HE FINALLY JOINED OUR TRADITION { helping make the cookies }

Last year, I so dearly wanted my son to join our tradition of creating the cookies. He was far more interested in his cars than some flour. This year, there was no way I could keep him away from the dough. It's funny how drastically things can change over the course of just one year. Heck, maybe next year baby sister will be nudging her little fingers into the action instead of contently watching the Bubble Guppies holiday special.



I rolled out the dough & began to cut the cookies per cutter of Daycen's choice. Each time a cookie was cut out; laughter & excitement filled the room.







We focused on making a variety of sizes & shapes in our cookies this year. We actually got to use the miniature cutters that have been sitting in the bottom of the package. & oh goodness! They came out tasting more delicious than the larger ones, & they sure are cute!

Also the perfect size for someone else I know....



As soon as the cookies were cooled enough to be frosted, Daycen was ready. He was more than ready. He had the sprinkles spread across the counter in a buffet style. Ready to create. & create.

AND CREATE.





It was his absolute favorite part of the cookie making process (other than the devouring part.) As for me, my favorite part changed this year. I'd have to say, I no longer love the cutting process the most - My favorite part has turned into seeing this flour faced smile brighten up the room.



I'm so glad he's decided to join me & my mom in this tradition. We now have three generations creating beautiful cookies for our holiday ♥ What a special treat for 2011.

Happy Friday everyone!;

CHRISTMAS 2010

This year the gifts fluttered in - it seemed as if every day there was a shiny new present to open (and still some to come! We still have huge bag of presents to dig into from Aunt Leane) On Wednesday evening we got together with my niece & her mother Michelle, Thursday Kait stopped by for a visit, Christmas eve Daycen indulged in presents from my parents & uncle Luke, Christmas morning Santa Clause delivered plenty of gifts, & that night we got together with Andy's family. It sure was busy holiday season this year (and I wasn't even working my retail jobs!), but it sure was fun. We enjoyed every moment of it, & everyone who was there to share it with us.

Here's a little peek into exactly what filled our hearts with joy this season.

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS {all those sweet things}

Traditions mean everything to me. The things I look back on in my childhood are the same things I want to introduce year after year into my children's lives. It doesn't matter how little or big these traditions are. It doesn't matter how silly or practical they are. No matter what, I want to give them everything I was given as a child, & more.

I can't remember a Christmas where my mother didn't bring out the cookie dough & all those fun cookie cutters (I swear, we had everything from Rudolph to the little elves in Santa's workshop) No matter how busy things got around the holidays, she always made sure we got covered head-to-toe in flour & were able to create a sugary treat of our own. My absolute favorite part was the actually cutting out of the cookies - choosing which cutter to use, & how many of that cookie I wanted to make. I wasn't actually a fan of the decorating (I will stress to you, after ALL these years, I'm STILL not a fan of icing & sprinkling those things!)



This year was the first year I tried to introduce my son into this tradition. As I rolled out the dough I thought to myself, "these cookies are going to look like blobs! but man, I can't wait to show everyone his masterpieces!" When everything was ready for the cutting I brought Daycen over to the table & started to show him what to do... to my surprise, he looked at me like I had lost my mind, turned & resumed playing with his cars on the floor. I'll be completely honest with you, I was SHOCKED! The kid who loves to mix the cupcake batter & watch me pour it into the little tins wanted nothing to do with the cookie making process. Hm, My little baker turned out to not be such a big baker after all.



It doesn't bother me though. I continued cutting out the cookies with my mother, all the while explaining my every choice in cookie cutter to my daughter who sat in her bouncer on the kitchen floor. She seemed rather interested. Than again, she's only a few weeks old, so pretty much everything is interesting. So, this is a tradition that I don't yet share with my children, but I know as they grow older they'll become much more interested in the process. Perhabs because it's something they'll do with their mother that they'll cherish their whole lives, or maybe it'll be for the sugary outcome. Either way, I look forward to spending each Christmas making cookies with them.



I may however, might not enjoy the sugar high they receive from eating those cookies.

PREPARING FOR THE HOLIDAYS {the christmas tree}

For the past five years our Christmas tree has been elegantly filled with glass ornaments ranging in a bronze, gold, & champagne color palette. We've added peach colored hollies & owls over the years. This year, however, our son turned two. With this new age, we feared the sound of shattered glass would be an every day occurrence if we didn't invest in some kid-friendly ornaments.

When I was a child, we had a tree filled with different characters (we are talking M&Ms, Turtles, Smurfs, you name it - we had it!) & handmade ornaments that my brother & I had crafted in school. As much as I would have loved to give my children a tree like this, it is unrealistic. My childhood ornaments are safely packed away under the stairs at my parents house, surrounded by boxes of other random goodies - in other words, it would take me at least six months to find them! These types of ornaments range from $5-$20 something a piece, so purchasing enough to fill the tree would max out anyone's credit card. (and probably a divorce for spending $500 on ornaments!)So, this year, there isn't any fancy star wars ornaments, nor any my little pony ones. However, we upped our color palette to brights & made sure they were all shatter-proof. We've decided to buy some fun ornaments at the after Christmas sales so that by Kindergarten our tree is as festive as the rest.




I wasn't quite sure if our $15 pack of shatter-proof balls from Target were going to be a hit, but Daycen sure seemed to not mind that we skimped on the ornaments. It was all Oohs & Ahhs. Even though he didn't quite understand the concept of hanging the ornaments on the tree, he sure didn't mind unpacking them & handing them to me as I put them on the branches. So, this year, our tree also looked very clean & put together. I'd have to say, I'm very impressed with what you can do with very little money.



And what's Christmas Tree decorating without a little fooling around?!

We hope everyone is getting into the Christmas spirit. Only 5 days left to go.