Has everyone gotten their Christmas shopping done yet? Thanksgiving will be here in just mere weeks and before you realize it, the Christmas rush will be overwhelming. I’ve been doing more online shopping as of late. Probably so I can actually get those dozens of Christmas cookies made up! A lot of people make their cookies months in advance and freeze them. I’m not such a big fan on that, as I like fresh cookies. Once we make them, I like to have them distributed within a week or so. We make two types of fudge, Peanut Butter and Chocolate. I’d like to try peppermint but I don’t care for peppermint with a sweet linger. I like the sharp clean peppermint flavors so I’d have to work on the sugar of the fudge. I can’t help but remember the teaberry fudge from the apple orchard and the orange cream fudge a lady brought me at work last year. So good. Maybe I’ll have to make all four flavors or just switch them out this year. Usually I’m a stickler for tradition, so I cringe when Mom wants to try out a new recipe. When my pap passed away 10 years ago, we vowed to pick out a tree on his birthday, December 8th, from then on. We try to keep it up, unless it snows pretty bad. Tradition keeps a sense of calm in the world of busy. Until we turned 18, my sister and I always got an ornament and pajamas that we could open on Christmas Eve. Its things like that, that you remember most. Holiday’s are definitely times to treasure and make memories. I love having my nephews help with all the cookies, no matter the mess they make and what I have to “redo” in secret. I know years down the road, they’ll think back to it and remember the fun they had.

Here’s the chocolate fudge recipe. To make PB, instead of chocolate chips, use peanut butter chips, and also add 1/2 C. Peanut butter.

Fudge
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 12-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 7-oz. jar Marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts (I usually omit these…)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Microwave margarine in 4-quart microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) 1 minute or until melted. Add sugar and milk; mix well. Microwave on HIGH 5 minutes or until mixture begins to boil, stirring after 3 minutes. Mix well; scrape bowl. Continue microwaving on HIGH 5-1/2 minutes; stir after 3 minutes. Stir in chips until melted. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Cool at room temperature; cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds.