The Happy Woman Store

It all started 5 years ago with this red and white tin that was tucked in with my Christmas gifts from my mom and dad. One bite of this creamy, chocolatey, minty, crunchy delight and I was hooked for life. Had I never really tasted the exquisite delights of peppermint bark before? Sadly, no. But, I decided to make it a life long goal to make up for lost time. This one’s from Williams Sonoma.

These squares from Ghirardelli are good if you’re in a hurry. You can tuck some of these in your purse and experience bark bliss on the go. Slightly different from Williams Sonoma, the peppermint crunch is on the inside! Little niblets of cool are sandwiched between white and milk chocolate for a barky delight.

Finally, the latest bark I’ve tried, I discovered in a local cheesecake bakery. Look at the thick chunks of chocolate and notice how much peppermint is sprinkled on top (these are two things a bark specialist takes note of). The chocolate isn’t flavored with peppermint — all of the minty cool comes from the crunch on top.

So, there you have it: my Christmas addiction. Thank God, you can only find it once a year! Merry Christmas everybody!

If you have a Twitter account, you can find out whether you’ve been naughty or nice, just by entering your Twitter username. And, in case you’re wondering? Naughty.

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That’s the only explanation I can come up with for the reason that the cookies (pictured above) looked incredible when they came out of the oven…and kind of like an 8 year old finished them up (pictured below). What can I say..I guess I didn’t pay attention during frosting class.

The cookies themselves were really delicious - very gingery. I got the recipe from recipezaar.com (gingerkitten)

The Most Wonderful Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest (optional) (I put this in!)
Directions
1 In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.
2 In a large bowl (KitchenAid’s great for this) beat butter, brown sugar, and egg on medium speed until well blended.
3 Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.
4 Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.
5 Divide dough in half and wrap each half in plastic and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.
6 (Dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, but in this case it should be refrigerated. Return to room temp before using.) Preheat oven to 375°.
7 Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
8 Place 1 portion of the dough on a lightly floured surface.
9 Sprinkle flour over dough and rolling pin.
10 Roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.
11 Use additional flour to avoid sticking.
12 Cut out cookies with desired cutter– the ginger bread man is our favorite of course.
13 Space cookies 1 1/2-inches apart.
14 Bake 1 sheet at a time for 7-10 minutes (the lower time will give you softer cookies– very good!).
15 Remove cookie sheet from oven and allow the cookies to stand until the cookies are firm enough to move to a wire rack.
16 After cookies are cool you may decorate them any way you like.
17 I usually brush them with a powdered sugar glaze when I am in a hurry, but they look wonderful decorated with Royal icing. (Or you can glob the frosting on and sprinkle with sugar, like I did!)

If you live in or near Lubbock, Texas, you know that yesterday was a weird weather day. Here’s how Leigh Anne, a school teacher and our first Spa Giveaway winner, describes it:

At 6:00 a.m. I received a phone call that school would be starting 2 hours late because the streets were all covered with black ice. When I left the house, it was foggy,cold, and icy. Just about the time school started, the ice was beginning to melt. The sun was out. Soon after that, our classroom was caught in rain as we were moving from the portable outside to go into the building. After lunch, we had sleet pounding our windows. About an hour after that, there was a beautiful rainbow outside. Finally at 3:00 p.m. we had a dirt storm with winds blowing up to 60mph.

Then, after school, Leigh Anne’s day got a whole lot better. She and her friend, Mary went to the Woodhouse Spa for warm sugar scrub pedicures, accompanied by glasses of white wine and mimosas. All that was great, but the best part of the day was getting to hang out, spend some quiet time together, and relax.

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My name is Linda….and I used to wear Christmas sweaters. When I unpacked these napkins recently, it brought to mind the fact that not only had I worn tacky Christmas sweaters in the past, but that “the past” was within the last ten years. Big shivery shudder.

So, last night, I combed through old photos to see just exactly what my Christmas sweater fixation had been like. And, in the interest of healing this old wound, I’m sharing these photos with you. I know you’d never share them with anyone else. Right?

This is the most recent. I think I was trying to hip things up a bit. I mean, it IS a vest, not a sweater. And, those giant Christmas trees covering it? Well, those are not really very hip.

This might have been one of my earliest ventures into the world of Christmas sweaters. I kind of had one foot in and one out, so to speak. The sweater is red (a very popular Christmas sweater color) and it is covered with black reindeer (another popular Christmas sweater motif). But, you can tell that I’m just a Christmas sweater newbie here — I haven’t even begun to reach my full Christmas sweater potential. And the other thing? My niece seems better dressed than I.

Here is one of my favorites — the Christmas cardigan. I’m almost positive that I was wearing black stirrup pants with this sweater. See the jazzy Christmas sweater motif? It’s a Christmas sweater…but it’s not quite a Christmas sweater. Stunning.

And, finally, I’m including a photo of my mom. She’s wearing a Christmas sweater, but it’s really her Christmas necklace that takes center stage.

Oh, and, just in case you’re wondering, I’m not talking about the lack of snow around these parts. Oh no siree, no. But, I admit that it has been a little bit of a struggle this year to GET. IN. THE. MOOD. Anybody else having trouble? Last week, I embarked upon the arts and crafts project of my life and created this window display featuring the work of Susan Brown. You know her from the Fairy Godmother, Follow Your Yellow Brick Road and Guardian Angel Boxes that she creates for our site. There’s just something about her artwork that says, “Get happy!” and “Put your big girl panties on”, all at the same time. So I did. And did.