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Have you ever tried making candy with those candy melts and plastic molds? You melt the candy in a double boiler, or if you don't have one, put the candy in a dry pan, over another, slightly larger pan with a little bit of water. Bring the water almost to a boil, then turn the heat down. Stir the candy wafers, and when it's all melted, spoon it into the molds. If you have a Michaels, AC Moore, Hobby Lobby, or a party store, you're likely to find this stuff.

We're trying to hold down costs this Christmas ourselves, and one of the things I'm going to do for the kids is make them some of their favorite candies. I'm going to make SirKit some Turtles. I got some caramel from the cake crafts store, as well as some dark chocolate melts. My sister had given me a bag of pecans when we were in MS, so I'm going to work some pecans into the caramel, then dip it in the melted chocolate. Then, I'll put it in the refrig, or the freezer, to give the chocolate time to harden. VIOLA! Turtles!

David was lamenting the fact that he can no longer find Dark Chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, so I'm going to make him some of those. I got some fondant powder, and I'll mix it with some Smucker's peanut butter. I have some forms to make the shape of the cup, so I'll put some chocolate in it, tilt it so the chocolate goes up the sides, then freeze it. If the sides are too thin, I'll go over them again. When that's done, I'll put the peanut butter filling in, cover it with some more chocolate, and freeze the whole thing!

Of course, depending on how fast we can get the ceramic tile down on the floor in the kitchen, I might be doing all this on Christmas Eve morning! But I wouldn't mind that. I'll have the radio tuned to public radio listening to A Festival of Lessons and Carols. I won't have to go up to the Church to decorate until after noon, when 11am Mass is over. We can't start decorating until then, and we have to be done by 3pm, when folks start showing up to get seats for the 4:30 Christmas Vigil Mass!

We'll get most of the stuff ready the day before, and have it all in the Parish Hall downstairs, ready to be moved upstairs. I'm going to set up the 10' tree on Friday. I have to have time to replace the lights on it, and they're going to be able to stay on there for the next few years. We'll light it up during that 3 hours while we're decorating the upstairs on Sunday. The family that does the garland will do it that day, too, or on Saturday morning. It won't matter if they are there already, because the lights won't be turned on until Sunday afternoon, too.