White Christmas

Today is the official Christmas baking day at the Williams house. Rush helped me all morning and is now exhausted and taking an early nap. So far we just have dough chilling in the freezer for Santa’s Whiskers, the buttery cherry, pecan, coconut cookies I discovered last year in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, and cheese crackers, a recipe from the cookbook my sister-in-law Kim made for me for Christmas last year. Not cookies, but I ambitiously added it to the menu around 4 AM when I was watching tv.

The remainder of the cookie menu includes peanut butter blossoms (you know the ones – with the Hershey’s Kisses) and a yet undecided bar cookie. I really should go start one of these while Rush is napping… If you’re joining us for Christmas in a few days, don’t shy away from the cookies based on the fact that there is coconut everywhere and Rush’s hands are in it. He did wash his hands first, but also these pictures are post-dough making, when the kitchen was already such a mess that I just let Rush play with the remaining coconut.

Even though our house is kind of a disaster zone and we have family arriving in two days, I feel like making Christmas cookies is the priority here. Besides the fact that mopping the floor before we baked would have been pointless, I think Trent and I can just stay up late cleaning on Wednesday night if needed. Plus we’re stocked up on wine and Shiner’s Holiday Cheer, so if things don’t get totally spotless we can always mellow out the grandparents, aunts, and uncles with cookies, beer, and the warm glow of the Christmas tree.