It's Cookie Decorating Day!

Oh my, oh my--- it's my favorite day of the year. It's Grandkid Cookie Decorating Day. This is the day that I get a pile of the grandchildren all to myself to decorate Christmas cookies! They were already off school for the holiday and looking for something to do. We collected four of the little stinkers and brought them back to our house. Jameson, the oldest, opted to stay with his dad and go workout at the gym. So we had these four helpers were all ready and eager to come over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and spend the entire day.

We started out with a little breakfast buffet. I found that if I put out a variety of breakfast items on the island they can choose what they like and then there's no arguing or leftover wasted food. They have choices of fruit, applesauce, a variety of juices and eggnog, cereal, and toast with my special Trader Joe's cookie butter! I love that they are all set up on my little table in the sunshine. Laughing and giggling and talking to each other. That's the best part of this day: listening to them talk and relate to each other.  The Christmas Excitement is high, and they are just chock full of energy and joy that the season brings.

While the younger ones went off to play in the playroom, Chelsea and I were making frosting in the kitchen. Once we mixed up the big bowls of white frosting, we split it up into smaller containers where she could add food coloring to each one.

The two little girls came out to get their aprons. A long time ago when I started this tradition I made a whole bunch of kid aprons in all different sizes. It's amazing though, these kids are growing up so fast that only the biggest aprons fit. I think it's time to sew some more for the next decade. Then we will have large enough aprons to fit everybody.

Clayton started getting the table set up for the decorating. He had the table covered up with a vinyl tablecloth spread out and all of the cookie cooling racks. He brought in the variety of sprinkles and sugar shakers and set them out across the table too. Now they were in reach for everyone on each side of the table. Chelsea brought in the colored frostings and we were ready to begin.

Grandpa ran around with the camera and took pictures of us all set up at the table before we were ready to start.  The music was playing, the stuff was ready, and the kids were more than eager to start. 

Chelsea and I spread the frosting on each of the cookies and then we would pass them down on plates to the other three--- who were ready with all of the sprinkles and decorations and candies.

 

We had 169 cookies to decorate. 

Claire and Whitney first started out kind of just tossing on as much as they could and moving on to the next cookie. After a little while, they started slowing down and making more detailed cookies and carefully placing the decorations on each one.

As each one would finish up four or five cookies on their plate, then Grandpa would take them off to space them out carefully on the drying racks. From there he would take each rack into the kitchen and spread them out on the counters. That way the frosting could get hard and firm. Later they could be stacked up between layers of wax paper in containers. Each family was going to go home with about 5 dozen cookies, with the rest remaining here for us!

We had Christmas music playing and the kids were very, very silly. But it was fun talking and hearing about their excitement. With the upcoming holiday, and knowing Santa was keeping track of things, they were on their very best behavior. They talked more about what they were GIVING to other people, and very little about GETTING things. I like that.

  

  

We only had one mishap, my butter knife full of green frosting landed smack dab down on the oriental carpet underneath my feet. I was able to quickly clean it up before the food coloring set in. Even the littlest girls were very careful and didn't make a mess.

Everyone worked so well together and cooperated.

Here's a little video clip 

that we shot during a quick break 

when I went to wash my hands:

Here are the results of our wonderful morning. We decorated all of the 169 cookies. A couple of them broke during the decoration process and were quickly consumed by the eager little Busy Bee workers. Maybe a few got broke on purpose? LOL

We cleaned up quickly and put things away. The kids all helped. Then while we were preheating the oven and getting ready to make lunch, these three decided that the chairs in the dining room would make an excellent airplane! Whitney in the middle decided she was the gate attendant and she collected passports from everybody. Clayton was the pilot up in the front and they all went for a ride. I'm not sure exactly where they went, but it kept them busy while we got things ready in the kitchen to make lunch.

Quite the Airplane Pilot.

The cell phone on his feet is part of his control panel

in the cockpit. 

It is fun to still be 9 years old and indulge in creative imagination play.

Then the kids ended up playing in the new office room, and decided that Whitney would be the teacher while both Clayton and Claire were the students. They hauled out some school supplies and she taught the lessons. I eavesdropped a bit, and Whitney sure sounded like a teacher! 

I see so much of Whitney's mother, Heather, in her play and in her speech at that same age. I love it that she is confidant and although younger than Clayton, she can be the leader.  She has such creative ideas and led her classroom easily.

The oldest, Chelsea, and I were in the kitchen getting things ready to make mini pizzas for lunch. We recently discovered these cute little mini pizza kits at Aldi. There are three crusts and three little packages of sauce in a pack. We add bowls of pepperonis and the cheese to the island set up.  We don't bother with other ingredients, because this is all the kids ever want. Cheese n Pepperoni.  We write their names on the parchment paper on the tray, so each one knows which finished pizza will be theirs. 

(Because once you bake them, they all look alike anyhow)

They do enjoy the process of putting together their own little pizza and putting on the cheese and sauce and pepperonis. It's kind of cute that each one has their own style or technique.

