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Christmas Cookies Galore!

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Last Sunday, we had a festive afternoon baking and decorating Christmas cookies. In order to be more efficient, Grandma Karen had pre-baked all of the sugar cookies, so she and the kiddos could focus on decorating their masterpieces. This was the first year that G joined in, and he had so much fun! The end results look great, and taste amazing!

While they were busy decorating, I focused on making fudge, sugar cookie Christmas bars, and double chocolate peppermint kiss cookies. Everything turned out really, really good this year...there's not a bad treat in the bunch. For the last several Christmas seasons, we’ve introduced new treats into the mix to see if we like them. Most often, the newbies don’t make the cut, but I think all of the items we made this year are keepers!


They thought it would be fun to both lick the spatula...clearly Ava decided it wasn't the best idea to do it at the same time!




Both kids also had spirit week at daycare/school this week, so each day was a different outfit to wear. They both had pajama/movie day, so that was their favorite day, for sure! My team got to leave early on Friday (to start the holiday weekend earlier) so I surprised Ava by picking her up at the bus stop. I haven’t been able to pick her up in several weeks since I no longer work at home each week. I’ve also been able to pick up G at daycare recently, since I am working normal hours and my commute is no longer an issue. I’m so pleased that I took a risk with starting a new job...it’s paying off with the extra family time!

We decided to forgo seeing Santa at the mall this year, and instead, tracked him down at a house in our town. G was over the moon excited to see and talk to him. Hearing the joy in his voice was priceless! Ava was a little more reserved, but had fun talking to him, as well. Santa very kindly gave each of the kids a bag of gifts to take with them, so they have been having fun with the early Christmas gifts.



We were able to enjoy a nice dinner out after visiting with Santa, and then we drove around several neighborhoods to take in all of the Christmas lights/decorations. It was a great way to kick off the Christmas weekend!

We’re looking forward to celebrating Christmas Eve with my parents, and then will spend Christmas Day at home, as a small family. What a magical time of year!

Here's our little wolf!


I asked Ava why she had a bunch of people at the top of her homework page...look closely, though. She wrote her name using stick people!


G doesn't like doing craft projects, but he does an amazing job coloring. Ava and I agreed that she probably still couldn't do this well - haha!



Merry Christmas, and never forget the real reason for the season!

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