The Making of Christmas Memories

It seemed that the season to celebrate the Lord's birth pounced upon us this year, as I don't know what happened to the days between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but they were just a blur!

And so, one of the traditions that was part of my growing up years was to make special cookies for the holiday season, when friends and family gather together, and food is always part of the gathering.

Growing up, my mother would gather all 5 of us children around, and painting Christmas Cookies was part of our holiday tradition that we always looked forward to.  I have continued this tradition in our home, although my two kids don't know what it is like to have to work with five people trying to use the same color to paint their cookie with!  It was always fun though, and wonderful to see what each one created.

For my kids, I would make them each a cookie sheet full of cookies to paint, and it was a fun tradition for them to paint their cookies and have their cookie sheet represent their creative, artistic talents!

To begin the process, I would first have to gather all things necessary.  I would make the sugar cookie recipe ahead of time, and then chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

 Then the fun part began when it was time to create the colors we would use to paint.

This year, my supply of food coloring was low, and I didn't realize it was so.  I had purchased some jeweled-tone food coloring sometime back (probably for a birthday cake!) , instead of the traditional red, blue, green, and yellow colors.  So, we had to get a bit creative with the food coloring to have colors that would look like Christmas, instead of the tropics!

Then, the cookies were rolled out in various shapes, sizes, and designs, and placed on a cookie sheet to await their colorful transformation!

Cutting out the cookie shapes is always fun!

Cosmo and Annie were close at hand, hoping that a piece of cookie dough would find its way to them!

And then the process of painting the cookies and cooking them... oh such joy when they arrive out of the oven in all their colorful glorious delight! The above cookies were my son's creations.

These were my daughter's.  You can see how they each expressed themselves creatively in their color combos, and choice of design for their cookies!

And finally, the cookies are cooled, and ready to be stored.  They didn't last long.  These cookies not only look amazing, but they taste wonderful!

Some time later, perhaps a day or two, the most amazing sunset was taking place much to our amazement!  We had to abandon all that we were doing to run outside and admire the glorious streaks of fiery delight streaming across the sky in their last show of brilliance for the day. I have seen incredible sunsets here before, but this one was unusual.  The fiery glow of the sunset had turned everything ORANGE! It was kind of eerie and yet stunning all at the same time!

Everything is taking on an orange glow!

Even the trees were crowned with orange tones, as the sun dipped lower in the sky.

An incredible view!

Cosmo and Annie even took on the colors of the sunset, it was that brilliant and amazing!

The dogs weren't quite sure what was causing the orange glow.  They just kind of stood outside and looked around as if trying to figure out WHAT was going on!

When Annie stretches like this, she does it because she is unsure of what else to do.  She just didn't know what to make of the color show going on, and why we were so intent on capturing the moment on camera!

When I first looked at this picture, the snow almost looks like foamy dish soap lol!

Still not sure what all the "ado" was about!

Just snapping pictures in every direction, as the sky was constantly changing in shadow, composition, and color.

And so, Cosmo, and Annie unsure what to make of all this decided it wasn't worth their concern, and began to do what dogs do best... horse play, and chase each other around.

Stopping to just monitor the situation... and then...

Back at what dogs do best!!

IF only dogs could talk.... lol!

The incredible beauty of the shadowed trees against the brilliant backdrop of the sun's rays... just amazing! You have to enjoy it while it is happening, because it doesn't last long!

And before long, the colors were gone, and the brilliant beauty had faded from sight.  Thank goodness for a camera lens to capture the beauty, so we can savor it forever.  I am not sure why the sunset this evening was so brilliant, but.... it was an incredible event that we were so thankful our eyes got to behold!