They had to get them "just right"  

and use up all of the cheese by the time they were finished.

We popped them in the oven to bake while the kids got the table set and ready for lunch. We had Christmas carols playing and the house was smelling so good with their baking pizzas.

Again, they clustered around the table in the kitchen to enjoy their treats. It started to cloud up outside so we didn't have the sunshine that we had in the morning. I love having them all around the table. Grandma and Grandpa both opted to make sandwiches and pass on the pizzas.

I think these little grins and pizza smeared faces tell the story. They were really having fun. Plus they've got to essentially make their own lunch.

  

  

After lunch we let them run around and play for awhile. It was too cold to go outside. The windchills were in the single digits. But the day was stretching on and soon it was time to sort out the cookies and make up the boxes to be sent home. The kids took turns choosing out their favorite cookies from the assortment on the kitchen counters. Whatever was left over is what this grandma and grandpa get to keep at their own house.

  

One more special thing we did before they left was to give each child a package. We are not getting together with all of the family until New Year's Day. So this was a special little "pre-present" before the holidays that they could open up now and take home.

Each child opened up their package. On top was a special ornament that they could hang on their tree. It's not so fun to get an ornament on New Year's Day....  it's much better to get it BEFORE Christmas and hang it on your tree. Then deeper inside each of their red bags were the Christmas village houses that I make for them each year.

Each year, I spend hours upon hours painting up these little village ceramic houses for each child. I think of them as I paint and I smile fondly at the memories from the previous years. I've been doing this for many years for the grandkids and they love setting up their little Christmas Villages at their homes. I think this is the first year that the two youngest girls actually realized that each year I actually painted them. Other years they just remember that they got a house. So this year we talked about my painting them and how long it takes and how I smile and make them with love and creativity. 

Claire got a Roadside Hotel,

 and Whitney got a little General Store

 

Clayton got a railroad station 

and Chelsea got a little coffee shop

  

Well, our day was coming to an end. It was time to take one more picture of all of us together on the couch. Grandpa took the shot for us. Actually he took about 15 shots until we could find one where everybody was looking forward at the same time.

They didn't want to go home, and we had groans and protests. We bundled up all of the kids into their gear, packed up their cookies and hauled them all home. We got huge spontaineous hugs in appreciation.  

It was a long delightful day --- but boy oh boy this Grandma and Grandpa were tired. We need a nap. And of course, when we woke up we had to nibble on a couple Christmas cookies.

Getting Ready for The Holidays - Heaters, Desk, Cookies and Basketball

Ahhhh the Christmas Season is here. The house is decorated, the presents are bought and wrapped, and now we are sitting back and just enjoying our fruits of our labors. We sit almost every evening, with soft Christams carols playing, and admiring the lights and decorations. It feels good to be surrounded by traditions and memories. 

Steve has been working diligently in the basement, a little bit each day.  He got the new tankless water heater all installed. It works perfectly! That is our Christmas present to each other.  We expect our electric bill to go down a lot, after removing the electric tank type unit.  This new natural gas one only operates when a faucet is opened.

The unit is located in the "old portion" of our basement.  The ceilings are low and the walls are old rubblestone.  Tall Man Steve has to stoop over during the entire time he is down there.  I gave him some nice knee and back rubs with Blue Emo cream each evening for all of his efforts. 

Our water heater has a great optional feature, it's an additional recirculation pump. This keeps the water that is sitting in the insulated pipes warm and recirculates that every 30, 60 or 90 minutes or if the temperature drops below 15 degrees lower than the set set water heater temperature. It circulates up the hot lines and then reroutes it back on a dedicated line to the heater to be heated up again. This enables us to have hot water instantly at every tap or faucet or shower or tub.

We measured and realized that in past, we would WASTE about a quart and half of water at the furthest faucet away from the water heater, just waiting for it to warm up. That is a quart and a half of water that is wasted down the drain until we eventually get hot water each time. Especially when washing hands or taking a shower or filling the tub.

By adding the recirculation pump option, it will automatically take care of that for a very small amount of natural gas to heat up just the water in those insulated pipes. We are really going to like this!

We weren't able to get the correct brand recirculation pump until today. It has a computer connection to the heater to enact it anytime it senses it needs to kick in or if the temp drops 15 degrees in the unused water in the hot line.  We had to pick it up at a store 40 miles away, along with the proper fittings and an expansion tank.

