We finished off a busy week by preparing our final cookie and getting ready for Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve Eve we baked our famous sugar cookies! Matt prides himself on this recipe and while I stay busy making 10 other varieties he absolutely loves taking ownership of this one. And I must say they are quite delicious. We made the smart decision to have Simon go to bed early before pulling out all the flour and dough. While we completely adore our charming little toddler, he's quite the handful when it comes to anything in the kitchen.
Carter and Lucy stepped up to the challenge and rolled out most of the dough while taking turns choosing different cookie cutters.
That night I finished my yummy cranberry bliss bars too. (Let's just say we had enough Christmas cookies to feed a small country). 4 dozen cookies x 11 varieties = so.much.sugar.
The next morning we decorated all the sugar cookies! Each year the kids get better at controlling the amount of sprinkles that falls on each cookie. They've also learned to not lick their fingers until the very end so it's safe to give away the dozens we've made.
We happily gifted boxes of cookies to friends, neighbors, co-workers and family. I just love spending time baking for so many special people, it truly is one of my favorite things.
Christmas Eve morning Matt and I got ready for the Seahawks game while the kids prepared to cheer on the Hawks from home. With my parents already planning to come over for the day we thought it would be a good time to sneak away for a little date day.
Matt's usual seats are great but his friend gifted us a little upgrade at the beginning of the game so we ventured down to the 100 level to see the players up close. It was fun to see such a different view than what we are used to, only 7 rows up!
Even thought they played horribly (come on Hawks!) I loved having the day to spend with Matt. Dates are few and far between for us so we get so excited when we can have a little alone time together.
After the game we headed home to get ready for dinner with my family. Our traditional homemade lasagna with plenty of cookies for dessert.
The kids had fun with my brother and sister-in-law and really loved opening up a few presents that night!
Simon thought it was more fun to play with the wrapping paper than actually care about his new toys. But, now that Christmas is over he is loving his new firetruck from Aunt Joy!
After all the family left the kids prepared their letters and cookies for Santa. Lucy wrote an apology letter since we didn't have any chocolate chip cookies (apparently she was told they were Santa's favorites and was really disappointed I hadn't made any).
We got out an apple and carrots for the reindeer and they headed to bed.
Later that night we heard some strange sounds on the roof and in the morning we discovered Santa had visited!!
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