I’m re-posting this since Word Press decided comments were not allowed the first go round.
Nora saved her favorite part of holiday prep for last which made for a joyful and noisy Saturday. Enjoy! ~Laura
Yesterday was cookie-baking day, and we had ourselves a marathon.
Grandkids and friends of grandkids piled in the kitchen or scattered around the house make lots of joyful noise. I should add my dogs were in heaven all day long, not only did they have all the playmates they could handle but they got a new automatic pet feeder which they absolutely love!
We made a double batch of chocolate chip as they always prove to be the crowd favorite–and this year was no exception. Snickerdoodles because not 
only yum but who doesn’t like to roll dough into little balls then roll the ball around in cinnamon-sugar? And our traditional painted sugar cookies.
I have plenty of holiday cookie cutters, so we have snowmen, trees, stockings, angels, stars and so on, plus ninjas (another fave). A chaotic kitchen, which is just as it should be, while a small herd of kids paint the cut-outs and sprinkle colored sugar. Before you ask, the paint is evaporated milk and food coloring. I use the little plastic tubs that comes with Easter egg dying kits, and skinny paintbrushes.
Who says a snowman can’t be purple?
It’s a mess. But it’s fun.
The herd goes down to swim, and BW and I finish up the painting. Swimming enhances the appetite, so the small herd fell on the cookies like young wolves and made a surprising dent before–thinking of their moms–I cut them off. Sent everyone home with a little plastic tin of cookies, and undoubtedly a sugar high.
A big, busy, fun day I hope the kids will remember as happily as I do. And this Nana crashed by nine o’clock.
Wishing you all the joyful noise of happy kids, and the fun of purple snowmen this holiday season. I can promise the combination will make your days merry and bright.
Nora
Testing the comment section.
Laura
I JUST started reading All I want for Christmas, and found Nora’s recipe not only pancakes from scratch, which I will have to try out, but her bread pudding recipe, which takes less time, and probably less hassle, than my crock pot bread pudding recipe, so I’m itching to try it out. It calls for a casserole pan, but would say, a cake pan work as well, or should it be a casserole?
I use a casserole as you can mix, cook and store/serve/refrigerate in the same dish. Basically no clean up that way.
Good to know. Thanks!
Oh, and just to mention, I LOVED “All I want for Christmas” (the novella where the chorus teacher moves into the small town after the twin boys ask Santa for the “Mom”, and their Dad and she fall in love), which is where the recipes are.
I remember doing that with my 3 sons when they were young! What fun! Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Every Christmas I use Nora’s recipe (which was in a chirstmas novella years ago) to make cut-out sugar cookies. My nephew says Christmas isn’t right unless we have Aunt Marilyn’s trees. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe Nora. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
That’s the one I just finished reading and got the pancake and bread pudding recipes out of! I read the cookie recipe, but it’s not the type of cookie anyone in my family really likes. But I’m definitely going to try out the pancake and bread pudding recipes!
Merry Christmas, Nora, Laura and your families. I can almost smell the baking from the other side of the continent! 🙂
Nothing says holidays like spending quality fun time with the grandkids. Merry Christmas to you & yours and a Happy, Healthy New Year.
Looks like a fun time was had by all. Baking cookies with my nephew who is now 27, married and going to be a daddy this summer was always one of my favorite things to do.
Wishing you a wonderful, fun-filled Merry Christmas!
Thank you so very much for sharing this. I don’t have any family so don’t celebrate the holidays. It was a wonderful feeling to vicariously share your day. I can imagine all the wonderful memories those children will have.
What fun and precious memories you are making with your grandchildren. Love the painting idea and will do that with my own grands…thanks for sharing the instructions. May you and all your family, plus Laura and hers, all have a blessed and happy Christmas!
Sounds like a fun day of making memories! I remember when I was young, we went to a cousins house to make Kruchiki’s the first weekend in Dec. If you were too young to help with the Kruchiki’s then you helped the Dad’s hang “snowballs” from the ceiling in the family room. The snowballs were actually styrofoam balls. Great times!
Now I am craving cookies.
Wishing Nora, her family, and my fellow readers happy holidays.
Sounds like a fabulous day! My mom used to make the thin painted sugar butter cookies when I was a child living in PA. Alas, we now live in Florida and the humidity is too much here! Thank you for the joy of reading that you bring to millions. One of my great joys is to dive into a book and “become” a character. I used to make my mom nuts with “just a minute I’m almost done this page” (and be well into another chapter) starting with my Nancy Drew Mysteries! I’m now passing the love of reading to my 9 month and 2 year old grandsons. Merry Christmas!
One of my favorite moments of this holiday was listening to my mom read a new book to one of her great granddaughters. She is almost 84 so I don’t think we will have too many more such memories made.
Can anyone please post the bread pudding recipe—thank you
Merry Christmas to all!
I can never make enough of my cutout Christmas cookies frosted with homemade buttercream frosting and sprinkled with colored sugar. I got the recipe from a family cookbook that author Janette Oke put out. You make them with powdered sugar and it makes the cookies so airy and tasty!