First Christmas: cookie delights

DELICIOUSNESS. I just had an amazing turkey sandwich for lunch! Can we all agree that Christmas dinner and dessert leftovers are the best?!

Keeping with the theme of our first Christmas as husband and wife, I decided I should start doing my own baking for the holidays. My mom and sister did all of their usual Christmas baking, and I'm so glad they sent me home with leftovers. The new recipes I tried out could not possibly compare to our favourite family recipes. These cookies, however, still look and taste fantastic, and I really enjoyed trying something new yet traditional!

I found this recipe online at Canadian Living for Brown Sugar Cookies. They were simple to make, and it was fun to use my Christmas cookie cutters! I like how they held their shape, and they would be fun to decorate with icing and sprinkles. I just ran out of time, shhh.

I also made Snowball Cookies, a recipe I found again on Canadian Living's website. They are basically Sugar Cookies with chocolate chips mixed in, then packed into balls & rolled in icing sugar. I think raisins (among other ingredients) as a substitute for the chocolate chips would have tasted great too.

Earlier in the month, I wanted to make a special little dessert for a quick family visit at our place. I made heart pastries filled with cinnamon flavoured apples, and they were super yummy! I found the idea for Pie Inspired Pop-Tarts at A Beautiful Mess.

To end on a cheerful baking note, these festive mitts make me happy. They were a bridal shower gift :)

First Christmas: felt crafts & adornment

Merry (belated) Christmas, everyone! I hope your holidays have been filled with joyful celebrations with family and friends, splendid relaxation with a good book or mug of coffee, and praise in your hearts for God who sent His Son to the world to save us! "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17).

It's been a special Christmas for me for a couple reasons. Last year, I was in Japan for the Christmas break between my school semesters. It was wonderful to travel around Japan with my fiancé, meet & spend time with my fiancé's relatives, and see the sights of Japan... but it was different from my "typical" Christmas spent with my family and taking part in the usual Canadian festivities. Apart from being back home for Christmas this year, it's been a special time because it's our first Christmas together as husband and wife! It's the precious beginning of several new traditions for our little family unit.

This year, I tried my hand at some new Christmas baking recipes and Christmas crafts. These felt Christmas trees are so simple to make. Easy, cute and homemade! Find out how to make felt trees on Wise Craft's blog. I was debating on whether to sew little beads onto the trees to look like ornaments, but I didn't want to ruin the simplicity of the trees. Maybe next year!

Here's another Christmas craft made out of felt! My sister made this felt advent calendar as a housewarming/Christmas present for us this year (what a great sister I have!). My mom made the same advent calendar many years ago, and we (my brother, sister and I) always enjoyed "hanging" the ornaments on the tree every year. To make this craft, you will need felt, sequins, velcro (each ornament has a velcro backing, which can be stuck to any of the 24 velcro spots on the tree), a wooden or plastic rod to feed through the top of the calendar, string, some basic sewing skills, and lots of love!

The husband and I also bought our first tree together (yes, we got a real one!). It was sooo much fun choosing and purchasing ornaments. The tree is a Fraser Fir. We got it at the very beginning of December, and it has kept most of its needles... I'd recommend it! Take note that the tree skirt (it was my grandma's) is yet another craft made out of felt!

It would also be fun to make felt ornaments for our tree next year. I'm inspired by these tree ornaments and letter ornaments from West Elm!

That's enough about the felt extravaganza going on in my home. More to come on Christmas baking!