naughty or nice

Here's a gift that we're giving to everybody on our list. Alfredo is going to have a big sack of these and will hand them out to each person.

 At first I was going to make separate Naughty and Nice bags but when I went down the list and Alfredo didn't say even one was on the naughty list I had to go to plan b.

Each bag has "Have you been Nice?" on one side and "Have you been Naughty?" on the other. Have you ever had these Ice Cubes? Oh my goodness, they are so good! And the fruit candy is the same that I put in the snowman tins that we made.

Initially I was going to get lumps of coal in bulk from the Candy Warehouse but they weren't able to fill the order. Unfortunately by the time I found out, I'd already received the nice candy and 100 muslin bags. I couldn't find another bulk source for the lumps of coal. But I did come up with an even better idea...I made them!

I found a chocolate mold for the lumps, got melting chocolate from a local chocolatier, and poured my own lumps of coal.

The secret to making them really look like coal...black foil wrapping!

Costs:
Chocolate for melting: $14 for 4 lbs making 62 lumps--price each lump:  22 cents
Chocolate mold: 2 @ $2 (I bought two so the making would go a bit quicker)
Black foil: $6.57 for 125-- price each: 5 cents
5" x 7" Muslin bags: $30 for $100 --price each 30 cents
Ice cubes: $48 for 120 pieces --price each 40 cents
Italian fruit candy:  1600 pieces for $60--price per dozen 45 cents
Iron on transfers: $7 for 12 sheets--price per bag 24 cents

Price per bag is roughly $1.66! Can you beat that? (just a side note, if I had bought the lumps of coal instead of making them the cost per bag would've been double!)

I have some really sad news to share. My poor father fell on the ice walking home from the post office yesterday and broke his leg in many places. He's in the hospital now and he'll probably have surgery (although they are a bit worried about his age) and then recuperate in a nursing home. In spite of it all, he seems in pretty good spirits (maybe it's that pain medication he's on!) I talked to him on the phone yesterday afternoon and he said "Well, I really did it this time!" Isn't it crazy how one false move can change everything? Will you keep my sweet daddy in your prayers?