traditions {decorating cookies}

photo taken in 2009: spencer decorating a batch of sugar cookies

pretty much every year, spencer and i decorate some sugar cookies. they are left for santa to enjoy, and if the batches are large enough, typically end up distributed to some neighbors as well. confession: the cookies are courtesy of pillsbury. the joy is in the decorating, not the baking.

several years ago, i decided to tackle the concept of making royal icing...ummm, turns out it's pretty ridiculously easy. no tackling necessary. nowadays you can buy nice, convenient tubes of "cookie icing". i have used them but i don't cheat often (look closely...you'll see the photo above includes a nice mixture of the homemade royal icing and the "cheating" tubes).

this year, i plan to bring coleman into the cookie tradition. i'm excited!