Merry Christmas!

 

Santa and Grinches for friends. . .

Happy Birthday and first Christmas to our Christmas baby, great-great nephew,  Kolten. . .

 and traditional minis for the family.

 Love, Hugs, Cookies and Merry Christmas to all!

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas 2024

Hundreds and hundreds of cookie cutters can be found at my house and I always say I don't need to buy more, but it never works.  When I saw these designs I knew I wanted to include them in my holiday collection this year.  Dozens and dozens of tree cutters, but not one with a star on top, so another cutter has been added to the cutter closet.  It was worth it, these designs make me smile.

As I was decorating them, I remembered some other non-traditional trees in the past, so here is a look back at some previous designs.

 

In addition, great-niece Avery, received a special collection of cookies reminiscent of paper dolls.

 

Love, hugs, cookies and Merry Christmas to all!

Reference:   Tutorial for the tree designs can be found at Little Cookie Co.

 

Cookies or Toys?

Once upon a time great-niece, Mary Grace, challenged me to make cookies that were "real" toys.

Her sister, Leann, always requested puzzle cookies. 

  

 

Their cousin, Elliot, told me he likes looking at the cookie designs and enjoys the stories I've written about their special cookies.

 

Now that they are getting older, I took inspiration from the three of them to create some special cookies for their younger cousin, Avery, to enjoy on Christmas Eve.

Hopefully, the cousins will read the story together and play with the puzzle pieces (covered in plastic wrap!), but the big kids don't get to eat them because they are Avery's special cookies.

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'Twas the day before Christmas and all through the house, the creatures were stirring, even the mouse!

 

Santa woke up very early, took his shower and strolled into the kitchen in his underwear to drink a cup of coffee and eat the breakfast Mrs. Claus had prepared for him before she went to the barn to feed the reindeer.

After breakfast, Santa got dressed and went to the workshop to help the elves put the final touches on the toys.

Santa worked all day and skipped lunch and dinner because he knew children would leave him lots of treats to eat during his journey.  At last, it was time for Santa to dress up in his special suit, gather the reindeer and start his long trip delivering presents to children all over the world.

Once Santa finished his long journey, he arrived back at the North Pole and donned his special pajamas and slippers, drank a cup of hot chocolate and told Mrs. Claus all about his long trip.

 

So, what does Santa do on Christmas day while all the children are enjoying the surprises he delivered to them?  Well, if you look very closely, you might find him on vacation, enjoying the beach at Riviera Maya in Mexico.  Unfortunately, he won't be there in February when Avery makes her annual trip.  He will be back at the North Pole busy working on toys to deliver next Christmas.

    Merry Christmas to all and a special thank you to Santa!

 

KISS for Christmas!

Kept it simple. . .

Since my sister, Rita has carried on Mom's tradition of making thousands of Christmas cookies to share with family and friends, I do not need to make many cookies at this time of the year.  I am happy to add my sugar cookies to her platters of family favorites. 

 

This year, great-niece Avery helped pack the cookie trays for the family Christmas Eve 

gathering. . .

 

and proudly displayed them after donning her new Mira, Royal Detective costume.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas is Here

 

It's the most wonderful time of the year, and after social distancing in 2020, our extended family was looking forward to our celebration. Since some of the "kids" in the family now live out of state, the crowd was not expected to be as large as usual.  However, due to the Omicron variant of the Corona virus, by Christmas day the crowd had dwindled from 27 to 6!

Matt and I were grateful to be able to attend and the food was packed and delivered to other family members.  I guess "meals on wheels" was a step in the right direction from last year and we are grateful that the vaccine has kept symptoms mild for those who were afflicted with the virus.  Hopefully, next year we can return to a full family gathering.

Cookie designs this year,  included:

Plain  .  .  .

Fancy .  .  .

Traditional  .  .  .

One cutter, four looks. . . 

a new Santa .  .  .

and angels in remembrance of family members, Kathy and Diana,  who left us this year.

         Merry Christmas one and all.

Baby It's Covid Outside

 

 Our holiday will be a party of two this year due to the ongoing pandemic, but we are grateful that friends and family who have suffered from the virus are on the road to recovery and we look forward to a vaccine in the future.

Although I have hundreds of cookies cutters, I can never resist adding new designs to the collection.  Cookie deliveries to family and friends will include a gnome for the first time as well as a new Santa, Ms., and a cute little elf.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas . . .

 

 

and a New Year filled with real hugs, fewer masks and less social distancing.

 

 

 

 

Santa's Back

Santa's back this year sporting a stylish buffalo plaid hat!

I opted for cookie platters for the family this year, but I wasn't very happy with the outcome.  No matter how many times I arranged the tree, it just didn't look very appealing to me.  In addition, the holly berries look like Mickey Mouse. 

Although I made truck cookies in 2016 and 2015, red trucks seem to be everywhere this year, so here is my updated version.

A few snowman and snowflakes will guarantee a white Christmas!

Our Christmas celebration included a new addition to the family, great-niece, Avery.  Her "First Christmas" cookie was designed to mirror her signature style, a headband with a bow.

In past years, this cookie would have ended up in the reject pile once I smashed the bottom of the cookie.  However, I am now trying to remind myself that "it's just a cookie" and make the best of it.

The smashed foot gave me an opportunity to create a tag to add to her bagged cookie that included Lincoln, the family dog.

As Avery joined us this year, we lost her Great Grandpa just a few days earlier.  Dad, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa S.  .  .  forever in our hearts and in the stars. 

Merry Christmas one and all.

Women's Club Christmas Cookies. . .Ten Years and Counting

This year marks the tenth anniversary of baking Christmas cookies for my sister, Rita's Women's Club.   I thought it would be fun to take a look at the designs that I have shared with them to see how my cookie decorating has evolved.

The first year, I made several different designs, each bag having an "itty bitty" cookie with a larger design.  I also made a special set for a woman who was celebrating her 90th birthday.

The following year, I opted to make the same design for every guest at the party.  The Partridge in the Pear tree collection was fun to make and yet, I have never repeated it.  So many design choices for the holiday.

This Santa package shows the influence of "Spring Fling," a Cookie Convention that I attended in 2012.  We learned about creative packaging for our cookies and "toppers" are now a part of all my cookie favors,

I love, love, love this Santa and have repeated and improved upon the design over the years.

Since these cookies are for women, I decided it was time for Mrs. Claus to make an appearance.

The cookie topper had a picture of Santa and the Mrs. kissing under the mistletoe.

Santa in the chimney made his appearance in 2014.  This is the largest cookie I have ever made and I learned why there are so many large cookie cutters available.  The bigger the cookie, the easier it is to decorate.  However, I prefer smaller cookies, so I have not repeated this 4x6 inch design very often.

The peace dove that I made in 2015, is one of my favorite designs.  I love the simplicity of white cookies and the timeless message that I included on the cookie topper.

 

 

A cute little reindeer was the design I chose for 2016 with a silly topper that said:  One night a Viking named Rudolph the Red was looking out the window when he said, "It's going to rain."  His wife said, "How do you know?"  He replied,  "Because Rudolph the Red knows rain, deer."

 

In 2017, I prepared a cheerful snowman design."

 A traditional holiday favorite, a nutcracker appeared in 2018.

And in 2019, Santa returned wearing a stylish buffalo plaid hat.

Not sure if I can pick a favorite from this festive assortment, but I know I'm already thinking about what design I will choose next year.