Oh what a wonderful holiday! We finally got everything pulled together and finished. That is such a great feeling. I even got some help frosting the cutouts...(we ended up with about 14 dozen of those! EGADS!)



We were able to go over to my Mom's about 7:30 pm on Christmas Eve and just have a nice, relaxing family dinner. Just Mark and myself, the boys and their Grandma and Grandpa. No other relatives, no other parties. Just dinner, wine, one present a piece and some quiet time before the craziness. It was a great way to wind down after all the baking, wrapping, preparations... and to gear up for the big events to come! Thanks Mom, for the fabulous dinner and great company! It was so nice to chill for a bit.



Then came Christmas morning... WOW! My boys were SO excited about everything. It was just the BEST to sit back and watch them tear into their stacks of stuff. What a haul those two got! LOL. There were sleds and Webkinz and books and video games galore! Little Colten was SO adorable because he was really into ANY present he opened. "Look! I got NEW MARKERS!!!" -or- "WOW! I got NEW STAR WARS JAMMIES!!! WHOOOHOOO!!!" It was the greatest. I laughed more than I have in weeks. Copper got new doggy toys as well and was squeaking all over the place. It was a noisy, busy, messy, happy, fantastic time.





UNTIL - Daddy stuck an ugly, old plastic dolly of mine into a bag and slipped it in with the load of Colten's presents.



Colten opened it up and thought it was really his present! We were all laughing and he was laughing as he smacked his Dad on the arm and said it was a girl's toy and not for him. Daddy said that it must be for him, since it had his name on it! Then Coltie thought he really had to keep the ugly old dolly and we had a bit of a cry for a moment. Grandma and I got Colten aside and helped him play a trick on Daddy then. Daddy got an empty box of a Kid's toy for his next gift and Colten was tickled pink that he pulled one over on his Dad. Later on in the evening when we went to Mark's parents, we took that ugly dolly in a gift bag for Uncle Luke- another of our practical jokers. Colten was tickled again when we pulled that one over on Uncle Lukey. There were LOTS of laughs all around and even Luke declared that we must have the doll make a return appearance next year as a recurring gift for an unsuspecting recipient.



I got some great gifts from everyone this year, including a new vacuum cleaner and a cell phone! I must be the LAST Mom on Earth to get one, but I am finally cool. LOL. I also got a stack of new period dramas to watch, mostly BBC. I love the costume dramas. Can't get enough!



I still get to exchange gifts with Kayla soon. Probably this weekend. So the holiday stretches for a bit, which is nice.



I'm really excited to give her the presents I've made and chosen for her. I know she'll love them. It's especially nice to have such a wonderful friend to share life with, like her. I love ya, Chickie.



I mentioned another cookie recipe, so I'll share it with y'all. This is the old fashioned Coconut Jam Thumbprint cookie. They are also absolutely FABULOUS! You just have to try them :)



COCONUT JAM THUMPRINTS
3 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 C sugar
1 tsp pure Vanilla ext.
3 1/2 C flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 egg -beaten w/ 1 Tbsp. water, as an egg wash
2 bags sweetened flaked coconut
Jar of your favorite jam

Preheat oven to 350*
In electric mixer with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until just combined. Add vanilla. In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients to creamed mixture. Mix until the dough begins to come together. Dump on a floured surface and form into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
Pinch bits of dough off and roll into 1 1/4 inch balls. Dip each ball into egg wash, then roll in coconut. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into top of ball with your thumb. Fill with about 1/4 tsp of jam. Bake about 20 minutes until cocnut is golden brown.

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SO DELICIOUS! And here's a little tip- Really load that coconut on the cookie. Once it toasts and you move the cookies, much of it will fall off. Also, if you have any left over coconut after you roll all your cookies, just toss it on the sheets anyway and let it toast up in the oven. When you remove cookies to a rack to cool, place waxed paper underneath to catch all your coconut. Save it all to a plastic bag or jar and sprinkle on ice cream or desserts for the next week or two. It's SO yummy!



Merry Christmas to all!

Merry Christmastime!
It's been a hectic time of year for all of us! I am just as guilty as everyone of rushing around since Thanksgiving doing the shopping, crafting, cleaning, decorating, wrapping things. Unfortunately, we've also had a few sad events sandwiched in there like family funerals, illnesses and mishaps. I'm glad we're all making it to the holidays intact.



I am marathon baking right now. These are some of my Hubby's favorites. The Bohemian Crescent cookies. I just got done with 5 dozen of those little buggers.
Quite a bit of work with all the hand shaping and powdering them twice with confectioner's sugar... But, they're FABULOUS. So, here's the recipe. ENJOY!

BOHEMIAN CRESCENT COOKIES
2 C softened butter
1 C confectioner's sugar
2 tsp real vanilla extract
4 C flour
(More confectioner's sugar to taste- to pat on the cookies. But of course, the more the merrier!)

Cream butter. Add sugar, vanilla and flour. Cover bowl and chill dough for 30 minutes. Pinch off small rounds of dough (about 1 inch balls.) Dip fingers into flour and shape dough into small crescents. Flatten out slightly. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes until bottom edge is just beginning to golden. Remove to cooling racks. Pat entire cookie with confectioner's sugar once while warm, and again when cooled.

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Meanwhile, I also made some faux cutout cookies and had them in the shop in town. They were so cute! I did them up on little plates with a doily.



They were made from clay, frosted, decorated and will last forever! No calories at all!!! LOL



They have fooled more than one unsuspecting friend. We gave some to the boys' teachers, and Mom and Kayla are getting some too. Shhhh, don't tell!



They look really cute on my antique breadboard with a fly screen over top. Also on my little stand over by the hoosier. Those faux cupcakes are ones I made last year. The whole thing looks super cute!





I am trying to get the rest of the baking done today, then frosting tomorrow. Going over to Mom's to wrap all the boys' gifts later on tonight. Best to do it out of the house entirely for NO PEEKING!

So a few more packages to wrap, a few cookies to frost, then I'm ready. Bring on the Christmas CHEER!

Of course, my presents for Mom and Kayla are the ones I most want to look extra special. I wrap those first, before I run out of steam and just start slapping sticky bows on everything! LOL

Here are a few of their gifts... I went with a fuschia and green thing this year for the gals. Found some awesome paper. I always tie a little frippery or ornament on the packages, too. And real ribbon on most of them.



Here is one gift that I made for Kayla. She is always searching for a notecard frantically. "I never have any cute notecards." she'll say. I wanted to solve that for her! I searched around for lots of adorable note cards, tied each variety up with fancy yarns and ribbons, stuck them all in an adorable lined basket and then frou-frou'd it up a bit with her initial. I sure hope she likes it :)



It was really fun finding her some funky, fresh cards and putting the whole thing together. She'll never be at a loss again when it's time to dash off a quick Thank-You or How-Do-You-Do! Cute pens tucked in alongside, and she's all set.

Perhaps I'll share another cookie recipe if I have time inbetween frosting :)
Happy Holidays to all!