A Payneful Christmas

Christmas spirit and joy continues to spread throughout the Payne household, and it is magical!  

Today, I did some serious baking.  I made some eggnog fudge....in fact I made it one and a half times.... So, the recipe said to boil sugar, eggnog, and butter for 8-10 minutes, or until it measured 134 degrees Fahrenheit. Well, I don't have a candy thermometer so I set a timer for 9 minutes. Everything was going fine but then it started going a little weird.  Luckily it was time to add the white chocolate, or rather unluckily.  I mixed in the chocolate and instead of going "smooth" it turned into the consistency of bread crumbs. So, a quick trip to the grocery store and a candy thermometer later I made another batch.  It was still weird, but it turned out okay and tastes pretty delish!  

I also made some gingerbread man cookies...twice. I made a batch yesterday and they turned out way crunchy and not yummy like they were supposed to. So, after making the fudge twice today, I made my second batch of gingerbread men.  Two seems to be a magic number for me these couple of days. Anyway, after some mistakes and all day standing on my feet I have delicious cookies and fudge - SEE?

Besides tasty Christmas treats, Mason and I also celebrated our own mini Christmas.  This year we are going down to Oklahoma to celebrate Christmas with my family so we wanted to have a mini M&M Payne Christmas.  

First we read "Twas the Night Before Christmas," a Torrie tradition

Then, we each chose one gift to open that night and took turns opening them.  This was so exciting to see what we picked out for each other - the fact that we remembered hints and tips :)

I got Mason Halo 3 - It's moments like this that makes the shopping alllllllllllllll worth it! He was so excited :)

 Mason got me this ADORABLE sequined shirt I fell in love with. And he remembered :)  I have wanted a sequined shirt for ages and I am so excited to wear it.

Merry (early) Christmas from the Paynes! 

xoxoxoxo