Baking Christmas Cookies

Do you enjoy baking Christmas Cookies at your house? Do you have a special time that you bake them or a special kind you make? This year we’ve made 4 kinds of cookies…so far! (There might be more in the works!) Here’s a peek into our Christmas cookies escapades…

We started out making butter cookies, which were always one of my favorites as a kid. These are a cutout type of cookie.

Everything was going along just fine. The trays were filling up with cookies ready to be decorated before baking.

I started to roll out some more dough when…crack! Oh nooo!

My rolling pin was pretty old. I believe it belonged to my grandmother, so it’s rather sad that it broke. I think I will save it and turn it into the craft of some sort, but now how to roll out the rest of the cookie dough?? This calls for a trip to the store! There were only two rolling pins left in the store, but one was all I needed! And its a big one!

So we were back in business! Once the rest of the cookies were cutout and sprinkles were added, then on to the baking! Mmmm! It smelled so good in here!

Don’t they look delicious? 🙂 Don’t look too closely…some of them might be a little too brown.

I mixed up a second batch of cookie dough and put it in the fridge to chill. Then made the 3rd batch…ohhh…hmmm…I think I forgot the vanilla in the 2nd batch…oops! Back to the “drawing board”! Next I made some Molasses Crinkles cookies. (You can’t tell from this picture but some of them got too brown too. My oven and I are at war with each other!)

Next came the Russian Teacakes. Oh, man, do we love these! I turned my oven down, put the cookies on a higher rack and left them in for less time. Smart, right? Some still got too brown. But rolled in lots of powdered sugar you really can’t tell and they still taste great. 😉

Then it was time to go back to the ones I had to make over because of the forgotten vanilla. This was a new way to do cookies for me, using terra cotta cookie stamps.

The recipe said to bake the cookies and then stamp them right away when you take them out of the oven. I wanted to add some colored sugar on the cookies and wondered if I should add the sugar before or after baking and stamping? So I tried one tray with the sprinkled on sugar before baking and one tray without. I found out that it doesn’t work to have sugar on the cookies before stamping. So forget that idea. The right way is to bake, stamp and then sprinkle. 😉 So here are the Snowflake Cookies.

That’s all the cookies I’ve made so far. I’m thinking about some peanut butter ones…or maybe Peanut Butter and Jam bars. The moral of the story is that if your cookie baking doesn’t go perfectly, don’t sweat it! I had things go wrong and we have some cookies that only my husband and I will be eating, but mostly the cookies turned out tasty! 😉 I’d love to hear about your cookie baking traditions at your house and what kinds you like to make. Happy Eating! 🙂

Day #24 – Lego Advent Calendar

We have reached the final day of our Lego Friends advent calendar! The time sure seemed to go by so quickly!

Let’s look behind the last door!

Here are the pieces. I bet you can figure this one out by yourself!

It’s an adorable snowman! I think I would like to keep him out where I can see him all winter!

For now I’ll put him in our Christmas scene. 🙂

Well, that wraps up our Lego Friends advent calendar! There are quite a few extras pieces included with this set. Now to see what else we can use them for, right? 😉

Thanks for following along with me! I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have! 🙂 And now it’s Christmas Eve! 🙂

Day #23 – Lego Advent Calendar

Sorry to be slow posting this today! It’s been a very crazy weather day for us. Winter storm Elliot has not been too friendly. Hope you are all doing ok and staying warm! But let’s move on with day #23 of our Lego Friends advent calendar.

Inside the door is…

This set is easy to figure out by just looking at the pieces. 🙂

Yep, it’s a girl! Sorry, I don’t know her name. Can anyone help me out with that?

She’s ready to help Santa prepare his sleigh for tomorrow night!

We have 1 more day left in our Lego Friends advent calendar. Be sure to stop by tomorrow and see what we find! 🙂

Day #22 – Lego Advent Calendar

Here we are, ready for day #22 of our Lego Friends advent calendar! December is flying past so quickly!

Let’s open the door!

These pieces are interesting!

