Where Have YOU Been??

That's what I've been thinking lately. Every time I sit down to type something up on this blog, something interrupts my thought process and I'm just not able to finish. That's the story of my life - one unfinished thing after another. If I told you how many half written compositions were waiting to be posted, you would laugh your ass off. As usual my intentions were good but the follow through was lacking. I had every intention of doing a Christmas version of New Music Mondays, but honestly I've just been listening to all of last year's favorites anyways. I was meaning to post some favorite holiday cookie recipes, but I haven't had the chance to type them out - we've been too busy eating. I was meaning to post a holiday shopping guide of some of my fave affordable gifts, but it seemed a little too materialistic so I deleted it. And here we are! A couple of weeks to go until Christmas and this is the first thing I've posted for the month of December!! So I decided to put it all into one post and hopefully this will break the 'blogger's block' I've been experiencing!

My Top Ten Holiday Albums (Dave Letterman style)

10) Maybe This Christmas (various artists)
9) This Warm December - A Brushfire Holiday Vol 1 (various artists)
8) The Hotel Cafe Presents Winter Songs (various artists)
7) Narada's Nutcracker
6) James Taylor at Christmas
5) Elf Movie Soundtrack
4) Loreena McKennitt's 'A Midwinter Night's Dream'
3) Jars of Clay 'Christmas Songs'
2) A Charlie Brown Christmas
1) Ray Coniff 'We Wish You A Merry Christmas'

If you're in the market for new holiday music you should definately check those out!



Peppermint Bark is one of my fave Christmas-y treats. The kids and I made some the other day and we're still eating it. They love helping me smash the candy canes to bits!! Here's the recipe!!!

2 bags semi sweet chocolate chips
2 bags white chocolate chips
box of candy canes - crushed

Melt the dark chocolate in a microwave safe container (I like Pampered Chef's micro cookers!). Spread carefully on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze for 5 minutes or until set up. Melt the white chocolate and then carefully spread that over the dark chocolate. Spread crushed candy canes on top and let cool in the fridge. Lift wax paper off of cookie sheet and break into pieces. Eat and enjoy!!!!