But not without me padding my ego a little bit.

Texas Trash is a Christmas family tradition in my family.  It is not a secret family recipe, but it might as well be because myself, my mother and my meemaw all make our own slightly different version of trash.  Every year B has told me he likes my mother’s version the best because she makes it the spiciest.  After hearing B say the same thing every year no matter how I altered my recipe I finally decided to put him to a blind taste test.  And of course since B is often wrong, I had my mom and dad judge as well.

The contestants in no particular order.

My dad went first.   He  was very  thorough, even changing his answer a few times.

Then my mom.  She analyzed each one carefully.  Really I think she was just trying to remember which one was her’s.

Finally B.  He probably had the hardest time choosing a winner.  Not that my mom and I starring him down had any effect on that.

After each bowl was emptied a winner was finally declared.

ME!

What’s that saying, third time is a charm?  I guess it took three generations to finally get it right.

And now what you have probably really been waiting for, the recipe.  Keep in mind, this is the original recipe that we all use for reference.  I double the red pepper and my mom triples it and even adds red pepper flakes.  My mom and meemaw always add pecans and I always add extra cashews.  It really all about what you like and how much heat you can handle.

Texas Trash:
1 bag pretzels
1 box each of Rice, Wheat and Corn Chex cereal
2 lbs. mixed nuts
1 lb. butter melted
1 cup wesson oil
4 T. worchestershire sauce
1/2 small box Accent
2 t. celery salt
2 T. garlic powder
1 T. pepper sauce (tabasco or similar)
2 T. all spice
Red pepper to taste (I use about a tablespoon)

Prepare sauce and pour over dry ingredients, which have been mixed thoroughly.  Mix carefully but well.  Bake 4 hours in 200 degree oven.  After mixture begins to cook (about 45 minutes to an hour), stir often, about every 15 minutes.

I make this every year and pass it out to friends, neighbors, coworker… basically anyone who will take it because it makes a ton!  A helpful hint is to buy two disposable roasting pans to cook this in.  Clean up of all that butter, oil and broken chex is a pain.

Good luck if you try to make this and enjoy!

My loyal buddy, Servo.

The princess, Zoey.

And the smoking adults who run this show, Naturally Right and Mr. Perfect.

I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays.  I will be back on high speed internet soon.

B and I exchanged gifts tonight. Really our gifts were the new recliners, so tonight was just a few stocking stuffers.

Zoey and Servo opened their stockings as well. I succeeded in buying the most annoying ball ever, a feat I have gotten quite good at

Servo was getting desperate.

Zoey gave up hope all together.

Finally, Servo was able to free a bone from the stocking. (Yes, I eventually stepped in and took the wrapper off. I am not that mean!)

Zoey claimed her favorite gift, and quickly gave us all a headache. Thank you Target Dollar Spot for making the cheapest toy the loudest toy.

And Servo wasn’t heard from the rest of the night. Or really just for the ten minutes it took him to devour the bone.

A few of my favorite bloggers have been showing off their Christmas ornaments so I thought I would post my favorites as well. My all time favorite ornament, a porcelain angel, remains at my parents house. Growing up my brother and I got a new ornament each year, I have quite the collection of angels on my parents’ tree. B and I are carrying on the tradition at our house.

We have a few “First Christmas” ornaments from the year we got married.

Then of course we have several dog ornaments.

This one is my favorite! B got it for me the first year we had Zoey.

I found the Zoey and Servo matching ones last year.

The first Christmas B came home with me, my parents initiated him right,

They got him a Texas ornament. I guess they didn’t want him to forget where he was.

B and I also like to find an ornament from vacations we take. We found an awesome one in Vancouver this year.

It is hand painted with various landmarks from the city, many of them we visited on our trip!

We have one more ornament to add to the tree this year, but unfortunately I ordered it too late and it won’t arrive until after Christmas. I would show you a picture, but it is a surprise for B.

Here is a shot of the whole tree.

Our Christmas vacation starts tomorrow so if you don’t hear from me for a few days, Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

Oh yeah, with an awesome matching hat!

Thanks MJ!

Do you have a favorite Christmas memory? You should, it just seems unnatural not too. I already shared my favorite gifts from Christmas so today I thought I would talk about something less materialistic and more heartwarming. Or something like that. Pretty much I am just eyeing the sweet prizes in Sohobutterfly’s Christmas Memory Contest.

One of my fondest Christmas memories is from around age 5. Our family tradition growing up was to spend Christmas on the farm with my mom’s family, then return to Dallas to have Christmas with my dad’s family and then finally have our Santa Christmas usually the morning of December 26. When I was five, my mother decided it was time to make me a Christmas stocking.

I am not sure what my stocking was before this, I guess age 5 is when they decided I could join the family and have my own official stocking.

Anyway, I remember my mom working on that stocking every night while watching tv from Thanksgiving until Christmas. As the holiday got closer, later she stayed up at night trying to finish it. That year (1987 to be exact), I remember her working on that stocking every where we went during Christmas.

Finally, the night of Christmas day, just before Santa was scheduled to visit our house, my panic began to set in. My stocking still was not finished! I would be the only person without a stocking hung for Santa to fill. I can remember returning home late after celebrating at my grandparent’s house and my mom immediately going to work on my stocking. She promised me it would be finished before the morning and Santa would find something hung on the fireplace with my name on it. I wonder if she was thinking it was time for a midnight Walmart run. I was so worried it would not be finished on time.

