Holly Jolliness

Here are a few photos of our Christmas day. I'm saving all of the kid homemades for another post. I managed not to take any pictures from our Christmas dinner or of this years cookie plate. This is probably a result of me trying to unplug a bit and not rush to document everything for the blog...of course I am now sitting here wishing I had a cookie plate picture for personal reference next year. I'll link to recipes at the bottom of this post.

The way to a woman's heart?

No, I made him rustic mayan chocolate truffles too.

Just the way to a human's heart.

I planned diligently to avoid 11th hours December crafting craziness. Mostly this involved keeping my project list short to begin with. Miles and Johannes each got a pilot cap. The three big boys each got a bookstrap to carry their new engraved set of scriptures (this was the only crafting stress of the month, you see they already had embroidered book totes from a few years ago, but wouldn't you know, the new hardback books I had ordered didn't fit...grumble...no worries though as I find the straps to be adorable). 

And the best gift of all was a certain Auntie and cousin who flew in on Christmas Day. It was a last minute trip and we decided to surprise the boys with this one last over sized present that was waiting when they came home from church.

Oh what good times Christmas is filled with. Oh, yes and the cookies.

Oldies but Goodies (recipes here)
Snickerdoodles
Peppermint Bark
Deep Dark Chocolate Cookies
Spekulaas

Newbies
Gooey Butter Cookies - Gooey Butter Cake goes cookie. These were yummy, but perhaps not exciting enough to repeat.
Maple Pecan Cookies - like traditional sugar coated pecan crescents but with a bit of maple and orange zest. I'll make these again.
Almond Oat Lace Cookies - My friend Jess mentioned that she was making these as a less fussy alternative to florentines. Less fussy was the name of my game this holiday season, so I tried them out following her advice to keep them small and well spaced well on the cookie sheet. They were like a more delicate crispier florentine and I liked them a lot, but I think I'll stick with the chew and durability of florentines next year.