share it with the neighbors. My wife and I have continued the tradition and worked several hours to get everything ready this year. I made the pecan brittle and divinity, Kinsey made caramels and fudge. Early reports indicate the candy was a hit, and what is better than making people happy with sweets.


Here's a picture of the pecan brittle done the traditional way in a 9x9 pan. This year I tried pouring it out onto a marble slab and I think I'll continue doing that in the future. You can get the pecans mixed in better, but you can't really get it to spread out anymore than it does in the pan. I guess the candy sets up too fast on the marble.

Oh my, there are so many leafs

It's almost a full week into December and I was raking leafs today because our tree just holds onto them until either there is a lot of wind/rain/snow to bring them down, or the new leafs start to come in.
Here's a picture of the boys playing in the leafs before I raked the first time almost a month ago. I have raked a total of three times now and filled about 25 bags. I hope I'm done for this year, but we have yet to see what kind of weather is to come and how much more the tree will dump on our yard. I'm praying for only strong winds that blow everything into neighboring yards.