Tis the season of joy, giving, thankful hearts, warm homes, and happy blessings. It can also be a time of reflection and meditation – remembering those who have gone before us and who may or may not be with us any longer. The most joyful thing about Christmas though is that Christmas is a season of promise – the promise of God to send us a savior. The promise of a baby, and He sent His own son.
Luke 2:1-7, New International Version (NIV)
The Birth of Jesus
2 In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world.2 (This was the first census that took place while[a] Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 And everyone went to their own town to register.
4 So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. 5 He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born,7 and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.
If you’d like an easy and free way to be in God’s word this Christmas and sign up to receive devotionals on Advent or the Christmas story you can sign up on BibleGateway.com under newsletters, or click the following link: Advent and Christmas Devotionals.
Shaking out the sprinkles
Peanut had a blast shaking out the sprinkles. I made sure to use a cookie sheet with sides to capture the excess. I just love that he can be proud of the finished product. We used some cookies for the party and we sent some to Peanut’s grandparents.
Decorating Cookies
Kid Fun Christmas Cookies
If you would like to make these delicious cookies, here is the recipe:
Classic Cutout Cookies
- 1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks) softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Cookie Cutters
- 3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- colored sugar or sprinkles
Directions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar on medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Scrape down sides if necessary.
- Add egg and vanilla; beat well
- Add flour; mix on low until just blended (dough will be soft, do not refrigerate.)
- Form lump of dough into large disk. If dough is too flaky you can add water, if it is too gooey you can add flour
- Roll out dough to ¼ to ½ – inch thickness with roller. I
- Cut shapes and move shapes to cookie sheet. Add sprinkles before baking if desired.
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden.
If you plan to use these for a cookie party, here is an easy PDF of the Classic Cookie Cutout cookie recipe.
If you can get a pastry cloth and rolling pin cover for rolling out your dough it makes this project so much easier. I found these online at: The Baker’s Kitchen.
Cookie cutouts
We used all sorts of sprinkles for our creations.
Yummy Cookies
I put six cookies in each zip lock for our cookie exchange.
Gift basket for cookie party
For the chocolate version this was our secret ingredient.
The secret ingredient
I used a double boiler from the Pampered Chef to melt the chocolate.
Chocolate melt
This drizzle makes the cookies even more delicious. Be careful – if you don’t distribute these right away you’ll be tempted to eat them all yourself. 🙂
Chocolate drizzled cookies
Our gift boxes – packed with lots of LOVE.
Cookie gift boxes
If there is a special tradition you are starting or have been doing with your family I’d love to hear about it. Please leave a comment below. I pray you’re getting into the Christmas spirit and enjoying some fun memory making with your family.
I’ve also seen quite an increase in new subscribers, and if you are a new subscriber – welcome to Happy and Blessed Home! I’m so glad you’re here and below I’ve listed a few links that you may want to review to help you become a bit more familiar with some of the resources on my blog:
- FREE Printables – as I create things for my children, I share them via this blog
- FREE Alphabet Printables – I love to illustrate and I created these for preschoolers
- Preparing for Kindergarten Series – insight from the book, “Skills for Preschool Teachers”
- One Word Devotional Series – encouraging words for moms w/video
- Preschool Morning Board Series – an easy visual system to teach basic skills
- Montessori Planning Post – with labels, organizational charts & more
Lately I’ve been posting about twice a week (sometimes three times) and my posts have mainly been focusing on enriching preschooler activities using games and printables. I also publish Family Fun Friday every week. My boys and I love to play and have fun but I’m a parent who also wants to understand the “why” behind certain crafts, sensory bins, and educational toys. So I’ve been reading books – and I blog about what I learn. If I can, I try to develop tools that help me implement what I’ve learned, and if possible, I create printables that others can use, then I share those with you, my readers. 
Often, for your convenience, I’ll include affiliate links to things like Amazon or other sellers. I make a tiny commission, but my hope is that you’ll become a fan and want to support my blogging by using these links when you can.
In His Grip,
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Originally Published Dec 5, 2012
