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Red & Green Jello Parfaits

1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening
1/3 c. confectioners sugar
2 c. flour
1 (16 oz.) jar maraschino cherries with stems, drained and patted dry with paper towel

Mix ingredients together for dough. Roll out and cut into strips 3-inches long and 1-inch wide. Lay cherry on dough and roll up and seal end (stem will be sticking out 1 end of dough and you will see the bottom of the cherry on the other end). Lay cookies on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes. Remove and cool. Once they are cool, the cookies will stand up and you can pick them up by the stem to pop one in your mouth. Pretty neat!

This year's menu included Peanut Butter-Marshmallow Pinwheel Sandwiches, Scrambled Eggs cut in Christmas shapes with a cookie cutter, Hot Dog and Pickle in Tortilla, Molded Christmas Boot Jello, Pancake & Sausage Roll, Bugle Horns, and, of course, sugared grapes. The dessert this year was a Reindeer Cookie in a dish of ice cream. As you can tell, this menu was created for "picky" eaters. I used the the food I knew they would eat and worked around that. Gourmet it wasn't -- but there wasn't a crumb left over!

Another great idea for a take-home gift is to buy some inexpensive snowman mugs, and put a baggie of hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows in it -- tied with a red ribbon. The next day when they drink their hot chocolate, the children can talk about the tea.

I also made snowmen out of marshmallows. Take a small pretzel stick and gently force it through two large marshmallows. Using vanilla icing, "glue" a flattened gumdrop on the top for a hat brim and another on top of that to finish it off. Take a tiny dab of icing on mini chocolate chips and stick to the front for eyes and nose. The scarf is a strip of fruit roll-ups. I cut it with scissors into long strips and then just looped it around the neck. The kids loved these -- ate a bunch of them with their tea!

Make your tea or dinner extra special with festive napkin holders. These are fast and easy to make. No sewing or glueing is necessary. Just draw your pattern on the felt and cut it out. Simple and fast. Felt works the best because it has more body than cotton fabric. Using the picture as a diagram, cut 1 of each of the following: the long red piece is 9 inches long, the green "star" is 7 inches and the red star is 5 inches. (This is from point to point).

Cut a 3/4 inch slit in the center of the green and red star. Now put the green and red stars together -- lining up the slit. Take the ends of the long red strip and push them through the slit of the 2 stars. Repeat with the other end. Adjust the ends so they look like a flower and there is a nice- sized loop on the bottom side for a napkin. My felt pieces were also sprayed with a light glitter before they were cut.

TASTY BITES
1 package (10 oz.) refrigerated pizza dough
2 oz. lean ham or turkey ham, chopped
1/2 c. (2 oz.) shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 425. Coat 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray. Unroll dough and cut into 12 (4x3-inch) rectangles. Divide ham and cheese between dough rectangles. Bring corners of dough together and pinch to seal. Place, smooth side up in muffin cups. Brush tops with egg. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Makes 12 servings.

In small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, oregano, parsley and basil. Spread mixture in bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of the mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the pizza sauce over all. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, then top with pepperoni and olive slices (2 Tbls. chopped green pepper can also be used as topping). Cover and microwave for 5 minutes. Serve hot. Makes 16 servings.

Place crackers on a lightly greased baking sheet. Top with cheese, catsup, mustard and/or relish. Cut each hot dog into 10 slices; place one slice on each cracker. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Yield 20 snacks.

How easy and fun these were. Make whatever your guests like. I made both! Make pancakes, removing them from the pan to a plate or flat tray where you can cut them in triangle shapes. For French Toast, just cut the bread in half.

Have the sausage already to serve. Layer 3 triangles over lapping one another and sprinkle with green sugar. Tuck 2 sausages underneath and voila! A Christmas tree.

• Dill/kosher pickle strips (wiped dry)
• Flour with a little salt and pepper stirred in

Coat the pickle with flour and carefully drop in hot oil and french fry until the coating is brown. Remove the pickle from the oil with a slotted spoon and put on paper towels to drain. These are even good cold.

Spread bread with thin layer of cream cheese. Lay pickle on one side of it and roll it up like a jelly roll. Press the end of the bread to seal it. Take all your rolls and put them in the refrigerator, covered, for several hours. Just before you are ready to serve them, cut them across (like pinwheels) and arrange them on a plate. Stand back! They'll take them off the plate before it hits the table!

Cut the crust off a piece of bread and spread with peanut butter and then marshmallow spread. Carefully roll into pinwheel shape, pressing end to hold it together. Slice into 3-4 slices, depending on how thick you want them.