Cookie Exchange 2008

Now that my brothers finally decided to join my ranks - those would be the Settled Down With A Significant Other ranks - there's quite a few people around during the holidays. This year, my Mom invited the ladies of the family to participate in a cookie exchange. We'd never done one as a family before. I'm still trying to remember if I've ever really done a real cookie exchange. I know K did a recipe exchange at Girl Guides one year. Those are fun too, but I digress...

K and I jumped on the Cookie Exchange bandwagon. K made gingersnaps. They are a favourite of hers. You have to under cook them a little so they stay soft and chewy. Apparently, crunchy gingersnaps are just not cool.

(R is composing the traditional Santa letter. More on that later...)

I made no-roll sugar cookies. I'm happy with how they turned out. One recipe made about 100 cookies. Perfect for when you're in a hurry and only have time to make one batch of something. Mixing the batter went quickly enough. I divided it in four and popped it in the fridge for two hours. Just long enough to clean up the kitchen and get a busy Sunday underway. Then I spent two hours getting the dough all baked up. Most of that was fiddling with the fussy wee decorations. Baking time for these little guys was only about 5 minutes.
We joined Mom, my sister, my sister-in-law and my sister-in-law-to-be for an afternoon tea party last Sunday. We lined trays of treats on the counter and filled our bags with a great selection of treats: creme de menthe squares, mini cinnamon buns, mini butter tarts, shortbread, chocolate covered peanut butter balls, chocolate chip cookies. Hopefully I'll remember to get a picture when I take them out of the freezer a little closer to Christmas.

So there you have it. Proof that we are enjoying the holiday preparations. I'm very aware this year that for me, the preparations are the celebration. If I can't enjoy the effort I put into our December celebrations, I find myself really disappointed and exhausted by the time the three days of Christmas roll around. I like that the kids remember the yearly traditions that have crept in over the years. It's nice to see that they are starting to feel the rhythm of our year.

I promise that there's lots going on around here. So much I could share but I'm - happily - a little out of time. Today for example, I could have blogged all afternoon, but I was busy building a snow fort with R. The last time I built a snow fort, I was maybe 6 years old; the snow banks were bigger than I was...and it was more of a slide than a fort. Thanks for checking in.

~Bonni