merry christmas!

merry christmas from your favorite ladies at the nunnery!

one time we threw an amazing party...

#sorrynotsorry for the picture dump about to happen.
the below is what not going even a little bit overboard for a dinner party looks like...

until last night, no one had ever experienced a kelli and kylie dinner party, but after last night, i think it's safe to say that no one will ever be the same.

i was in charge of food, kelli and hannah were in charge of decorations, brittney was in charge of the photobooth, alyssa was in charge of room set-up, and stéf, ashley, and sydney helped with everything else wherever we needed them! i didn't get any pictures of the food, but doesn't everything else look AMAZING?!

after hors d'oeuvres, salad, bread bowls, soup, more soup, and pictures, we played the funnest party game of all time. each couple drew a different "talent" and then had 10 minutes to come up with a variety show act that was christmas-themed using their talent. we had a sock puppet show, christmas rap, sign language song, stand-up comedy, dance, guitar and song, poetry slam, and work-out routine. GUYS. hilarious. we were all just about in tears over that puppet show. i highly recommend an impromptu talent show at your next party.

we finished off the night with cheesecake and more pictures, because what good mormon kid doesn't love to take a fake drunk picture with martinelli bottles?

do you have any big christmas party plans?

link-up with lisa and karly kim

white chocolate peppermint pretzels.

so here's the thing, you guys. i kind of made christmas my hobby this year.

i'm not really sure what i'm going to do with myself once it's over. 

from decorating our apartment, crafting, making christmas cards, helping with the food for the dance faculty christmas party, and making christmas treats for friends and (fhe) family, the season has definitely kept me busy! 

now that i'm home i'm going to relax a little, do some baking, and read a couple of books in my spare time. 

here is the last christmas project i will share with you guys, and then i promise i'll move on to other things. :)

white chocolate and peppermint dipped pretzels

ingredients:

pretzels of any shape or size

white chocolate almond bark

a few candy canes

wax paper

1. break several candy canes in pieces, place them in a ziploc, and then smash them up until you have pretty tiny pieces. i broke them with the bottom end of a ragu pasta sauce jar. i find myself doing this a lot, so maybe i should invest in a rolling pin? also, this step may or may not wake up your napping roommates. 

2. this is the only tricky part, because heating almond bark is a delicate matter. i took 4 squares at a time in a small glass mixing bowl and heated them for 60 seconds on high. then i stirred a tiny bit and microwaved in 15 second intervals, stirring in between each, until the bark was all melted. do not overheat. or it will be destroyed. :(
i used the entire package of almond bark, but only heated it 4 squares at a time.

julie likes to watch me during my projects. and sometimes when i am doing my hair, which gets a little bit weird.

3. i decided not to deal with dipping the entire pretzel in the almond bark and just did half of it instead. that way i didn't have to deal with lifting the pretzel with a fork and all that. plus i kind of think they look cute with  only half dipped. and obviously food is better when it is cute. 

dip half the pretzel in almond bark, and then dip the front in the mashed peppermint pieces. lay on wax paper to dry. also, i did half the pretzels with peppermint, and half with just almond bark.

4. we gave these away as treats to our fhe family members, some good friends, and our neighbors, because i obviously think starting projects like this are way more exciting than studying for finals. we used some clear bags, stars cut out of red and green paint samples, and string to package them and deliver. the envelopes have christmas cards from our fhe family or our apartment in them, which i shared in this post.  

merry christmas from apartment 17!

if i could share these treats with all of you readers, i would!