On The List

Happy 12/12/12. Do you know about the B.I.O.N.I.C. 
12-12-12 campaign compassion challenge? 
Click {here} to learn more about it.

Today I'm excited because I made the caramel list! Homemade caramels, melt-in-your-mouth, individually wrapped in waxed paper, buttery goodness. From Iowa. I wasn't even trying to get on the list. I just accepted an invitation to write a guest post for a new blogger and voila, I was on the list. In fact, the caramels could show up on my doorstep any time now, and I can't wait! Upon further investigation, I found out that Laurel and her family make about 1400 of those decadent delights every Christmas ... and they give them all away ... to whom? I inquired, and this is what she said:

We give those caramels to friends, neighbors, teachers at school and church, pastor, secretaries, doctor's office, veterinarians office, dog groomer, dentist (they need separate bags because the receptionist says she is going to keep them), postal carrier, and all the other people who come our way that make our lives easier or special every day. And of course to our guidance counselor!  They also get sent overseas to friends in Germany. 

It's just our way of saying "thank you" and Merry Christmas!

She even takes some along to her mammogram for good measure. She's downplaying it, but I know that this sweet treat is truly a labor of love. 

Have I mentioned that I can't wait?

We don't make caramels, but we do bake sour cream sugar cookies. Here's a before picture as the cookies were cooling on Saturday afternoon:

Here's a picture after we've eaten more than we need and we've made special deliveries to some of the people on our list - co-workers, the piano teacher, the mail carrier, that favorite classroom teacher, custodians, maintenance workers, the cafeteria crew at school, my car mechanic:

Since the cutouts are almost gone, the next people on the list will be getting peanut butter balls like these (or turtles or heath bits):

What's your coveted holiday speciality and who's on your list?