Holiday goodies!!

   I love to bake.  My poor kitchen has seen so much activity this holiday season. I was able to compile and distribute my holiday treats to some family friends, along with some that were gluten-free.  I believe at one time I had piles of cookies, a stack of loaf breads, different types of fudge and bags of holiday mixes.  Jason said that the kitchen looked like my personal craft room-ha, ha.  After the completion of that creativity flow, I cleaned in time to prepare my kitchen for finishing our Gingerbread creation.  Then there it was-Christmas Eve-back to the kitchen for sugar cookie mania.  My kids love to cut out the shapes, and I transfer them to the pan to bake.  As soon as they are cooled, I slab on some white frosting and they go at them with a variety of frosting decor and sprinkles of different types.  It's a messy fun, and sometimes sticky, but we have a blast!  This year, my youngest found it refreshing if he took all his clothes off and decorated in his diaper.  Tried to get clothes on him, but wanted to keep the peace and smiles more than breaking the fun to push the issue (so there are pics with my half-naked son-be warned..lol).  We also had the priviledge of having my mom (Rosa-aka Grandma) there to join in the fun. After the fun we sat and talked about the meaning of Christmas, Jesus Christ, the reason for the season.  We read the story from the Bible, and talked about the nativity scene and closed with a prayer. Then, each kiddo got to pick his/her favorite creation to give to Santa as a present and place it on Santa's cookie plate. Then with a glass of milk it was time for bed...that was hard to calm anticipation of the next day...but by 9:30-they were down.
    WELCOME SANTA CLAUSE!