Trees, and Wreaths, and Santa Hats - Oh My!

 Wow, it's been awhile since I've come up for air! 

Just treading water these days here in the Stress Pool. After all, the holidays are fast approaching (did I hear someone out there giving a primal yell to relieve that stress?!) and along with that, the end of the semester. (Now I'll give my own primal yell!) Amidst trying to get work in for grades, cleaning brushes before storing them, and packing everything up before I move to the other intermediate school, all the while listening to and rehearsing the Vivaldi Gloria (we're singing that for our Christmas Eve concert), I'm also peeling children off the ceiling.  

"Play Christmas music!" they whined. I put on the Vivaldi.

"No, Christmas music!"

"This is Christmas music."

"It's opera."

Spoilsports. I found a lovely Christmas instrumental site on Youtube. All guitar. They're rendered speechless, however, as I make my rounds through the room, occasionally I'll hear someone quietly singing along. Everyone is happy.

All in all, December whips past in a whirlwind. Add to that the Sprinkle for DiDi - yes, baby number 2 arrives in January, and because it's a girl, there were some things that they needed. In case you aren't aware, if you don't need an all out Shower, for baby number 2 it's called a Sprinkle. Not sure if somewhere in the world there isn't something called a Downpour. DH had a birthday - even though he won't let us 'celebrate' it, and so did Little Man - his is two days before Pawpaw's.

However, we're not so busy we couldn't take time to make cookies! Morticia mentioned sugar cut-out cookies. Easy! We'll get some Pillsbury refrigerator cookie dough, and we'll be all set to go. Guess what all the stores are out of a week before Christmas? Yeah, I don't know why I thought they would still have some. Fortunately, Mrs. Fields came to the rescue, and I found a recipe in my Mrs. Fields Cookie Cookbook. Low and behold, we had everything needed to make them! I made the cookie dough when I got home from church and put it in the fridge to chill. Morticia came over in the early afternoon and we set about rolling out the dough and cutting out the shapes. She mixed up the colors for the icing. It really didn't take long for the cookies to cool down, so we were ready for decorating! Moink came down to join in the fun.

Moink started on the red stockings- we found he was a real natural at decorating!

Morticia did a fabulous job with the wreaths and the trees - she is also very creative and talented when it comes to decorating!

Two of Moink's creations.

Here, we have a vast array of our creations. You can really see the wreaths and trees. Don't look too closely at the angels or snowmen...I might be an artist, but cookie decorators everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief that I won't be trying to take their jobs any time soon! 

And, if you look closely, you might spot one, lone Santa hat. There's a story behind Santa hats at our house, which I might have related in an earlier post. Long story short, in the middle of a tirade, I apparently was interrupted by spotting a Santa hat in with the decorations, stopping me mid-yelling-at-children. They will never let me live that down! Since I don't have a Santa hat cookie cutter, I took what was left of the dough and formed one. Once it was decorated, well, there it was - a Santa hat!

After we were finished - and it really did take the entire afternoon- Morticia mentioned that it had been quite taxing!

But, we had a good time, and it was a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

So, Merry Christmas to all of you - hopefully, I'll be able to write again soon - at least, sooner than 4 months! I'll also try to include more pictures - after all, they're worth a thousand words! In the meantime, stay warm, watch out for the elves - they're not always nice, you know - and stop by the Stress Pool anytime for a cookie and hot chocolate!