This set should have been behind door #2, but our box got mixed up.

Yes, it’s a rocket! That is very cool! 🙂

It even has a wrench hooked on the side of the launch pad in case you need to “fix” anything. 😉

Come back tomorrow when we’ll open up door #23! 🙂

Day #21 – Lego Advent Calendar

So now that we’ve solved the mystery of why the pictures inside the doors don’t match the Lego sets for each day, (see my previous post) we shall look at what is hiding behind door #21!

Are you ready?

Today’s set doesn’t need to be put together, but oh, it’s a cute one!

Yep, it’s a reindeer! 🙂 (Did you say “Awww!” You can bet I did!) And look, he can be hooked up to Santa’s sleigh! That’s so fun!

Be sure to check back tomorrow! Only 3 more days for our Lego Friends advent calendar!

Day #20 – Lego Advent Calendar

Hello and welcome to Day #20 of our Lego Friends Advent Calendar!

What do you spy with your little eye behind today’s door?

Let’s take a closer look at those pieces.

If you look back at the inside of door #4, you can see how to make this set.

I put this set together, but I don’t know what it is. Can anyone help me out with that? I’m wondering if it is a game where you spin the wheel? The round part at the top does spin around.

I’ve put it in the Christmas scene by the other game.

Thanks for checking in today! See you tomorrow! 🙂

Day #19 – Lego Advent Calendar

Yes, we are already at day #19 of our Lego Friends Advent Calendar! Only 5 more days of fun before it will be time for Christmas! 🙂

Let’s open the door and see today’s surprise!

This is what we have to work with…hmm…any ideas what these pieces make?

If you need a little help, look at the inside of the door from day #12.

I think this is another kind of food cart, but I’m not sure what kind! I’d love to hear what you think! It’s cute and I love the colors!

And now it’s in the Christmas scene with all the other sets. 🙂

Be sure to come back tomorrow for day #20!

Dollar Tree Reindeer Craft Kit

I found this cute Reindeer craft kit at a Dollar Tree store close to us. While I have to admit that this wasn’t one of my favorite crafts that I’ve gotten there, by using lots of glue and not being a perfectionist, it will turn out pretty cute. 😉

Here’s a look at what’s inside the kit:

I started by spreading glue all over the paper plate. Use plenty of glue. (The plate didn’t want to lay flat so if you’d rather make your own circle out of paper, that would work great.)

Stick the brown pom poms all over the plate. I felt like there weren’t quite enough pom poms to cover the entire plate, but in the end it still looks good. I suggest leaving the empty space at the top where it will be covered up by the antlers and hat.

Glue the pieces together to make the face, mouth and nose.

Glue this piece…using plenty of glue…on top of the pom poms. Glue on the 2 eyes. I suggest putting the eyes right on top of a pom pom instead of in the gap between pom poms. That way the eyes will stick on better.

Each ear has 2 pieces, so glue them together next.

I glued the antlers on next…using lots of glue, but only on the bottom part of the antlers. The top part of the antlers won’t be touching anything.

The Santa hat is 3 pieces that you can glue together next.

Now it’s time to glue on the hat and the ears.

Yep, your reindeer will be cute! But I would let it sit for a while to completely dry before moving it around much or trying to hang it up. After my kit was completely dry, it stayed together fine, but it tended to fall apart while the glue was still wet.

I guess this must be Rudolph since he has a red nose! 😉

Day #18 – Lego Advent Calendar

Hello, again! We’re back for day #18 of our Lego Friends advent calendar! It’s only 1 week til Christmas!!!

Let’s open the door and see what’s there!

Here are the pieces we have to work with for this set.

Yep, I went back to the online images of the Lego advent calendar to work out what this set makes. And it is so cute! 🙂

I’m not totally sure what this is supposed to be, but I do recognize the tiny little penguin and think it is just adorable! 🙂 I wonder if it’s another game to play and the penguin is a prize? Let me know what you think! Whatever it is, I really like this one! Let’s tuck it into the Christmas scene.

See you again tomorrow for door #19! 🙂