Christmas is Coming!

Holy Cookies Batman!! I participated in a cookie exchange this year. Travis and I cranked out 10 dozen cookies for the exchange plus five dozen more to add to the stash. It was great! We made Cinnamon Stars, Grandma Welsh's Raisin Filled cookies, Chocolate Coconut Cookies, and Revel Bars. They were all delicious. We traded the first two varieties for a treasure trove of yummy delights: rugalach, orange/cranberry pinwheels, mint candy canes, oreo truffles, the list goes on and on! The best part is they are all delivered and off my guilt-list! Here's the Cinnamon Stars recipe, you MUST make these cookies. They are SO good and very easy to make:

Cinnamon Stars
2 TB sugar
3/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe French Vanilla cake mix
(Use different cake mixes for different cookie flavors)
Preheat oven to 375 F. Combine sugar & cinnamon in small bowl. Set
aside.
Combine butter, egg youlks and vanilla extract in large bowl. Blend
in cake mix gradually. Roll to 1/8 inch thickness on lightly floured
surface. Cut with 2 1/2 inch star cookie cutter (or your choice).
Place 2 inches apart on un-greased baking sheet.
Sprinkle cookies with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake at 375 F for 6 to
8 minutes. Cool 1 minute before removing from baking sheet. Store in
airtight container. Makes 3 dozen


Practice Christmas Eve Dinner. Ever year at home we have twice-baked potatoes as part of the Christmas Eve multi-course feast. Since our kids never make it through such an involved affair, we only do make your own pizza and jello. So I had to squeeze in my twice-baked potatoes somehow. We made them for Sunday night dinner and they were great! We decided to go all the way and set the table with candles and sparkling grape juice for a Christmas Eve trial run. The kids ate nothing, but were well-behaved and liked the juice. We're thinking it will be pretty much the same thing on Christmas.



I finished my glass block nativity! I had a few mix-ups with the lady I ordered from, but it turned out nicely in the end. I love it!


And finally, I saw Sandra Lee make this on Semi-Homemade Cooking. It is the cutest thing ever! I definitely need it for our kid favors on Christmas Eve. I think Santa's toy bag is my favorite...it's a fruit roll-up filled with starbursts and tied with a twizzler. Our good friends, the Snows, will be joining us for Christmas Eve...we can't wait!!