Chocolate Yule Log

I made this cake last week for a birthday. It's just a chocolate cake roll with a cream cheese filling.  I wanted to decorate it but not with the traditional meringue or marzipan mushrooms. While flipping through my recipe books for ideas, I came across the peanut butter ball (or buckeye ball) recipe and thought - if you can shape the peanut butter mixture into balls, why not mushrooms and mice? It worked great! I also flattened some of the mixture and cut out leaves. Everything was dipped in white chocolate. I sprinkled green sugar on the leaves before the chocolate hardened and put mini chocolate chips and dried cranberries on the mice. With the mushrooms, I dusted them with cocoa powder after the chocolate had hardened. Mouse tails were painted onto the cake with chocolate and red cinnamon candies are the holly berries.
I've decided to try this again with other cakes making other decorations from the peanut butter. A springtime or summer cake could be made shaping and coloring the chocolate like flowers. The possibilities are endless!!

Are you ready?

Are you tired of hearing this question? Are you ready?  It doesn't matter if we're ready, Christmas is coming. It won't wait until we have our house decorated, shopping done and wrapped, baking done, cards sent out, etc. etc. etc.  I decided this year I am not stressing over anything. What gets done, gets done. No longer do I strive for the "perfect" Christmas. Our 2 trees are  smaller this year, due to a very old cat who likes to spray. So our trees are up on tables and I actually like them that way. I was able to set my village up under one of our trees instead of moving all my houseplants out of a bay window to set my village up there. 

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas, stress free and full of happy family memories.

A day in the life of a Christmas tree farm

A day in the life of a tree farm - this season started with a lot of rain and mud. Then it snowed, making everything pretty. Now it's raining so it will go back to mud. Then it's supposed to freeze, which will turn everything to ice. Then snow on top of the ice.  We've had everything except sun!

Thank goodness for the Gator - it goes through mud and snow!

 A pre-cut tree being carried up to the baler

 Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree - how much snow is on your branches.  The kids love to see their tree being shaken. It's extra special if a bird nest flies out. The guys doing the shaking aren't too thrilled with snow filled trees. Today it's raining, they will be soaked.

 This was 2 years ago, Santa goes around Oswego Town every year on the fire truck and they stopped at the tree farm to see the kids.

Wreaths, wreaths, and more wreaths

It's my busiest time of the year, I've turned into the "wreath lady" for a few weeks. My brother owns a Christmas tree farm and I am the wreath maker. I've been at it for a couple of weeks now and I've neglected my blog. Today I am using a vacation day to go out to the tree farm and cut more boughs (in the pouring rain) and get ready for my Girl Scout meeting tonight. We will be making fresh evergreen arrangements with residents of a senior ladie's home. I enjoy creating wreaths but I miss out on having time to decorate my house and all that fun stuff!  I hope you enjoy my photos of some of my creations. I had thought of doing a giveaway - sending a wreath to the lucky winner, but decided I just don't have time.