Thursday evening rush

Meri and I did some candy and cookie prep work last night. I made two big batches of sugar cookie dough, rolled them in big long logs and stuck them in the fridge to get cut and baked this weekend. Then Meri and I dipped pretzels in chocolate & vanilla almond bark for some tasty snacks and boy are they! I'm going to gain a few pounds before Christmas...
In the meanwhile, Maddy volunteered to do our Christmas picture of the kids for me. I had done a mockup of one yesterday, but it was vetoed. Apparently I didn't use the right photos of her... So she took over. okie doke...
It turned out pretty good, don't you think? I have been trying to get the kids together for a Christmas picture the last couple months... Well, at least I've thought of it AFTER Ryan has gone home and then I kicked myself... So we're doing a collage this year. Just have to get them printed off now... Will probably send them to Walgreens.
You can click on these recipes to enlarge them and print if you want them. The above recipe is from Taste of Home's Best Loved Cookies & Bars magazine 2008 issue. That's the one that I have chilling in the fridge as I type. Judging just from the taste of the dough, it's incredible!!! I didn't have half and half, so I used some slightly watered down heavy whipping cream. AWESOME! This might very well be my new favorite!

Below is our old favorite that the kids made sure I had the ingredients for this year. I made them before Thanksgiving and they're all gone now. SonyaAnn - these are the cookies that you received. See? I do remember what people ask me... just kind of late sometimes! This recipe calls for Vanilla bean and is so good! The Vanilla Bean Sugar cookie recipe is from Dec 2008 Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine. TONS of great recipes in that one!I'll post Robb's annual Christmas letter on Christmas Eve. He's got a rare wit, that one!

Our Christmas plans have been shuffled around a bit on one side of the family and I think we're hosting again this year, but not sure when yet. Meri is getting her Christmas parts memorized for this weekends program at church. Maddy is glad she was confirmed last spring, so she's off the hook this year! Since Meri is in the older kids category, she's got a lot more to memorize. She's doing a great job! I need to make some super big cheat sheets with the hymn words on them for them before Sunday so the kids won't have to memorize everything!

Tomorrow morning, the girls and I will finish up our Christmas shopping and hopefully meet Robb for a quick lunch at the HuHot. I LOVE that place!

Doubt I'll post anything over the weekend, so have a great one! Hope you get all the odds and ends wrapped up that you need to.