Putting the Finishing touches on Christmas 2011

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We aren’t totally ready for Christmas yet.  There are a million presents to wrap in our basement despite the diligent wrapping efforts the hubby and I have been putting in between episodes of Friday Night Lights and vain attempts to exercise at the gym.  But it is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas.  The sweetest wrapped presents in the house right now are these ones.

The hubby had a fabulous idea that we would give each boy five dollars so that they could buy each other a present.  It was so cute to watch them as they picked out something for their brother, had it ‘wrapped” (thank you Land of Nod) and put it under the tree.  One boy knows what his present is.  “Bean, I got you a tiger.”  While the other, the big present, is still a mystery. ” I can’t tell you what it is. You open it on Christmas.”  At least now I know which boy can keep a secret.

I have also felt a lot like quite the Martha Stewart too.  I have to admit I only made 4 of my advent calendar ornaments, but I’m totally proud that these ones turned out and I’m proud of myself for trying.  I was glad that the boys could tell I attempted to recreate their “huggies” for our tree.

I also massacred the kitchen because of this cookie magazine we bought.  It’s definitely going to be my go-to source for Christmas cookie recipes for the next few years.

The boys picked out a couple recipes for us to make together. Here is the two-tone glazed cinnamon cookie recipe.  We used mini star cookie cutters and they turned out just fine.

Another recipe we liked also sounded enough like a “cake pop” potential.  I didn’t put it on sticks but I’m sure it would work and if you like cookie dough and don’t want to eat raw egg, this one is s perfect recipe for that too. I saw these cute reindeer cake pops in Bakerella’s Cake Pop book and used the Cookie Dough Truffle Recipe from Better Homes and Gardens for the base.   At first I told the boys to stay away while I made them, but Leelee insisted on helping.  And he did a pretty decent job of getting the nose and antlers on too.

Here is our eyeless herd: (Leelee made the one in the red cup!) I still have to work on them tonight.  I think I’ll use white chocolate and an edible marker.

We also made this “easy gingerbread recipe” from this blog I love (It’s called “A Chow Life” and the recipe is from a bakery I’m dying to go to in San Francisco called Tartine).  It is definitely easy and I love the cookies because the cocoa in it makes them taste divine.  We didn’t use the icing recipe-I was lazy and the cookies taste yummy enough with chocolate chip decorations.  When I’m a grandma one day, I might even pass this off as my own creation.

Until then, the boys and I do differ in our decorating ideas.  These are mine:

And these are theirs:

But I’ve loved every minute of Christmas baking with the duo.  I now am faced with a humongous mess, highly sugared children and way, way too many cookies.  But isn’t that what the holiday spirit is all about?

2 thoughts on “Putting the Finishing touches on Christmas 2011

  1. You do SO MUCH with those boys! You make me feel like a total slug. Admittedly, the boys (at 8 months) are too little to participate in much. I hope when mine get to be the age of yours, I’ll have enough energy to do all of this fun stuff with them.

    1. *blushing* you are too kind, but really it does get easier as they get older. I think the first year is the hardest and yes, you will have energy soon-having baby twins is really tough! So, Merry belated Christmas and hoping 2012 brings you more rest and fun adventures:)

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