We are one week away from Christmas Eve. I will NOT do a muppet flail. Okay, yes I will.*muppet flail*!

And that’s out of my system now. What will be, will be. Right? The only baking I need to do now is the rolls for the neighborhood, including cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning but all that is still a few days away. That said, I am TOTALLY tempted to make this very festive trifle because I have a trifle bowl that LG and I received as a wedding present 40 some years ago and I think I’ve used it twice. Maybe. Sadly, I know exactly where it is stored so I could totally do this after a grocery run to get the ingredients.

Christmas Moon Trifle

Prep time: 30 Minutes
Cook time: 30 Minutes
Total time: 1 hr
Yield: 10 servings

Ingredients
1 package red velvet cake mix (plus ingredients needed to bake it)
2 packages JELL-O vanilla instant pudding 3.9 oz. each
4 cups cold milk
8 oz. cool whip thawed
Green food coloring

Let’s Make It
1 – Prepare cake batter and bake in a 9×13-inch pan as directed on the package. Cool completely.
2 – Beat pudding mixes and milk in a medium bowl with whisk for 2 minutes. Mix in green food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
3 – Cut cake into ½-inch cubes. Distribute two layers of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream evenly into individual glasses or layer half each of the cake, pudding, and the whipped cream in a trifle bowl; repeat layers.
4 – Decorate as desired. 

Tips
1 – Use white chocolate instant pudding mix instead of vanilla.
2 – If you like, omit the food coloring and use pistachio pudding instead. It won’t be as vibrant in color, but it will still look great!
3 – Let the cake cool completely before building your Christmas trifle. If it’s still warm, the pudding will slide off the pieces and end up in the bottom of the bowl.
4 – Hannah says store-bought gingerbread cookies make awesome decorations!

So, did you notice that last tip? Yes, you read that right. HANNAH has a tip to share. I probably should have made a liquids alert announcement. *looks over shoulder* Chill, Hannah. Yes, we all know and love the fact that Hannah feels about cooking the same way I feel about technology. That said, Hannah took a page from my book and decided that this too can be overcome. She found this recipe, read that it was supposedly easy and decided if she focused–by banning the “boys” from the house, turning off all the phones, informing the sisterhood that she was NOT to be disturbed that she could do this. To be on the safe side, she not only doubled up on ingredients, she tripled! Becazuse…you know…that whole try, try again thing. Well, she managed to make it the first time around and since it was edible, she used up the rest of the ingredients, made two more and took them to the community Christmas party. We’re not sure Blaidd’s Gap will ever be the same. Hannah also wants to– “Yo! I can speak for myself. Yeah, I’m a lousy cook. You have to concentrate and while I’m good at concentration and focus, it’s on stuff more important–like life and death, ya know? Anyway, I figured this out. People ate seconds. It’s all good. I’m here to admit, though, that while we were in New Mexico that Christmas, I made a little wish to Santa. It took the fat old guy a while but he finally got around to making the wish come true. This once. The fact I made these trifles is no guarantee that I can ever make anything else. So don’t go asking me. And there is NOTHING wrong with store-bought cookies. Just sayin’…

So there you have it, direct from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. CHRISTMAS MOON is a fun read for this time of year. Make the trifle, dish it up, nosh and read when you need a break from the hectic festivities. Don’t have a copy? It’s on sale at Smashwords or you can grab it from other on-line sellers and it’s regular price of $1.99. Just click on the title, a cover pic, or here at Books2Read or Smashwords. Who else has a trifle bowl that needs to be used?