The Hustle

I started this holiday season in decent shape, buying gifts as I saw them, making lists and getting ideas for treats to bake.  And now we're T minus 2 days until we leave for the holiday excursions and I have lots to do!  I'll be hustling and bustling that is for sure.  Our Christmas cards went out, so that's good news.  We had a good time making them this year!  And for the first time ever we got the best shot on the first try!  Typically, it takes us a good hour or more and dozens of pictures to get one!  Hurray for something that was easy!

Smurf Elf (our Elf on the Shelf) has been keeping Ella on her toes, but we keep faltering at bed time.  As I'm typing, she's upstairs walking around, back and forth talking to her stuffed animals, just about anything she can do to skip going to sleep.  So....she's been testing our patience that's for sure!  But Smurf Elf has been a lot of fun and I'm planning a post with all of the silly things Smurf Elf did this year.

Baking this year?  I've been fitting in as many cookies as possible!  This past weekend it was cutout sugar cookies and gingerbread men (first time ever I've made these!)  It was fun to decorate, and Ella joined in too.  Those are packed and in the freezer.  There was a red velvet cake based cookie with peppermint and candy canes that I made earlier this week.  AMAZING!  I had to get those in the freezer quick or they'd be gone by now.  Next up are some new recipes from Barefoot Contessa and a Pinterest find (Turtle cookies! - Say WHAT?!)  If only I could bake all day long....

Ella finally got to visit with Santa last week at the Best Buy family holiday party!  I wasn't there but she had a great time and keeps talking about it.  :)  They have live reindeer, which she really liked.  And, here's a great shot of her with the Big Man himself.

For fun, here's last year's picture!

 

Merry Christmas from us to you!