Millionaire's Fudge (that won't break the bank)

With the Christmas (and holiday) season on our doorstep, it's about time for me to make some fudge! I love this recipe not only because it tastes delicious but because I have memories of my mom making this every year. It is one of my favorite Christmas treats and it is so easy to make. This recipe also happens to be my Grandma's (and Great-grandmother) recipe, and after losing my grandpa this year, somehow this makes me feel close to them. How cool is it that I am the fourth generation of my family to make (and enjoy) this treat? I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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Basic Recipe:

21 ounces a chocolate chips

7 ounces (1 small jar) marshmallow fluff

1 can evaporated milk

4 1/2 cups sugar

2 TBSP butter

1 tsp vanilla

1.Pour chocolate and marshmallow fluff in a large glass (NOT PLASTIC) bowl and get aside.

2. In a large saucepan, combine evaporated milk, sugar, vanilla and butter. Heat to a boil.

3. Once boiling, reduce heat slightly, set timer for exactly 6 minutes, and stir constantly while it boils.

4. Pour sugar mixture over chocolate and marshmallow mixture and stir til combined.

5. Pour in parchment paper and spread around to begin the cooling process. (This is when you will incorporate and add ins.)

6. Spread to desired thickness and leave to cool and set. (This should take 1-6 hours depending on thickness, temperature, and humidity.)

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Since filming this, I have messed around with the recipe a bit and made some with walnuts, another batch with mini marshmallows, and a batch with pepitas (pumpkin seeds), almonds, and chocolate chunks. Kyle loved the addition of nuts to the fudge (he has been asking for that for years) and I loved the extra pockets of fluffiness the marshmallows created. All around, this is a very good base recipe to experiment with. My next flavor will be a chocolate and peanut butter swirl! Any flavor suggestions you would like to see me try?

Thank you for reading and watching! If you like this and want to see more, make sure to subscribe to my blog and my channel and you will get notifications when I post new content.

Merry Christmas!

Why we are doing a Jesse Tree

Two months ago I had never even heard of a Jesse Tree. I saw a link for paper ornaments of the same name on Oriental Trading and then heard a couple of moms laughingly say they didn't have the energy to do one on a podcast I listen to. Naturally, that sparked my curiosity so I looked it up. WOW! If this isn't what Kyle and I are all about, I don't know what is. We love things like the Jesus Storybook Bible because it makes it so easy to show our kids how Jesus is a part of every piece of Scripture. The Jesse Tree is like an intensive course of the Bible for your kids in the month of December. In a season that is so about get, get, get, we are intentionally setting aside time to talk to our kids about the greatest gift they could ever receive. Yes, we have a nativity and yes, we have a Christmas tree and still watch the Santa movies, but at the heart of this month, I want to communicate to my children that Christmas is about God's love for us.

In my research, I found that the name "Jesse Tree" comes from a passage in the Old Testament that talks about a branch springing forth from the root of Jesse. This of course is talking about Jesus, coming from the line of Jesse (King David's dad). This is a very old tradition that used ornaments to help tell the story of Christmas beginning at Creation. While we will still have our other family ornaments on our tree, I'm excited to see how these become a part of our season celebrations.

Isaiah 11:1 "There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit."

This is our first year doing the Jesse Tree and already we know we have some work to do on how we tell each story, but we are loving it so far! A couple of years ago, I saw a really cool advent activity that used a nativity scene and each day a new was added. Last year, I even bought a fun kid's nativity set to do this with, but after reading about the concept of the Jesse Tree, Kyle and I both agree this addresses our family's desire in a much better way. So far this month, we have talked about everything from Creation, to where the Passover came from to the walls of Jericho. Sure, my toddlers don't understand all the stories, but they will remember the names and pictures in the coming years and we will build on those bits of knowledge. Raylen's favorite so far is "Jofish's coat."

Have you ever done a Jesse Tree, or something like it? I would love to hear about your experience with it!

New Traditions

This year is the first year we have really felt the need to commit to some family Christmas traditions. Up until this point, the boys haven't been aware enough to really care or get into any traditions, but this year they kind of get it! I can't even tell you how excited that makes me. Christmas is one of favorite times of year. I love the lights and the tree and the baking and spending time with family. All the wonderful parts of Christmas. Most of all, I love how the season means something different for everyone. Our family loves to celebrate with all the things, but we love to remember why we are celebrating.

