Christmas Cookies

Every year, even though I am not a very good baker, we try to incorporate Christmas cookies into our holiday traditions. In fact, I can still remember that first year we began this routine with a sweet, little, excited Ava B. Since that initiation, she eagerly looks forward to creating new cookies for Christmas. And although she also bakes cookies each year with my mother (who IS an excellent baker and pretty much bakes from scratch) at Mamaw's house, Ava still likes to try her hand with me here at home as well.

So I try to accommodate her as best I can!

This year, some of my students were having a cookie fundraiser at school, so I was able to purchase some creative Play"Dough" cookies! Somehow, I just knew they would be a hit! There are four bright colors of dough, which came in containers that looked just like actual PlayDoh, and can be shaped, molded, and mixed any which way little hands prefer. Perfect, right?

And so easy! I just removed the dough from the containers, set up Ava on a stepstool at the counter with a variety of cookie cutters, and let her have fun! Truly, this is the first year I can actually say Ava made the cookies 100% herself. All I did was pop them in the oven for her and set the timer. Of course, seeing the entire process, I wondered to myself just how good these cookies would turn out....but I was actually surprised. They were really yummy!

Despite the $20 price tag, I'd say these unique Christmas cookies were well worth it. Ava had endless fun, felt completely grown-up making them herself, and the entire family enjoyed the results. (Even though Hudson wasn't quite ready to create, he was certainly happy to partake!) Plus, we didn't have the mess of icing or sprinkles. We'll let Mamaw deal with those! Ha! ;)