I used to make these cookies every Christmas for gifts (and myself), and I would often tell people, "Here -- these are the best cookies in the world."

Interestingly, I haven't made these cookies in years, for two reasons:

1) If I make them, I will be forced to eat large amounts of them;
2) I just can't bring myself to pour an entire cup of corn syrup into something that people will ingest (maybe I should try it with honey ... or try the corn syrup alternative in the video below)

Babe Ruth Bar Cookies

(aka "The Best Cookies in the World")

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup (or honey??)

1 cup chunky peanut butter

6 cups Special K cereal

1 6-oz package butterscotch chips

1 6-oz package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Combine sugar and corn syrup in saucepan over medium heat and bring to boil, stirring occasionally.

2) Remove from heat, then add peanut butter and mix well.

3) Stir in cereal until evenly coated, then press the mixture into  9x13 buttered pan.

4) Cool.

5) Melt chips over double boiler, stirring to blend thoroughly.

6) Spread over the cooled mixture, let cool again, then cut into bars.


Well, look at this! Here's a video on how to make your own substitute for corn syrup.

How to Make Substitute for Corn Syrup

For us, Christmas cookies are one of the hallmarks of Christmas.

I baked Christmas cookies with my mother when I was growing up, and my children make Christmas cookies every year with me. We bake cookies, decorate cookies, give cookies as gifts, and eat cookies while we drive through neighborhoods after dark looking at Christmas lights.

Of course angels, stars, trees, and snowmen make great cookies -- and I certainly wouldn't ever complain if anybody offered me any! But if you're feeling particularly festive and creative and want something a little more unique, you could add one or more of these Wilton cookie-cutter kits to your collection.

I think my favorite kit is the one one the right. I never would have thought of making a Christmas cookie shaped like a stocking or a wreath, but what a great idea! They seem to lend themselves to a lot of decorating ideas -- you could even put someone's name or initials on the stocking cookie!

I am terrible at wrapping gifts.
Just terrible!

Either I cut waaay too much wrapping paper, or I over-cut just enough so that there's a spot on the back that's uncovered (causing me to start all over again.) My wrapping paper folds are usually crooked.

And don't even get me started on the corners!

Lately, my usual solution to this problem is to get either my husband or one of my daughters to wrap all gifts for me.

Another obvious solution which I sometimes use is -- gift bags!

Gift bags are great because
a) They require no effort or skill to wrap a gift, and you completely avoid the dreaded corners;
b) They can be reused again and again.

I found these three holiday bags, all with different themes -- candy canes, snowmen, and Disney fairies. I particularly like the snowman bags. They look like something you could use not only for gifts, but also just for toting things around during the holiday season.

If small Christmas gifts go in stockings, what do huge Christmas gifts go in?

Huge Christmas gift bags, of course!

I found these these three packs of huge Christmas gift bags on Amazon.
The pack on the right is considerably cheaper than they other two because it contains only two bags, while the other packs contain six.

The first thing I think of when I see these bags is that one or two Christmases ago my middle child saw a HUGE stuffed dog at the store that she fell in love. We managed to creatively smuggle it to the house and get it under the tree on Christmas Eve, to her delight the next morning.

In this case, it worked just fine to just Doggie sitting under the tree. But if we had a gift like that for, say, a niece or a friend's child, one of these bags would have been perfect for it.

Other than huge stuffed animals, what other types of gifts could use a huge bag like this?

* Play Kitchens
* Guitars
* Tennis Rackets or Golf Clubs
* Tricycles
* Baby walkers, Bouncy Chairs, etc

Depending on how likely you are to buy huge gifts for people anytime soon, it wouldn't be a bad idea to have a pack of these handy. Then, when someone needs a huge gift, you're good to go!

See, this is why the Internet is important. Like so many things, it would never have occurred to me either that "Christmas Confetti" exists, or that I need any.

But look how fun! A cheap and colorful way to add some holiday cheer to just about anything.

Add it to a Christmas craft, school project, or homemade Christmas cards.

Put 4-5 pieces into each Christmas card envelopes before you seal them.

Sprinkle some onto the tablecloth at Christmas dinner.

Toss it into the air right before you snap some family photos!

Decorate gift bags and gift tags with them!

Maybe even sprinkle a few around the edge of a platter of Christmas cookies??

I'm sure there are several uses that other people who are more creative than I am can think of.

I think that my favorite of these three is Beistle Holy Night Confetti on the left, because it has so many different colors and because I think you could probably get away with using it for something other than Christmas if you wanted to.

I confess: We have cats.

Three of them, in fact.

Still, both my husband and I grew up with dogs: He had a beloved reddish-blond cocker spaniel named Rusty, and I had a black cocker spaniel named Ebony.

Well, Ebony was really my mother's dog, but I still remember going to the breeder to pick her out before she was even old enough to come home with us, putting cayenne pepper on our furniture so she would stop chewing it, and taking her for many many many walks over the years, so it feels like she was at least partly mine.

Anyway, the point is that even cat owners like us can appreciate a good dog and realize how cute these personalized dog Christmas ornaments are. I think my favorite of the three is the one with the snowman family and the dogs. It would make a great gift!

I love bears.

In fact, I love bears so much that when I was pregnant with my first child, my mother suggested that I name it "Teddy" if it was a boy. (It wasn't, and I didn't.)

Ironically, I bought teddy bears more before I had kids than after. I guess because after I had kids, my need for more bears took a backseat. And, interestingly, my kids were into stuffed dogs and other animals more than they were ever into stuffed bears.

Here are a few Christmas bears I found, all at a pretty good price.

If I had all the money and space in the world, I'd set up a decorative bench in my house that was lined with teddy bears like the first two.

And while I'm imagining having all the money and space in the world, I'd also have a tree with nothing but bear ornaments (like the one on the right.)