Yummy Holiday Traditions

We are lucky to have friends who open their house in December to their friends for a cookie decorating party . We went since Anna was born, and it is fun to see how her decorating skills evolved over time. As I recall she was only interested in eating the decorations when she was 2, decorated one cookie when she was 3 and maybe decorated two or three last year. This year she was on a roll and spent a good hour and a half carefully decorating about a dozen cookies (I took this picture in the middle). Ironically, she is not really interested in eating them, she generally likes only baking goods containing chocolate. I am very grateful to our mess-tolerant friends (who, by the way, don’t have children) – Anna’s decorating station was a huge mess despite my best efforts.

Another tradition is a gingerbread house decorating that is hosted by dad of Anna’s very first boyfriend. She knew D since they were about 9 months old. This is an event just for two kids and their dads. To be honest, these kids had better times in their relationship with each other, but they still enjoyed getting together for a gingerbread event. Dads helped with the assembly and the icing, but kids decorated their houses on their own this year. Anna is mightily proud of her gingerbread house!