the only thing that separates us from the animals

Finally! The last day of school before the Christmas break. It was red and green day. Loopy of course went all-out. We even knocked the green eyeshadow out of the park thanks to this brand at Sephora. Oh, and the blinking wreath earrings (not really shown)... The Fan brought them for me from New York City back in the 80's! This was actually the first year they needed new watch batteries to operate, can you believe it? The original batteries were so old they had no code number on them. I had to take them to a watch repair - and they wanted fifteen dollars per battery, two batteries per earring... you do the math! No way! I caught the eye of the nice lady working there who mouthed "3-6-2" to me behind her boss's head and I went to the drugstore. So thank you, nice whispering anonymous watch repair lady. Thank you.

I volunteered to take treats to school for the Christmas party. What to do when there are egg allergies, nut allergies, wheat and gluten allergies and dairy allergies? Why, Rice Krispie snacks if at all possible.

We whipped up a tray for the teacher's lounge also. I've had some request for pretzel dipping tips:

• The rods are not available in Canada, that I have seen at any rate. I smuggle mine home in my carry on from the US. If anybody sees them at a Canadian store, please let us know!
  
• Use Wilton brand melting candy and chocolate if you can get your hands on it... at Michaels. It stays soft and workable the longest, and if you need to reheat it - it still melts beautifully.
  
• We melt our chocolate and let it cool a bit before working with it. Sort of like tempering, but it is already tempered if it is Wilton. Letting it cool makes it thicker and when you dip the rod more of the candy stays on... sometimes we need to get resourceful and use a tiny spatula and sort of spread the chocolate around quite thickly!
  
• This is one of those times you will use the silicone parchment paper that I told you to get at the Dollar Store! Place your dipped rods in rows on the parchment and let the chocolate solidify at room temperature. You don't want to rush it by putting it in the fridge or outside because the cocoa butter in the chocolate will solidify faster than the chocolate itself and then you might get that whit-ish look that chocolates sometimes get.

Loopy is a natural chocolate drizzler. It must be in her blood. We pour the melted chocolate into either a disposable decorating bag or a ziploc (snip the tip off after you've poured the chocolate in!) and just drizzle back and forth, back and forth. Add jimmies or sprinkles, whatever you call them where you live. What do you call them where you live?

And lastly, a tray for Veto to take to the office. I was too tired to cut the Rice Krispies into stars for this batch.

We sent everyone some of our fabulous dipped marshmallows! The same rules of dipping apply. You may want to do two thin coats rather than one thick coat, just in case your marshmallow starts to melt.

After the final dip, set them upright onto a tray of crushed candy canes... or graham crumbs! Decorate with a teddy graham and you have a s'more on a stick! Ours are wearing jaunty Christmas sweaters, just like Loopy.

The last trick up my sleeve this week, a teacher's gift for our Kumon instructors: