Candied Nuts and A Cool Thing-a-ma-jig

These are Penuche Nuts.

My mom has made these nuts for Christmas every year that I can remember.  Now I'm carrying on the tradition.  

She always used walnuts.  I was always using walnuts.  

This year I tried pecans.  

Equally as yummy!

These are so simple to make.  And if you wrap them up in a cellophane or a pretty tin they made excellent gifts.  This might not help you at this stage of the game, but you can file it away for next Christmas.  Or make them for New Year's.

You'll be glad you did!

Here's the amazingly easy recipe:

Penuche Nuts

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups nuts

Cook the sugars and sour cream until the temp reads 246* on a candy thermometer.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla and nuts.  Spread on waxed paper to cool.  Break up into chunks.

Enjoy!

And here's another fun thing to do ...

This could be a great project during the remaining winter break when your kids are bored.

Make a Treasure Bottle!

You'll need a label-free, empty, clean and dry water or soda bottle.

Fill it with several "treasures" ...

we used buttons, beads, tiny toys, marbles, coins, shells ... 

and some star confetti ...

the possibilities are endless, as long as it fits into the bottle.

Can you see the Monopoly hotel and the green turtle?

Then fill the bottle with sand, leaving about an inch of empty space so you have some room to move things around.  Did you know you can get a 50 pound bag of sand at the hardware store for less than $5?  This totally made my day!

If you're worried about little ones removing the cap, you can hot glue it on.

Then hunt for the treasures inside the bottle.

You can make a game out of it.

This is so cute, and it's really a lot of fun.

Finally ...

Merry Christmas to all my blogging buddies.

Hope you create wonderful memories with your families this Christmas ...

Wishing you all many blessings.