Snowballs

What do you do for vacations? Are they big and elaborate or just relaxing time off from the daily grind? Ours are a mix of the two. We love going places and being in Europe makes that easy and kind of a requirement! But, we are also homebodies and just like spending time together as a family. For instance, when Nathan comes home at the end of the month, those 18 days will be spent lounging around the house, playing with the kids, and the occasional date.

My favorite vacation was spent seeing England and Scotland. When Nathan got home from Iraq back in 2004 we spent 10 days exploring those two beautiful countries (well, we went to Wales, too, but only for one short stop.). I fell in love with Scotland and cried the day we left. I would go back in a heartbeat. Of course, we took this vacation before we upgraded to a digital camera, so I only have these pictures from Stonehenge on my computer.

What is your favorite vacation spot?

Now, for another wonderful cookie! I know EVERYONE has a recipe for these, but it wouldn't feel right to be posting about cookies I make during this time of year and not post these. They have about a million names (Mexican Wedding Cookies and Russian Tea Cakes seem to be the most popular), but I like to call them snowballs. It's whimsical, and, well, that's what they look like!

Snowballs

1 cup butter

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup pecans, chopped

additional powdered sugar for rolling

Cream butter in large bowl. Add sugar; cream until light. Stir in vanilla. Mix in flour and salt. Stir in nuts. Shape into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 15 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar directly out of the oven and again when cooled.