Vintage and Heirloom Christmas Ornaments

As I was lining up my Christmas ornaments this year, I took some pictures to add to my heirloom album.  (I try to take pictures of things that are passed along to me, and put it in an album along with a picture of the person that it came from, and a short paragraph about it.)  Some of them are really neat, so I thought that I would share here too.  (I even have a fair amount of handmade ornaments in the mix, as I come from a very creative family.)  This little mouse belonged to my Grandma, and it was likely hanging on her tree when my Dad was a child.

Simple Cookies

This past Thursday Amy's homeschooling group had a Christmas tea, so my 4 year old and I made some cookies to bring.  I absolutely love to bake, but I don't like to have junk food hanging around the house, so I try to limit my baking.  When I have the opportunity to bring something somewhere, I have fun with it! :0)

I was amazed at how many people were impressed with the simple cut outs, and when I found that they had been blogged about twice.  Wow.  Here are the recipes if you want to make your own easy, and apparently impressive, cut out cookies.  I love the recipe because it doesn't use any eggs - so if we happen to eat half of the dough before it gets baked its no big deal.  (Don't worry about chilling the cookie dough, just roll it out with a little bit of flour.)

http://www.recipezaar.com/Santas-Whiskers-15958 = cookies

http://www.recipezaar.com/Sugar-Cookie-Icing-64015 = icing