Cookie Trees

Ben and I work really hard to make memorable traditions with our boys. Since we can't do it on Christmas Day we have found other things we can do around it. One of them is Christmas cookies. Instead of the traditional flat cookies, we have a cookies cutter set in the shape of stars. When they're stacked on top of each other they look like trees. We bake them and put them together with frosting on one night, and then we the next morning we spend a while decorating. Since it takes some dexterity to get things to stay on the tree, the boys end up spending more time working on the area around the bottom of the tree. It's been fun watching them be creative!

Aidan only did one tree this year. He worked on it for an hour and a half. Every few minutes he'd think of something new and add to it. When we was finished he said "I want to give this to the person who's been the nicest to me this year." I asked him who he wanted to give it to and he said "You!" It made my day:) I told him that since I've already seen it and enjoyed it, maybe he could give it to somebody else. He thought about it for a moment, and then decided that we wanted to give it to my new best friend Sarah. He loves her so much!

Tristan did 3 trees on his own this year. He was very creative and did each one differently. I love to see the differences in him from year to year. Because I see him so much I don't always notice the subtle changes, so when I see him do something once a year, I am amazed at the man he is becoming. Lord, give us the grace to know how to lead him and pray for him and teach him. He is a wonderful, gentle, compassionate young man.


They all worked so hard. I love being the one behind the camera. They are wonderful.
These are all 10 trees we did this year. It's such a great tradition. This is how everything looked like when we wrapped them up. After this we went caroling to different houses. I let each boy pick a song. Aidan's was Rudolph, of course, and Tristan picked Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer. I told him no. We weren't going to sing that at my parent's house! His second pick was Santa Clause is Coming to Town. We finished out with We Wish You a Merry Christmas. It was a cold night, but we all enjoyed it very much. It was nice to see our friends and family.