He went right to work and is now installing that along with the required pressure tank. He will do the final hookups after supper. Maybe it will be functioning... I think, probably tomorrow. With the return system lines this will enable us to have hot water at every faucet right away rather than waiting and running cold water until the hot comes.

~~~~~~~~

I had a great idea a while back, and I finally am getting around to implementing it.

Last year when we bought our mission style loveseat that matches our two recliner chairs for the She Shed, the seller graciously included two beautiful mission style end tables. They are a little taller and a little wider than the ones we already have. They were included in the sale for FREE so we took them along. 

We thought we could use them for bedside tables in our bedroom but they are a little too wide and a little too long and don't let us access the drawers in the base of our bed. But we hung on to them anyhow and stored them in the garage.  Just in case we wanted to change things around or whatever. But I don't like them just sitting out in the garage in the cold. So I came up with another idea..... 

 (take note: Steve thinks it's a DUMB idea)  

Since redoing the guest bedroom into an office, we are in need of a desk. I would like a nice small desk in this room and I have a perfect antique office chair that I bought at an auction down in Chilton about 10 years ago.  So I set the two tables next to each other, leaving a space for legs if sitting on the chair. It measures 52 inches across by only 25 inches deep. 

All I need is a piece of plywood, cut to size. I will cover it with a piece of leather-looking vinyl.  I will fasten it to the table tops with removable heavy duty Command Velcro strips, so the finish won't get damaged, in case we want to ever use them as end tables again. There are drawers in each table on the other sides near the chair, perfect for pens and paper.  I think it will make a nice little desk!  

Steve still thought it was a dumb idea, but I caught him this morning "using" the space as a desk!  He was sorting through a file box and set it on the imaginary desk, while looking for some information.  LOL  I caught him and snapped this pic.  Then he admitted that yes, a desk would be helpful in that room. 

On our way back from picking up the recirculating pump, we stopped at Joanns Fabrics store. Armed with my 40% off coupon, I found a nice hunk of leather looking vinyl that will work perfectly!  $20 and I think it will look great. Steve said he will cut the plywood top for me tomorrow and help me staple the vinyl evenly onto the board. 

I have a cute little desk lamp and a little brown cloisonné box for stamps, and I will get a little desk blotter or calendar. So with Steve's help, we will have a desk, repurposed from some unused end tables and a bit of creativity.

~~~~~~~~~

Saturday was a busy day...  We had the honor to go and sit in the gymnasium for a 4th grade basketball tournament. Our 9 year old grandson Clayton was playing against 2 other teams, one game at 9 am and another at 11 am.  We wore our masks and sat up high in the bleachers to stay away from other fans. 

We watched our little guy, number 41, play his turns out on the court.  The coach rotates them so they all get a chance to play.  It was fun to watch them work out their "secret plans" from their huddles with the coach court side.  

They were having fun, that is what counts.  The lost by a few points, but they all got to get on the court and have their fans cheer for them.  I think this grandma cheered the loudest?

We left after the first game, and headed back to our house to start baking Christmas cut-out cookies. We had Chelsea and Claire over to help. The girls started making the dough, and measured out all of the ingredients. We did a TRIPLE batch of the recipe. Good lesson in math for figuring each item times three. 

After the dough was mixed up, the prize is to be able to lick the beaters. It was such a pleasant Saturday morning to have these silly kids in my kitchen. I cherish these days. 

For some reason, we forgot to put on our aprons during the dough making stage, but we put them on for rolling. Chelsea started rolling out the dough, and cutting the cookies. Chelsea showed little Claire how to use a rolling pin and I started up the oven for baking tray after tray of cut out cookies. 

As soon as his second game was done, Clayton begged to come over and help do the cookies too!  So we saved half of the dough for him to have his turn. The girls had "enough fun" and went off to do their own things, and Claire took a nap.  Now it was Cookie Baker Clayton's turn....   he put on his apron and went right to work.

He caught on quickly and was careful to make the rolled dough the same even thickness throughout for better cookies. Then he started figuring ways to cut out carefully to get the most cookies out of each rolled out piece of dough.  He was using math skills and geometry and physics.  He has such a LONG attention span for a 9 year old boy.  I was even able to leave him to himself while rolling, and I kept the trays going in and out of the oven. 

186 cookies later, we were DONE! 

The rest of the grandkids are coming on Wednesday. That is when I will put the plastic tablecloth on the diningtable and take out the sprinkles and frosting.  It will be our Annual Cookie Decorating Day!  We will maybe make mini pizzas or meatball subs for lunch. That is my most special day of the year, because I get ALL of the grandkids to myself. 100% attention and time with them. Contrasted to the larger family christmas gatherings where there are other relatives, toys, and cousins to play with.  On Cookie Decorating Day, I get a lot of special time listening and talking and sharing and fun together. 

~~~~~~~~~~

While we were doing the cookies, Steve was working installing more insulation in the garage ceiling. He is about half way across the garage now. He is doing one or two sections at a time, and not over-doing it or straining his back or knees.  We are learning that now we are over 60, we need to slow down a bit to accomplish the same things.   

Once he has all the insulation put up in place, then we will rent the drywall lift and cover the entire ceiling with sheetrock. He hopes to seal up the garage enough to run his propane heater when he wants to work on something out there. I think it's a good idea, as long as he doesn't push himself and do too much in a day. 

That is enough for today, tomorrow I might have pics of a new desktop (hopefully) and he will have the recirculation pump operating.