Cookie-Making Day

There are some things that I just didn't get around to blogging about during the holidays.
This is one of those times that I don't want to slip by and become a non-memory.

I think that this might be the last Christmas in which everything is all brand new for Matthew.
He doesn't remember any Christmas celebrations from the past, so every time we did something, it was all brand new to Matthew.  I love that!

Making Christmas cookies was one of 

those brand new activities.

Look at that concentration.

You can tell he's concentrating because his tongue is hanging out...just like his Papa B and his Grandpa Pete.

I think that what Carrie captured in this photograph is Matthew poking a piece of cookie dough 

into his mouth.  

Once he tasted it, he wouldn't stop eating it. 

 I think that he liked the dough better than the baked cookies. 

William would also tell you that the dough is his favorite part of Christmas cookies.

Josh is carefully observing everything before jumping in and cutting his own cookies.

That is so Joshua.

He is a very cautious little guy.

Although, I don't think that I can call him 

a little guy anymore.

Just look at him! 

He doesn't need a stool anymore 

to reach the top of the island!

I must direct your attention to Matthew's sneaky
"under William's arm"
reach for a hunk of cookie dough.

Is it possible that this is William's fourteenth Christmas?

This is my Grandma Bellman's cookie recipe.

She used to make the cookies and then frost them in yellow, green, blue, and red frosting.

More rolling, cutting, baking...

...and eating!

You better stop eating that dough, Mister!

"Dough?  What dough?!"

Oh, what a happy day Cookie-Making Day is!

Until the cookie dough becomes Play-Doh!

"Stop playing with the cookie dough, Mister!"

(No Williams were hurt in the making of these cookies.)

I'll just bet you that Josh is thinking, "If I can't play with the dough, then I'll play with the powdered sugar."

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Speaking of monkeys...

Ahhhh...the finished product.

Here is one that William made especially 

in honor of Pastor John.

It's all decked out in Purdue colors.

Another year of cookie-making in the books.

So...until next Christmas...unless, of course, we pull out the recipe for Valentine's Day.

Cookies dressed in pink frosting and red hots are mighty pretty!

Enjoying cookies,

Clean White Boxes

Ahhhh.

The New Year.

I love the New Year.

I love taking the old calendar off the wall, putting it on the table next to the new calendar, grabbing several colors of Sharpie markers, and filling in the clean white boxes on the new calendar with birthdays and anniversaries and the handful of activities that are already scheduled. 

It always looks so fresh and new.

So colorfully exciting.

So full of grace and mercy.

Clean white boxes with no black Sharpie lines running through my mistakes.

Yet.

Oh, it will happen.  

There will end up being black lines and imperfect handwriting.

There will be times when I over-schedule and double-book.
There will be times when I grab the red marker rather than the blue one.

There will be times when I look at my calendar and the word "Simplify" that hangs over it and want to cry.

But then I remember...
"The faithful love of the Lord never ends!  His mercies never cease.  Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning."  (Lamentations 3:22-23).

Oh, what good news that is!

Enjoying the freshness and mercy of a New Year,

Ridiculous!

It started out so innocently.

I sat down this week and watched the recording I had of "The Pioneer Woman's Christmas."

The next thing I knew I was making plans for her cinnamon rolls.

I decided that they would be made on New Year's Day instead of our traditional waffles.

  

Waffles are a tradition, because my Grandma Bellman always made waffles on New Year's Day for breakfast.  My brother and I would stay the night with Grandma and Grandpa so that Mom and Dad could go to their Sunday School Class party each year.  Rob and I would argue about who was going to get the coveted "behind Grandpa's chair" sleeping place.  Then, in the morning, Mom and Dad would come over for breakfast. 

Grandma's waffles.

Second thoughts.

How can I take all that time to make cinnamon rolls on Sunday morning when we have to have Carrie to church for praise team practice by 9:00?

How can I even think of replacing waffles when I got a new waffle maker from Ron and Judy for Christmas?

And give up a tradition that has been in place for almost 40 years?

Oh!  

New tradition!

(I love starting up new traditions!)

Cinnamon rolls on New Year's Eve!

Boy!  Am I glad that this is a New Year's Eve tradition! 

I don't think that I could ever start out the New Year with all of the butter and sugar that are enveloped in these things!  I really would like to leave that guilt behind in the old year.

Isn't the dough beautiful?

Adding the baking soda, baking powder, salt, and the last cup of flour before rolling them out...

You cannot even imagine how much butter and sugar are inside this log.

Well...maybe after a closer inspection of the picture, 

you can.

Adding insult to injury.

The frosting was made with two pounds of powdered sugar, whole milk, maple extract, and...

strongly brewed coffee!

This is my guilt-reducing photo.

As I was elbow deep in butter and sugar, I looked over in my kitchen sink 

and saw the apples and pears that I bought yesterday.  

The plan for the New Year is to begin again.

Healthier eating.

Exercise.

But that's the New Year.

This is the old.

Quit feeling guilty and enjoy
the extravagance of these rolls!

These rolls that we have renamed...

 "Once-A-Year Rolls."

It's no joke.  The first word out of my mouth after taking a bite was, "Ridiculous!"

What is even more ridiculous is that this recipe
made 3-9X13 glass pans 

and one 9-inch glass pan FULL of rolls!

Again...RIDICULOUS!

It's not too late!
If you would like to give these rolls a try before the New Year comes rushing in, here is a link to The Pioneer Woman's website where you will find her amazing cinnamon rolls.  Just click on "amazing cinnamon rolls."

Enjoying the sweetness of the old year--and the guilt that is left behind,

Let Them Come

I love our Nativity.

It is special for so many reasons.

My cousin and her husband gave it to us back in 2001. 

Len made the stable, and they included Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus in the manger.

For several years after that, we added important people and animals...the Angel, the Wise Men and a camel, a Shepherd, Shepherdess, and sheep, a donkey.

Even a rooster, hen, goose, duck, and turkey.

And a Water Boy.

Several years went by without an addition.

The two little shops that sold them went out of business.

This year, I decided that I would like to add someone...

or something.

After looking online, I decided that I really didn't want anymore townspeople.

And the animals were so expensive.

Then Judy, my mother-in-law, told me the story of her good friend, Carol.

Carol shops all year round for 

animals to add to her Nativity.

Animals that aren't part of the original set.

Animals that aren't to scale with the rest of the Nativity.

Animals that probably didn't get a front row seat for the Birth of Jesus.

Then I found them.

Animals of good quality.

Beautiful animals that were inexpensive but durable.

The first animal we brought home this month was the little raccoon.

He looks as though he's praying.

Joshua likes him because he looks like the raccoon that Buddy the Elf meets in the movie "Elf."

"Hi!  What's your name?"

And then...

I couldn't help myself.

When I saw this kneeling giraffe, I had to have him.

 A new tradition with endless possibilities!

 I love to think that ALL of creation yearned to welcome the Newborn King.

In our Nativity, they will get the chance.

Who knows what animal/s might join us next year...
maybe a hedgehog...a grizzly bear...an ostrich...maybe even a flamingo.

O.K.
Maybe not a flamingo.

Enjoying the Birth of our Savior,