It’s that time of year again! Christmas Cookies

  It’s that time of year again! The time to share our warm hearts by the warm fire; the time to give a little

more than we take throughout the year; the time to just be with loved ones and enjoy every little passing moment that will be remembered for years and years to come. For us, it’s the time where we get together as a family and bake cookies! That’s right cookies, their soft chewy center and crunchy outer shell make the cookies so umm umm good! After all who doesn’t love a freshly baked hot cookie with a good story and some milk right?

                So every year for Christmas our family gathers at one of the family members house for  the Christmas cookie bake-a-thon.  We talk and see what everyone has been doing all year, what new friends they made and of course the family gossip.  And every year good ol’ grandpa has another one of his ridiculous stories to tell that you can never be too sure if it’s true or not, because it’s just too funny and it grandpa. This year his story involved what he says was one of Santa's reindeers   standing outside of his window one morning glaring at him. He was telling all the kids that he thinks Santa Clause was starting to get lazy, because he is sending his reindeers to spy on everyone and to report back on who was naughty or nice.  Even the biggest kid can be mesmerized by grandpa's stories. But grandpa has always been a great story teller.

                So....we begin to gather in the kitchen where all of the Christmas magic  is about to begin.  The whole family just loves to be close to each other this time of the year and it’s obvious too because of the laughs and huge mess that is left every year to clean up after. The kids begin to get into their “not so fancy” clothes and the adults put on their aprons ready for the cooking to commence. Then it happened, the kitchen became a place of laughter amongst the controlled chaos that was going on. Everyone was caroling along to the radio that was blasting Christmas tunes so far and wide I’m sure the neighbors could hear. What a sight I had to step out; it was as if harmony and peace on Earth was right in our kitchen where not even the saddest person could frown because of the excitement in the room.

   As I stood back and took all this in, I suddenly realized that I was daydreaming and quickly jumped back into the action where the cooking continued. The children seemed to be everywhere you could tell because of the white flour handprints that were all about the room, and to be honest the adults weren’t any better. 

We were in the middle of a baking frenzy when all of a sudden we all stopped at once, as if time had stopped, and we were shocked at what we saw. We had got caught up in so much fun that we didn’t realize we made so many cookies for everyone to share! But there was nothing more to do other than start the oven and let the cookie baking begin.  And it was AMAZING!  The whole house filled with a sweet aroma that made us all watch the oven as the cookies began to rise. To say it all in one phrase,  When will those cookies be DONE!

    So, it’s pretty obvious that our family loves to bake and laugh but after all of the cookies were decorated and we began to eat, the best part for me was the family gathered around the tree engaging in the small talk and listening to more of grandpa’s outrageous stories.   It was definitely worth it!  This year, and every year hold on to the miracle of Christmas.  Traditions are everlasting and is a special thing we can pass on from generation to generation.  I had my Christmas early, it was the joy I got  being with my family and seeing everyone light up with smiles as we had our annual Christmas cookie bake-a thon. 

I just love the feeling of Christmas!