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.

Happy Thanksgiving

 This year I am grateful for the Covid vaccine, good health, good friends and the opportunity to spend the holiday with my family. 

 

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Happy Birthday Chris!

A friend called and asked me to make cookies for a family member's 50th birthday. I said, "sure" thinking birthday---EASY! She then said, "Can you add a few that look like their dogs?"  Uh-oh, not so easy!  Katie sent this picture for inspiration. . .

I did the best I could, but I wasn't very happy with them.   Sheldon, the brown puppy looks like an alien! Fortunately, my friends aren't demanding, they said they were amazing.

                       

 

Happy Anniversary!

Congratulations to my nephew and his wife as they celebrate their 25th anniversary! 
 

Since my family is big on "traditions"--Lamb Cakes at Easter, Cheesy Potatoes (with onions and without),  Grandma O's Cheesecake. . . the vintage car cookie has become my anniversary cookie tradition.

The couple surprised their wedding guests when they arrived at the reception in an unusual way.  .  .

.  .  . so their cookie collection had golf carts, too.

                 Love, hugs and cookies to a special couple!

 

References:

Tutorial for the vintage car cookie can be found at https://www.lilaloa.com/2013/06/just-married-wedding-cookies.html

 

Logan's Graduation

Great-nephew Logan's path to a degree in finance included:  full-time instruction, a gap, part-time instruction, a pandemic and online learning.

The "road less traveled" continued when Logan opted to mask up and explore Hoover Dam, the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, rather than donning a cap and gown for a socially distanced commencement ceremony.

Logan's non-traditional approach to his college degree, reminds me of these words by Robert Frost:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference 

Congratulations!

BEE Like Mary Grace

 

 

 

For a girl who has celebrated her birthday with pickles, pigs and brains, sixteen candles just wouldn't do!

 

Count them!  Sixteen happy, little bees adorn the letters.

 Great niece, Mary Grace, lives each and every day with these "hive" rules in mind.  .  .

Wishing an amazing young woman a very happy birthday!

Can't wait to see what the future has in store for this creative, loving, adventurous, busy bee!

Graduation Day at the University of Illinois

 

Today we are celebrating a memorable day with special friends.  Markos is graduating from the Gies School of Business at the University of Illinois.

Three U of I grades in three years  .  .  .way to go!

Big smiles on the faces of Mom and Dad as they put tuition payments behind them.

Congratulations to an amazing family!

 

Celebrating Megan's Graduation

Great-niece, Megan, is graduating today.

The ongoing pandemic brought new challenges for senior year, including:  remote learning, playing a saxophone while wearing a mask, virtual concerts and outdoor concerts, to name just a few.  Despite the "new normal," Megan has excelled.

Earlier this year, Meg received high praise for a video she created in her film class, so I decided to try to recreate her image in cookie form.

Since Meg is a musician, I included a cookie version of, Pomp and Circumstance, for her.

Meg's art work was selected to represent her high school in a juried art show, so black and white cookies were part of her collection.

I think of this cutter as my "Meg" cutter.  I purchased it for her 8th grade graduation and have never used it for anyone else.  With a few cuts here and there, I updated it for a more sophisticated look.  Ooops. . .I forgot to add eye glasses!

Finally, a few traditional caps, diplomas and flowers to round out her collection.

Best wishes to a sweet girl as she moves on to the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. 

Love, hugs and cookies! 

Book Club Cookies

How the world has changed due to the pandemic since I last hosted a Book Club meeting.  We are a large group, so indoor meetings have not been possible and dinner parties are no longer part of the fun, but at least it's warm enough to move away from Zoom to resume outdoor gatherings.

My book selection was, The Girls of Atomic City, by Denise Kiernan so I thought a treat bag of patriotic cookies would be appropriate for a "grab and go" treat.

Happy Easter

After a year of social distancing, we are slowly returning to normal!  Not quite the entire 3 generations of our extended family, but at least it is not a Zoom holiday.

 

Silhouettes and one line designs are a bit of a trend in the cookie world right now, so I gave them a try. They were only possible because of You Tube videos, clip art purchased from Etsy and a Kopycake projector that was a gift from my Sugar Sister, Donna, who didn't want to pack it for her move to FL.

Finally, some tic-tac-toe designs that were packaged with a bag topper that said, "Go ahead, play with your food."

Look Who's Two

What a difference a year makes!  Although the pandemic continues, a vaccine is available and our family is gathering in small numbers, so a celebration for Avery's second birthday was a special day for all of us. We have enjoyed all the photos and videos her Mom shared with us so we could watch her grow and learn.

 

The pandemic didn't keep Avery from enjoying her time with Mom and Dad, her furry pal, Lincoln, and new activities.

Right now her favorite activity is vacuuming, but she enjoys baking, too.  Maybe she'll help me make Christmas cookies this year.

 

 

 

Happy 2nd birthday, Avery!