Hands on Homeschooling

 St. Nicholas on the Move!

We all love the story of St. Nicolas and the way he blessed the poor. Why not play St. Nicholas and call a local school in a poor area, nursing home, soup kitchen, women’s shelter or fire department and add those to your holiday baking deliveries? 

Can you image someone in need or difficult situation receiving a delightful homemade treat to cheer them? It’s like wrapping them up in a warm blanket and setting them next to a fire-the fire of Christ’s love.

Sometimes it’s that one act of random kindness that brings hope to a helpless situation and gives a person a reason to believe again. A warm hand shake. A smiling face. A Christmas song. 

Christmas Advent is the perfect time to think about others. I loved giving my children an opportunity to keep the spiritual focus during the holiday season. What better way to reach out to a lonely neighbor or new family than to make up a batch of fun Christmas treats to share?

One of our favorite holiday treats to share is

Frosty White-Chocolate Pretzel Snowman.

You will need:

• 1 bag of long pretzel rods
•  Mini chocolate chips for eyes
• Mini multi-colored candies for buttons and nose
•  Red fruit roll ups for scarves
•  Jelly fruit rings for hat brims
• Ju ju  gummy candy for hat tops
• White almond bark-1 ½ packages

Dip the pretzel rods into the melted chocolate 2/3 of the way up.

Apply the jelly ring around the top of the pretzel for the hat brim

Add extra chocolate to a ju ju and put it on top of the head making the top of the hat.       

Work your way down using the chocolate mini chips for eyes and a mini -colored chip for a nose.

Apply the scarf by going around the snowman in the back like you are going to wrap a present with ribbon and crossing it in front. This works best with two people, one holding the pretzel snowman and one applying it.

Add the buttons at the end below the scarf.  

Place the finished snowmen on a wax paper covered cookie sheet and put into the freezer for quick drying.

We spruce them up by wrapping them in festive bags, boxes and Tupperware. We even put some in a snowman mug! They say Your Special and Loved.