Snickerdoodle Cookies

Ok, so I had made myself up that list of items I was going to bake for Christmas but I was going through one of my cook books and found this recipe that I had never tried before and I had always heard such good things about these cookies, and before I knew it I had mixed up a double batch and was baking all night! And let me tell you, they're amazing!

Rating: I give these a 5 (1 being "I'll never bake them again" and 5 being "They are now one of my favorites")

Ingredients:

36 36

Servings Size

• cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

Prep Time: 15 mins

Total Time: 24 mins

1. 1 Cream the first four ingredients.
2. 2 In a separate bowl, mix flour, cream of tartar, soda, and salt.
3. 3 Add to creamed mixture.
4. 4 Mix cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.
5. 5 Shape dough into balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar mixture.
6. 6 Bake at 400°F for 8-10 minutes.

Christmas with Marshall (and Ollie)

My newest thrift store finds. Ollie has been trying all Christmas to get this little Santa. He thinks it's his newest toy!

I got all the Bath & Body Works scents I wanted and then some!

A pretty new dress!

I'm a sucker for a good cardigan

Ollie back from spending a lot of time outside. His face is always covered in snow. He looks to explore.

Lord of the Rings, of course right? He knew he was getting it. He had been asking for it for almost a year (in anticipation that it was coming out on Bluray)

Tea, Marshall loves his tea!

And some goodies for sure! A few of the items off my Christmas baking list

I forgot to take a picture when all the gifts were under it, but this is pretty close!

Good old Amazon!

I love the fact that he's now trying to find a reason to wear his tie. I love my man.

And for the boy side in him an video game. He was pretty excited

And my ornament! It's a tradition that every year I get an ornament every year. And as you can see my tree isn't color coordinated, it's more like a memory tree. I could tell you where and from whom most of the ornaments came from and I love that!

Christmas Broken Jello??

Ok so I thought this was pretty cool!! I found it at The Food Librarian but I had to bring it back to you all!


Here's her recipe but for all the details check out the original post here!

Broken Glass Jello
(Adapted from JustJenn)

4 small boxes (3 oz. each) of Jell-O or store brand "gelatin dessert" in different colors. (I used strawberry, lime, orange and blue. My store only sells the big 6 oz. box of blue jello so I weighed 3 oz. or half of the package).

1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk (don't get evaporated milk)

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin (that Knox stuff)

Happy holidays!

Our Gingerbread House

I told you I would post our gingerbread house! (Here's the link to how to make your own in case you missed that post).

It was a lot of fun doing this with my mom, I'm so glad we've kept this as a tradition every year!

The goodies!

Slivered almonds for the roof

Can you tell we get pretty intense about it?

A little icing and coconut for the "snow"

I know, it's nothing perfect but we have a lot of fun!

Gingerbread houses are for sure not just for kids!!

$15,000 Edible Gingerbread Playhouse

"This unique edible playhouse is handcrafted of 381 lbs. of gourmet gingerbread and 517 lbs. of royal icing by the expert confectioners at Dylan's Candy Bar®. The munchable manor, which stands 6.6 feet high by 5.25 feet wide by 4.1 feet deep, incorporates the best confections from the world's largest candy store in New York City. With literally thousands of signature gourmet sweets from which to choose, it is both artfully designed and decadently delicious. It includes giant cookies, lollipops, gummies, mints, gumdrops, and (of course) a candy-encrusted roof. There's also a lollipop tree inside, just for good measure."

Wow right? Well why not? I hope it's a once in a life time experience for that little girl! (I think an every year occasion would take away from the magic)

Hand Made Christmas Mantel Piece

Isn't this amazing? What commitment to hand make this all yourself!! And I thought my little Christmas DIYs were impressive....Looks like I have something to aspire to!

Christmas Display Windows

In case you don't feel like going out to see them, here are some great window displays!!

Merry Christmas!!

Wall Christmas Tree

What a great idea! If you don't like real or fake looks-like-real trees why not try this? And what a good space saver too!

First Christmas Weekend: Dad & Christine

So we had our first Christmas celebrations already. My dad and his wife went back to the Philippines already so we had to have an early Christmas with them.

Here they all are with Christmas dinner.

Chilling out with a very relaxed Ollie

Christine with Ollie. He wasn't being the best so he was wearing his muzzle for a little.

Dad getting very nervous...Ollie likes to pee on my dad.

Marshall. He loves wrapping paper.

And the next day Marshall was in a special number at Church. He's so handsome!