Friday, December 7, 2012

Memories For My Memory Bank

As my kids are getting older I am cherishing this "simple" time with them even more. Maybe not more, but realizing how quickly this time in our lives is flying by! This year, so far, I have been able to structure our days to include some well needed fun and a lot let chaos than in previous years. I always strive for relaxed holidays but I have completely failed in that area. Last minute baking, shopping, service projects... everything seemed to always be last minute! I vowed NOT to do that this year (God willing and with many of my prayers heard, this wont happen!)

My kids LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about Christmas! The music, mood, family, friends, giving and getting. I think I've implanted the love of Christmas adequately in their heads and I know I got this from my mom. She LOVES Christmas too! She always went all out in the house and on the house. Dad always went along drudgingly putting up Christmas lights galore! Mom always seemed to have it all together, never stressed, fire in the fireplace, Christmas music playing in the back ground. Now why couldn't I have gotten that amazing talent?   So far I have the lights up on the house, the kids were a HUGE help! This Sunday we plan to get our tree and the inside of the house is almost totally decorated for this special time of year. I even have a few Christmas gifts bought.

The kids wanted to make sugar cookies so we made the dough and I found a recipe that did not need to be refrigerated for hours before we cut!  With dough made and flour everywhere we began to cut cookies!





We really did have a fun time and I stayed calm, cool and collected! Yeah me! We iced and decorated to our hearts content! I even have dough saved for future cookie cutting... we just had that much fun! 

Here is where I got the Cookie recipe, I used two different types and they were both fabulous!
and
 My hope is to inspire you to create life long simple memories with your kids, the age of your kids doesn't matter (grab that teen and cut some cookies, make holiday crafts or do a service project together) and they will remember these memories far more than the gift that was given! May this be a holiday season of new beginnings for your family, just as it is for mine! ~Nicole