Be Jolly by Golly Blogfest!

Madly in Love Monday post is postponed this week so that I can participate in the Be Jolly By Golly Blogfest, hosted by Jen at Unedited and Melissa at Through the Looking Glass. So sit back and enjoy a sneak peek into my Christmas celebration! We're spending the holiday at my parents' house and I've been helping her decorate so most of the pictures are taken there.

Here is the tree (decorated by yours truly):

 And as a tradition, my family always does stockings on Christmas Eve. We had to get new stockings since my brother got engaged in September (so exciting!) and they're spending the holiday with our family this year. So I went online and picked these out. I think they're just adorable. We hung them on the back of everyone's chair at the dinning table.

I've already shared my favorite cookies on the blog HERE, so i thought I'd share my second favorite. They're called Peanut Blossom Kisses and they are delish!

1.75 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

2 T. milk

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 egg

48 candy kisses (hersheys) unwrapped

Combine all ingredients except kisses in large bowl. Mix at low speed until dough forms.

Shape dough into balls, placing one unwrapped kiss in center. Roll balls in additional sugar.

Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes (light brown).

Alternatively you can leave the kisses out and place them on top immediately after they come out of the oven.

I made them both ways, heres how they came out:

And...because I never pass up the opportunity to show off my babies (my dogs). The other day we had a guest bring over some doggie santa outfits. My older dog (oddly enough the smaller of the two) HATES costumes, so we only kept it on her for a second. You can see how much she hates it in the first picture. The baby of the family, seemed to like his, so I put it on him this morning and marched him out in front of my tree display.

So that's a peek at my Christmas. What's one tradition you're looking forward to this holiday?