Letters From Santa Box and homemade Breadsticks

I posted the other day about our Christmas Countdown that we are going to do at our house. Today I FINALLY finished the box that will come to our house every day by Santa!

Again, my plan is to leave the box under our Christmas tree every night after the kids go to sleep. Inside the box will be a letter/note and an activity for us to do as family everyday until Christmas Day.

I just began using Mod Podge and I'm not wonderful at it yet but the box turned out pretty good in my opinion.

Here's what I did:

Gathered my supplies: Wooden box, scrapbook paper, mod podge, a brush, pencil, and box cutter (or whatever you use to cut with).

Then I figured out the size of the paper I needed for each side and cut it out.

Next, I began using the Mod Podge to cover the box with the paper.

After everything had dried I added the letters to the box.

Well there you have it! There is our Letters From Santa box!
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On another note, last night I attempted to make homemade bread sticks. They didn't quite go the way I thought they would. I followed the recipe just like it said but my bread sticks turned out HUGE!!
Not sure how that happened but they tasted pretty good!

Bread sticks

2 1/2 cups flour
4 tsp. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/3 cup milk
6 tbs. melted butter
4 tsp. sesame seeds (I didn't use these)

In a small bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Gradually add milk and stir to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface. Knead gently 3 to 4 times. Roll into a 20x5x1/2"rectangle. Cut into 24 bread sticks. Place butter in 2 13x9x2" pans. Put bread sticks in butter and turn to coat. Sprinkle with seeds.

Variations: Chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme, etc. can be added, if desired. Add 2 tablespoons minced garlic and sprinkle with garlic powder before baking to make garlic bread sticks. Bake at 450°F for 14 to 18 minutes

As far as the rolling and cutting mine went a little different. Maybe that was the problem! Who knows! Anyways try them if you'd like!!

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I also made some homemade croutons yesterday!

Croutons
10 slices day old bread
4 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp garlic salt

~Cut the crust off the bread then cut the bread into bite size pieces.
~Melt the butter and garlic salt together.
~Brush the butter on to the bread pieces.
~Bake in over at 325 degrees until browned. I think mine were in there about 15 minutes. Just keep an eye on them!

I put them into a zip lock bag after they had cooled so we can use them on salads this week!


I think that's all that I have today!

Except.....

Happy 7th Birthday to Boy#1!!! We love you!!!

Ashley