Of Cookies, Dough, Royal Icing, Music and Silliness, or How to Have a Fun Party

Yesterday I had just a few friends over to decorate Christmas cookies. It was a spontaneous party, but it was a really lovely and wonderful event.

I made two kinds of dough; a traditional gingerbread and a sugar cookie dough. I wanted cookies that would be for decorating and hanging up. I was not planning on eating any of them. The gingerbread worked our perfectly, but the sugar cookie shapes puffed out too much for my purpose. I think those got consumed by silly girls anyway.

Laura, Connie and I gave each other gifts. I really enjoyed making the ones I gave. For Connie I put together earrings. She likes them colorful and large. (The colors in these photos do not do justice to the beads.)




I knit a short, wide scarf for Laura. It was a special thing I made, specifically to order. The yarn came from an Alpaca farm we visited together back in May. I thought of her each time I worked on the box weave knitting. I would have like to put beads on the ends of her scarf, but she deals with dogs all day so they would not have lasted. She was very pleased to receive it. It felt good to see it on her.


We had a shared dinner and rolled out the cookies. While they were baking I shared my new list of Christmas music and we watched the videos I linked in the last entry in my blog, here. Each of the girls snuggled with their moms while they listened and viewed. I think that was my favorite part of the evening.It is so wonderful to have friends over that don't mind that there are dishes in the sink or that the tree is not yet fully decorated. This was really just about spending time together and enjoying each other's company. The girls also got silly.


When Laura was a wee one the family would make tons of decorated cookies and popcorn chains, as well as paper chains, to decorate their tree. Her father would have the six kids make enough of the chains to go around the outside of the house twice, without having it touch the ground. She had not made cookies for her tree since, but this year she is all set since they have a small tree. Some are pretty and others, like the gingerbread man with the broken leg, are comical.



Ellie enjoyed putting together some centerpieces with candles, polished rocks and colorful platters. I love how she is starting to take that kind of roll. This party was the very spirit of what I think Christmas is about - spending time together and enjoying each other's company. I am thankful for such friends and opportunities.

I will post the gingerbread recipe soon.