My Incredibly Busy Weekend

I do this every single weekend. I plan to get so much done. I plan to scrapbook, I plan to do very fun things with the kids, I plan to grade all my tests or papers, I plan to plan my week out. Ya...doesn't quite work out that way, though.

This past weekend I figured I could whip together all my gift baskets for my inlaws and collegues and still have time to grade two class sets of test and get the goody bags for Maddy's class Christmas party bought and put into bags. Ya. I'm that insane.

Well, I'm happy to report that I did indeed get most of my list checked off. I baked some cranberry-pecan loaves, make some chocolate covered pretzels and pretzel rods, make some "Christmas Bark" a concoction I made up to use leftover almond bark, pretzel pieces, dried cranberries, raisins and pecans. It's super easy and yummy!

Here are some pictures of my handy work:

Ok, you can't really see the loaf here as it's all wrapped up, but trust me...the loaf is so good! I bought the little pan at Michaels last December at a deep discount. I love how cute the loaf looks in this!

These are the 'fancy' pretzels I dipped in almond bark and then rolled in sprinkles. Then I just made some regular chocolate covered pretzels when I ran out of sprinkles. Who knew you could run out of sprinkles.

The kids thought they were super yummy regardless of whether or not they had sprinkles! ;)

Here they are all packaged up in cello bags. My endless scrapbooking ribbon supply sure came in handy this weekend! I had lots of bags to close up with pretty bows!

Here's my Christmas concotion known as 'Christmas Bark'. Turned out pretty tasty, if I do say so myself!

Here the bark is all packaged up. I used a scalloped decorative scissor to cut the cello bags down.
This was the basket of goodies put together for my teaching collegues. Each basket has a cranberry pecan loaf, chocolate covered pretzels (sprinkles and plain) and some Christmas Bark along with a Christmassy mug with some Mandarin Orange Spice Herb Tea. I wrapped it with some cellophane and tied a pretty gold bow on it. Looked beautiful. But I ran out of steam before taking a picture of it all finished. :( The inlaws will get the same basket of goodies but I'll include a cookie cutter. I had leftovers from the sets I bought for Maddy's Preschool Christmas goodie bags!


These are the little baskets I put together for our daycare and Maddy's Preschool teacher and aide. There's a package of the pretzels, the bark, some cake balls and a gift card to Boarders Books. I also tossed in some leftover candy and a candy cane in there to make them more festive looking.

I got the goodie bags done. I put in a Christmas themed cookie cutter, Christmas pencil, small tub of Play Doh, a candy cane and some Hershey kisses (mint!) and chocolate bells in a cello bag and tied them off with some pretty red curling ribbon. They turned out nice and I was happy to get them done.

The only thing on my to do list that didn't get done was my grading. I'm going to get to that after dinner tonight! Wish me luck. I want them D.O.N.E. for tomorrow. I've got two more class sets of unit tests I want to get finished before Friday at 3 p.m. when I'm officially on Christmas Break (or Winter Break as our county likes to call it!)

Ok...here's the recipe for the cranberry pecan loaf:

Cranberry Pecan Loaf

Ingredients

1.5 cups flour
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 c. golden raisins (can omit if you don't have any)
1/2 c. chopped pecans

1 T. grated orange peel (can omit if you don't have
any)
2 eggs
3/4 c. milk
3 T. butter/margarine, melted
1 tsp. vanilla

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease loaf pans.
Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix wet ingredients until blended.
Pour dry ingredients into wet and stir until moistened.
Spoon into loaf pan and bake for 55 to 65 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean