we're in the process of building a new home, which was supposed to be completed last summer. i think it's to be expected that new construction timelines may change, so i wasn't surprised our move in was delayed - until our projected closing moved into next year. a few months late, i was mentally prepared for...but over 7 months behind schedule? my patience has officially expired. i was not looking forward to spending christmas in our rental, and cooking another year's worth of holiday eats and treats in a pint-sized kitchen, coupled with the fact that most of our belongings are still in storage. we got a tiny tree since our full-sized one is boxed away and unreachable, and unfortunately we weren't even able to put our presents under it as tavi has been rocketing around chewing on everything she can reach. (she's teething something pretty fierce right now!)
as j can attest, i was feeling pretty bah-humbuggy about the whole ordeal right up until christmas eve, when it started gently snowing.
as new pnw-ers i'm still a little confused about what's "normal" weather for this area. but from what i do understand, snow is not unheard of but not exactly super common either. to have it snow on christmas eve and through the night to give us a beautiful white christmas before returning to warmer temps was nothing short of magical.
throughout the month i made an effort to focus on the positives of the season, baking and sharing some of my favorite christmas cookies and treats, teaching cookie classes, indulging in holiday drinks from starbucks and some holiday crafts, visiting christmas tree farms and taking in the dressed-up areas of downtown bainbridge and poulsbo. we went on a lovely christmas eve weekend date at manor house, which had some pretty awesome food and drinks, (i loved the moscow mule offering and bourbon bread pudding!) before spending a lazy christmas day introducing tavi to the snow, watching j build his first snowman (i can think of no better use for my holiday ribbon than a mini snowman scarf), and basking in our first white christmas. given all of the newness and firsts i found myself trying to cram into the season, it predictably flew by. and i can't believe we've been in washington almost a year already!
we also feasted on gingerbread cinnamon rolls for breakfast, followed by a pretty simple and traditional holiday dinner. all in all, despite our unexpected living situation our holiday was merry, bright, and white! cheers to a happy holiday season!
season of sharing
since thanksgiving my free time has been devoted to cookies, cookies, and more cookies. i've shared my knowledge in the form of classes focused on creating royally iced sugar and spiced cookies at the bainbridge artisan resource network, delivered cookies to friends, baked up some sugar and gingerbread cookies to share with santa, as well as reserved some cookies for us to have on christmas eve/day. and this week i’m also participating in a national, "virtual" cookie swap.
sharing is caring, right?
this year marks our second annual "virtual" cookie swap which was born out of a facebook group, and it has been so much fun! virtual is somewhat of a misnomer, since while the swap's derivation is virtual, we don't just swap recipes online, we physically send recipes. it does require a little bit of trust in this cynical, digital age, as you give out your name and address to participate. this particular group is mostly friends and friends of friends, so i didn't feel toooo weird about giving out that info. (it’s all online anyway, isn’t it?) in return, i received a master list of participant's names and addresses and each of us was asked to provide a christmas/holiday cookie recipe that we mailed off to each person by a specified date. then we spend the time leading up to christmas (and even new year's for some stragglers!) receiving fun mail/recipes from all over the country. some people get really creative, sending multiple cookie recipes, recipes along with a holiday card, or homemade treats/samples of the recipe they sent us. this year i even received a personalized iron-on patch for my pot holders/oven mitts.
it's a really fun way to spread christmas cheer to semi-strangers, and gives me something fun to expect each time i check the mail.
in honor of this season of royal icing cookies, i shared this good old-fashioned sugar cookie recipe with the girls.