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It's a "Do the best you can with what you got!" kind of Christmas!!

I have been a very bad girl this year and have not posted in weeks!!! I will post Christmas day for my big "Journey to Milfhood's weight-loss challenge" reveal with a before and after photo. You can find out on Tuesday if I meet my goal or not.

 Life continues to be cRaZy but good. I am blessed to be in one piece, to have my gorgeous sons and to have a job that is sometimes hectic but always fun and rewarding.

 Chris asked for a BIG ticket item this year....a LAPTOP. At first he wanted an ipad but then he decided a good laptop, with windows 8 of course, would be better so he could use it for homework as well as gaming. This would put a pretty big dent in my Christmas budget!!I do not charge things for Christmas. I figure if I cannot pay cash for it, I cannot afford it. I started this at about 25 because I did not want to be $40,000 in debt like many in the baby boomer generation. It works well for me because it also helps me prioritize and budget well for the holidays.

We'll, a laptop cost a little more than I was planning on spending. Last year I got Greg a netbook and those are much cheaper even for a good quality one and he has made good use of it. I know Chris will do the same and he is a great kid so, I decided to get him what he asked for. This put a BIG dent in my FIXED Christmas butget. This means that I have had to cut expenses in other places to stay within my Christmas and regular budget. I totally think it is worth it but I have to be a little more creative than normal.

I am calling this my “Do the best you can with what you got Christmas.”  Since Christmas is really about the birth of Christ and not all this other crap I think it is kind of fitting. Here are a few of the treats I made for Christmas with the food I had in my pantry.

Fudge with Powdered sugar
I make fudge every year! When making cookies that had powdered sugar in them I noticed a recipe for making fudge. I decided to try it as not to waste the big bag of powdered sugar I had. It was easy.
I melted a bag of chocolate, 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of butter in a pot.


















 I put 4 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl




















Poured chocolate mixture over powdered sugar and mixed.
 Put mixed well and put in fridge for 2 hours.



















Whala!!!! It came out pretty good. I was suprised.





Caramel Chex Mix
I wanted some more yummy treats but didn’t want to go buy more stuff. I had all these ingredients lying around. The half a bag of caramel was a bag I misplaced at Halloween and found under my bed I have been snaking on it but had enough left to make these yummy treats.  This recipe was adapted from the Chex cereal box.






















Added 2 tbs butter and 2 tbs milk to the caramel



















Melt and stir



Pour mixture over 6 cups chex and mix in a large bowl.
Microwave 3 minutes mixing after each minute.
Lay flat on wax paper or use a silpat like me J



















I covered half with Almond bark I had laying around. And left the other half plain.






















 
These are my boys NEW favorite treat!!!

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