On the 12 Days of Christmas...

Our Texan Christmas Roadtrip gave to us...

TWELVE Gifts 'a stolen

(Have you ever played White Elephant Gift Exchange?)

ELEVEN happy people

(Please note the large and furry Rudolph slipper in the hands of the College Sophmore!)

TEN DVDs in rotation

NINE gifts too many

(Thank you everyone!!!!)

EIGHT thousand golden tickets

SEVEN more months

(A new cousin for Leo & Elena will be here in July!!  HOORAY!!)

SIX extra lbs

FIIIIIIIIIIIIVVVVEEEE CHICK-FIL-A's!!!!!!

 

(With 5 days on the road, we stopped at every Chick-Fil-A we saw to burn off some steam!!)

FOUR fresh caught fish

THREE perfect moustaches

TWO special birthdays

....ANNNNNNNNNDDDDD....

3,400 miles in a mini-van...

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and a great start to your New Year.  We have so many stories to tell so stay tuned!!!

Great Christmas Gift Idea

I was blissfully perusing Etsy.com the other day and came across a million things I wanted.  I could get lost for days on that site.  But then, I happened upon this awesome gift idea!  I bought one of these for my Granny in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Hopefully most of your Christmas shopping is done, but if you have anyone left on your list, check this out.

Gingerbread Christmas Card

Aside from this being an awesome and creative idea, the shop owner Sandy is awesome!  They are only $5.00 plus a little for shipping.  I haven't tasted them, but hey, you just can't go wrong with Gingerbread, right??

Merry Christmas everyone!

Recently, Pioneer Woman posted a blog all about cookies.  I always try to make some cookies around the holidays to share...okay fine...I just needed an excuse to eat cookies.

Once I told my little elf about the gameplan, he decided to amp up with some java. 

We had a long day ahead of us!!

Like I said - these Union Elves are really good at taking breaks... 

The Molasses Spice Cookies with Orange Sugar turned out amazing. So simple too!

Mamma's little elf was too busy "wrapping presents" to help out with the next batch of cookies

But not too busy to help eat them!! 

 These little beauties are Salted Caramel Thumbprint Cookies.

I burnt the caramel a tiny bit.  Once the sugar starts to darken, it goes from light brown to burnt in a matter of seconds!  The taste is a tiny bit off, but they are still fantastic!

The elf spent the rest of the day working hard. 

 

And has earned every last present! 

My next post will probaby be about unwrapping presents.

So until then...

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

The elves are hard at work!

The elves have been hard at work at the Gale house!  (Not the cleaning elf.  She seems to be M.I.A.)

We started off the morning by cracking open the old Sugar Cookie recipe.

Apparently Leo is a member of the Elf Union.  After mixing the flour and baking powder, it was already time for a lunch break.  This may take a few days...

Okay, after filling up sufficiently in ketchup...er...I mean chicken nuggets, we're ready to go.

"Queezing" the food coloring was Leo's favorite part :)

Scratch that - eating the dough was Leo's favorite part!

What sugar-high?? 

Apparently, elves eat the outer edges of each cookie cut out of the dough...apparently. 

The batch was supposed to make 60 cookies.  I think we made it out with 42. 

My little elves may do more hindering than helping...

...but they sure are cute!!!