Christmas Elf in the kitchen...

Every year about this time, Pam and I start making goodies for all the neighbors, and all the people who help us out in various ways throughout the year -- the mail lady, the trash pick-up guy, my barber, Pam's hair dresser, etc.  This year I thought I would take some pictures and let you see the biggest elf you've ever seen making these tasty treats.

We buy long pretzel rods, big blocks of chocolate and as many containers of sprinkles as we can find.  The most difficult part of the preparation is finding the sprinkles.  They are getting harder to find each year.  We may have to find a commercial vendor somewhere, because if we don't get them by Thanksgiving they are all gone from the local stores.

 Another tough part is getting everything else cleaned up so we have the room to spread out all the pretzels while they cool.  We usually make about 360 or so; it takes about 4 hours.  The clean-up is a chore -- we (I) tend to get a few sprinkles on the floor and they get all over the place. 

All in all, it's kinda fun even if it is hard on the back and legs -- all that standing, and is a mess to clean up.  Everyone says they can't wait to get them.  Oh, yeah, not all of the pretzels are in good condition in the plastic barrels.  Some of them are broken, and we've learned to take these small pieces and do them anyway -- they look like little "turkey legs" or "boneless buffalo wings."  We fill a barrel with them and sit them on the counter for snacking.

Wouldn't it be neat if we could also put the Christmas "spirit" in jars only not open them all right now...but open a new jar each month.

Hooah