Christmas Baking

Every Christmas, my mom and I have a tradition of baking lots of sweets in preparation for all the family that will soon gather together. This year traditions kind of changed when the Christmas festivities were moved to our house. We were very blessed that our family agreed to come to Charlotte so we didn't have to travel with little Oliver. Luckily Mom had the whole week off so she came early and we got to do our Christmas baking together.

This year Owen is old enough to join us in our tradition. First he helped Nana make rice crispy treats. Sampling the marshmellows

We then attempted to make sugar cookies. Normally we don't make sugar cookies as no one in our family really digs them, but Owen loves cookie cutters so we thought we would try. Also our friend Shannon sent us some fun new cookie cutters to use.

Owen was very excited to use the cookie cutters..so much so that he couldn't wait for Nana to roll out the dough.Nana finally gets the chance to roll out the dough
Placing all the fun shapes
Placing the cookies on the baking stone...notice how messy his shirt got.

So our recipe was not a good one and our cookies didn't look that great but we had fun making them. We did decorate the cookies the next day (sorry no pics) with icing and sprinkles. Owen really enjoyed shaking on the sprinkles.

Though the sugar cookies were a bust, we did make many super yummy treats. Our new treat this year was extremely easy but so addicting. You melt a bar of almond bark in a big bowl and throw in a box of Golden Graham cereal. You then lay it out on a piece of wax paper and let it harden. You then break into pieces. IT IS SO GOOD! We also made chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, and rice crispy treats. Mom also brought her homemade ginger snaps and a variety of old fashioned candies. I think we have been on a sugar high for days!

I love Christmas baking, especially doing it with my mom. I'm happy that Owen can join us now and I can't wait until Oliver can too. :) This is a tradition I hope will always continue.