Sleepovers, Family parties and breadsticks

This weekend we had a sleepover with some of our neices and nephews.  It was oodles of fun.  We ate pizza and watched Christmas Story and Polar Express.  Don't you just love Christmas story - Ralphy will always be a part of our holidays.  We then had milk and cookies before heading upstairs for story time and convincing a 2 1/2 year old that it was time to go bed, and that you don't need 5 glasses of water before bed.  Ralph read the Gift of the Magi and the Little Matchgirl to them.  At this point - I headed to bed and Ralph continued to talk to them with the lights out about his Mission at Christmas time.  He is so patient and we loved having the kids over.  Morning was fun too.  The kids used the stairway to play - We had deep sea diving to helicopters in the sky.  I braided hair and then we had Tamales and eggs for breakfast.  YUMMY!

We had the Curtis family party this last week as well.  It was a lot of fun catching up with members of the family we don't see very often.  We had a great soup dinner.  We had Santa come and talk with all the kids.  He had been prepped on the kids' background so that made it even more fun because they had no idea how Santa knew so much about them  Yes...I am a firm believer in perpetuating the myth of Santa!  We sang carols and exchanged gifts.  It was a nice relaxing evening.

Because of several requests I am going to share our breadstick recipe.  Ralph made them for the party because I had been at work all day.  He is such a good cook!  Here is the recipe

Best Breadsticks
1 TBL yeast (quick)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 TBL sugar
1 1/2 C warm to hot water (not too hot you don't want to kill your yeast)
3 1/2 C flour
1 cube butter - you can get by with 1/2, but they are not quite as good :)

Dissolve yeast, sugar and salt in water.  Add flour one cup at a  time kneading well.  (add enough flour that your dough is soft, but not sticky)  Let stand 10 minutes.  Melt butter on regular cookie sheet in oven.  Set oven at 375.  Roll or pat dough into large square.  Cut into strips.  Dip in butter, turn over and lay all strips in pan.  Sprinkle with any or all: 
Parmesan Cheese
Garlic Salt
Parsley Flakes
Sesame seeds

Let rise for 20 to 30 minutes in warm place.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes @375.
COOKS NOTE - I usually mix garlic powder and parsley with the butter before I roll the breadsticks in the mixture. 

Ta Ta for now!