Christmas Happenings :: Baking~

* Public Service Announcement *

This blog will be picture heavy.

I repeat, PICTURE HEAVY for days on end.

Consider this your first and final warning.

This is not a test.

So it's only December 28th...it's about time I update here. But goodness. Christmas is so wonderful and lovely and fun and I take about a gazillion pictures during the season and well. It just gets daunting to think of posting them. So I procrastinate. Which I hate to do. But today is the day! So here goes!

We went to Tara's to bake some goodies for our pastor and children's ministry director a few days before Christmas. It was tons of fun. I have to confess again...I'm no baker.

At. All.

I couldn't bake a good cookie if my life depended on it. Or a cake. Or a loaf of bread. Nope. Not me. Pies? Some of those I can pull off. But really? How hard is a pie anyway? So mostly, I watched and helped here and there and kept the kitchen clean for Tara and her crew to do the important stuff. And we had tons of fun. :) Joel and Max played their hearts out. Syd was here and there...playing and helping. Kennedy and Tara's daughter, Katie, were the resident cookie cutters. Tara and I gabbed and gabbed! Gotta love these kind of days. I had a hard spell talking to her about Seth and other heart babies who are coming home soon. Tara was so good to me and understanding. She has experienced much loss in her life and is a great encouragement to me. My breaking of the "no crying in Tara's kitchen" rule was short lived and we were back to laughing in no time. :)

No worries. We took home lots of contraband from our day of baking. And was it ever yummy!

We headed to my mom and dad's on Thursday afternoon. That evening, the girls went to spend the night with their Uncle Kevin and Aunt Deanna for a much needed ladies' night! Kev sure is a sport! Joel stayed with Jase and I but had a ton of fun with Aunt K-K {Karen} making a gingerbread house. We all did. It was a riot. As it turns out, I'm no gingerbread house builder either. I had as much frosting on my hands and face as went onto that little candy house. :) There are pictures somewhere that my mom took...but the jury is out as to where that memory card ended up.

On Friday, Karen took up her tradition of making merry and baking with the nieces and nephew. They had a blast as always. They began with some gingerbread trees...and the mess was totally worth it I think!

Then the cookie baking began...

So there you have it. The first of several Christmas week posts that are sure to come to a blog near you over the next few days!