What a fun day I had yesterday. Everything about it was fabulous for me. My kiddos were on their first day of winter break, my husband had the day off, and my parents were here already (arrived yesterday).

While the kids played and everyone else either relaxed or worked on their last-minute errands and preparations for the holiday, I baked! I LOVE to cook and bake (when I have the time), and I had a blast making some special gluten-free holiday treats. When I told Luke what I was making, he asked, "So I can eat EVERYTHING?" And I happily replied, "Yes! Everything I am making and all the food we will have out for Christmas Eve YOU will get to eat!"

I won't get into it in detail right now, but we have made several changes in my son's diet since this past summer. The main change that we are sticking to for awhile (even during holidays) is eliminating gluten. And sometimes he gets pretty bummed about "being different." So it's nice when he gets to have access to anything he wants at a holiday or party.

I also took time to prep gifts for my Paper Pumpkin subscribers yesterday! So if you are one of them, be watching for some fun goodies coming in your mailbox!

The December kit is so fun and unique. And I already have several alternate project ideas that I plan to make with it and share with all of you. Of course if you are one of my personal subscribers, you will ALSO (besides the gifts I am sending out this month) get access to a collection of EXCLUSIVE ideas – ideas not shared here on my blog, in my YouTube videos or elsewhere.

Here is a peek at one of the 10-13 ideas I'll be sharing with my personal subscribers.

These ideas go out to my subscribers on "project sheets," so they are printable. And they include the photo of the project, the supply list AND written step-by-step directions! Be sure to sign up with me as your demonstrator if you want to give Paper Pumpkin kits of creativity a try.

I don't "gift" my subscribers EVERY month. In fact the gifts are random so my subscribers never know when they are coming. But what a fun surprise when it DOES happen. My December kit subscribers are getting a sample Basic Black die-cut dragonfly image from the soon-to-be-new Detailed Dragonfly Thinlits that will be available starting January 4th in the 2017 Occasions catalog. I also enclosed a Whisper White notecard and envelope, a sheet of Silver Foil paper, a sheet of colored cardstock, and a matching set of Enamel Shapes.

In the alternate project ideas that I share here with all of you, I'll be incorporating these products into the designs somehow.

Here are a couple of the yummy gluten-free treats I baked yesterday. These are Flourless Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies. I had planned to make them for Thanksgiving and never got around to it. So I had all the ingredients and thought "why not." Well, though I really liked them, the others in the house thought they weren't sweet enough. So my mom suggested I drizzle on some powdered sugar icing (powdered sugar and a little milk mixed to the right consistency). And that did the trick!

By the way, you can't even taste the pumpkin. (I think it's like adding applesauce to a recipe as a substitute for eggs or sugar or something.)

I also made some Peppermint Crunch Popcorn. Adding the melted white chocolate was difficult, but the food critics in my house approved of the taste. So I'll be keeping THIS recipe for the future, too.

I also made some pumpkin bars and some mint bars. And this morning I plan to make fudge and maybe one or two other things…we'll see. (Sorry…no links to those recipes.)

For the future I'd LOVE to find more gluten-free and even paleo treat ideas. In fact if you have treat ideas that are gluten-free, sugar-free, and food-coloring/artificial ingredient free that are a hit with your kids, please share in the comments below. We are really trying to feed Luke as clean as possible. And though he doesn't have any food allergies, these diet changes I believe are helping him in other areas of his life right now.

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