It's a Muppet Christmas!

Friday was our last day of school before Christmas. Of course, the kids were wild, so after we mixed up enough hot cocoa mix (recipe from Yahoo! below) for the parents of both the 6th/7th and 8th grade classes, I popped in The Muppet Christmas Carol for everyone to watch during our Christmas party. It lent a certain Christmas-y spirit to the air and promoted the message of good will to all which is so needed during Christmas these days.

So you can imagine my delight when I took the Christmas movie quiz I found over on The Knitting Philistine's blog.

Your Christmas is Most Like: The Muppet Christmas Carol

You tend to reflect on Christmas past, present, and future...And you also do a little singing.

What Movie Is Your Christmas Most Like?

While I was there, I also found the Muppet Personality quiz, and it turns out that I really AM my favorite muppet!

You Are Animal

A complete lunatic, you're operating on 100% animal instincts.You thrive on uncontrolled energy, and you're downright scary.But you sure can beat a good drum."Kill! Kill!"

The Muppet Personality Test

So, I have lots of plans for my Christmas vacation. First up is to finish the STR County Clare socks which have now been started and frogged about 6 times since my last update. I just couldn't find a pattern that I liked, so I reverted to type and invented my own. I've started sock #2, and in my dream world, I will finish it today or tomorrow morning. I also plan on returning to Icarus and to the Mohair Travel shawl. I love Maude to pieces, and I want to take my time with her and to enjoy her for as long as possible. I am not quite so enamored with the other two shawls, and I want them out of my stash!

My secret sister from school gave me a gift certificate for my LYS for Christmas, so I will definitely be buying yarn some time in the next two weeks. I feel the call of another sweater, so that may be next on the needles after the shawls come off.

Some time in the next few days I have to mix up the annual batch of Colonial Williamsburg gingerbread. This is a family tradition that started when the Navy banished us to the Left Coast several years ago in a location much too far from the Raleigh Tavern Bakery. We'll have lots of gingerbread people to keep us company while we're out of school!

I also get to mix up my first batch of the DCA's grandmother's homemade doughnuts. She makes them every Christmas, and sugaring them is a treasured memory of his childhood. This year's request was spurred by hearing that she was making them for all the family back in Delaware last weekend while his parents were visiting. I think I can handle it once I find all the ingredients.

The holiday hustle continues here, but the message of Christmas remains the same. The Light entered the world to show us the Way: He was God made man, and He came as a child to save us from our sins. The greatest gift of all is the salvation we receive when we call on His Name. Keep Him at the center of Christmas, and you will be blessed indeed!

HOT CINNAMON COCOA MIX IN A JAR
2 C. sugar
4 (1 oz.) squares unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 T. instant coffee powder (optional)
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Process all ingredients in a food processor until chocolate is finely ground. Pour into a nice jar with a tight-fitting lid.Type or print neatly the cooking directions on a small card, punch a hole in the corner, and attach with a ribbon to the jar.

*Attach this to the Jar*
HOT CINNAMON COCOA
Directions for 2 servings
Stir 1/4 cup mix and 2 tablespoons hot water in a medium-size saucepan until blended. Gradually stir in 1 1/2 cups milk. Heat over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot.