Mixing it up...

Family Style!

We have a tradition in my family at Christmas Time.  Well, I call it a tradition but its more like an ADDICTION!  You see, my mom has this problem.  She believes that every room in her house MUST have a Christmas Tree...and each tree has to have it's own "theme" if you will.  And because she has so many grandkids (seven, but whose counting...) she feels that they too deserve to have a tree at her house.  I mean why not, Right? 

So every year we get all the grandkids together at "The Meme's" house to decorate the kids tree.  This year I decided to mix it up a bit and incorporate some baking into the chaos fun.  And since all kids like anything on a stick I thought that cake pops would be a good messy choice. 

Its starts off easy enough with a simple sheet cake...

Nothing fancy...just a plain white cake of your choosing.  Then the fun begins...just dive right in and crumble it on up with your hands. 

My hands look a little like birds feet to me (on the right there)....I'm just saying.

Once its all crumbled up dump it in a bowl and mix in some of your favorite icing.  This can be homemade or straight from a can.  I choose the can option.

Yummmm...



Mix it up till all the crumbs hold together and its kinda sticky....fun!  Have I ever mentioned that I can't stand sticky fingers?  I seriously can not...it's almost like a phobia.  I hate it just about as much as I hate handling raw chicken.  EWWWW!  Just the thought of it grosses me out!  In light of this phobia of mine, the following was a true labor of love for me - Rolling the stuff into balls...(insert body wiggle here a.k.a the willies dance).

Just looking at this photo gives me the willies...

Macey seemed to like getting her hands all dirty and sticky though :)



I put this in cuz I love Macey peeking in...I didn't even know she was there :)



After you get all your little cake balls rolled, poke holes into them using your lolipop stick then pop them into the freezer for about an hour so they get firm.  Once they are firm melt some chocolate.  I forgot to take a picture of what I used but it was Wilsons White Chocolate Peppermint discs and Wilsons Milk Chocolate discs.  Both were purchased at Hobby Lobby.

I love the little flecks of the peppermint...not to mention the taste of it.  Anything with peppermint in it is a hit in my recipe book!  YUM-MERS!

First dip the tip of your stick into some chocolate and place it into the hole you made earlier.  And let the dipping begin! 



Bust out every Christmas colored sprinkle you can find...cuz you can NEVER have too many sprinkles!



And shake shake SHAKE it on bay-BEE!

And get all the help you can get doing it!

Then show off your awesome work...

Ain't it pur-dy?  Don't be jealous...you can make some too!  It's easy breezy lemon-squeezy!

So what family traditions does your family participate in every year?  Did you start anything new this year?

Linking this up to the following parties...PARTY ON!

Finding Fabulous

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Fingerprints on the Fridge

Shabby Nest

Whipperberry