Reindeer and Marshmallows?

It is no secret how much I love to cook. I think Food Network is on all day at our house. In fact, Victor may not admit it, but Throwdown with Bobby Flay is one of his favorites! I will have to share one of our favorite Conner stories. Conner looks in the fridge and asks Victor, "What is that?" Victor tells him it is a tri-tip that Mom is marinating for us to grill for dinner. Conner responds, "Man! Why do we always have steak, seafood, or chicken for dinner?!?! Why can't I be like the other kids and just have a corn dog or McDonald's or something?" :) Talk about the child abuse that goes on at our house!

Anyway, my love of cooking and searching for new recipes and new things to try takes us to Williams-Sonoma. . . A LOT! This time of year they get in one of my favorites, hot chocolate and their handcrafted marshmallows! I have been trying recipes for years to match those yummy marshmallows! Well, with the help of my wonderful sister, Jen, I finally found one!It is from Martha Stewart and is absolutely scrumptious in hot chocolate! My sister is cutting the marshmallows into fun Christmas shapes and making a homemade hot cocoa mix to give to her neighbors for Christmas. What a cute idea! If you want the best marshmallows for your hot chocolate for the holidays I highly suggest you visit MarthaStewart.com and try this recipe. To top it off, the recipe is super easy too! I hope you enjoy it, leave some out for Santa!

Speaking of Santa, my kids love to throw out "Reindeer Dust" right before they go to bed on Christmas Eve to help Santa find our house faster. Yes, just another tradition at our home. A few years back I acquired this cute little poem accompanied with a bag of "dust". The dust is actually bird seed. Most bird seed comes with sunflower seeds in it and I pick out the sunflower seeds (you don't have to) and sometimes add a little glitter to the mix. I put the "dust" in cute cellophane bags and put the poem on some fun Christmas paper and give it out to my nieces and nephews and some friends. They love it and it is always requested each year. The bird seed also makes it nice because there is no mess to clean up on your driveway the next day and it is fun to watch all of the different birds come by to eat it up! Plus, the kids don't know it is bird seed. Anyway, here is the poem if anyone wants to give it a whirl this year:

Inside this bag is reindeer dust.
To make it work a person must:

Wait until it’s Christmas Eve,
Then think of Santa and believe.

And just before you go to bed,
Just walk outside, look overhead,

Take some dust and hold it tight
Then throw it up into the night.

Hurry in, run up the stairs.
And don’t forget to say your prayers.

Then jump in bed and close your eyes,
And in the night, up in the skies,

The light reflecting off the dust
Will make the reindeer curious,

And figuring the shortest route
They’ll fly right down to check it out.

Then while the reindeer take a rest,
The jolly elf will do his best

To leave with you some Christmas cheer,
Then just like that he’ll disappear.

And in the morn when you arise
You’ll scarce believe your eyes.

You will believe in Old Saint Nick -
Behold, the dust has done the trick.

Merry Christmas!