Cookie decorating this year was a family affair. Come to think of it I don’t know if Seth has ever iced cookies in our whole married life. He even got to wear an apron this yr per Jackson’s instruction! My mom was able to whip up 6 kinds of cookies when I was growing up. For us this year it is just one kind! Classic sugar cookies with bright icing and sprinkles! We have tried lots of recipes over the years but I think “The Joy of Cooking’s” Rich Rolled cookies are the best!  And this is how it went….

There was laughing and crying, messing and cleaning, and lots of sugary cookies!

ps- I am off to the Embassy bazaar to sell some baked goods and stocking stuffers!! I will let you know how it goes! My sweet friend is coming to play with the boys so I am actually going ALONE!!!  Haven’t done that in a while.

As I mentioned in my previous post about Christmas, I kept our decorations simple this year. We are going home this year to Texas (YIPEEEEEEE!) so I knew we shouldn’t do a fresh tree and knowing that I will be coming back a week into January I was hesitant to create a ton of work for myself on return!  I also wanted  the kids to catch the simplicity of it and not get distracted by chaos. We are spending time after dinner each night doing our advent calendar. Each night the boys pull a small book out of the calendar. The books are each about part of the nativity story. They also normally find a little treat whether it be a clementine or a chocolate. It’s fun having both boys old enough this year to work on developing some traditions that they will remember.

We are keeping gifts really simple this year. Each boy is getting a few things and we will probably let them pick out a gift for their brother. Most of our shopping this year was done via the internet. We have saved a few things to pick out for the boys when we are live in the US of A but most have been bought and shipped without touching them.  If you haven’t checked out Zulily.com I highly recommend it for kids and mom gifts! They carry daily deals with great markdowns and normally boutique quality! Check out my friend’s blog too if you are looking for a unique gift. She makes super cute signs on old hardwood flooring.  Confession, I bought one of Jennifer’s signs a few months ago thinking it would make a great gift. Turns out the sign loves my kitchen and makes me smile so I had to keep it! I wanted to do a post and properly introduce Jennifer…and hope to still do so…but in the meantime I wanted you to know about her signs!! Here is a peek at the one I got….I love it because it doesn’t say this is the perfect life, or the calmest, or the easiest, it says it’s “the finest kind of life”. Despite life’s ups and downs we are blessed.

A few weeks ago I realized that I wasn’t as stressed about shopping as I normally am. Seth and decided this year that instead of gifts we would spend an overnight in Dallas going back to our favorite places where we met, fell in love and spent our first year as a married couple!  I am so looking forward to our time together and I have to admit I am relieved to not be obsessing about the best gift for Seth.

Well, I am guessing you have all gotten your dose of random from me for the day! Hope you are all enjoying the holiday season!

(Disclaimer: although it may appear that I have had an abundance of time to blog lately…well, quite honestly I haven’t. But at times it is a good and much needed distraction and I hate falling behind. So humor me with yet another picture post. It’s either feast or famine around here. You may not hear from me for a while)

Monday we enjoyed what will be our last Annual Onion market in Bern. We got up early…let me rephrase that, we were up early, and headed out a little after 7 AM. The party was already going and the streets were full of vendors selling all things onion. There were lots of things for sale like garlic bread, onion tarts, decorations, gluwein and lots of confetti!  We had some hot garlic bread and enjoyed the bustle before getting on the bus and taking Jackson to preschool. With all of chaos of confetti, bonkers and city streets we decided it was better for Nana to forgo the outing so we brought her home a big piece of onion quiche!

The day after Thanksgiving Seth and I got busy putting up the tree and decorating the house so that everyone could enjoy it, particularly Nana before she heads back to Thailand. We have been playing Christmas music and getting in the spirit!  I kept our decorations minimal this year with only some non-breakable Christmas ornaments on the tree, some fresh greenery around the house and one non-breakable nativity. I am normally one of those people that thinks kids should just learn not to touch, yada, yada. But, in light of the fact that Owen is cherishing each moment of his fast approach to the big 2 I decided to just cool it this year with my goals and aspirations of beauty and perfection. And so, we are keeping it simple. And really simple is turning out to be quite beautiful. Who knew?!

On Sunday morning I set Nana and Jackson up at the dining room table by the Christmas tree to decorate a gingerbread house. From the get go I knew it was going to be a funny experience but one I hoped would make fun memories for both of them. I set them up and took Owen out for a walk once I knew they were okay for at least a few minutes. When I returned they were both covered in marshmallow creme and the house had collapsed a good 3 times already. The house is partially standing now and Jackson is quite proud of their work. Nana on the other hand has found me now on 3 occasions to discuss how various pastes and sugar glues might have been preferable.

Here are some funny pictures of them…

He was a bit skeptical of her ability to read the directions in Swedish!

crash #1!  Oh my!

“TA DA!”

Nana woke up this morning and said she had packed her bag and would be leaving today. Turns out it is $2500 to change the ticket (which we knew but spent an entire morning confirming for her sake) so she has decided to stay the remaining time. She is anxious to get back to Bangkok and get resettled now that the flooding has subsided but we will continue to entertain her at Swiss Chalet Kolb in the meantime.  Maybe we will move on to Christmas cookies next!