Our New Christmas Tradition

Can I call it a "tradition" if I just decided to do this, just started tonight and feel that I will want to do this every year?

Yes, I believe I can.

So, I will.

Anyway, I love Christmas cookies. I love baking them, decorating them, eating them. I love making them myself, with friends, or with the kids. I love them.

What I do not love is chaos, whining, pleading, and tantrums while attempting to make cookies. I don't know about anyone else's kids but when mine find out I'm baking they swarm the kitchen and everyone wants to "help" with something. It gets a little overwhelming.

This weekend I decided we would do cookies differently this year.

So, yesterday I explained to the kids that they would each go through our cookie recipe book and choose a cookie they wanted to make with me. Tonight was Aly's turn to bake. Just the two of us. She had picked out sugar cookies on sticks dipped in almond bark and decorated with royal icing. Start to finish it was all Aly. No arguing over turns. No complaining about turns. It was wonderful!

The cookies turned out adorable and I was so glad that we had that time together. It ended up being a really fun cookie to make but a lot of work. It was fun to be able to experiment without the stress of a large crowd!

Tomorrow night, Aidan and I will attempt to make candy cane cookies. Tuesday I get to make chocolate mint layered fudge with Garrett. And Wednesday Rachel and I will make our favorite cut-out cookies for Santa. I'll let Rachel do a couple herself and then I'll have some fun on my own when she goes to bed. I'll save a couple for the older kids to decorate on Christmas Eve morning.

My hope is that since everyone has an opportunity to bake their own cookies, they won't mind when I make a couple other cookies on my own! (It goes a little quicker that way.) And by Christmas we'll have quite a selection of yummy treats!