Christmas Cookie Countdown- 10 days 'til Christmas

This morning the girls and I went for a fun baking date with two very lovely ladies.

We poured and we mixed and we rolled and we cut and we even managed to keep some of the batter out of our little mouths!
After a very messy process (sorry Lacey!) we made some cute little Christmas cookies.
I forgot my camera, but Lacey took some great shots.
(I really want her camera for Christmas....Santa???....Santa???..... are you listening???)

And then our girls went to town eating decorating them.

Thanks so much for having us over Lacey. We all had a wonderful time!

Our Lesson: The girls favorite part of the process (other than eating the cookie dough, icing and well, the whole cookie) was cutting out the shapes.
As were we driving home I asked the girls about how much fun they had. My little one year old just smiled from the back seat but my two year old beamed saying:

"I love 'A'.
I fun at "A's house.
I made star.
I made moon.
I made.... (and she went on and on)
I see the puppy.
The puppy says "woof"
I made a star.
I eat the icing.
I....."
well, you get the point :)

Can you tell she had a great time?!
Then, we started naming all the fun shapes and how they remind us of why we celebrate Christmas.
Thank you God for our friends and for being able to see you in all our Christmas preparations.

Sugar Cookie Cutouts
(Lacey's recipe)

4 cups sifted flour (we used whole wheat.... they turned out a bit sticky, so we had to add more flour)
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla

*I usually add a couple of Tbs of milk to make sure it's not too crumbly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, stir together flour and baking powder.
In another bowl, beat butter with sugar until fluffy and light. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, a third at a time to make a stiff dough.

Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll out a portion of cookie dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

Place on lightly greased or nonstick cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minute, rotating baking sheet halfway through cooking time. Cool completely on pans about 5 minutes, transfer to cooling racks and cool completely before decorating.