Cookie fun!

Growing up my mom made thousands of cookies each Christmas but she never, in my memory, made sugar cookie cutouts. I can appreciate why not. They are a major pain and not really all that tasty. But Grandma Marga did these with the kids in Minnesota last year and I thought it a fun tradition for the kids. We cut out the cookies yesterday and baked them. All our cookie cutters came, in one or another, from Eric's family. We inherited a coffee can of cookie cutters from Grandma Ada--several red Christmas themed ones that we couldn't make work and then a bell, a star, a circle and a "bar" with zig-zag edges. The kids told Eric last night, "We made stars and bars Christmas cookies." Hm. There was also a music note--appropriate from Eric's highly musical family.

Our other two cookies cutters were a wedding gift from Eric's uncle Steve: a cow, and the state of Wisconsin. These people are serious about their homeland.

So the shapes themselves aren't all that festive but the overall effect was very nice, in the end, and we sure had fun.

Margaret was pretty much in "production" mode cranking out three or four cookies to Joseph's one but sacrificing real artistry in favor of speed.

Joseph was very serious about every single one of his creations. Some highlights include a star having a solar flare:

And Santa Claus with his pack and boots. You can see the lone chocolate sprinkle which is his smiling mouth and the cinnamon candy is his "fiery eye." Apparently we need a little more Clement Moore around here.

I went for more whimsy with my cookies creating some festive homage to favorite Wisconsin destinations (Madison and Sturgeon Bay). And, because we prefer our milk from brown Jersey cows, a spotted bovine sporting a seasonally-appropriate red nose.

William napped through most of the project but woke just in time to consume a broken musical note while we cleaned up.

This does not bode well

Sunday evening

Blueberry cobbler is baking in the oven for dessert. Red peppers are roasting to go on sandwiches with leftover steak. Eric is out on a walk with William and bringing home rolls for the sandwiches. My kitchen is strung with white Christmas lights which makes it feel almost pretty in here. Margaret is washing up the dishes I used to make the dessert

and Joseph is busy with his sketchbook.

All the letters for "grasshopper" are there--though not in the correct order--and as I type he's drawn me a picture of my cup of coffee. I'm not in the picture. In the sketchbook universe I'm knitting in the living room while my coffee cools down.

A pretty nice evening so far.