Christmas Cookies...Done!

 Lauren and I were making Christmas cookies last night.  Sugar cookies and gingerbread.  I cut both recipes in half because I didn't want to mess with ,what feels like, thousands. But, it was fun and we got the giggles, as usual. At some point, you get REAL tired of rolling and cutting dough.  As you can see below, the last ones are ...interesting.

So, this afternoon I decorated them.  Also one of those activities that you just want to end...Lauren didn't get to help.  She was 'recovering' from having some dental work done this morning. Not in a decorating mood.

I used the Wilton tubes of icing.  They are tasty and my icing tips fit on the tubes...yay!! This gingerbread recipe is from Martha Stewart.  Lots of spices, the way I like them. The sugar cookie recipe is from my Bette Crocker's Cooky Book. It is my all-time favorite cooky book!  My original copy is in pieces, so I latched on to my mother's copy (since she doesn't cook any more.). The recipe is called, 'Mary's Sugar Cookies'.

So, we are ready for Christmas.

SNOW DAY!!!!

FINALLY!!!!! We are having snow!!  Now, granted, its not as much as they said but it is still snow.  Moisture you can see! For the last several days all the news feeds have been harping about this blizzard.  Geesh, its Christmas...we want snow!  (I can safely be smug about this because Lauren arrived home from Beloit on Tuesday..)

This is the view from our front door.  It almost looks like it is a black and white photo, but that is the actual 'color' of the outside...gray tones. I tried to take one with snow blowing, that's why its seems blurry in the middle. The next two shots are what we see from the back 4/season porch.  The wind is howling and the snow is blowing.  Last evening, we had several incidences of 'thunder snow'!! I saw on the news this morning that a home in North Liberty was struck by Lightening!! Iowa...where weather is always news!

The next shot is of our Christmas tree because I didn't have it decorated when I took shots of my holiday decor.  Besides, the blog needed a little color.

By the way, my Gourmet luncheon was a success, I guess.  They all left full, anyway.  The menu was a little more involved that I had envisioned.  Thank God there were 9 people working to get it done.  We also had a gift exchange.  All in all it was a fun day!

Ready For Gourmet!

Well, its that time of the year again...gourmet!  Yep, its my turn to have our Gourmet group meet at my house.  The table is set and the menu is planned.  Just have to have everyone show up tomorrow to prepare it and eat it.  And, since it is December, we will have our gift exchange. A fun time will be had by all, I hope!

We are having vegetable spring rolls, coconut shrimp, cilantro lime rice, beans and red peppers, and shaved ice with fruit and cream of coconut.  I made clementine quick bread to snack on while we open gifts and white chocolate lemon biscotti to go with our dessert.  I actually made homemade fortune cookies to go with our dessert but they turned into a pintrest failure...here's what I wanted to make...

Here's what I made...

NAILED IT!!!!

Oh well, everyone will get a good laugh out of them!  Hope everyone enjoys the day.