Of course when it comes time for Christmas with littles, the big question is "will you do Santa?" I don't want to make this a rant like my post about Easter back in April, but this is a weird answer. Yes, our kids are enjoying the story of Santa and the make believe. In fact, Raylen's favorite movie right now is the Polar Express, but no, our kids will not be getting gifts from Santa. I asked Kyle the other day if we were going to leave cookies and milk out for Santa and his response was, "no, we are leaving them out for me." (insert eye roll here)

We are so excited for Christmas morning with the kiddos this year. They (especially Raylen) are going to be so surprised and I'm looking forward to seeing from that side of Christmas this year. I love this role of parent giving to children. It is fun and the anticipation is killing me! The boys are getting so many fun things to play with outside and inside they won't even know what to do! Through it all, it can be difficult to keep our eyes on what really matters about this season. I want, through all the sparkling lights and presents and fun activities, to point my children to the Savior. I have so enjoyed watching the wonder and innocence in my sweet Raylen's heart. He has be obsessed with this baby Santa hat for the past week. It's the same one from his first Christmas!If he isn't wearing it, he carries it around by the fuzzy ball at the end. He wears it all day, regardless of his outfit, takes it everywhere and even sleeps with it on. At the same time, he loves the little baby Jesus and manger from our kids nativity set and carries them around with him.

If he isn't wearing it, he carries it around by the fuzzy ball at the end. He wears it all day, regardless of his outfit, takes it everywhere and even sleeps with it on. At the same time, he loves the little baby Jesus and manger from our kids nativity set and carries them around with him. This sweet boy has taught me a two fold lesson this month and I am so thankful for how God uses my little boy to teach and grow me. The first thing is that, it is ok to let kids be kids. Let them enjoy their innocence while they are young, because before too long, the ugliness of this world will try to steal their joy and wonder at life. The other lesson is just how important it is to lift Jesus up in our home. While watching him run around with his Santa hat in one hand and Baby Jesus in the other makes me smile like nothing else, it also shows me that in his mind, they are equals. UNLESS I make a distinction consistently to him that Jesus is real and Santa is pretend, he is going to treat them both as fun, fantastical characters.

One way we are striving to set Jesus up as the real 'reason for the season' is through the Jesse Tree. So far, we have really enjoyed this and so have the boys. It definitely needs some fine tuning and we have to keep it concise due to extremely short attention spans, but this is what works for our family. I'm going to try to do a separate post on the Jesse Tree after Christmas, but for now, head on over to my Instagram @thehomemademama and check out the pictures.

Our other favorite Christmas traditions include picking out a live tree, although i'm seriously considering an artificial for next year. It's only the 11th and I've vacuum up half the tree already! We love to go look at lights, too. I think this year we are going to hit up the ZooLights since the boys love the Zoo so much.

Every year, I task myself with making as many sugar and gingerbread cookies as I can and I love decorating them with icing and all the sprinkles. (I've got to do that this week!) As the boys get older, I can totally see this being something they want to help with. Bring on the mess! For the past two years I've played around with the idea of doing advent activities for the kids. I've collected several ideas and plan on making an actual list for next year. our Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving and runs basically through New Years. That is how long we have our tree up for and we do all the fun Christmas things in that time frame. So, my goal is to have a solid list of 20 to 25 activities, crafts, and family outings to make the season extra special. That being said, I would love to hear what you have done with your kids and I'm always open to ideas.

This year we are starting a few new traditions! On top of the Jesse Tree activity, we are doing Christmas pajamas on Christmas Eve. I am probably too excited for this one, but I think the boys will love it! The idea is, they get a brand new pair of pajamas, ideally matching, that they wear to bed on Christmas Eve and then Christmas morning. They are going to be so cute! Since we do our Christmas with Kyle's family on Christmas Eve, our plan is to make a big deal about Christmas Eve breakfast and that is when the boys get to open that gift. That way, when we are getting ready to leave Kyle's family's event, the boys can get changed and be ready for bed when we get home.

I'm sure you are wondering when we will do Christmas with my family since I told you when we would be with Kyle's family. One of the blessings of having family so close is getting to spend your holidays with everyone. But, sometimes that make logistics difficult and you spend a lot of time on the road. So, in an effort to not take away from Christmas Day for our kids, we have come up with a compromise that I think works well for us. Christmas Eve morning we will head up to Kyle's parents and spend the day and evening with them. Christmas day will be at our house. And Boxing Day (December 26th) will be spent at my parents' house. For the past I don't even know how many years, my Mom has hosted a soup-a-thon out her house. Friends and family bring their favorite soups and sides and we chow down and have a blast! Even though we are staying at home on Christmas Day, we have opened the door for our families to join us for gifts and dinner. One of the cool things about where we live is that there are a lot of military families. Not all of them can afford or have time off to travel home for Christmas. When I was growing up, we would always have friends over or go to friends houses for Christmas dinner and I have great memories of those dinners. I want to give my kids the same memories of embracing friends who become like family. By delegating Christmas Day as a day that we don't go to either of our families houses, we have the opportunity to open our home and bless others.

Now that I have bored you to death with all our traditions, I'll end this post by sharing my favorite. This year, my sister and I are making Christmas dinner! Usually my mom has to make everything and this year, we somehow convinced her we would make it. Hopefully this takes the pressure off and she can relax and enjoy the day. We've promised not to go too crazy with our menu, but a little different and we are pretty excited about it. I'll make sure to update after with pictures and recipes.

Love you guys! thank you for reading. Stay tuned for more posts and a few videos coming to my channel this week!