But sure enough, when I woke up the next morning I found my finished stocking hung on the fireplace and filled to the brim with stocking stuffers. My mom finally finished. I have no idea how late she stayed up that night, but gosh darn it, I had my stocking.

Yeah, that’s me. 1987 in all its glory. The Dorothy Hamill look was very big back then.

Even though my stocking has now been replaced with something less Bambi and more adult, my mom still has good old Bambi in a keepsake tub. Here it is today, still in great condition, seeing as how it was only retired about two years ago.

I will always cherish my homemade stocking and the painstaking work my mom put in trying to get it finished on time!

Have you shared your favorite Christmas memory with Sohobutterfly? You better hurry! The contest ends today.

And speaking of contests, See Sherm Blog is hosting a guess the sex of the baby contest. Be sure to enter for some super cute prizes!

You still have until Wednesday to enter my get free stuff for leaving a comment contest. Good luck!

To help find my Christmas spirit again, I am going to relive past memories.  Remember the excitement when you woke up on Christmas morning?  I am not much of a morning person, but I can remember shooting straight up in bed when I realized it was time to open presents.  Actually, I still do this!  We still have the big traditional Christmas morning at my parents house.  Followed by the big Christmas breakfast!  I think that might actually be my favorite part

I think my favorite gift as a child was my Baby Alive doll. 

I remember wanting it soooo bad.  Who wouldn’t want a doll that crapped its pants?  Ha.  This is the new Baby Alive.  My doll was more life-like and not so cartoonish.  I am not sure which version is creepier.

B says his most memorable gift was a bike.  (Such a boy answer!)  I think most kids remember the bike year.  I remember mine too, a Huffy and it was hidden in the garage and I had to go find it following a list a clues!

Most recently, I would have to say my best gift was Zoey.

She wasn’t a surprise, but she was still the perfect gift!  Zoey was B and I’s first big purchase together, our first baby! 

(Cute story… my dad got my mom a boston back when they were dating too.  Maybe even for Christmas.  If my parents weren’t sure about B before, the Zoey gift definitely convinced them!)

Do you have a favorite gift?  One that stands out in your mind as the best gift ever?  I think the memories made truly are my favorite part of Christmas.

Here are some of our Christmas highlights!

Mmmm, the food. Most important part of the holiday! I come from a family of great cooks, too bad that gene didn’t get passed on to me! That is my adorable Meemaw in the background, the grand cook extraordinaire!

Next you have the Burrow family, with the family burro! That is my brother, father and mother. We all think we are pretty darn funny.

Then there is the entire Burrow, Wilson, Sagowitz family. This is my mom’s side of the family. If we get any bigger we are going to have to rent a hall to have Christmas in!

Servo the lap dog and his daddy who spoils him. Please don’t tell Servo he weighs 50 pounds and is too big to be sitting in your lap! He might go into a deep depressive state.

Atleast he is a patient dog! I don’t think there has ever been a Christmas where a dog didn’t get covered in bows.

And finally, a better picture of our tree. I love having our Christmas tree up! It’s going to be sad to take down tomorrow. Think people would judge me if I decorated it for Valentine’s Day and left it up another month?

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Good luck trying to get back into a normal routine. I plan to get back into a normal blogging routine as well. And, I promise to quit talking about Christmas and posting Christmas pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow, B and I will head down to my parents house.  I love Christmas on the farm.  B gets a little anxious because he knows it means dial-up internet.  Scary thought I know.  If you don’t hear from me for a couple days it’s just because I am to impatient to try and use the internet.  About the time I get a page to load, I am already bored and ready to shut down the computer.

I got to open my first Christmas present last night!  B is a big kid around Christmas and he can’t wait to open gifts!  I saw one of my gifts under the tree and it was obvious what it was.  B doesn’t realize that James Avery’s wrapping paper is very distinctive, even if he tried to hide it by using a big bow.  So B made me open the gift since I had figured it out anyway.  It was a beautiful necklace with the letter M.  I am so excited!  I was just saying the other day how I never wear necklaces and I wish I did.

What are everyone’s plans for the holidays?  I hope you get a long break!  I am off work until January 2!

 My latest Christmas project was baking.  I don’t bake.  Heck, I barely cook.  Making cookies from scratch seemed like an impossible task, but I took it on.  And all by myself.  I think B was worried I would burn the house down.

I made two kinds of cookies this weekend.  Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter and Chocolate Buried Cherries.  The buried cherry cookies are DIVINE!  (Don’t worry, I used a new jar of cherries.)  The peanut butter cookies are decent, but I think I used too much flour.  They aren’t as moist as I would like.

The cherry cookies were also more fun to make!  I might try these again since they are almost gone.

The best part of the cookies is the yummy chocolate frosting! 

Here is the final product.

Looks yummy right!  And just so I don’t snub the peanut butter cookies, here is a picture of them.

I also made Texas Trash this weekend.  It’s kind of like Chex Mix, but oh so much better.  Just to emphasize how bitten by the bug I am, I skipped a sushi dinner to stay home and make the Texas Trash.  Sushi!  Yummy, wonderful sushi that I have not had in weeks.  Someone better call a shrink.  I think Martha Stewart is trying to get me to join some kind of cult.