Cookies, Christmas, and more cookies!

It's definitely been busy around our house! Between the continuous decorating, school work, card making, knitting, cookie making, and wrapping we've been b-u-s-y! Oh.. and shopping... Wait... I forgot shopping?! Really?! (I don't think you'll EVER hear another girl say they forgot about shopping...LoL!) Anyway...

I finished up my SOC and LIT classes last Sunday. I was very nervous about the final papers because each is worth 30% of my final grade! I got my grade back for SOC and I got... drumroll please!... a 100%!!!! Score!! I got a 90% on my LIT paper which is totally a score too!! My next set of classes start on January 3rd and I'm totally not looking forward to these classes. The first is International Business and the second is Supervision and Leadership. Ugh! But, I only have 4 classes left until I graduate!! Yay!

So Kristi, Andy, and I made our first set of cookies for the holiday season a few weeks ago. We made Holly Leaves which I've never had before.

All the ingredients

Bulging eye syndrome... Should I be worried??

My makeshift double broiler :-)

Mmmm.. cornflakes, melted marshmallows, and food coloring

The finished product... So good!!

All I have to say is that these are awesome! Not as awesome as my Whoopie Cookies (of course) but still pretty awesome. Our next endeavor (minus Andy) was making the Whoopie Cookies. This was my second time making them and the first time with an electric mixer. All I have to say is that little gadget saved the day! I didn't own one last year so when I went to make the icing, I had to hand whip the egg whites with a fork (because I of course didn't own a whisk!) until they were stiff. It took me soooooooooooo long (not an exaggeration)! Anyway... so Kristi got to help me this year. She had a great time and made a complete mess. :-) Her eyes got as big as saucers when she saw the 5 lb. bag of sugar. Of course, she immediately stuck her hand in the bag then licked her fingers. She had sugar all over her hand and mouth! Needless to say, I had a difficult time getting her to bed that evening! Anyway... Here's a couple of photos from our fun afternoon:

The ingredients

Pouring the sugar

That followed the, "Ewwww! Gross!!"

Using the electric mixer for the first time

Enjoying the first cookie

Peppermint and regular

Enjoying a peppermint one :-)

I've been having so much fun decorating our Christmas tree and our new home. It's been difficult finding places for everything because we don't seem to have quite as many surfaces as our last house, but I've definitely made some progress. Here's our beautiful kitchen:

Christmas is definitely in the air everywhere you go. I love going shopping and seeing all the beautiful displays and listening to the Christmas music. This time of year makes me insanely happy. I can't help but smile every time I look up at the sky and see snowflakes falling down. There's just so much I love about Christmas that it'd take you a year to read through it! So, for times sake I'll just say that my favorite thing about Christmas is the reason why we celebrate it. I am so thankful and grateful each and every day that Jesus was born and took the fall for my sins. I know that nothing in my life would be good (or bad) if it weren't for Him and His Father. This time of year always brings that very fact into perspective full force! :-)

Well, I'm off to knit and hopefully finish this project tonight! Until next time, much love, blessings, and have a very Merry Christmas!!

♥Courtney♥