Holiday Baking

The first week of December, I decided to bake cookies for some family and friends just as a little early Christmas gift.  I ended up with eighteen dozen cookies and four dozen bars.  I made Chocolate Crackle Cookies, Gingerbread Cookies, Coconut Meltaways, Frosted Sugar Cookies, White Chocolate Cranberry Blondies (my favorite), and Chocolate Layer Bars from the new Smitten Kitchen Every Day book.  It was so much fun and made the start of the holiday season feel extra special!

What are you baking this holiday season?

A Snow Day

We received fourteen inches of snow yesterday!  I think that's a record for us in December.  It definitely has made it feel more like Christmas.  Charlotte had a blast playing out in it and even built a snowman.  

She has the day off from school today, so we are staying inside where it's warm and cozy, eating cookies and drinking lots of hot tea.

  

Do you have snow where you are?

Feeling Festive

Hello friends!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  It's hard to believe that today is December 1st - really the start of the holiday season.  Charlotte was very excited to start on her advent calendar this morning.  

We put our tree up last weekend, as we always do right after Thanksgiving.  The house is feeling very festive and cozy and I love it.  Have your started decorating for Christmas?

We are planning to see the Nutcracker play in two weeks and we are so looking forward to it.  I really need to order our Christmas cards, so I can get them addressed and in the mail before Christmas.  Still lots of little things to do before the big day and a few more gifts to buy.

I'm baking about fourteen, or maybe more, dozen cookies and bars for friends and family next week and a few will be shipped to friends on the west coast.  I'm looking forward to two full days of baking and I'll be sure to shares photos of all my baked goodies.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you are doing.  Charlotte is at a birthday party now and she has another birthday party to attend this afternoon.  I'm looking forward to relaxing with some thai take-out, a glass of prosecco, and watching a Christmas movie tonight after all the busyness from today!

  

Oh, Charlotte's new pink heart flannel sheets are keeping her warm and cozy on these cold, winter nights.  I might need a set for our bed, too!