During the twelve days until Christmas break, the King Street Chronicle will again present staff favorites from the holiday season.  This eleventh edition will not include eleven pipers piping, but beloved Christmas songs, memories, recipes, movies, and crafts.

Song: Mary, Did You Know?, performed by Ms. Carly Pearce.

Recipe: Christmas Cannoli’s 

Time: 35 minutes

Servings: 10 cannolis

Ingredients:

• Ten cannoli shells
• 32 ounces whole milk ricotta cheese
• One and one-fourth cups powdered sugar
• One teaspoon vanilla extract
• One-half teaspoon cinnamon
• One teaspoon lemon zest
• One-fourth cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• One cup red candy melts
• One cup white candy melts
• One cup dark chocolate melts

Directions:

1)  Strain all the liquid from the ricotta cheese using a cheesecloth or strainer.

2) Mix the ricotta cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and lemon zest together in a bowl.

3) Fold three tablespoons of chocolate chips into the filling mixture.

4) Place filling into a piping bag and let the mixture chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

5) Place each color of chocolate melts in separate bowls and melt in the microwave at 20-30 second intervals.

6) Dip each cannoli shell into the melted chocolate and allow it to cool for three minutes.

7) With the piping bag, add the filling into the cannoli shell.  Pipe filling into the middle and then to the open ends of the cannoli shell.

8) Sprinkle chocolate chips onto the exposed filling on the outer ends of the cannoli shell.

9) Using a sifter, dust each cannoli with powdered sugar.

Movie: Dolly Parton’s Christmas on the Square 

“Christine Baranski plays a “wealthy and unpleasant woman” who comes home after her father’s death; she meets an angel (Parton, obviously), who kicks off a change of heart and even rekindles an old romance,” Courtesy of elle.com.

Craft: DIY Reindeer Christmas Cards

Time: 15 minutes

Supplies:

• Paintbrush or fingers
• Brown paint
• White gel pen
• Glue
• Red felt
• Black fine tip pen
• Blank cards

Directions:

1)  Stick paintbrush or finger in paint and press onto the card a few times.

2) Cut out a circle from red felt for the reindeer’s nose and glue it onto each reindeer’s face.

3) Paint two small white circles for the eyes and wait for the paint to dry.  Use the black fine tip pen to draw small details on the eyes.

4) Using the black fine tip pen, draw antlers, a scarf, and any other designs on the reindeer.

5) Fold the card in half for gift giving!

Memory: Ms. Kristen Williams

“We visit my parents in Florida every year for Christmas. Last year, because of the pandemic, we didn’t go for the first time since 2009.  Florida is special because we are with family and since we are traveling by plane to get there and back, we don’t focus too much on gifts. We like to tell our kids to ask for one thing they want, one thing they need, one thing to wear, and one thing to read.”

“The photos are of the following: On Christmas eve, we host a party at my parents’ house. Santa Claus usually shows up to ask the kids if they’ve been naughty or nice, and he might have some little treats in his sack.We love nothing more than having a nice breakfast outside on Christmas morning, then we go to church and spend the whole day at the beach. We get dressed up for Christmas dinner and sing Christmas carols around the tree with other families. Finally, there is a huge carnival a few days after Christmas that we love to go to.”

Featured Image by Claire Moore ’22