annual sugar cookie decorating extravaganza

an email to my sister
sent Sunday, December 12

We had another successful Sugar Cookie Decorating Party.  I was up and at it by 7:00, getting blueberry muffins made and the breakfast quiche warmed up.  I cheated and bought cut up fruit this year...  I had planned on buying one of those fruit platters that Fred Meyers carries.... it used to be $14.95.... is now $24.95....  So I bought a smaller container and then added other fruit to it. 

I never buy orange juice but on occasions because I know the girls like it, and we also had hot chocolate and coffee (with Baileys).  It was a decent spread for breakfast.  Then for lunch, we had mini croissants filled with chicken salad.  I love putting grapes in it for an added crunch and tanginess. 

The table got set up with all my mini spoons and knives, toothpicks, paint brushes; different tools to use to spread the frosting and make designs with.  And don't forget the frosting.  I think I made 10 pounds of powdered sugar icing this year with only a little left over!  Yes, we were zinging! 

Okay, so this is how the event starts out:  We're crazy about details when decorating the cookies.  We make the snowman look life like; the trees are sparkling with miniature lights.  The snow globe looks as if it's just been shaken and the caps and mittens look like they could actually keep you warm. 

Then, as the morning moves on, and we realize we still have hundreds of cookies to decorate.... we start decorating with less details.  Maybe the snowman only gets eyes and a scarf around his neck.  Maybe the snow globe looks like it hasn't been shaken in years.... 

Then, another hour goes by.  Our pile of undecorated cookies doesn't look like it's getting any smaller.  We start slapping on the frosting a little faster.  Instead of individual cookies, each with their own personality, they're all beginning to look like twins. 

Still, we keep at it.  An hour.  Two.  Then three.  Tracy, Michelle, Shodie, Jill, and I.  Oh, and Miss Ellis who's also here at her first Annual Sugar Cookie Decorating Event.  She's the creative one this year, making sugar cookie SANDWICHES with frosting between them.  Oh, so good!  And Avery got to join us this year and was so good sitting in her high chair, enjoying all the crumbs we gave her.  Hunter was hanging out with his dad today, which was probably for the best.  I had a little table set up for the two little kids to sit at and decorate/eat to their heart's content, but I have to admit, it would have been a little more intense had Hunter been there.  He has so much joy in him, and he would have been so thrilled with each cookie he had decorated, that he wouldn't have been able to contain himself!  Still, it would have been fun to have him there enjoying our family tradition.

Anyway, it was good to have Ellis and Avery there with us this year.  A girl's party.  But I'm glad it's done for another year.  It's a LOT of work, but well worth it.  We have fun.   

Now we have all these cookies to eat, and share, and eat some more.  It's almost a shame to eat them, because they're so pretty!  But we all manage.  I keep mine in the freezer so they're a little less accessible... a "little" less accessible.... 

Merry Christmas!