christmas is making me crackers

yes, I'm still here, my little plan didn't work, and baby is still giving me a hard time on the inside! I think the reduced blood flow to my brain and all of the other stuff that's been going on around here (moving out of my shop, car breaking and requiring new starter motor three days before christmas, one child with nits and the other with the flu...need I go on?) have made me a little bit mental, and I have spent the past two days making and baking, because I've been feeling restless. Now I don't feel so much restless, more "ratshit". (For anyone unfamiliar with this terminology, it's australian for being very exhausted).

This is but a small sample of what I've been making, "vanilla kipel" (recipe from our local mag, the peninsula voice), and iced jumbles in different shapes, thanks to bill, only modified to use honey rather than golden syrup and omitting the mixed spice, because it's not very nice. Apart from this, there are chocolate spiders, a weird mix of fried noodles and chocolate, which sounds really funky, but is actually really yummy, I promise. Thanks to my aunty rose for that one. Rocky road, my first attempt, how does one stop the marshmallows from melting when you mix them into the melted chocolate? Coconut ice, also my first attempt, and I must say, a great success, and last but not least, fiona's chocolate balls. I did consider adding a bit of sherry to some, but I thought I'd better not, as I'd probably get the kids' ones and the adults ones mixed up in my current state of mind. Now, don't worry, all this stuff is not just for us, I plan to give a lot of it away as gifts tomorrow. It would probably take a year for us to get through all of it anyway, and seeing the amount of sweetened condensed milk (how did someone come up with that little gem?) and icing sugar that went into these little babies, I don't think I could manage too much of it on my own anyway. I'll sure give it a good crack, though.

So, I bid you all a very "sweet" christmas, because that seems to be the theme for us this year, and I hope santa is good to everyone.