Lord, give us Thy Joy, that Joy that no man, no poverty, no circumstances, no conditions can take from us.
– A.J. Russell

Hello, sweet friends…

With it being only one week before Christmas…

I am packing in as much joy as possible…

That being said…

recently after a delicious dinner…

which I had prepared (big smile)

Joe & I hopped in our car and headed out…

for a date night which included ordering Fries from McDonalds…peppermint lattes from a coffee kiosk (both drive- thru) and cruising around to check out the local Christmas lights…

(Love the color of this door!)

The evening was reminiscent of ‘Driving Miss Daisy’ as Joe chauffeured me around…

while I sat in the back seat snapping out orders up photos.

One of the homes in the neighborhood was wired to a local radio station which played Christmas music. It was a great evening!
Along with decorating…shopping… watching Christmas movies…and spending special in reflection during this Advent season…

my most favorite thing to do this time of year is baking…

CANDY CANE COOKIE BAR

I started baking these when I still lived in California. They are quite chocolatey and rich…(which is why I love them!) I also love candy canes because they are sooooo cute. Anyway, Joe often helps me out with crushing the candy canes by driving over them with his car in our driveway. Joe likes to have fun too!

Ingredients

1 cup butter melted

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I also add 6 drops red food coloring)

3/4 cup candy canes, crushed (you can purchase them…we like crushing them ourselves)

2 cups mini chocolate chips

Instructions

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugar with a hand mixer.

Add the egg and mix well into the butter mixture.

Add the flour, salt, vanilla and 1/4 cup of crushed candy canes. Mix well to combine.

Spread the batter evenly into a greased 9-inch by 13- inch pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the cookie base.

Immediately cover the pan with a piece of heavy-duty foil. Let stand for 3 minutes.

Remove the foil and spread the chocolate evenly with an offset spatula.

Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup crushed candy canes.

Click on the arrow for a Neighborhood cruise with Joe as chauffeur.🥰