This afternoon, it was raining, so Andrew built a fire and we got cozy. While we were setting up the tree, Finley pulled out a cinnamon ornament that Andrew had made when he was a kid, “Aww, papa made th–” as he took the whole leg off with a bite.
Andrew laughed, and Finley tried to bite it some more as we explained it just looked like a cookie 🙂
So as the weekend rain streamed down the windows, and the warmth of the fire filled our house, we decided to pull out the mixing bowls and make some of our own, their own personal stamp on each one.
We mixed our dough and rolled it out, while the cookie cutters tumbled out of the bag, dormant from last year.
I found lots of recipes on Pinterest, but my favorite was the one I had all the ingredients to, (hah!) on this lovely blog, A Golden Afternoon.
1 1/4 cups cinnamon
1 Tablespoon ground ginger (optional)
1 Tablespoon ground nutmeg (optional)
3/4 cup applesauce
1/4 cup craft glue (I use Mod Podge)
a straw
ribbon or yarn for hanging
Cook an hour and a half on each side at 200 degrees.
Finley thought pouring glue into batter was the bees knees, while Maria mixed.
{This is my Christmas agenda}
To not shy away from messes, embrace them. Everything can be cleaned up when it’s all over.
I don’t need a clean house, but to sit on the floor while they are here and awake, and spend time with my kids. Build ‘tipping castles’ for them to knock over with plastic cars.
To be still. Enjoy. Smell, eat, hold hands.
As much as I want to ‘just’ do things myself; crack the eggs, spatula the cookies, mix the dough, paint the decorations, measure the glue, I can and will, let me kids do it. Even the two year old. It’s not about the outcome, it’s about experiences–together.
Make music, it all sounds good.
Read, be cozy and pray.
