Traditions

I love holidays and the traditions that accompany them. C is big on the Christmas Cookie traditions of his youth. When his Mom passed away, we inherited the wonderful old wooden handled cookie cutters that C remembered using as a child. We still put them to the task every December. When Kristin was in college, we would wait until Christmas Eve morning to decorate our cookies. Now we just do it whenever it is convenient for her and Dave to be here. Yesterday happened to be the day.

Here are the cookies, naked as jaybirds, waiting for their ornamentation. I use C's Mom's dough recipe, letting it sit overnight in the fridge, and then roll and cut them all out. It is somewhat relaxing and gives me time to reflect on the season and what it's really all about...definitely not the cookies!!!


As you can see, there were a few accidents this year. The cookies seemed "shorter" than usual, but you know, they taste every bit as good as ever!!!
I also follow C's Mom's recipe for icing, but instead of "real" egg whites, I use powdered ones, because the outcome seems to be a bit more predictable, with the icing hardening rather than remaining soggy for hours or sometimes days. It seems that the idea behind this cookie decorating in this household is to see just how much of the little sugar bits can be fit upon each cookie. Craig and Kristin get right into the foray, but Dave, bless his heart, is new to the family and is still a bit standoffish, well, just a bit!! I am the one who has the honor of spreading the icing onto the cookies first. It is an honor, because it is such a messy job, that I end up with almost as much on my fingers, hands, and arms as on the cookies themselves. YUMMMMM!

Here are the happy decorators! Dave is glad that he has survived another year....and Kristin and her Dad can hardly wait to dig in!!

So that was a fun event for the early evening. After dinner we tuned in to watch the Georgia Tech/Georgia basketball game. It's not quite the rivalry that the Thanksgiving football game is, but it's not bad. My Yellow Jackets beat up on the Bulldogs this year, so it was a most enjoyable event! Here are all of my "kids" watching the final minutes of the game, snuggled up on the loveseat (when it was named loveseat, I wonder if this is what they had in mind?).

At some point in the evening, Barker got down and then attempted to reclaim his position....it was kind of like musical chairs for a minute there! Marley had moved to Barker's old spot, and then Barker tried to muscle Kristin out of the way. He weighs just about as much as she does, so we weren't sure who would win that one!!


Earlier in the afternoon we had taken a nice long walk on the golf course. Marley doesn't get to run free in his Atlanta neighborhood, so he had the best time running around with "Uncle Barker" and exploring all of the natural areas. He was one tired puppy last night, even trying to snuggle up next to his grandpa's feet!

This morning, Mr Fed Ex brought me this gorgeous bouquet of orchids from my lovely niece Katy and her husband Young. Aren't they beautiful! We are having a bunch of friends in on Boxing Day, so these are a welcome addition to my decor!! Thanks Katy!!!

Remember: Peace, Joy and Love!!!