

The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 12
With Bells On Holly, Ivy, and their respective husband, boyfriend, and puppy all made it safely to the Kringles’ for Christmas Eve. Mr. and Mrs. Kringle were also delighted to find out that the entire extended family would be able to make it to town, despite the recent snowstorm. The Kringles and their extended family exchanged gifts, served delicious food, and most importantly, got to spend time talking, laughing, and enjoying the company of their favorite people. And, with


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 11
A White Christmas It’s rare that snowfall exceeds more than a couple inches so early in the winter, but then again, nothing about this holiday season was proving to be normal. On the 23rd, a nor’easter moved in and dumped two glorious feet of white, powdery snow on the Kringles’ sleepy little town. Mr. Kringle ran the snow blower three separate times. Mrs. Kringle shoveled the walkways and scrubbed the foyer tile, cleaning up after snowy boots. But still, it was uncertain as


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 10
The Butterscotch Blunder Mr. Kringle waited, perhaps not so patiently, around for the butterscotch morsels to arrive just three days before Christmas. Finally, at 8 pm, he heard a knock at the door that was sure to be the delivery. He signed for the package, and although the box appeared to be the right size, its contents were terribly wrong. Instead of three packages of butterscotch morsels, what he found inside the package was a sea monkey starter kit. He looked again at th


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 9
Snowball’s Chocolate Surprise Snowball was usually pretty good about not getting into Christmas gifts, but this year, Mrs. Kringle made up a gift basket for her aunt with lots of snacks. Without realizing the contents of the basket, Mr. Kringle placed it under the tree, next to the other gifts. Snowball got bored while Mr. and Mrs. Kringle were in the midst of wrapping and cooking, and before they knew it, the basket and its contents had been decimated. There had been a sign


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 8
You Mean You Forgot Butterscotch Too? Christmas was quickly approaching, and Mr. and Mrs. Kringle realized their tray of desserts was looking quite sparse for their upcoming Christmas Eve party. Mr. Kringle decided to head out to pick up supplies for the family favorite, butterscotch peanut butter krispie cookies. There were just three ingredients needed for the cookies: rice krispie cereal, creamy peanut butter, and butterscotch morsels. For two of the items on his list, Mr.


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 7
Two Horns a Honking The next day, Mr. Kringle drove Mrs. Kringle to the doctor’s office to have her back looked at. There was only one parking spot remaining at the doctor’s office – never a good sign – but Mr. Kringle was happy he could find even one. After dropping Mrs. Kringle off at the front, he pulled into the spot, only to have a gentleman whip his door open into his own passenger side door. The man looked as surprised as Mr. Kringle by the act, and was clearly distrau


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 6
The Upside-Down Christmas Tree Have you heard about the upside-down Christmas tree trend taking over? It may seem as if it’s just starting to pop up all over Pinterest and Instagram right now, but the tradition actually dates back to the 1500s! Mrs. Kringle wanted to try creating her own upside-down look, for a few good reasons. For one, the tree they’d smashed into the garage door frame was missing a few branches, but Mrs. Kringle hoped that perhaps it would be less noticeab


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 5
Aquatic Equestrians Mr. and Mrs. Kringle have a set of nieces whose lists become increasingly challenging with each new year. It’s not that the gifts are expensive; they’re just deceptively hard to find. This year, both girls wanted a special talking pony mermaid. Mrs. Kringle had never heard of these pony mermaids before, but was grateful she’d asked their mother for ideas well in advance. This gave her plenty of time to not only track down the elusive gifts, but also to fin


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 4
The Cheesiest Gift Ever At work, Mrs. Kringle participates in a Secret Santa swap every year. Being the generous, kindhearted person that she is, Mrs. Kringle always puts a significant amount of thought into her gifts. This year, she had Mr. Cornelius, an avid outdoorsman, as her recipient. She even took the time to ask around the office to find out what was at the top of his Christmas list. Rumor had it he was looking for a handcrafted pickaxe. Not only did she order one fro


The 12 Blogs of Christmas: Day 3
Making a Toast One of Mr. Kringle’s favorite traditions is making Christmas cookies with his daughters, Holly and Ivy. It was a the chilliest evening of the year when they started rolling out the dough, but things got rather warm, rather quickly. You see, part of the Kringle tradition is making Danish “krumkaker” (the plural form of krumkake, which translates literally to “bent cake”). The process isn’t difficult, but there are a few steps involved, some of which require the