'Tis the season......

I have decided this year to NOT punish myself by eliminating most of my traditional baked treats. This helps not only with decreasing the level of stress I impose on myself, but also removes the temptation of eating such delicacies that are better left unmentioned.

Having said that, there are those certain traditions that can not be dropped. Christmas eggnog, for example, is a holiday MUST in our family. As are the Christmas morning treats known in my family as Pecan Sticky Buns. Elmo's mom ALWAYS makes Tamales, and for him I will attempt (for the first time EVER) to make them as well, since his mom moved to Texas and will not ship any to us. News to follow later on how that pans out.

The last Christmas baking tradition that I can not elude is Sugar cookies.

Though I could really do without this cookie, I wouldn't miss out on the joy decorating them brings to us. That, and we need something to leave Christmas Eve for Santa. It is after all, the first year that Jadyn would be able to help, and I must acknowledge the fact that there won't be many more years where both Paige & Coleton will voluntarily participate.

Now, you may notice (or at least will now) that Jadyn's cookie is...well, let's be honest...BURNT. This is NOT my way of telling her that her decorating was less worthy of good cookies, but rather, my failed attempt to get her to STOP eating the cookie she was decorating. After the 3rd attempt of getting her to DECORATE the cookie rather than eat it, I decided to give her one that she may not want to eat...aka a garbage cookie. Then, once she realized that DECORATING was FAR MORE FUN than eating, I would transition her back to the edible cookies. We never got that far...as you can see.

 

 

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How to get an immediate sugar rush for the first time when you're 2 years old:

Step 1: Take your Zooables plastic monkey knife & dip it in a bowl of frosting 

Step 2: Take freshly dipped knife filled with frosting & stuff it in your mouth
Step 3: Sit back & enjoy the ride.

Coleton wanted to make sure that I was aware that Jadyn was obviously having a lot more fun than he was, and wanted to know if he could follow suit.
I said no.
Now, Paige initially didn't want to join in on the fun. However, once she saw how much F-U-N we were having, she decided maybe she did want to help after all. In fact, she ended up decorating more cookies than anyone else!

Who knew that decorating cookies could be so INTENSE??