"More Cookies?"

That's what Jesse said when he walked in the door after work yesterday afternoon to see me busy decorating another batch.  But in my defense, these are for delivering to our neighbors!  I probably won't be making another batch for us to eat until next week... as you can tell, we're feeling a little sugar-ed out ;o)

Except for Lily.  She's taken to asking for "cooks" at the end of every meal... even breakfast.

Decorating cookies during the girls afternoon nap is so so so relaxing!  I usually bake them before I need them (freezing if necessary) and then all I do is decorate.  So fun!  And I tried gingerbread men for the first time... I really like them!

But I think the Christmas trees and snowmen are still my favorites.

Gel food coloring is the bomb!  Makes for some nice, bright colors.  And I loooove those little cinnamon candies.  My Mom always used them on our cookies at Christmas.

Also, did you know you can make your own colored sugar by just adding a few drops of food coloring (not the gel kind) and letting it dry after mixing?  America's Test Kitchen taught me... and now I'm teaching you ;o)  So you don't have to waste money on the lame color options at your grocery store.  You can make your own!  Your welcome.

Jen shared this video with me on making piping your icing so much easier.  My decorating world will never be the same - in an amazing way!  (Though I have to say I'm not sure I believe Karen about the one-bowl trick... I tried it and definitely got some cross-color-contamination.  But maybe I'm just not as skilled as her) 

Mr. Half-Eaten would like everyone to know that though the sun starts going down at 4pm, it's still very very nice when it does shine... it gets all the way into the kitchen!

I definitely have a thing for a gingerbread man in a tie, but I still gotta say I'm in love with the trees and snowmen!  Now we're all ready to walk to our four neighbors that we "know" and deliver some Christmas greetings.  I'm practicing the few phrases I remember from Rosetta Stone (haven't been working on it much lately!) and I know how to say Merry Christmas (I think!).  But it's still gonna be intimidating to go to the "Garden Neighbors" and the "Upstairs Neighbors" because neither of them speak English as far as I know! 

But the language of "here are some Christmas cookies" is pretty universal, right?  Besides, I'm taking at least Lily with me (possibly J and SJ, too) and so I'll have a cuteness-shield from the awkwardness of language-barriers! 

Frohe Weihnachten!