Christmas Cookie Countdown '09

I can not believe that tomorrow is the last day of November! Eeek! How did that happen?
I am sooooo close to having everything crossed off my list but still have a few things left just waiting to be conquered.

The main reason why I wanted to have all my Christmas preparations done by the end of November was because I wanted to be able to focus on our baking project.

I LOVE to bake. My mom was always baking delicious treats for the holidays (and throughout the year.) Some of my favorite memories were of us baking Christmas cookies together.
I also love to bake with my kids. Sure, it takes longer and is certainly a whole lot messier, but I love including them and making memories similar to the ones that I have of my mom.

But more than my love for baking was the idea of doing this little baking project as a family.
Last year I followed Sarah and her boys as they baked their way through December. I fell in love with her Christmas Cookie Countdown and especially with what they did with all their cookies.
My heart completely melted. What a beautiful idea.

And so, this year I have decided that our family will have our own little Christmas Cookie Countdown and in the end deliver our baking to some sweet people who might otherwise be alone over the holidays. It is my prayer that our little gift will touch their hearts and bring joy to them this Christmas.

I am not sure if we will manage to bake something everyday in the month of December but we are certainly going to try :)
I have a long list of all the yummy treats we are going to make and I'm so excited to share them with you as we make them.
But even more than that, I am excited at the project our family is about begin!

A project filled with love.
A project centered around giving.
A project that will hopefully be a beautiful way that we can teach our little ones what Christmas is really all about.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us.
1 John 4: 9-12