Pomp and Circumstance…and Chocolate

     It’s been a quick three and a half years.  I feel about a hundred years older.  I have met some of the most wonderful people and the one I’ll be spending the rest of my life with.  I’ve accrued twice the amount of stuff.

But.

I GRADUATED.

     Saturday, I graduated college.  I expected to be really emotional during the ceremony, but I was much more controlled…and so happy.  To be quite honest, I don’t feel all that different yet.  It doesn’t feel very real…I expect that will come when I get a big girl job.  I’ve been sending applications and interviewing but haven’t heard back yet (hopefully soon).

     According to our pre-Christmas calendar meeting, my mother, sister, and I had decided to do our annual chocolate-covering day the afternoon of graduation.  In spite of total exhaustion, we each had a Coke, hopped into our pajamas, and toughened up.  The rest of our night looked something like this:

120 mini Rice Krispies
5 packages of Oreos
5 packages of Candy Kwik
2 bags of pretzels
and 1 go-pack of mini Oreos

(From top left: candy bark, close up, rice krispies, close up, our stash of goodies to give away)

     We tried to come up with some new ideas this year since we do tend to give these to the same people each year.  The candy bark was so simple and turned out so cute. 
     Recipe?  Melt chocolate.  Pour it on parchment paper on to the counter.  Spread until fairly thin.  Cover with whatever you want.  Cut.
     Even though 120 may be a little excessive, the rice krispies might be one of my favorites this year.  They’re different from what we usually do, and they give a little break from the chocolate overload.
     Recipe?  Buy mini rice krispies (they come in a box of 40).  You could make them…but we didn’t.  Dip in chocolate.  Dip in sprinkles.
     We also did big oreos – tradition, and I did a go-pack of mini oreos because Keith said he likes those better…  We did one bag of pretzel twists, which is a definite downscale from last year (…I think we did four then).  All told, we made 12 plastic containers, about 30 treat bags, 1 assorted tray, and had plenty left over.

We tend to go overboard.

     This is one of my favorite things to do for Christmas!  These little tins (or plastic containers) are the perfect thing for Sunday school teachers, coworkers, your hairdresser…everybody.  What’s great about these is that we aren’t giving cookies (which can go stale) or huge portions of anything.  It’s just a sweet little snack that doesn’t take a lot of time to do.

I hope your houses are filled with delicious Christmas goodies…
and if they aren’t
please take some of the million rice krispies of my hands (before I eat every single one of them)!