Welcome to the Holidays

It's official. The holidays are in full swing at our house.
Come on in. Have a cookie.

I finally finished putting up all my Christmas decorations - I knew it would take me at least a week, with the kids "helping". We spent the weekend making Christmas cookies, watching Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and scouting out Santa so we could get our requests in early! We even roasted marshmallows on the fire one night. Ok, so it wasn't chestnuts, but same idea. I was on a baking kick, so I tried out this great muffin recipe from my friend Devoted Mom to B's Luscious Life blog site. She was right, they are so yummy! I made them mini-sized, just so that I could fill my Santa cookie jar.

How about that quintessential Santa picture? I've been pretty lucky that both my kids have never really been afraid of the guy, so I always end up with pretty cute Santa pics. Although, there is something weird about letting your kids sit on some strange guy's lap, who offers them candy and tells them to "be good". Who the heck made up that tradition? Creepy! I tell you though, the promise of candy canes work to get them to sit there and smile. That's their main motivation - it's all about the candy.

An unexpected surprise this weekend, was getting a babysitter at the very last minute, so that we could attend a friend's holiday party. It was a nice treat, especially since neither of our firms are having holiday parties this year. There nothing like dressing up a little, socializing with adults and consuming some good holiday libations to really get you in the holiday spirit.

I raised a glass to you all this weekend - Happy Holidays!