last saturday was cookie decorating day at my

cousin nancys. we planned it way back in october

and decided it made sense if everyone baked their own cookies at

home and we'd just spend our time together decorating them.

making cutout, decorated sugar cookies is a labor of love man.

by the time you mix them, chill them, roll, cut and

thennnnn decorate them, you've probably got about 15 minutes into

each and every cookie!

(no wonder i used to feel resentful when my kids would

grab a handful and eat them like popcorn.

"what are you doing? can't you show a little respect and just look at them?")

bahaha

i have about 25 Christmas themed cookie cutters, but i just used my favorites~ the

ones i know are fun to decorate and don't have a lot of pointy parts that just

break off. i couldn't wait to see what shapes the other girls came with, so

you can imagine my surprise and delight when anna opened her

bowl and revealed these!

who'd have thunk it? snails, fox, porcupines and bears?

moose? CHRISTMAS MOOSE... be still my heart!

(cookie cutters available at ikea).

i loved the originality and couldn't wait to see how she'd decorate them and

believe me, she did not disappoint.

nancy graciously made the frosting for all of us and provided a plethora of

sprinkes and decorating tips and it was go time.

that's maddy in the kitchen, still mixing up frosting and growing a human

being while she's at it. nancy- in the middle- will soon be a grandma for the

1st time! the baby is a boy and we love suggesting names. : )

anna is on the right and she's the woodland animal- cookie baker.

barb did not decorate cookies on her knees. she'd dropped a tip and

had to go looking for it.

here are some of the finished cookies. anna's animal were my favorite.

i liked everyone's, but seriously, who doesn't love a fox wearing a wreath

around it's neck, or a moose with beautiful antlers??

my friend mary bought me a cookie cutter last year that is a pickup truck with a tree

on the back. i gave everyone one to decorate and it was fun to see all the variations.

nancy's santa made us smile~

barb just made snowflakes, she wanted to keep it simple, but boy did

she find a lot of different ways to make them pretty!

i find it hard to believe it was the first time anna had ever decorated cookies...she
is a natural.

here are some of mine~

these beauties were decorated by maddy.

*excuse me now while I take a break and go eat sugar straight out of the bag.

i'd like this decorating day to be a new tradition. it was so fun to sit

around a table and catch up on each other's lives while we got creative.

nancy even made us a yummy lunch of soup and sandwiches and then

before we knew it it was time to head out.

it had started to snow and the forecast was for many inches.

my next stop wasn't going back home though, it was traveling south to

northfield mn. to spend the night with dear friends.

luckily I beat the worst of the snow and got to christa's before

the snow started to pile up and hey! being snowed in in

northfield would be about the best thing ever.

christa loves to decorate and it's a joy to see her house at Christmas.

the front porch looked like this.

the families collection of nutcrackers lined up on these shelves, was beautiful.

a lot of art projects happen at this dining room table. I had fun making old

fashioned snowflakes with the boys. it was kind of a competition and now they

probably don't have any paper left in their printer...  : )

will and ben. big brother isaac was at his choir concert.

it snowed alllll night and we woke up to this beautiful sight.

so cool how the snow piled up in the fire pit area.

sunday morning christa made a delightful birthday brunch in honor of her momma.

fresh rosemary bundled at each of our places- and these darling notecards.

it was just a really, really lovely weekend. exactly what i needed.

spending time with fun family and close girlfriends just does

a body good. we shared yummy food and belly laughs and

to end this, i want to show you the photo i took of christa's family

that completely cracked me up!!!

i was in the kitchen and heard one of her boys say,

"hey auntie"!   i turned and saw the 3 boys sticking their heads out

of their bedroom doors- just their heads, and i laughed out loud and called christa over to see it.

she and joe immediately ran to join the fun and i (of course)

ran for my camera to document it all.

good times you guys,

good times.

Merry Christmas from my friends and i,

xo