Simple, yet elegant

You might need to buy:
  • Clear plastic or glass ornament balls
  • colored or irridescent mylar tinsel
  • small Christmas pics of pointsettias or other Christmas objects
  • inch colored satin ribbon
  • hot glue gun

Put together the night before, this greatly simplifies our annual family Christmas Eve Brunch

ready in about an hour and a half; serves 12
You might need to buy:
  • extra lge. eggs
  • milk
  • sugar
  • vanilla
  • cinnamon
  • nutmeg
  • lge. loaf French bread
  • butter
You might need to buy:
  • thinly sliced apples
  • sliced pears
  • cranberries
  • chopped walnuts
  • sugar
  • tapioca
  • apple pie spice
  • Crumb topping:
  • flour
  • sugar
  • soft butter
You might need to buy:
  • cinnamon
  • tapioca
  • sugar
  • blackberries
  • blueberries
  • red raspberries
  • lemon juice

The cookie tin was always filled with these whenever we went to visit Grandma. YUM!

ready in about 25 minutes; serves 25
You might need to buy:
  • sugar
  • Crisco shortening
  • eggs
  • vanilla
  • flour
  • salt
  • Icing
  • sifted powdered sugar
  • softened butter or margarine
  • vanilla
  • milk
You might need to buy:
  • yellow cake mix
  • cinnamon
  • nutmeg
  • chopped nuts
  • apple pie filling
You might need to buy:
  • Kraft Old English Cheese
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • grated onion
serves 60
You might need to buy:
  • •4 oz. shortening
  • •1 1/2 cup sugar
  • •2 1/4 cup self-rising flour
  • •2 Tbsp. sugar
  • •2 tsp. cinnamon
  • •Green and red decorating sugar
You might need to buy:
  • •3 cans biscuits
  • •Cinnamon and sugar mixture
  • •1 cup powdered sugar
  • •Milk

Gift-Wrapping Party
Get your holiday party and Christmas wrapping done and tied with a pretty bow by hosting a wrapping party!
Gift-Wrapping Party

Gift-Wrapped Chocolate Cake

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The task of wrapping all of the Christmas gifts you purchased can seem like a daunting task. So why not make a fun night of it by inviting over a few close friends for a gift-wrapping party?

In addition to their gifts, have each guest bring along wrapping paper, ribbons and bows.

Let guests know you’ll supply plenty of tape, scissors, pens and gift tags.

Avoid the temptation to go all out on the food…keep the celebration simple by offering a dessert.

Creative Gift Wrapping Ideas

Think outside the box when wrapping Christmas gifts this holiday season with these clever ideas:

Go Beyond Gift Wrap. On some of our pretty packages, we used white butcher block paper, faux suede and tulle. Other ideas include felt, flannel, dish towels, newspaper, magazine pages and brown paper bags.

Get Rid of Ribbon. Secure a wrapped bottle of wine with a girl’s ponytail or wrap a necktie around a box (both ideas shown above.) You can also use twine, raffia, gold wire and upholstery trim. For a little girl, tie on a new jump rope!

Easy Embellishments. Dress up a wrapped gift with inexpensive things like pom-poms or feathers. Other finishing touches include pine sprigs, pinecones, small jingle bells and cinnamon sticks.

You can even add a little extra gift on the outside of the package. Tie on a silver key ring (as we did), a cookie cutter or candy canes.