December weekend 2: Cookie day!

Each December is so fun. Every year, my family and E's family has lots of pre-Christmas family traditions to get us ready for the upcoming holiday. Last weekend we joined E's family for their annual St. Nicholas Day tea, and this weekend my mom hosted my family's annual cooking baking day! Everyone in my family gets together with a cookie recipe or two, and we bake for the entire day. By the end of the afternoon, the kitchen is literally full of cookies! (Remember last year?)

This year was just as fun and full of fantastic recipes. E and I make snickerdoodles, my Grandma made her famous ginger snaps (seriously, best cookies ever!), my mom made lemon rounds, Chuck made an awesome cookie bar, Laura made pretzel rolo cookies and almond sugar cookies and there were even two types of biscotti made by Mike!

James slept in his car seat for most of the afternoon which made is perfect for cookie making. Around four pm, he woke up and then was Mr. Fussy Man for the next four hours. After a feeding and a diaper change he got passed from person to person. Melissa talked to him and showed him the Christmas tree, my Grandma snuggled him, and my mom talked to him and rocked him during dinner so I could eat.

All in all, it was a fantastic pre-Christmas Saturday. And E and I left with dozens of cookies, which we've been munching on quite a bit.

Me (looking quite good, if I do say so myself, being only 2.5 weeks postpartum!), Chuck and my Grandma make cookies.
E, Chuck and Laura. Everyone was quite busy all afternoon.


After James woke up everyone took a turn giving him loves. My mom and he showed off how strong his neck is getting! He's such a big boy!
I adore this photo. It is one of my top ten favorite photos since the little guy was born. Auntie Melissa and James share a kiss.
And part of the group. Laura, Melissa, James, Brian, E and me!
And although this doesn't relate to cookie day, Sunday was a day of true relaxation. After I delivered James, E gave me a wonderful gift, a hour long massage at my favorite local day spa, with the promise that he'll watch the baby for as long as I'm there. I've been so excited to use this, and so thrilled E got me such a nice gift. I decided to go yesterday, and spent about three hours there. My massage was unreal, seriously, it felt so good. Also, it was a super snowy day in Utah yesterday, so after the massage I made myself a cup of hot tea and spent time time in the sauna and steam room. I really needed this "me" time, and I just loved every minute of it. I came home to find a sleeping baby and a happy husband and I was feeling better than I had in months. Just perfect.