Christmas Cookies!

Today is my first of two cookie baking days.  We give a lot of cookies out as gifts to teachers, support staff, neighbors, and some family friends.

I really enjoy baking, so this time of year is extra special.  I scour through my cookbooks looking for treats that catch my eye to add to the list of 'must bake' cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies are always a must have, as well as sugar cookies, oatmeal raisin, and surprise package cookies.  Surprise package cookies are Jay and Mike's favorite!  It's basically a sugar cookie wrapped around an Andes candy...sweet and minty!  

Baking cookies always reminds me of  the year of Mike's first Christmas.  He was 10 1/2 months old and had crawled into the kitchen, pulled himself up on the table where the cookies were cooling, and, when we caught him, had a cookie in his mouth and in his hand!  The look of glee in his face was priceless.  We took a picture that's in one of our photo albums...I will have to find it!

Today's baking session went well!  I think it went extra well after a certain comment that was made by Mike and seconded by Ellie this morning.  I announced that it was cookie baking day and Mike said, "Oh, that mean's you will be stressed today."  Ellie echoed the same comment a few minutes later.

My thought...."Oh, yeah?  Challenge accepted!"  I did it, too!  I felt like it was a little nudge from God.  It fits in with my 2012 Advent Challenge.  Mike's comment made me determined to be more patient and just focus on what I was able to get done, even if it wasn't everything that I wanted to get done.  I considered why I even baked in the first place.  It was to show appreciation to the people in our lives.  So I prayed that having patience and joy in the baking process would add extra love into the cookies!:)

  I even stayed calm when I dropped a dozen snickerdoodles into the oven and they broke into a billion pieces!

Kate gave me the thumbs up on the chocolate chip cookies:) 

 Luke was too busy eating to say anything!

   The girls were a huge help making the sugar cookies...and keeping Luke from dumping out all the sprinkles!

It was a fun day!  The first of our pre Christmas baking prep days!