Holiday Cookie Hop: Mexican Wedding Cookies

I've always known these to be called Mexican Wedding Cookies, but I've discovered after a few years on Pinterest that they go by many other names. Italian Wedding Cookies, Snowballs, Southern Pecan Butterballs, and Russian Tea Cakes are just a few of the names I have heard them called.

No matter what you call them, they are truly simple and crazy delicious!  My kind of cookie!  I am not an elaborate baker.  As a matter of fact, the kitchen and I are not great friends.  I do however have a few things I love to make and these have become a holiday tradition in our house.

Elf Update: Clint's Been Busy

After learning the secret to winning over a teenage boy, Clint has been busy!  He somehow manages to snag a tasty treat or a few bucks on his way back from the North Pole every night.  He even figured out how to download from iTunes!  Here are a few pictures of what he's been up to the last few days.

Favorite Ice Cream At The North Pole?  Blue Bell Of Course!

Anything Can Be Turned Into A Percussion Instrument.  #youdontjusteatem

Nothing Says Love Like Reese's.

Bagel Reindeer For Breakfast?  Yes!

Seems Clint Is A Pentatonix Fan Too!

An Elf And His Peeps.

Elf Party! #redsolocup

Clint And The Snowflakes

Origami Elf. Ca-Ching!

Thematic Thursday: Gingerbread Fun!

I am linking up with Comprehension Connection for Thematic Thursday.  This week is all about Gingerbread!  Who doesn't love Gingerbread?  It's yummy, smells fabulous, and to be honest all things gingerbread are just darn cute!

We have had a family tradition of building and decorating Gingerbread houses on Christmas Eve for going on 13 years now. 

My 3 best tips are: 

• Shop for candy at the dollar store.
• Build the house in the morning, let it dry, and then decorate late in the afternoon.  
• White Cotton Candy is the bomb for covering roof tops!

A few years back we added the tradition of Gingerbread Demolition Day, but I will save that for another time!

We are also heavily involved in a fantastic event called Gingerbread for Humanity put on by our church family.  This is actually a fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity and all the proceeds go directly to building a house right here in town.  Way back when the event first started we would bake and build almost 300 houses for this special day.  As we have grown we have found a supplier of pre-baked and assembled houses to help us with the work load.  Just because we love this event so much, we even built a Gingerbread float for our hometown Christmas parade...and we won first place!

To find out more about Gingerbread for Humanity click to find them on Facebook.

Aside from the great smell and the general cuteness, Gingerbread seems to be a theme that can be adapted for the classroom in so many fun ways.  Two of my favorites happen to be math activities that can then be used as classroom displays!

The first activity has students decorating a blank Gingerbread house with 4 different types of "candy" and then calculating what fraction of the house is decorated in each type of candy.  This lesson can be differentiated for students at a variety of math levels by changing the total number of candy pieces they are allowed to use, and by requiring them to reduce all their fractions.

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Another of my favorites is a Gingerbread Coloring Glyph.  This one is designed for those teachers who don't quite have the time to do the craftivity type glyphs (though I do think those are fabulous). This is a coloring glyph that includes a data graph and a data summary activity to go along with the graph. Mat these colored glyphs on colored paper, hang them up and then have students use the display to complete data summary activities pages in a learning station! 

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To see more fantastic ideas for Gingerbread Fun be sure to check out this Gingerbread Fun Pinterest Board set up by Carla from the Comprehension Connection!

Follow Comprehension's board Gingerbread Fun on Pinterest.

Clint: Elf Not Exactly On The Shelf

Our version of Elf of on the Shelf is a little bit different.  Several years ago I found the Elf Magic website and thought they had the most adorable elves.  I knew my son was too old to start the whole Elf of the Shelf thing, but I really wanted one of these cute little guys.  I decided to ask for one for Christmas for myself.  Clint arrived that year.

I decided that once my son was officially "in" on the whole Santa thing I was going to start having some fun with Clint. There is no pretense of Clint watching him for good behavior at our house.  It is simply a cute little elf sharing surprises each morning of Advent. Sadly, this was not quite the smashing success I was expecting. The pre-teen boy may have done a little eye rolling at Clint's antics.   I knew I had to step up my game. Thanks to Pinterest I was able to come up with a few ideas that actually brought a genuine smile to his face. Like these:

Clint Self Portrait

Son's Response

Elf Forensics

Gangnam Elf

Elves Are Not Toys

Last year, however I discovered the secret to Clint's total acceptance.....FOOD!  Again, I must credit Pinterest for most of the ideas...though I will take credit for the Hunger Games and Harry Potter themed antics.

Edible Snowmen For The Win

Frosty Cold One

Bread From Mellark Bakery

Every Flavor Beans

Oreo Elf Shoes

Elf Oven 

I Mustache You, Do You Like Elves?

I was toying with the idea of Clint not showing up this year. However, yesterday as we were all decorating the tree, Clint was mentioned and my son said, " I love Clint!"  It stopped me in my tracks and I almost started crying.   Needless to say, our unconventional Christmas Elf will be returning and so now I will be scanning Pinterest every night for new ideas to keep the teenager in love with this bit of Christmas fun!

I've pinned a few of Clint's antics to this board along with a few other ideas in case you need them. Please comment with any great ideas you might have found also!

Follow Mom2punkerdoo's board Elf Antics on Pinterest.