The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Besides the joyful screams and giggles of our children, the first sound I heard this morning was Christmas music playing in the living room.  Now that Thanksgiving is past and since the first Sunday of Advent is only a day away, it feels okay to be thinking Christmas thoughts. 

The boys have wanted to decorate cookies since the last time we did cutout cookies so we decided to bake and decorate some today. I (Danae) confess that I was not the most fun person at the beginning of this process. For some reason I always get a little cranky when we do these. Could it be the flour everywhere? The multiple rolling out of the dough because a child decided to not make optimal use of the dough when placing the cookie cutters on it? The licking of the fingers while decorating and having to wash hands repeatedly to prevent gross germs on the cookies? I will say that none of these really were my reasons for being a bear at the start of this--I think I was just tired when we began and chose to do this project at the wrong time. Thankfully, I had calmed down by the time we started frosting the cookies, and I really enjoyed it with everyone else.

Isaac carefully cutting out his cookies

For the actual decorating, we set up individual stations for each child complete with decorating mat (recycled cereal bags--thanks for that great tip, Mom) and personal washcloth (thought of that after the first licking of the fingers). Paul mixed some fabulous colors--the expected red and green plus some other random colors. The kids did a great job sharing all the colors and passing them on as they finished a cookie.

Kenzie focusing on her first cookie (a 15-minute process
that produced an evenly coated cookie)

Not sure what happened here, but Caleb looks excited! 

Maddie being diligent in using just the right amount of frosting 

What?!? Only one cookie and not three?

I love Christmas and getting to do traditions with our boys--some of our own and some borrowed from family and friends. We now have a couple containers of Grandma's cookies and Chex Mix in the freezer to enjoy through Christmas day (assuming they last that long). Next on our list for the season is putting up the tree and decorations. My prayer is that, despite the busyness that sometimes comes with this season, we do not lose focus of why this is the most wonderful time of the year...Jesus!