Better Late Than Never...

The girls and I finished our baking today, which proved to be a great way to pass the morning and afternoon for two excited girls.

They both were a big help to me. First we made some sugar cookies (more on that in a bit), then we made Russian Tea Cakes, one of Steve's favorite cookies. The girls had a blast rolling the cookies in the powdered sugar.

I laughed out loud when I caught them doing this! Anticipating eating the yummy treats we'd been creating. LOL

To avoid the cheesy, forced smile they are prone to give me these days, I made Amy laugh.

Then we had to tickle Jessica...

Here are some of the other goodies we made...Honest to goodness, this breakfast bar WAS clean earlier this week, for about 5 minutes. LOL The bane of my housekeeping existence. Anyway, brown globs are what I grew up knowing as chop suey candy, but you may know them as haystacks. It's chow mein noodles and peanuts covered with melted chocolate chips. The other day we made a batch of butterscotch ones. My mom made them every year at Christmastime. They take me back to when I was a girl.

The other cookies are store-bought sugar cookies, and we added mini M&Ms. I saw the idea on a blog or the Real Simple cookie emails I signed up for. (I can't remember which).

I was struck by how cute they looked with the M&Ms making a picture of some kind, so I had the girls go to town.

Here you can see better some of the ideas they came up with on their own. I only suggested a tree (which is what I saw when I saw the idea). You've got a wreath, Santa's hat, a couple of trees and a snowman. Just goes to show how creative kids can be. These cookies spread a lot more than I anticipated (is it the thin air here...I dunno), but they sure look cute, don't they?
 (Edited to add...we also made plenty of Spritz cookies in red and green, too!) Steve really likes those, too!



We finished the afternoon watching Santa Claus is Coming To Town. I told the girls that I watched it when I was a girl, but on tv, so I only saw it once a year. They were quite impressed with that. LOL

The impromptu hugs and smiles on the girls' faces with their excited chatter about Christmas was all the gift I needed. I think my heart grew three sizes bigger today. It almost made me want to cry. (My mom has been on my mind a lot, as she often is around the holidays and special days...I still miss her so! That probably had something to do with me feeling super sentimental today, too)

I thank you for stopping by and for all your encouraging words when I post. It means a great deal to me that you care to stop and share a thought or two along the way. May your Christmas be filled with magic.

Hugs and Merry Christmas!