The Good, the bad and the UGLY!!

WAR ZONE... The kitchen is so sad.



This rolling pin was a Christmas gift last year from my step mom. It's been a pretty decoration until now... my friend told me to use a porcelain rolling pin for cutout cookies. I put the pin in the fridge while I wasn't using it. It helps keep the dough cold and well... it just works better than a wooden rolling pin. LOVE IT!



Really really sad... nothing magical or wonderful going on. i'll be up all night making it ready for guests.


This bad boy saw some action these last two days. I love this mixer.


The cookies are amazing... I'm not the best decorator, but they will do for this year. I'm on the hunt for a scottie dog cookie cutter for next year. I purchased Hoot the Star Wars cutters from William Sonoma. We'll have cutouts for his birthday this year.

Family will be here tomorrow and lets just say.... the house is a TRAIN WRECK!!! I've been dropping balls left and right. Poor Hoot had a book exchange at school last week and I forgot to send him with a book... I totally missed the order date for our Christmas cards (i know, humbug!!) Hoot saw two of his gifts in my car because I forgot to take them out... i told him they were for a needy family were giving to and that they were not his... star wars light sabers... he cried for 2 days! I decided I would bake iced cutout cookies and started that yesterday... I iced them tonight, we've declared the kitchen a war zone, I haven't finished Christmas shopping, I have to work tomorrow, I have a sore throat coming on and we still have to drive to Galveston to pick up gumbo for Christmas Eve... Lambert is changing sheets while I type...When the heck did December pass me by?!? With all that being said, I am so happy that were not traveling this Christmas, we'll be able to attend our Christmas Eve service with family and wake up Christmas morning in our own home! We usually travel to Dallas for Christmas which is fun, but I love being in our home. I'm looking forward to signing happy birthday to Jesus Christmas morning, and watching the kiddos tear into their gifts... AND the cookies... they are too die for. A friend of mine gave me her recipe and told me the tricks to good cutout cookies... mine are usually too thick or too thin, the icing is running or lumpy. I have not had success with iced cutouts in the past. that is ,until now!! The trick is to keep the dough really cold, roll them out 1/8 inch thick and watch them like a hawk in the oven. They need to be soft when you pull them out and then immediately put them on cooling racks. They are beautiful and yummy. Santa will be happy!