Good morning, friends! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season and you're looking forward to a blessed Christmas. One of my favorite Christmas treats is Candy Canes. The problem is, I have a sensitivity to Red 40, the red coloring used in almost every Christmasy candy, that makes my skin break out in a rash. I searched the world over, but I had a very hard time finding good candy canes without the Red 40. So I decided to be brave and try to make some homemade. I'm sharing the recipe today on Stitches Thru Time! Click below to check it out. http://stitchesthrutime.blogspot.com/2016/12/homemade-albino-candy-canes.html

Today I'm blogging at HHHistory.com about one of the Christmas icons in my local area.  *****  Most of my growing up years were spent in the vicinity of Castle Rock, Colorado. This is a quaint town along the I-25 corridor between Denver and Colorado Springs. The town is named after a large rock structure that is visible for some time before and after you drive through the town. To me, it never quite looked like a castle, but apparently to the early settlers, it did. Around this time of year, one of the things that my siblings and I looked forward to the most was seeing the Christmas star shining from the t op of Castle Rock. As we were driving, we'd always watch for it to come into sight. The star is quite an icon for the community, but until recently, I didn't know the interesting history behind it. Click Here to read the full article.